Sports Radio Interviews

Jack Del Rio: “We’ve won 5 of our last 7 games and we feel like our best football is still in front of us.”

Huge game this weekend for the Jacksonville Jaguars. After starting the season with two losses, the Jags have won five of their past seven and are very much in the hunt for a Wild Card berth in the AFC. Last week the Jags won 24-22 on the road against the New York Jets. The game garnered plenty of attention because of Jaguars head coach Jack Del Rio’s decision to have Maurice Jones-Drew kneel down at the 1 yard line rather than run it in to the end zone with time dwindling in the 4th quarter. The decision drained the clock and allowed the Jags to kick the game winning field goal as time expired rather than giving the ball back to the Jets for one final drive. Smart? Yeah. Risky? Most definitely. Any number of things could have gone wrong, like say, a botched snap on the field goal attempt. It all worked out though and the Jags now have a great shot at playing postseason football if they win at least 5 more games beginning this Sunday against the Buffalo Bills, and get a little bit of help from their AFC brethren that are also in contention as of now.

Jack Del Rio joined 1010 XL in Jacksonville to talk about last week’s win, the gutsy decision to have MJD kneel at the one yard line,, how impressed he’s been with the work ethic of both his players and staff, and how he and his team have prepared this week to play the Buffalo Bills, who of course fired their coach and changed starting quarterbacks this week.

On if it’s any different or more difficult preparing for a team that just changed head coaches and starting quarterbacks this week:

“Well, I think it’s difficult every week in the league. I really do. I mean, you can’t take anything for granted. We switched up – went from 3-4 to 4-3 against the Chiefs. So we had a wrinkle for them. You know, we’re always looking as coaches to get advantages. I think one thing is for certain – they made a change so you know there’s some uncertainty. I think week in and week out you can expect – you need to expect the unexpected. That’s what we do. That’s part of what we do. So we’re not really going to change a whole lot. We studied their system, we studied their players, we put a plan together and then we’re going to be ready to adjust to things they may or may not do. You know, wildcat, are they going to wildcat more. Are they going to put both backs in the backfield more. You know, those are the things that would not surprise us; we’re preparing for those types of things. So it really doesn’t change a whole lot. I tell you, one thing that has happened is I’ve had to answer that question an awful lot this week.”

On how proud he is of his team for the way they’ve bounced back following their poor start to the year:

“Well I’m definitely proud of the effort. This is definitely the best effort of coaching with the staff and the way we’ve worked introducing this young group to the roster, and with the turnover, even the veterans that are new. You know, we do have 28 new players on the team. And we do have 13 rookies, and 11 of them are playing an active role on gameday. So we’re definitely working hard at it, and what I keep going back to is the reason this has been such a fun year and people may not believe that, but we’re having a blast, is because this group is so committed. They are working hard, they’re unselfish, this is a very together football team and we’re getting better. So, we’ve won 5 of our last 7 games and we feel like our best football is still in front of us. We’re just going to keep grinding these guys. The pedal is going to stay down, we’re going to continue to push, we need to work hard, we need to stay hungry and attack each opponent. Because one thing about this team with all the turnover and where we are – we’re capable of playing with anybody; we’re capable of not getting it done against everybody. I mean, this is not a team that has arrived. We have a long way to go yet. But it is getting better.”

On if he’s surprised by all the attention surrounding the decision he made last week to have Maurice Jones-Drew take a knee at the 1 yard line:

“Am I surprised? Not really. The game’s covered well. That was an unusual situation that came up and it was outside of the normal acceptable minds of what you may do in that situation. I think with that there’s going to be some attention, some thought – would I do that? Most people say I couldn’t have done it. So all that is great for the game, for the coverage. For me, it was really simple. All I’m trying to do is do whatever it takes to help this football team have a chance to win the game, and in my opinion, that was the best way to close out that game to assure of us getting the victory. And that’s why we did it.”

Listen here to Del Rio with David Lamm on 1010 XL in Jacksonville

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