Quotes of Notes: Jaguars on Facing Titans
Not much separated the Tennessee Titans and Jacksonville Jaguars on the scoreboard when they met back in Week 2.
Now, with their second contest of 2020 on tap Sunday in Jacksonville, there is a significant gap between them in the standings. The Titans (8-4) are tied for first in the AFC South while the Jaguars (1-11) are dead last.
Here is a roundup of some of what Jacksonville’s players and coaches had to say about the Titans over the last several days.
• Coach Doug Marrone, on the rivalry between the Titans and Jaguars: “I think a lot goes into these division games and I think that for—it’s funny like, sometimes you’ll see a team that has a poor record and a team that’s really doing well, but if they’re within the same division, it’s kind of like you can kind of throw that stuff out a little bit. … Every team in your division becomes almost like a, for lack of a better term, like a rivalry type game.”
• Defensive coordinator Todd Wash, on quarterback Ryan Tannehill: “To me, he’s playing very consistently. Obviously, he doesn’t make a lot of poor decisions with the football. But to me, it all starts with the running game and their play action.”
• Safety Jarrod Wilson, on the Titans’ pass game: “They like to stretch the field with (A.J. Brown) and (Corey Davis) and they also have some good tight end threats with (Jonnu Smith) and (Anthony Firkser). So, just a really big challenge.”
• Wash, on tight end Jonnu Smith: “You know, he’s a tough draw just because he can run so well and he’s a big body. I think he runs very precise routes for a tight end. To me, he’s one of the better tight ends in the league that you’ve got to defend.”
• Wash, on Derrick Henry: “Obviously, he’s the one that makes them go. Once they get their running game going, then they can get into their play action and [take] their shots towards their wideouts and their tight ends. But we’ve been talking all week long. Obviously, he’s a big physical downhill runner and he’s tough to tackle. That’s been proven for the last three or four years, with anybody that plays him.”
• Marrone, on Henry’s stiff-arm: “If you have short arms and you stiff arm someone, … you’re just going to tackle him with those short arms. But if he has those long arms, I think that you’ve got to come up with something, because it’s a weapon. It’s something that you have to defeat. It’s part of what he does.”
• Wilson, on Henry’s stiff-arm: “He’s coming around the edge at 250 pounds at 6-4, so he already has that length advantage. But I’m not trying to be on that tape. [I’m] trying to cut his legs down, get him down the best way I can. Definitely not trying to be on no stiff-arm tape.”
• Marrone, on Henry’s usual improvement late in the year: “The one thing that we always wanted to say was, ‘Hey listen, let them prove to us that they can tackle in December and January.’ Once you get to the end of the season and you get into the playoffs, that’s the one thing that you want to see because you’re dealing with teams – a lot of teams –no one is full healthy, everyone is bumped up, you know, bumps and bruises and what not. … You know when you come up there and you’re going to tackle this player, that has generated this great power, it’s going to hurt now.”
• Defensive end Dawaune Smoot, on tackling Derrick Henry: “It’s definitely a ‘want to,’ especially later on in the season when everyone’s body starts hurting. I mean if you haven’t noticed his numbers go crazy like halfway through the season. It’s a mindset. We just have to put our body on him at the end of the day.”
• Offensive coordinator Jay Gruden, on Tennessee’s defense: “You know, they had Johnathan Joseph at corner, he’s not there anymore. So, they’ve had some different people rotating in at corner. But for the most part, it’s a good defense, they do the same stuff. They have simulated blitzes, blitz four or five different guys. You don’t know where they’re coming from, different fronts. [Jeffery] Simmons is a great player. I mean, inside, obviously, [Jadeveon] Clowney played last time, he’s not playing this time. So, some of their key players aren’t available this week, but they’re still a very good football team.”
• Marrone, on the Titans: “They’re whatever they are, tied for first in the division, and there’s a reason for that and they’re a heck of a football team. They’re coming in here and they’re coming off a tough loss to Cleveland, so we’ll get the best of Tennessee.”
