 Did I hear that you trained with Demar in the off-season a little bit? No, I didn't train with him, but I hung out with him one time in off-season. Just your thoughts about the situation just two days ago, and kind of what did you say to the team yesterday? Yeah, it's been praying every day, thinking about him. And just heavy on my heart about the whole situation and praying for his family and praying everything works out. I know God's a healer, so he'll see it through and he wakes up and be with his family and continue to enjoy his life. And like a lot of people said, we risk our lives playing this game and sometimes you don't think something like that can happen. But I'm just glad that they were there to respond and help as quickly as they can to get them to the medical center. And I've just been praying for him and just told the team to be grateful for every day for this game and life in general. Cuz nothing's problems to us, anything can happen in the blink of an eye. And just always give God thanks for what you have. Cuz as a kid, we want to play this game and live this dream. And sometimes it gets hard, life gets hard, but at the end of the day, God will put your situation for you to see it through and just have faith in him and everything that's going on. Derek, is there talk about whether or not games should be played this weekend? Or is it just this is what we do, we are playing this weekend, especially this team with so much on the stakes? I think they handled that game and that situation very well on both sides. And the unity that they both showed with that situation that happened. But I mean, I think we still have to play. I know a lot of guys probably shook up by it. I was a whole NFL community and all the players and things like that. I know everybody around just praying for Damar. But I mean, I think we still have to play this game set. So, but at the end of the day, I think everybody's just praying for everybody's safety and want to be as safe as possible. What do you think, sitting out a week, we'll help you with in terms of rest, rejuvenation, anything like that. Can you feel any bit of difference as you get ready this week? I don't feel 29 a day, that helps. But yeah, I mean, I feel great, like you said, got to rest and ready to get back to work. How much do you feel like this team's mindset doesn't really matter what happened the last six weeks if we went on Saturday? We kind of put in action what we want to do in the postseason? Yeah, I think just having a positive mindset is coming ready to work. I'm ready to get better, push each other every single day on all three phases. And just be very detailed in everything that we do, leaders doing their job to help bring their intensity and just doing that until Saturday. I know you find motivation in any way possible. A lot of the guys talking to them, they said that the fact that nobody's picking you guys, they relish that, they love that situation. How do you approach that? Do you look at that as like a form of motivation for yourself? Yeah, I really try to get too much in the outside stuff and nobody picking us, but we still got a lot of them go play. So it's just no trust we're leaving the guys we got here and what we do. And to continue to work until Saturday and then see what happens on Saturday. Derek, this core group has won a lot of big games together in particular, a lot of big road games. And sometimes maybe it is people picking it or whatever it is. A lot of people think that maybe you get hurt last year, for example, go out to LA and get a big win. You've been a part of a lot of those wins. Why is there a consistent element of this team that has been a part of that? I just think we trust and believe in the culture here, the guys here, and teammates in our game plan and what we want to do. The style of football we like to play. And I think it's just wanting to get back into that, coming to work every day. With a great mindset, positive attitude, and wanting to get better and pushing each other to be better. Just want me to go out there, be execute and do what you do on Saturday. What did you see from Josh, the way he played Thursday night, and just kind of his approach and practice going forward? Yeah man, just great demeanor, poise, taking control of the huddle, going out there, taking what the defense gives him. And he's had that demeanor since he's got here. And then being in there with him this week, he's locked in and I'm excited for him. When you look back at that first game, do you see a lot in the first quarter that tells you how you guys can get going against them? I mean, yeah, we have some positive plays, we're moving the ball. We just had some stuff inflicted the wounds with turnovers and things like that. But I think you just watch that film and you learn from it. See the things that we did well to try to go emulate that during the game on Saturday, but just the stuff inflicted the wounds, we can't have those. Is there anything else specifically why the run game was successful against Jaguars last time? I just think, guys coming off the ball, blocking, being physical. One-cut runs, everything they repeat about in the run game. Just trying to dominate the line of scrimmage. Thank God for the great job of doing that. And trying to continue that until this week and lead it to Saturday. Do you have any birthday plans? No, I'm just thankful to see another one. Does it seem to say you'd like a win for your birthday? Definitely, for sure. You got anybody in your friend group that is a Jags fan that would potentially trash talk you this week? Or they wouldn't be in your friend group if they were doing that? Guys I'm with in the high school who are Jags fans, but they don't really talk trash. I mean, guys I play football with in high school, Jags fans, they're all from that area. And the people around from my hometown probably are Jags fans as well. But nobody talks trash. They probably will during the game, but I won't hear them. But what have they done well defensively? Yeah, I mean, they've been playing lights out defensively. I think they play very well together. I think they are solid from the front and all the way to their secondary. I think their defense lines are disruptive. Linebackers are fast, they're smart, they flow very well. Secondary, they tackle very well, very experienced. And they rally from each other anytime they make a big play. So they've been playing very well, I think on all three phases. And I know it's going to be tough on Saturday. Derek, you've never been known as a fumble or anything like that. Are you doing anything extra in terms of ball security, anything individually and practice? Yeah, definitely. I've been trying to do the best I can to work on it, harp on it. Me and Coach Jude is working on it a lot. Whenever we are doing anything with the ball, just make sure I'm keeping it high and tight, being conscious of it. When I'm out there, trying to fight for extra yards. That's usually when stuff like that happens, you're not paying attention and deepens the players coming back, come from behind, raking the ball out and just doing everything I can to make sure I take care of the ball and don't put us in no critical situation when the ball comes out. Craig, Stoney is in position to set a mark, potentially, that has stood for decades. Is it almost a little ridiculous to think about a record that has stood for that long being at peril by a rookie? Yeah, it's obviously a great thing that he's done so far this year. To be honest with you, we really haven't talked to him which I'm sure he knows about it. But our main focus is to punt the ball as well as we possibly can because Jacksonville's got a dynamic returner in number 39 Jamal Agnew and we've got to do a hell of a job of stopping him. So if he ends up getting the record great, be extremely proud of him, be extremely proud of all the other guys that helped him. So yeah, to be honest with you, we haven't really talked about it, but I'd be happy for him though. What about on the net side of things, like how are you guys doing as far as getting that hang time where it needs to be? Yeah, we need to continue to work on that. It wasn't what we wanted this past week. So we'll continue to have him get up and through the ball because when teams end up getting eight man on us, where they're making everyone protect and we're singled out on the outside, we got to do a great job of getting hang time so our gunners can go down there and make plays, whether it's tackles, whether it's fair catches, all those things are going to help our team win the game. So we're going to really focus in on that today also as well as we did yesterday. How's he done on directional punting? It doesn't seem like you guys have done a lot of using one sideline or the other to try to have that extra man. Yeah, great question, because it's a totally different philosophy than what we had the past years. And we want to obviously play to his strengths too. And he's a guy that obviously can get a lot of yards on his punts. So the directional isn't what we're used to but we'll continue to work with him but we really want him to work on getting direction, hang time, and then when he can put them all together obviously our pun team does well. Play so many guys this year. What kind of challenges that presents you when you've got so many guys rotating maybe in and out of your units? Yeah, it is challenging but it's fun because we're getting new guys in a bunch and they have an opportunity to go make plays. So, you know, we really have to sit down and try to focus in on each individual skill set and see what they can do really well. And if it's running down the field as fast as they possibly can to go cut off the field we'll end up doing that. But I think that's a great part of and the challenge of coaching is when you work with new guys you've got to play to their skill set. So that's something that we have fun doing and hopefully ends up working out for us. How much has Josh been able to absorb and how much does an actual full practice week help considering he's had maybe four or five days of actual full practices since he got here? Yeah, it's been impressive how much he's been able to retain from one week to the next and then, you know, where we've been able to add things. He has a really good understanding of football been around a lot of systems and so he's able to, you know, kind of acclimate himself a little bit quicker than maybe, you know, a rookie wood or a younger player. How do you like the way he was able to keep things on schedule and execute the offense in his first start? Yeah, I thought it was a testament to his poise and his control, you know. He was in command most of the night and I thought it showed and, you know, that's what we're looking for is to, you know, make sure that we're not putting ourselves in bad positions offensively and I think he did a nice job of that. What have you learned about him, Todd, compared to what you, the information you had when he came in and what have you learned since he's been in the building? Yeah, tremendous work ethic. You know, I didn't know Josh all that well coming into this thing but he loves football, he's passionate about it. Starting to see a little bit more of his personality now that he's in this role and the way he interacts with his teammates, wide receivers and tight ends in particular. You know, and he's done a nice job, you know, running the line of scrimmage and making some checks and protection adjustments and all that. So it's been fun to watch the progress. I guess decide what to add to his plate this week as you go forward in terms of what he can handle of the offense and how he can get on the same page with the receivers. It's certainly, you know, it's paired with what we want to try to attack in Jacksonville's defense, you know? So being able to kind of look at that together, see what kind of concepts may hit his brain or he has exposure with or history with, you know, and being able to find that blend. So I think there's a balance there and certainly one input from him, you know, as we go through this process together and he's done a nice job of communicating. So from the turnovers, Todd, what do you think you guys can do better than in the previous Jacksonville game aside from the turnovers? Yeah, you know, obviously the turnovers is a number one, you know, but we also had a couple of times in the second half where we put ourselves way behind the sticks with kind of those self-inflicted wounds. So, you know, we're going to have to stay ahead of schedule and make sure we're not putting ourselves, you know, in bad situations. You and Mike have both consistently said that you intend to get the ball more to trailing and more to jig, but we haven't seen like the all go with that. Is this, shouldn't this be the kind of game where you're all in with the two most dangerous guys? Yeah, we hope so, and certainly have made attempts to, just because the production hasn't been there, it doesn't mean the effort hasn't. So we're always looking for ways to get our playmakers the football and this week, certainly that's paramount. Well, he potentially maybe helped back a little bit in the second half on Thursday, just to limit his snaps coming to this one or maybe what was going on with that Thursday night? Yeah, certainly we were trying to be competitive and go in that game, you know, but you wanted to be intentional and purposeful about people's rep counts or maybe what you were showing at a certain point and things of that nature. It's also an evaluation process for Josh and so there were a lot of things that factored into that. Mike mentioned earlier in the week about the inability to practice with speed over the last five, six weeks. The fact you're able to maybe do more of that this week, how much should that help Josh and how much maybe help other guys as well? I think it helps everybody, you know, even just the energy yesterday at practice, you know, being able to move around and get guys, you know, working full speed together kind of created that chemistry and that excitement, you know, to get on the same page and so that's always something that we're gonna relish is the opportunity to get out there and work as close to full speed tempo as we can and that's where chemistry is built, particularly with, you know, some new pieces in there. You mentioned the reps, how does that work as far as regulating who's going in, what package is, et cetera? Is that something, a conversation yourself with the position coach? Mike Brable, like how does that whole thing? You mean game day or throughout the course of the week? Yeah, so we do a lot of tagging out of our personnel groups, meaning we'll tag specific players that we want in there and so we try to handle it as best we can through that but then there's dialogue throughout the course of the game if there's a certain player that we're trying to, you know, see on a certain route or he's maybe playing a little faster than somebody else is or more physical. So you make those in-game adjustments, you know, some positions it's a little bit more relevant than others. You know, Derek's going to go until he's too tired to go, you know, but certainly at the wide receiver and tight end positions that that rotation can be a little bit fluid. And is there a build up for that leading up to the, like the week leading up to the game as far as like general, okay, this guy, we got to make sure he gets this amount of reps. We're going to get him this amount, et cetera. Yeah, I think it's hard to put a certain rep count, you know, goal if you will, because you don't know how the game is going to go. Right. And so what you try to do is as you're game planning, you try to balance it out or handle it within those personnel groupings to say, okay, we have enough in the game plan for so-and-so, we have enough in the game plan for so-and-so. And it kind of, you know, matures from there. So it's all part of the process of figuring out, you know, what tools are going to be available and, you know, how we can use them. You had a season high and pass attempts against the Cowboys. How much of that was a product of Derrick not being available versus wanting to get a full look at Josh and what he could do in the pass game? Yeah, I think certainly both contributed. You know, wanting to be able to see what Josh could do with his opportunities. Wanted to be able to try to get some guys' opportunities on the outside as well. And then, you know, when you don't have Derrick back there, you're not quite as tempted to turn around and hand it off as much as you can. Say, Traylon has done this. You're given, you know, he spent so much time off the field. How has he maybe been able to overcome that and progress in your opinion? Yeah, it's been a process. You know, there's been challenges to Traylon's kind of back and forth availability. And I think that Rob Moore's worked very hard to try to help him kind of understand the nuances of this offense and, you know, some of the challenges of the position at this level. You know, some things technique-wise that he wasn't really able to work on too much whether it be, you know, the early part of his development pre-season, you know, and then when he was unavailable for a little while during the season. So, you know, that's been a journey for him. But I think he's worked very hard and he understands the work that it's going to take to get where he wants to get. Very competitive guy. And, you know, I believe he's on the right trajectory. How many receivers with enough receptions to qualify? Robert's got the lowest yards per target in the league. How much of that's him? How much of that's what you're calling for him? How much of that's quarterback? You know, I think they're all contributing factors. You know, always be looking for ways to generate more explosives and try to get more yards in production. I, you know, I think it's fair to say that we've been, you know, shy of that goal this year. But, you know, I think there are a lot of contributing factors that go into that. Robert has done a nice job with some of the underneath zone adjustments and finding the holes in the defense underneath for us. And sometimes those don't produce the most yards. What was the, I guess, conversation like with Malik when he was told it was going to be Josh and how has he kind of handled the day since? Yeah, you don't get to this level without being a competitor. So I'm sure that there's, you know, a competitive spirit in there that was a little bit stung by it. I'll leave, you know, his reactions up to Sharon with you guys personally. But I know that, you know, he's a high character and highly competitive individual who wants to be out there. As far as Lawrence coming to this game compared to the last time you saw him, just where has he had his best? Yeah, I mean, he's playing at a really high level right now. Think he's throwing for over 1,200 yards these last five games, throwing eight touchdowns these last five games, had a really good day against us the first time around. And again, I think when he plays well, they win, right? And that's what they've been doing. They're playing as hot as anybody right now. They've got dynamic playmakers across the board, outside, the running back, the tight end, obviously. They're all dangerous with the ball in their hands. They all can take it to distance and they're all making plays for him right now. And he's doing a great job of finding all of them. Is there anything specific that you attribute to them playing at a high level right now? Because they've had the playmakers, but they've really kind of taken it up a notch last time. Yeah, I think his comfort level with what they're doing, I think he's doing a really good job of understanding what he's seeing defensively, getting the ball to the right people at the right times. And like I said, they're all, they're all dynamic, so regardless of who it goes to, they're all making plays for him with the ball in his hands. But yeah, he's doing a good job, I think just his understanding of what he's seeing and being able to deliver the football, you know? And then obviously with ETM back there, that's a different dynamic too, that you gotta be ready to stop him so that adds another element to it. How was it then? I think that film, you know, what problems did Evan and Grim kind of pose for your guys' defense and how can you kind of look at that to fix that specific point? Yeah, I think there was a lot of run after the catch. He had the one play down in the end zone where he went up and caught it and made a play. I thought we were in pretty good coverage and we just didn't make it and he made it, which good players do. But there was a lot of catch and run elements to it. There was the under in the red zone that he caught and ran in on us. There was the two minute one, a third and short that he ran the juke route, caught it and ran for another 20. The screen was another big play for him. So when he has the ball in his hands, he's tough to deal with in the open field and he's able to create yards, you know? So we gotta do a good job challenging him that line of scrimmage. I felt like he won. He won some of those one-on-one matchups and was able to get the ball in his hands and do what he does. And he's another one that's probably playing the best football as a tight end in the NFL right now. If you flew him last week, he's had like a surge in production. What have you seen? But is it game plan? Just targets going his way. What have you seen? Yeah, I think the quarterback likes him. I mean, I'd like him too. If you throw it to him for five yards and he ends up getting 25, like I throw it to that guy a lot, right? Cause he's patting the stats with relatively easy throws, you know? So I think there's a, the quarterback has confidence in him, right? There's a confidence level that's growing throughout. And he's always been a dynamic playmaker and he's coming on and he's playing at a really high level right now. He is. If you get to a Christian. They have been playing a lot of snaps outside, which is, I guess it's not ideal to have to have two rookies out there as much as you have. But are they, have they been kind of getting picked on a little bit though, being rookies out there? Yeah, I mean, I think, I think all offenses game plan and try to figure out where their strengths are compared to where they feel like they can have some advantage, you know? And they're going to try to attack those things. Maybe it was good to see Trey respond there late in the game last week because it wasn't going good for him. And he knows that up until that point, but he came back, he challenged late in the game. Late, we were able to go field on third down. And if they're out there, those guys are expected to make plays, you know? And I've said it before, they got to anticipate the balls coming to them every single time. Like, no matter what position you are, you better anticipate that you got to make an impact on that play. And don't wait around for the opportunity to come because when it does, you're not going to be ready, you know? So, I mean, I'm kind of, I'm pleased with where those guys have been. I know they've given up some plays here and there, but I think they continue to challenge, they continue to try to do the things we coach them to do. And hopefully come Saturday night, a few of those plays turn our way. If you get Christian back at a high level, what would that mean for the Stephens? Yeah, I mean, we'll see where he's at as we get going here through the week. I mean, he did a little bit yesterday and we'll see kind of where it goes here these next few days. But I think just the experience, you know, he's played a lot of ball. He's covered some good receivers in this league and he's gonna be covering some really good ones this week if he plays. So I think that's an aspect of it. And then just really, I think, his understanding of what we're trying to do, what we ask of these guys in our scheme and everything else. Again, these rookies, they're not really rookies anymore. They've all played a lot of football for us. But there is an element of experience and just a little bit further understanding with certain things in regards to our defense and also the offense and how they're attacking us. Like shutting down the run for you guys for a long part of this season, you know, made the other team one dimensional that really helped the pass rush too. Has that lesson, I mean, even though you've been shutting down the run for the most part, is that not necessarily equated to, you know, better pass rush as well? Yeah, we just haven't defended the pass. You know, I don't think that has anything to do with the run game. I think it's just we haven't done a good enough job defending the pass, affecting the quarterback, covering the guys, executing our zones. Like we just got to do a better job of making sure we're all on the same page and our coverage understanding what we're asking them to do and then being able to go out there and execute and we got to find ways to affect the quarterback. How beneficial was it just to have that rest for Danico Autry and looks like he's got some re-energized energy out there. You know, just watching him at practice. I think, I mean, not even just last week. I think when he was hurt, you know, coming back, like he's an older guy who's got a bunch of nagging things, right, so it might be one injury, but he's really getting treatment and getting healthy with all the other stuff he has going on. But he is, he brings that energy, that excitement. I think he's really excited to play this week to get back out there. And when he was down those four or five weeks, like he's a guy that's grumpy, you know, like he's mad. He doesn't want to be in that training room at all ever. Like he wants to be out here practicing, playing. And I think there's just, kind of develops an appreciation when you lose something for a little while and then you're able to get back out here and practice and play and be around the guys. Like I think that appreciation, that gratefulness to be back out here shows. Should be best combined version of he and Simmons that we've seen since October 23rd. Yeah, I mean, we haven't seen him together in a while. So that's what we're hoping, you know, that's why they're here. So hopefully those two guys have a good game for us and find ways to affect the quarterback. Inside linebackers group, obviously you got, maybe Dylan possibly coming back the way Jack's played recently with Monty, with that rotation. How do you feel about that going to this game? Yeah, I think they've taken big strides. I do, I think Jack has been great for us these past two weeks. He just does a great job of understanding our defense, communicating, getting lined up, being in the right spot. He does the things we coach him to do every single play. Like he's gonna be where he's supposed to be and he's gonna know how teams can try to find the weakness in the play and the coverage and the run scheme, whatever it might be. So he's a very cerebral player that it helps him a lot out there. And I think it helps a lot of our other guys. I think it brings comfort to a lot of our other guys here in his voice. Monty's been progressing. He has, he's made a lot of plays for us when he's been out there running around, hitting, I think it's improved each week with him and then getting Dylan back. We can't kind of see where he fits in the mold, but hopefully he's ready to go and he can be locked in and make plays when he's asked to make them. Like when they're there, hopefully we can all show up and make the plays when we have our opportunities.