Jaguars Coach Doug Marrone Made Momentous Discovery of NFL RedZone Channel During Bye Week
The life of an NFL head coach is incredibly busy. From preparing their teams for battle 16 weeks a year, and in some cases even longer, to the countless hours away from the field the coaches spend on their team, life simply does not slow down.
But there is one week a year when that changes for a coach, even if only slightly: the bye week.
Such was the case for Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Doug Marrone in Week 10. With his team on its much-needed bye week, Marrone still had a lot of self-scouting and evaluating to do. But when it came to Sunday, Marrone was able to kick his feet back and do what so many of us love to do during football season — watch the NFL Network's RedZone channel.
“Well I’ll tell you, yesterday was the first time I was able to kind of watch some stuff and I don’t normally do it," Marrone said Monday when asked about some of the wild results of Sunday's games. "But I got around and I watched that NFL Network Red Zone [channel]. That stuff’s crazy."
Yes, in the always fast-pace life of an NFL head coach, Marrone had not been able to relax and bask in the glory of one of the most-watched Sunday programs.
"It goes from game, to game, to game. It was crazy," Marrone smirked. "I didn’t know they had that stuff."
For Marrone, the sentiment of being able to view some of the wild game's on Sunday just backed up the things he has always said. No matter what teams are playing, it is going to be a difficult game to win. Everyone in the NFL is among the best in the world at what they do, and this is reflective on days like Sunday's where it seems like underdog after underdog wins.
"I know sometimes you look at it, and you look at records and all this stuff, and you’re like, ‘Well, this team should win,’ and then all of a sudden at the end of the day, get a couple turnovers, this happens and the next thing you know a team that you thought should win on paper doesn’t win," Marrone said Monday.
"And that’s why it’s such a competitive league, and I said it before when we played some teams that have poor records, that we really don’t look at that. We understand that every team has people that can make plays and do things and it’s still based upon your own performance that you don’t give the game away; which people do. And that’s always been my philosophy."
Marrone would continue on this point, circling it back to the fact that you can't look ahead at in your schedule or focus too much on your opponent's records. Doing that is not quite a recipe for success, and the lack of focus in the current moment can instead derail a team trying to get hot.
"So, I think that where a lot of people may be talking about a run, I think that you can’t get on a run unless you do a good job where you are right now, today, which is Monday, and then obviously work at that," Marrone said.
"So, our philosophy with the team has been let’s take each day, and try to win each day and gear up for a great performance on Sunday and really not look at, or use the terms of, ’Hey, we’re getting ready to do this, or getting ready to do that.’ The only thing we’re getting ready for is having a great Monday.”
Marrone won't be able to watch NFL RedZone again this season, but the bye week at least gave him a chance to experience it as well as use it to help get a message across.
