The Season with Peter Schrager is a production of the NFL in partnership with iHeartRadio. What's Up, Everybody, Welcome to the Season with Peter Schrager. We are entering the final few days before training camps.
Begin in the NFL. As you're listening to this.
The Jets actually start camp this week as they have to get things going with the Hall of Fame game up ahead. They also got the news that they were on hard knocks this year, and I think all people are excited about it. The NFL is excited about it, NFL Films is excited about it. I'm excited about it. I don't get the feeling the Jets are so excited
about it. And Aaron Rodgers made as much clear when he took to the cameras when they were interviewing him at the golf tournament and basically said, the league shoved it down their throats.
Guess what they did.
I'm excited to see what we get from it. Sala is an interesting character in this one, one for the camera's not looking to make it about him, and yet he has.
Such a cool life, such a cool, interesting.
Family life, and one of the partons I like about hard knocks is they take us into the people's personal lives and goes into the homes. Robert Sala has seven kids under the age of thirteen. He's an NFL head coach. He's got all this expectations and all of I guess this pressure this year touse. I would like to think Salah is going to be one of the more interesting characters.
I know Rogers, it's going to be fascinating.
Question is Aaron as we think about that, does Rogers let them in for free?
This is the guy, Aaron Rodgers who has ip to his name that.
He could sell his own documentary following his own career for millions of dollars. Is he going to be open with the cameras? Is he going to be saying, hey, let's take a day through my existence here.
I don't see it.
I don't know if Rogers is going to be so welcoming, especially after we saw the quote that he gave at the golf tournament this weekend.
I also wonder like, does Rogers have the Lebron set up where Lebron has had people following him at all times like filming the Inevitable documentary? Does Rogers also have that you might, yeah, So I don't know. I also feel like, what are you going to get like footage of Rogers going on McAfee show once a week, Like, I don't know if that's going to make the most enticing Hard Knocks footage.
I'd like to see where Rogers lives.
I think that would be interesting just from the lifestyles of the rich and famous aspect of it.
I'd like to see.
Rogers take a day trip to New York City. I would love to be along on the ride on that thing. And you know, as much as he might be a polarizing figure with his thoughts on whatever it was during the pandemic or his way his departure with the Packers went, Rogers smart guy. He's got a pretty quick humor. I
think more Rogers the better. I think if we get on Hard Knocks and suddenly we're doing, you know, forty minutes on the third string corner and we're doing what's working out in the offensive line room, you're not getting what you really signed up for when you said, Jets, you must do this. So Aaron Rodgers, I would hope, would be a part of it. I'm just not sure how much he's going to give. Did you get a chance,
Aaron to watch The Quarterback on Netflix yet? The new series that has been produced by Omaha as well as NFL Films and follows around the season of Patrick Mahomes Marcus Mariota. And after a week of feedback from this thing, everybody's darling Kirk Cousins.
Yes, I am. I think I'm five episodes in so far. I'm trying to slow it.
I don't want to binge the whole thing because this is kind of like our content until you know, hard Knocks comes up. So I've been I've been slowly enjoying it, and I really like it so far.
All right, let me give you a couple of takeaways that I've had, and I want to hear whatever instant reactions you might have, because I haven't really talked about this with anybody except my wife, who has been watching it sporadically with me. One is Cousins the most likable, endearing, most just like I want to hug him and be his best friend.
Guy in the entire NFL. First of all, the guy takes an absolute beat.
You never hear him complain his cerebral nature to playing quarterback with the writing down every different plan. I think it was episode four, episode three where they showed him wearing that headset, which yep, what.
Is that called brain control? What was that then?
I don't remember, but like he's watching something and it goes dark if he's not paying enough attention.
It was a sports century on Larry Bird that he was watching on his iPhone, and if he's not paying attention and if his mind drifts, the lighting dims. So he just I've never heard of it. That's ai next level. They're running our world stuff, and yet Cousins like, I've been doing this for ten years. It's what I do.
He writes out every single play. That's my first thing. Cousins. Your thoughts on Cousins?
Yeah, I was talking to my girlfriend this weekend about it and she was asking, like what takeaways I had so far? And I was like, I like Cousins a lot more than I expected. He's also so much more calm and soft spoken. Like the things I know from Cousins are you like that the chains on the airplane and they go over that. But like he is, he's a nice dude, and like he's he's kind of silly, like he's wearing the clothes his wife puts out for him that morning, and.
You know, but yeah he does.
He takes such a beating it's I visibly winced when he had his chiropractor there, Like I always think the factors are scary, but like the next stuff, Oh my god, I know there's.
A little moment, and I'll break the fourth wall here.
There's a little moment where they beat the Bills in this dramatic game and he's.
Walking off the field.
Yes, I remember, I.
Know, I'm sorry your Bill's fin and he looks up into the crowd and as everyone's in the screen, hey, cool starter jacket man, Like he noticed a starter jacket.
So I have cousins number in my phone from.
Like the deep annals of meeting him back probably when he was with Washington. So I just sent him a text and not expecting a response, being like, best moment of the series is when you shout out the guy with the starter jacket and he wrote back to me and he's like, huge starter jacket.
Anyone who grew up in our era love starter jackets.
I had one.
I had to call it out. I'm like, yes, that's my first takeaway.
Second takeaway, I think Patrick Mahomes's wife, Brittany gets a bad rap. Everyone seems to think she's annoying when you hear her screaming or shit her. I think she comes across incredibly well on this thing, and I feel like she's a big reason for Patrick Mahomes's success, how committed she is to this lifestyle, but also their relationship as a whole, how strong it is.
It doesn't help that the show opens with her being like, Patrick, we need to take a photo here, Patrick, let's take a photo over here, and he's like, I hate photos, and she's like one more over here, over here, and like not a great start for her. They did her a little dirty with that. But yeah, I didn't realize that she was a part owner of a soccer team, Like, yeah, she's.
I played college soccer.
Yes, I'm impressed with her. I do like Mariota's wife more. I think I liked her, Like I don't know if you've gotten to this episode where she's watching I think it's the Falcons forty nine ers game and she's like, oh.
It's getting spicy in me. She's like swimming in the stands. I loved that.
Yeah, I like she also is studying the playbook and she knows it better than the Marcus does. She's literally reading back plays like double, why is it dragon?
I'm like what that was amazing.
One of my favorite moments with plays is when Mahomes sits down and he's watching the tape and he takes you through the entire thing and he's like, you can see because he's lined up a little closer here, and when we go in motion, it means they're in a zone read and so that means I can throw deep to the left, or I can throw the cross or on the left like that was one of my favorites too, him breaking down that playbook like that.
I find it really interesting because I work on a daily show. Obviously, I work on the Fox Sunday Show. I grew up and you always had edge NFL matchup around and there's all these sites.
Pfff.
I didn't I didn't play football at a high level. I didn't coach at a high level. So a lot of that X is and oh stuff. And they call it lebarros in TV talk where the guy goes to the board and Danie Rolotsky will chart it out and Brian Boldinger will say, here's what happens.
Here's how it broke open. It's like almost like calculus.
To me, or it's speaking you know, a different language where I just kind of tune out and I'm like, I get it. He gets open and I know it's for everyone else for some reason.
When Mahomes is.
The one taking us through it, and when the player who actually did it takes us through it, it's much easier to follow.
And it's really cool. It's like watching chess in a way.
Yeah.
And he's like pointing out, look at this one person on this play, and this is why this is happening. It's not like I'm looking at the entire formation and trying to see everyone moving. It's just him saying, here's one guy. I'm just focused on this and this is the thing to look at. And this is how I know what defense are and kind of thing.
I have two more takeaways.
Third one Mahomes uncensored. You know I'm that dude and mother f this it's all.
I don't know if it's almost like he's an actor playing what.
He thinks like a tough guy man, yet it's authentic.
I guess, I don't know. He says warm, cuddly, like sweetheart of a kid.
And then he's out there cursing off Max Crosby and I'm like, all right, there's a different side of him.
Yeah, I also love his he he kind of does the Andrew Luck thing too, right.
Yep, good play, good play man.
Always compliment to Crosby.
But Nick Bosa, he was like, man, you're great. After if you're and He's like, you're outside the box, but you're great. Man.
That was awesome. And my last takeaway is an open question.
And this sounds like if we have Good Morning Football right now, I would one hundred percent say this would be our a block to start off the show.
The three quarterbacks you would want heading into twenty twenty three. Let me give you my three first, and then you can marinate. And if you're a listener, and you're a regular listener this podcast, tweet us, tweet me.
I don't know.
I'm outside right now. I got planes flying over me. Here's what I'm thinking. I want Rogers.
I want this Jets here, whether it's great or whether it's terrible, I want Rogers. I feel like this is going to be an interesting season for him and for the New York Jets and for the New York media market. I'd love to see Rogers because they have a hard schedule, they have the hard knocks. They also have the extra week which is in Canton, Ohio, so they're there early, and then you just have this just this amazing thing.
Okay, so that's Rogers.
Baker Mayfield third stab at this thing, kind of fighting for his career. Baker has things to say. I think he is a great character in this league. I don't want him to be like relegated to a journeyman or a backup moving forward, like this is his last fight, and I think Baker has a lot to say.
The last one is a.
Guy that I've only met once and it was at the combine and I was blown away by him, and then he was taken way before where everyone had him going in February. Once the draft came into April, I think the Anthony Richardson thing in Indianapolis would be really cool because and.
Fantasy owners do what you will with us. What I hear at Indianapolis is like this guy is the super freak.
This is Yannis coming to the NFL at quarterback six foot six doors. The ball a country mile can apparently run like he's you know, Jalen Hurts or DeShawn Watson in his prime, Like I'm here for it. So the Anthony Richardson experience, he's going to be twenty, I think when the season starts, and I'm not taking out of the possibility that he's starting week one, so I'm fascinating what he's got.
So those are my three, three very different situations.
Rogers on this ride, Baker kind of fighting for his career and still being Baker Mayfield that you know, the same son of a gun that he's always been.
And then Anthony Richardson, let's get to know this kid. Who are your three?
So I think I don't I don't want to copy what they currently have in terms of the breakdown of the three guys, but I think he wants someone who's like a competitor and one of the top young guys, like a Mahomes. So I feel like a Burrow or maybe a Trevor Lawrence would be really interesting. I also feel like we don't get a ton of Trevor Lawrence stuff right now, and I think he would be really interesting to see, So he would probably one of those two would.
Be my top guy.
I want someone who Sorry Mariota, but someone who's also in that like competing for their job might lose it. I like Baker, but we've seen Baker so much. You know, he's he's got enough commercials and everything. So I kind of want Tannehill, especially like why they've got Levis behind him. I think you know There'shill.
I had Tannehill on Hard Knocks with the Dolphins ten years ago.
We've gone ten years ago.
Let's go Tannehill.
Fine, so you get Tannehill, and that also means we get vable because some of them have more coach involvement than others.
Yes, all right, who's your third?
And then the third I think I would want. I think I want Daniel Jones.
Oh god, you just picked Trevor Lawrence, Ryan, Tannehill, and Daniel Jones as the three personalities you want to follow for this season.
Yeah, okay, maybe not Daniel Jones.
There I have not gotten a single quote out of the last two in their entire careers, and in the first got well, Tannehill maybe, but no.
Come on, Daniel Jones. Lamar, Yes, now we're talking. Give me Lamar. I would love to follow Lamar for a year.
And this is whatever situation. He's in in Baltimore. Sorry to shame Daniel Jones there.
No, I was trying to think of someone who just signed a contract, and Lamar is the obvious one.
I don't know why what with Daniel Jones. I'm to New York, I'm in midtown.
So yeah, I just bullied you into picking Lamar.
If you want to go Daniel Jones, believe me into a better pick I think. So that's next one.
All right, today's podcast guest. Really excited for this one. We're about to hop on with him. The offensive coordinator of the Jacksonville Jaguars. You mentioned Trevor Lawrence. Just now, here's a guy who was in Trevor Lawrence's ear all last year as he took that giantly forward and gosh, I'm excited to see what he has to say. This is Press Taylor o C of the Jacksonville Jaguars.
So excited for our guest this week.
He is the offensive coordinator of one of the best young offenses in the league, and he's got a really cool career and he's a great all around coach in the NFL. With no further ado, Jaguars offensive coordinator Press Taylor. Welcome to the season with Peter Schriker.
Thanks man, thanks for having me.
Great to have you. You and I have got to know each other over the years, but I first became aware of your name post Super Bowl and I'm gonna go why. And it wasn't because of your amazing relationship with Nick Foles or Carson Wentz. When I was doing a deep dive post Super Bowl, like the days after, they were like the Philly Special, it starts with Press Taylor. Now, I know you deflect that that kind of you know, it's a team at for the Philly Special. Let's start
off right there before we go back any further. We bring it up to speed. Take us through Press Taylor's relationship to the Philly Special, one of the biggest play in Super Bowl history.
Yeah. So, I was the assistant quarterbacks coach in Philly that season and one of my jobs was just helping Frank Reich, you know, game plan given ideas. Obviously that season we lost our starting quarterback late in the year. We're rolling with Nick, you know, at the time of backup going into the playoff run, Frank Wright comes to my office and just to say, you know, we're probably gonna need something through this playoff run. Some gadgets, give me,
give me your best ideas well. One of my things all season long is basically a glorified quality control. Being an assistant position coach was to watch everything around the league all the time. I'm tagging film. I'm tagging cutups or coverages or whatever it may be. So I see a lot of film and I'd spend money.
Random, random Browns Ravens game. You're watching it just because we might say something.
I'm watching every plus twenty pass attempt that week. Every Monday night. I'd kind of take two hours and just watch across the league, different things, explosive plays, red zone passes. That's kind of where I got to that one, was just watching red zone passes and seeing that, and it was like a meaningless twenty. It would have been in the twenty sixteen season, like Week seventeen game, I think the Bears are.
Out of it playing I think it was the Vikings.
Yeah, so it's Matt Barkley playing quarterback. Alshan's on the field. Who's on our team at that time? I tagged it. I had five or six other versions of it from different teams. We just happened to pick. So I have a cutup of you know, ten examples of this thing right here. Whatever we're going to call it at the time.
The same play, very similar.
Maybe drawn a little differently, you know, maybe not the quarterback fake in or whatever it may be. Even college versions, we're college rules are different. You can put your hands on the center, toss the ball to running back and still throw it. In the pros, there's nuances to the rules you can't do. So we were kind of massaging that as we went, but present these ideas to Frank. He's like, I like that one. Let's do that one kind of fits some schemes. We run some different presentation
down that area. So we kind of take it. That's before the playoff run. We have the buy where the first round seat we get the buy. So we just start working it, you know, once or twice a week, working our way through it. Carry it through that bye week, carry it through the Falcons game, carry it through the Vikings game. We have to convince Doug not to call it in the Vikings game. In the fourth quarter.
Let's talk about this. I love this right here. So dogs, so we're rolling, You're up thirty points, and let's do the play.
We'd hit a flea flicker, we'd hit all this stuff. Everything's very sim The crowd's going wild, like he's just gonna feed the momentum.
Right here, empty the bag, if you will, exactly.
And so we're all like, he's I'm gonna go Philly, especially guys. Good No, no, no, no, everybody, Mike, grow Johnny. We're all screaming in the headset. No no, no, no no, We're just save it, save it safe. So then we go into we're playing New England and the super Bowl and we're practicing. We run. We practice in Philly for the first week. Okay, so we're running all our everything,
we got all our trick plays, everything. We go practice at the University of Minnesota in the super Bowl and we're in a dome, but we don't practice it ever. We're like, we don't we don't know what's we don't know who's around here, who these people are, whatever it may be, We're not gonna run.
There's a hystory of practices, maybe a super Bowl keep it simple.
Sure, So the only time we rep it the week of the Super Bowl is and walk throughs in a hotel ballroom where it's just us, just our offensive unit in the hotel ball and we walked through it a handful of times, but we've been repping it for almost a month now, so we kind of worked out some kinks and figured it out, and then you know, we don't know if he's going to call it. You always have these trick plays. Sometimes you carry a trick play the whole year and it never gets called. It's not
the right time, nobody's feeling it, whatever. And then Nick kind of spurred the whole thing. You know, Nick comes off, We take a time out on fourth and one Nick comes off that you want Philly. He called it Philly, Philly, Philly, Philly. Doug you know, looks him in the eye and saw some convictions. Yeah, let's do it. So that's kind of
how it all spurred about. But yeah, I mean it's a copycat league, like you know, we're all stealing plays that we see work and fit our system and then turn it into our own.
It's funny because I remember McVeigh ran it in a playoff game, ran a trick play and it was for a two point conversion against the Packers, and afterwards, I think I said, or maybe it's a regular season game. And I sid to Sean, I'm like, that was amazing. How'd you draw that up? He's like, oh no, the Dolphins right out last week Salvin Akhmed ran it like it was the same exact play, Like we just took it from when we really liked that they did.
Was they then Ben Johnson beats the Packers on it last year?
Yeah, yes he did.
We ran out to Golden Tate a couple of years back too, exactly.
So it's like you see it, You're like, what is that play? And it's like, no, we just stole from someone else. And there's no shame in that, right.
None at all none. What sir, you're trying to move the ball.
Yeah, all right. Your story for the listeners come from, obviously, I would say, a football family. Your pops was a coach. Your older brother is Zach Taylor who's the head coach of Cincinnati Bengals. But your path is not as maybe direct as as Zachxpert was. Hey college superstar into coaching, and to take the path, you were a high school player going in You went to played college, but not major division one, am I correct?
No, I originally went to junior college out of high school. So for two gimes. When I'm a six foot tall quarterback, I threw for two thousand yards in high school. You know, we had a really good pl but mostly skilled players, but we were old school under center all that. So one highly recruited guy. I had some D two one double A offers at the time, but wanted to play D one football. So I went to junior college. And my brother had gone to junior college the same one actually.
But I didn't know that.
Yeah, so he had, but he had bounced back there. He went to Wake Forest out of high school, went to Butler, had a lot of success, went on to Nebraska. I had a great career there. So we were familiar with the staff at Butler, so they recruited me. I wanted to play D one, so I wanted to, you know, take that opportunity to go and develop a little more. So went there, had two great years playing there, really enjoyed it, and then went on to Marshall University and played.
Two years years. Not out of high school though, yeah.
Yeah, no, not out of high school. So kind of developed into that and had had a good experience doing that. Spent two years at Marshall University.
Did you play quarterback at Marshall?
I did, Yeah, I was really a backup.
Who are you behind? Were you like left Witch years or was it Pennington or after?
No, I was younger than those guys. Yeah, younger than those guys.
So you go to Marshall and then careers over in Then what.
I think I knew early on, I was going to coach just kind of my dad was my dad coach. My brother was kind of getting into coaching at that point coming out, and so knew I was going to coach. My brother was at Texa and at the time he was like, hey, you can be a volunteer assistant here, you know you could. I was trying to get into Oklahoma at the time, that's home for us. And then my brother knew some people on staff at Tulsa, and
I knew the head coach I had. My dad grew up with the head coach at the time, Bill Blank and Chip. So I just sent an email saying, Hey, I'd love to get on staff here. I'll wash cars, I'll find a place. I don't need anything, just let me sit in your meeting room. And so he just sent I spent in this long email. He just responds, Hey, come see me. So next morning, jump in my car. I'm sitting in front of his office at six o'clock. His secretaryis, do you have an appointment? And said no,
he just said to come see him. I'm here. So I just sat there and then we end up talking. He's yeah, I got a roll for you, and you come to this. I stay with in a basement at some family friends And.
Is that right? So you're living in the basement of a family friend's house and you're like, and this is for an entry level job at a you know, Tulsa's had some years, but it's not exactly Ohio State or Michigan.
No, not at all. But they'd had some good teams and it was a good experience for me. And so for the first five months I stayed in my mom's sorority sisters family's basement.
I love this.
Didn't get paid and just trying to get some free meals and hang out and learn some football.
Did you have a family at this point or are you so low?
No?
No, no, solo, solo, so nothing to lose.
I want to be a coach. Yeah, and what a lesson for everybody.
Right, just just kind of chasing dream, doing whatever is possible, and you know, going to work. I just wanted my foot in the door. I felt like I could, I could earn my keep if I could get my foot in the door, and that I was fortunate enough to get that opportunity.
So then from Tulsa at that position, what's next?
So I'm at Tulsa for two years. My second year at Tulsa, so really I spent that first six months with the DFO time director Football Operations, just helping him. But I'm in meetings, I'm around all of a sudden, the GA that's coaching quarterbacks because we didn't have a quarterback coach. The time goes to LSU. He had a pre relationship with Steve Kragthorpe. Steve Kragthorpe's the PC at
LSU at the time, takes this guy with him. Well, there's an opportunity now for a GA position in coaching quarterbacks. So I was given that opportunity because kind of, you know, my four or five months of being there, being around those guys, the head coach, we've gotten to know each other well, and I guess I'd earned his trust. So it gave me this opportunity coach at quarterbacks. So then meet my wife my second year there, which I think is an important part of my story, but she would say it is.
The record.
Ye, So meet her there, and then the summer before my second year at Tulsa, my brother is in his first year as a quarterback coach at the Dolphins, or he might have been assistant quarterbacks coach time. So we're going down on a family trip to Disney World, I think it was. So we're hanging out. It's the last day there in the office. So I'm just hanging out
in his office. Well, Chip Kelly comes through. Chip was at Oregon at the time, had some NFL interests at the time, but was going back to organ So you know, we get a chance to talk to one of the revolutionary minds and the football time. So we're just firing off questions. He leaves the room. We're typing out everything you said. Just we're note takers. That's that's kind of what we did. When are you talking about how do you practice?
I want it for the listeners because if you, if you, if you just fly in and you're.
Like, all right.
Chip Kelly a coached for the Eagles and Fort Niners and whatever he's coach. You see, there was a five year window when he was in Oregon where every NFL coach, like if you were asked them, who's most innovative offense? One in it was Chip Kelly and it wasn't even a question, no.
Not at all. So this so the chance to sit there for three hours with this guy in a room, just my brother and I and him and some other coaches in and out was invaluable. So we're just firing off questions talking all that go our separate ways. That was cool. A year later, he ends up taking after that season, ends up taking the Eagles job. There's a guy on stab at Greg Austin, who was a GA form at the time at Oregon, Okay, was actually an
offensive lineman from a brother at Nebraska. When my brother's playing quarterback, Okay, Greg calls me. I'm on a walk, you know, along the river in Tulsa with my girlfriend at the time. He calls and says, hey, I'm going to Philly with Chip. We're talking, We're throwing around names, trying to find we need a young guy that can work with quarterbacks, can work for nothing as long as that we need to and so I said, I'm in.
They didn't talk about pay, we didn't talk about title, we didn't talk about I said I'm there.
Did you ask your girlfriend on the walk? Are we in?
You just said at that time I didn't. I said, yeah, I'm in it. So I just signed up without knowing what was going on, and it worked out. They brought me in, ended up getting on staff there, and that was kind of how I got my foot in.
I remember that first, the first summer with Chip, and it was like, first of all, you guys are the first to like put the geo trackers on every fire, and it was like this modern sports science And I'm not mocking at all because I think it's a it's the standard now. The time there was about thirty articles about it and brought in all these different experts. And then the other thing was you got if I'm not mistaken.
In the quarterbacks room, it was like Bradford Sanchez Tebow like, it was everyone right.
We had everybody roll through there. When we first get there, it's Michael Vick, Nick Foles in the room right there, and then it goes. We ended up at Barkley Sanchez, Sam Bradford. You know, we had a t bow came through. We had all these guys kind of rolled through there. So it's really cool, you know, looking back on that three year experience.
Yeah, different quarterback types to work with, right, Like, and how does that impact you as a coach or a young assistant working with them? Like, Okay, here are five different players, five different skill sets, but let's try to do what we can to make it work for all of them exactly.
And we kind of tinkered, you know, we had a different starter every year. We kind of tinkered the system every single year. And it was that was cool because with Chip nothing was off the table. It was what can we do? And then you know, the way he teaches, the way he thinks, it was very forward thinking. So it's fun. You know, we're kind of just a think tank of we can try to do whatever we want any sort of way.
So we have how deep would you guys go? Would you go to like Division III? Like what do you look for when anything? Any high school?
Should kind of cut his teeth coaching at New Hampshire and so it was, you know, we'd watched clips. Here's what we did at New Hampshire. We'd have install tapes of a New Hampshire play and sometimes you get the players looking at you sideways. And then we'd introduce it and we'd kind of turn it into our own thing
and see if it worked. Maybe it'd make it to a game, maybe it wouldn't, but we or we just get access to it to coaches, and you know, maybe it just got left on the cutting room floor, but you're seeing all this and you're seeing that football's football, regardless of the level. If we can make it work in our system and explain it to our guys and understand it and teach it, why can't we do it? So we were always it felt like just this think tank of football, and it was awesome.
That first year with Chip, and then obviously Chip gets shown the door and incomes Doug Peterson. How do you stay on staff? How do you ingrain yourself with a whole new crew of guys? And I guess for the coaching lifeers listening here like is there survivor's guilty for something like that, we were like, well, some of my guys haven't been knocked out, but I'm still here and I've got a family to provide for.
Oh yeah, I mean you know, I'm kind of looking i'd gotten married at the time I got married in twenty fifteen, that was the year that was Chip's last season in Philly. So then Chip goes to San Francisco. We're just kind of in limbo as a coaching staff. You know, they tell you, hey, you get an opportunity to meet with this new coach. See how it goes. It's his call. So I'm kind of thinking in the back of my mind, like I'm going to have to go to San Francisco. And I'm like, I'm newly married,
I'm a quality control. I'm not making enough money to live out in San Francisco, So what am I going to do? But I get a chance, obviously sit down with coach Peterson. We just talk, kind of share. I kind of shared my vision for myself, what I was doing, what I want to do, where I came from all this, and so he just wanted to keep me and said, you know, I'm going to make you the assistant quarterbacks coach, which was at the time of promotion and title. I'm
still a quality control, You're still breaking that. You're doing the same stuff. You're just you get to your resume sounds a little better.
It's amazing, and then Chip goes on to San fran You stay with these guys and then is that where you meet Frank Rake and the rest.
Yes, So Frank comes in, John d. Filippa comes in as the quarterback coach, and it was a little unprecedented the time. They kept a lot of us. So Jeff Stallin stays Jeff Sallen was brought in by Chip, he stays on, Douce Staley stays on, Justin Peel stays on. You know, there were a lot of us that kind of stuck through. So we there was probably four or five of us in the offensive staff room that were holdovers, so we had a working relationship. But then that was
cool because Doug comes in. Doug brings what they're doing with Andy. Frank brings in what he's done in his past. John d. Flippo had been a coordinator, He brings in what he's doing. And then four or five of us have this idea of what we'd built with Chip, and so we kind of meshed this whole system together and create, you know, our offense at that time. So it's there's bits and pieces of people say the Andy Reid system,
the chip spread, whatever it may be. But we just, I mean, like you do any season, you just kind of form it onto the players you have and what you know and what you think presents issues for a defense.
That rookie year for Wentz goes well, he wins the job, and then obviously he's having this MVP season and then you go to Los Angeles and this much anticipated battle against Goff and he goes down with a knee quickly. Carson and you what was your relationship and you know the toughness you saw from wins to kind of handle that situation where we're gonna go on this ride and you're on the team, but gosh, you're not the one throwing the passes in the big game.
Yeah, I mean that's the tough part of it. Again, I'm assistant quarterback coach, so I'm more more or less a fly on the wall.
Now.
I'm offering input to Frank and coach Y Filippo and all that, and I'm a sounding board for the quarterbacks as well. So I got good relationship with all those guys. But Carson goes down, Nick steps in. I'd been there when we originally had Nick, so Nick was there with Chip. We end up, you know, trading Nick for Sam Bradford. Well, that Carson's rookie year. Obviously, we trade Sam to Minnesota. Carson steps in and ends up starting that rookie year,
bring Nick back in as the backup in seventeen. So we had a previous relationship under a different staff.
Talk Nick out of retirement, if I'm not mistaken, Yeah.
I think Nick was borderline retirement there for a while after after a stint away Kansas City, Yeah, and then came back through. So yeah, so we came in and Carson goes down, and then it just kind of quickly as an offensive staff, as quick as we could, we pivot more to the thing that Nick does well. And a lot of that was going back to the success
he had under Chip. Some of the play action concepts, some of the RPO game that we developed in that system, we'd still had in our system, and we just kind of pulled it back out of the playbook and featured it a little bit more, and then we're able to kind of create this run with Nick late in the year.
Yeah. Your relationship with Foals, you guys are tight, right.
Yeah. So when I got married, my wife comes out. Nick's wife and my wife really hit it off. We end up having kids at the same time. We both have daughters. They end up being close, So really they started a friendship. We have a professional relationship and then you know, you spend time in the off season when they're around, getting dinner together something like that. So we developed a friendship through that. Yeah, so that was cool.
I've said this before. I got killed for it on It was after you guys beat the Bears in that playoff game, the Cody Parky double dooint game, and I came on camera and said, I don't care if it's Tom Brady, I don't care if it's Peyton Manning, I don't care who it is. And if I need one drive and one game, I think I'm going with Foles. And it was one of those deals where an NFL network put that out there and it was like a
press release and it was on Instagram. And I still to this day people call me a clown for it, and yet I quietly in certain corners, we'll look around and be like I stand by like fools. When the game was on the line, there was maybe no one better than Nick Foles.
Yeah, he did a great job. He rose the challenge. Those two and seventeen, the NFC Championship against Minnesota and the Super Bowl against the Patriots are two of the best quarterback performances and modern folks to sit there and
watch him play and yeah, exactly. I mean, I think he played as well as anybody has and those two and for the moment they were you know, it's not just some regular season game this guy pulls and they're two of the biggest games and the franchise history at the time, and so he to play the way he did was awesome.
You go to the Colts after the Eagles, that's you know, with Frank and then you end up in Jacksonville with Doug last year. You get there first time where it's like, Okay, yes Doug is an offensive coach, but it's really your offense. The change when you get that title and you get the opportunity to kind of move that with this young quarterback Trevor Lawrence, especially coming off what was just you know, a forgettable first season with Trevor, Like, what was that like? Going into that That.
Was fun because it was kind of a clean slate. You know, rarely do you walk into a situation where you have this first round kid that you know, generational talent that gets thrown around a lot.
But that was it.
But you know, honestly struggled his rookie year. He's the first to admit that. And so but you get this basically piece of clay, and the type of kitty is obviously becomes a big deal. But you've got a clean slate to work with. We've got money to spend that, you know, the front office was willing to spend and go out and invest in the receivers and the people around him. And then again we put together a pretty cool coaching staff and kind of made our own system.
So we take what we'd done in Philly that Doug and I are familiar with. Phil Rausher comes in from Minnesota, you know, kind of in the coming from the Kubiak system, Jim Bob Cooter and Mike McCoy coming from more or less the Peyton manning Philip Rivers passing game, which was something I was familiar with being with Frank Reich and Indy. So we the three of us kind of have our own language in the past game. Doug and I have
our language from Philly. Phil kind of has these revolutionary ideas from and on in our world, revolutionary ideas from the Kubiak system, the Shanahan thing taking over, and so we just kind of put this together and then we molded around this really special young quarterback, you know, bringing
in Christian Kirk, Zay Jones, Evan Ingram, Travis, etn. And just kind of tried to have massage it to fit our skill set, the skill set of the guys around him, and be creative and you know, again with Doug, Doug's encouraging us to to think out of the box and do whatever we need to do to create the offense that we're going to become.
Two different. Trevor Lawrence questions A when did you first see And it could have been the first practice he laid eyes on him, like this guy's special. When was that moment for you where you're like, ooh, this is something different.
Yeah. I think just watching him throw through the OTA process, just routes on air, it's like this is the ball never hits the ground, you know, it's just kind of that type of thing where it's on air, that's what you'd expect. But you know, he was special in that regard and I'd been around really good high picks, you know, Michael Vick, Sam Bradford, those type of Carson went. You've been around those high picks and you'd seen it and you're like, okay, it's on par with that, it's special.
And then just getting to be around him through the off season, you're like, this guy's are really laid back. You know, nothing seems to bother him. He doesn't get but you don't know, you haven't been in any fire with him. Yeah, go through the season, we kind of start out highs and lows. You know things are going good. We hit a little rough patch, but you believe like this guy's and special. But the mindset I think really
showed up to me particularly was the Baltimore game. That's kind of where we started to hit our stride where the fourth quarter we need a drive to win the game and he looks like he's just playing catch in the backyard. You could feel from the press box you can feel this momentum building and the way the kid's playing, the confidence, the way he's throwing the ball. I mean, you're just watching him throw it and you kind of
know there's a little more conviction in that. You see the passion come out and the way we win the game and all that. So you start to see that, you start to think, like, Okay, this mindset thing with the kids real. He is steady, he's even keeled, he's composed, but he's passionate, like he is a fiery fighter. And that's kind of just what you wanted to see. You hadn't really seen it.
Yeah, and of course you know, the great high school player, a great college player. But after the first year of the pros, it's like, all right, well that doesn't mean anything in the NFL. Sure, And to hear that he's a laid back. I don't know Trevor. I've never interviewed him. I don't know him, but everyone says he is as authentic as it comes. He is who he is. He's not trying to put on airs and either you know
the players, they all love him. So what is that quality that you see from him that really makes him stand out?
That's the big Honestly, we were playing We played golf with a couple buddies two or three days ago, and I had a buddy that's a Jags friend that didn't know him or anything like that, and we get off He's like, is he always like that? Just chill? He said, yeah, you know, I've never really seen him lose as cool or anything like that. I've seen him getting tense and a little more competitive, but he's pretty much just always the same guy, even keeled, and I think just the
authenticity that he carries himself with guys appreciate that. He is humble, but he's accountable. You know, if something goes wrong, he's the first to say, that's all me. If whether it's him or not, he's the quarterback, he's going to stand there. He's going to take the arrows for his guys. And I think guys see that and guys respond to that. I mean, when you know what you're getting out of a guy, you know he's got your back, you know you're you're willing to fight a little extra for him.
And I think that's our players saw that from the jump, because we brought in a lot of new guys that you know, didn't know much about him other than the hype and struggles his rookie year. But you know, he quickly earned everybody's trust and the way he prepares and the way he plays and the way he treats people now.
I'm going to get you on the board in the All twenty two and you're gonna put the filmer on your favorite Trevor Lawrence pass of the twenty twenty two season.
Oh man, there were some special ones. One of the ones, I'd say that really kind of part of it was the time in the season. Looking back now you realize it was a spark. But we go honestly, we beat Baltimore in this emotional comeback win. We go to Detroit and just get our faces kicked in. I mean, we fumble the second play of the game. They just ran us up and Trevor gets dinged up pretty good. So he's hurt. You know, we thought he tears his acl,
his ankle something like that. He comes back into this game, we're already down thirty, fights his tail off for his guys. That was cool to see. Don't practice much of the week going. We're playing Tennessee at Tennessee, first time we're playing them in season. So he's banged up. Yeah, so he's banged up. We're not sure if he's going to play.
C J.
Betherd's ready to roll all week. You know, come Friday, Trevis's I'm playing I'm good to go. So he comes out again. We're trying to limit movements with him, protect him a little bit. Well, you know, we just kind of start rolling as an offense, throwing the ball over the yard. We have a short, little five yard in route to Evan Ingram singled up on the outside or runner two by two, So he's outside at number one, just gonna run a five yard in banging a completion.
Keep this change moving well, Trevor pumps him. Trevor gives him a double move, just feeling something at the time. You know, he'd been playing really well throughout the game. Throws a double move. Evan doesn't necessarily win right away, but Trevor puts in a spot where Evan's got a chance to go get it, make a play that kind of just right there showed you the confidence, the ownership
he had in the system himself. You know, I think that game, he's thirty of forty two for three ninety and three touchdowns, playing on a bad ad play on a game we didn't even know if he'd play it, and that really sparked us. I think that kind of kicked us into a five six game win streak or something like that at the time.
And it also shows the ceiling right like or the unlimited like oh wait, he could do.
That exactly, and the confidence to do it. You know, that's not something we necessarily we talked about, hey, you've got the green when I coached to do that, not necessarily, but he doesn't. He gives him a pump. He has faith in his guys and he can throw it right where he wants to throw it and guy makes a play. So that for us as a coaching staff was like, Okay, this guy's special. There's something different. He believes in this his teammates. That was a big turning point for our
season there with that throw. But you know, there's a number of other throws that you know in the Dallas late in the Dallas game, I think it's fourth down, he scrambling, he throws when it goes basically threw a guy's hands over his head, hit Zay Jones, keeps us rolling, walk off field, go. There are a couple things like that that I could name a few that were just special type throws.
And the potential for him unlimited.
Yeah, unlimited. I would I wouldn't put a ceiling on it, just athletically where he is mentally where he is. You know, hopefully we can keep this core together with him to continue to grow around him because they all play really well together. But you know, it's really fun to see him just want to come in every single day and get better and be a better play. That's the way he attacks it and the way he carries himself.
I know how close you are with your brother Zach. Do you guys ever you know, whether you're hanging out at the family having a barbecue or just texting him like, my guy's better than yours, Trevor would be Burrow, And do you ever go like that way? Does it ever get to that point where you guys like this is my dude, that's really let's go.
I think we both I think it's both clear we love the guy we're coaching right now. It's never come down to my guys better than your guy. But I think both of us would would stand on the table for the guy we have right now. But it's fun to see. I mean, we're just getting to work with these two guys that are a special point in their career right now.
And what a cool test when it is to your family that you've got two brothers, and both of you guys are in the ears of maybe the best two young quarterbacks under a certain age in the NFL. And your dynamic with Zach, like, are you watching games and looking at like the corner of your eye at the scoreboard, either rooting for him, we're doing against Like, are you keeping an eye on what they're doing too?
Absolutely, that's my brother. I'm his biggest fan. So unless it hinders the jag in some way, I'm rooting for the Bengals always. So I always kind of keep an eye on where the scores are in their games. Whenever I get a chance, in between a drive and between a quarter, whatever it may be, when my attention doesn't have to be dialed in, you kind of catch the scoreboard and say, oh, they're winning by four, they're in a tight game, whatever it may be. You just keep
an eye on it. When we get a chance, we're not playing at the same time, I've got it on I'm watching the Bengals.
What makes you guys different from each other? Obviously you see the last name, and you see that you guys both wanted to coach, and like your father, you're both coaching offenses and you're doing a great job at the NFL the highest level. What separates the two of you or what would you both say, Hey, if you look in the mirror, this is a long different than Zach.
That's a good question. Honestly, I don't know. We've never worked together. You know, we've always shared ideas. I design, not necessarily I'd love to work with them at some point in time. I think that'd just be cool for us to get a chance to work together. But you know, our path is just never the right time to kind of get together. You know, he was a first taking his job as a first year coach, and you know, when I was coming out of Philly, it wasn't really
he had two tough years in Cincinnati. It wasn't really the right time to bring your brother in and double down on that. So, you know, that one something that ever really came up. We never talked about, you know, doing this, not doing this. It was just I've got my path, you've got your path. Let's do our thing and root for each other from far. If it works out in the future, that would be awesome. But uh, I'm not I don't know if I could say what's
necessarily different. We have a very similar demeanor. We've kind of come up in different paths, but at the same time, our paths have crossed and weird ways where we've been exposed to the same systems through different people. But you know, I think just the the element of like our environments are different at this point in time. So it's you know, he's doing what he needs to do to be the best coach for the Bengals, and I'm doing what I need to do to be the best office coordinator for
the Jaguars. So you know, our offense is pivot at certain times, and whatever that may be is what it needs to be. We have different terminology. I know that we share enough ideas that I hear him talk and things sound different. But I watched them play and we run that play. You know, I may ask question about how you're coaching this one and steal some ideas off him because I have access to him.
So Yeah, one of the things I loved about Zach last year. We've always you know, he had the Super Bowl run and then the obviously the horrible situation against Buffalo, and then you know, Zac should a little edge afterwards about the coin toss and all that stuff, and a little attitude kind of embodied like, hey, we're not the
old Bengals, will you push us around anymore? Did you see that always from him, because that's the first time I think football fans saw that from Zach where there's a little bit of bite to him too.
Oh. Absolutely, there's so much that you know, he to an extent lets people in, but he really it's coach speak when he's in front of people and in front of the media and things like that, which most guys are.
So I know, I know the fiery competitive guy he is, and probably in front of his team too that they know, and you know, I've seen it as a competitor him growing up and watching him coach and talking to him, and you know, I know how aggressive his demeanor is, his mindset is, and then I also see what he
puts in front of the media and all that. So I don't know that people have seen the true Zach that he presents in front of his team or that I know him as, but certainly proud of the way he presents himself and you know where he's gotten his team at this point.
Dude, it's so cool that you're both doing it, obviously, but on an individual level. Your path has been great too, and now you're at this point and we look at this Jaguars team heading into twenty twenty three, just to bring it up to speed, a sexy pick for a lot of people, like it was there. They're on the cusp,
they had Kansas City on the ropes. What's the message to the team going into twenty twenty eight three and is it one of those where it's like, don't read the headlines, just worry about ourselves.
Yeah. I think we've always kind of been that way, even last year when we started out, and a lot of it stems from coach Peterson. You know, he's the same positive, optimistic, consistent guy every single day in front of the team, and we've always kept the focus on us. You know, we don't care if people are saying we're the same old Jaguars. Oh this is a new age thing.
You know, they're they're up and coming team. None of that matters to us because the coolest thing about this thing is, you know, you got to go prove it for three hours every Sunday, and so none of it matters whether you're hyped, favored, underdog, whatever it may be. And our guys we have really high character players that understand that, and everybody kind of wants to prove that Sunday that we're ready to roll and we have an opportunity to win and we can put our best foot forward.
So our focus has solely been on getting better, and that's the message from Coach Peterson. That's the message we relate to our players. That's the cool thing is you hear them say that. You know, we hear the expectations. It's hard not to hear all that. But I don't think any of it matters to our guys at this point in time, because at the end of the day, they're going to kick them all off on Sunday and you're going to see who the better team is or who's going to come out on top of that game.
Let me ask you, as we're in July right now, you know, I remember when Robert Griffin and I kind of had that big breakout year. The following off season, there are a lot of articles about defensive coordinators spending the off season kind of constructing ways to stop whatever the Shanahans had built for Robert Griffin, and you know, there was a lot of copycat We were in the league with that. As an offensive coordinator, what do you do during the off season to improve your skills to
get your offense even better? And is there a certain point where you're like, all right, I need to have this as vacation, but hey, I got to get in the lab. Also, this offense announced my time to do it.
Yeah, you're constantly doing it. From the moment the season ends, you kind of do your exit interviews, you sit down with your staff and we kind of mapped out.
You know.
It ended up being we started like, all right, let's find five things we really need to improve as an offense, you know, whatever that may be. As the off season went involved, I think right now we had like nineteen points of we need to do better at this. Okay, what does that mean? That could be That's what we ended up with.
I love this, not twenty nineteen.
And it goes on. It just evolves, you know, it's far. It just ended up that way of and it could be one hundred. You know, there's all these little sub points off of it. But from we need to improve our short yards, we need to eliminate our negative runs. You know. I think at the end of the day, we were one of the most explosed offenses, but we're one of the most We may have led the league and negative plays on first and second half, so we were extremely volatile. We could get ourselves out of it.
We'd get in first and ten, go to second, and twelve to go to first and ten. So we'd get ourselves out of these holes because we have these players that could do special things. But like, we need to identify how we can get better at this, and we've kind of gone about that our own certain way. Part of us just evaluating who we are, what we did, what worked, what didn't work, What do we want to continue to invest in, what do we want to you know, maybe put aside we thought we'd be great at that,
we're not. Let's put that aside and hut our losses and move forward. Where can we add who's doing something that looks similar to the way we play the game, or has similar players. How are they using their players that's maybe we don't have in our system at this point in time, or we have in our system we just hadn't thought to do it that way.
We need them.
Yeah, So you know that's the fun part of it right now is more than ever in football, you have access to so much. You know, everybody's watching, everybody's watching everybody. You can watch all of college, all the college teams out there, what they're doing Twitter. You see some crazy high school D three play no ideas off the table, and you can you have access to all that. You can see, all that, you can read these articles, you can listen to podcast of guys' philosophies and how they
got to where they got to. And so you know, I've been asked a couple of what's your hobby. What do you like to do? I like football, So I like to watch football, listen to football, if an old games on NFL. My wife got on me the other day, she said, it's.
The Office Network.
I watched the twenty sixteen Cowboys Week fifteen game that's on it, whatever it was, And you know.
It's just stress you and me. Exactly last week. Last week, I was at the thing for Fox, and I go up to Greg Olsen and Kevin Burkhart and I'm like, I was up this week. I'm like, you guys called a game a couple of years ago Patriots Colts, and I think you were probably coaching in it. It was a Saturday game and I'm like, you guys did a really nice job. And Burkhart looks at me, He's like, why are you watching that? Are you watching that? It's June? Why are you watching that?
Like, I don't know.
And I loved it.
It's worked, obviously, but that's it's fun. That's what I enjoyed doing.
It's also a drug.
I love it. I'm listening to podcast. I texted you the other day that I was listening. I was watching your YouTube with you and Kellen doing this thing. And you know, I'm trying to pick nuggets. Every time I hear kill and say something insightful, I go to my notes, throw it in there or something whatever it may be. So that's the fun part of it right now, is you constantly learn, you can constantly grow, constantly evolve, and if there's something I think can help our team, then
I'll steal it. I'll take it. I'll turn it into ours and present a target.
Let's do a little rapid fire here. Your father was obviously a legendary high school coach who was your greatest mentor in this profession. Would you say it's your pops.
I would say it's my brother, just because now my dad was coaching, but he got out of coaching before I was even born, so he coached justice, but he wasn't coaching college at the time. So my brother and I have My brother's obviously five years older than me.
He's always been ahead of it, so he was always kind of could call him and you know, how do I deal with this coming up, because maybe he went through it before, So I would say him, and then Frank Craich and Doug Peterson are certainly two other names that you know in Chip Kelly's influence on me, I would say that's that's never really left my mind and stuff like that. So those those guys, you know, my brother and Frank are probably too that I talked to
the most. And then obviously Doug. I can walk around the corner and talked about who.
Is the player that you've coached that you've looked at and said that that's just the biggest physical freak I've ever been around, and this is this is a special dude.
That I've coached. I mean Michael Vick.
Yeah, at that even at that age.
I'm twenty four years old, when I get in the NFL, I've played with Michael Vick on Madden for ten years before that, and that was the one. You know, you're not allowed to play with him. It's different.
No, yeah, him and Algae Crumpler and Brian Finneran you cannot play with that team. Yeah, I think that. I think it was for Madden, yes, yeah.
So so Michael Vick was the one that's like, this guy is a moss. Just the way he throws the football, the way he moves effort like that was really you know, of being on the field with watching them day and day out. Just a physical freak. Jason Peters, you know, left tackle for the Eagles, one of those guys is just his ability to move another grown man was incredible.
And then the thing I tell people too is as a coach, the opponent when we went to in twenty seventeen, we went to Carolina on a Thursday night and watching Julius Peppers and Cam Newton run out of the tunnel, it was just like, wait, what are those two like.
They belong on the same as the others.
Yeah, yeah, they were just athletics specimens. So it was cool to see. It's just cool to you know, get to be on field level with those guys and see those guys every single week.
Yeah, your favorite play call that you've made that you take pride in and you're like, all right, that was kind of unique and you haven't seen that everywhere. If you can go into the annals of the Press Taylor play call history.
Well, another big one was the Chargers playoff game. You know, we we were kind of making this comeback. We score, we're about to kick their point, they get a penalty, balls on the one. Doug says, let's go for two. We've got a little screen called out to Evan Ingram. It's got a at the time because it's short yardage, goal line played, it's got to kill on it for Trevor to sneak it. Well, you know it's on the one.
It's two point play, I'm saying, and I head say, hey, no kill, just throw the screen, let's roll, and Trevor kind of just you know, Trump's everything dives in the end zone. Nobody's blocking the sneak for him. You know, he does it all on his own. The line's not cutting, nothing like that. So that was one of those ones. It's like that worked out well everything, you know, moment I told him not to do it, he does it.
You know, that's kind of where you'll take it.
A little player with momentum kind of do his thing right now. You don't want to take a stinger away, and he was feeling it. He made a play. So that was the one that's like, I don't know if that's a great play call. It obviously was not, but he made it work, and so that was a cool one to be a part of him. Like, all right, things are hitting here.
So were you in so far? For when the Rams played the Bengals in the Super Bowl two years ago, I was where were you seated? Let me hear everything.
I had just gotten the job here. So I signed my contract on like Thursday, and I tell Doug like, I'm sorry, I'm enough to miss Monday, Like I got to go to the Super Bowl, so, you know, second day of work, I'm asking for the day off, all ready to go out there and celebrate or watch my brother kind of you know, in the biggest game of his career. So we're out there. You know, they've got a suite for the family. We're in Beyonce, jay z or Beyonce maybe just they are three suites down. My
sister's waving at her all this stuff. So that was a really cool experience just getting to be there for that, watching them play, you know, come down to the very end. That was a cool experience for our family to be able to sit there and see that and watch that.
Yeah, your Eagles Super Bowl Parade memory is what I mean.
I tell people that was probably the most fun I've ever had in coaching. You know, people say it was.
The super game, the parade.
The game is so stressful. To see the confetti fall, it's it's almost just relief at that point it's over. We did it. The parade as you wake up in the morning and you know we're about to go out to a million screaming fans celebrating us, yelling at us all the time. So the parade was awesome. I remember Joe Douglas were on different floats, but seeing him at the end, when we get to the Rocky steps and all that, seeing him he's got a big gash on
his face. I guess he didn't know. A fan throws him a big beer can, hits him in the face, cuts his face. You know, I think he was excited about it. He didn't care at the time. Stuff like that. Just those memories of seeing all that Jason Kelsey's speech and the Momber's outfit, you know, Fletcher Cox trying to talk and people getting them off the stage, just things like that that you just remember, and that was a really special day for us.
It's a special team. I feel like that was like a really cool team that was of that model where there was these homegrown guys, but they also went and acquired guys like Alshon Jeffery, and they acquired you know, jay A Jayi at mid season and they put it all together and then the Eagles almost overnight they're in Super Bowl again with a whole new crew, but they still have some of those holdovers from that guy, that
twenty seventeen team. When you look back on it, did you know at the time it was as special as it was?
You know, I think midway through the year you started to feel there's something special going on. Offense was kind of hitting our stride. The end of the defense. We had a top five defense that year. We had talent across the board, We had the right veterans on the right spot. There was great leadership on that team, so you kind of saw I think early on we didn't know, you know, we we we're one on one coming back from a tough loss at Kansas City playing the Giants.
We end up kicking a sixty one yard walk off field goal to beat the Giants and struggle our way to two and one at the time.
Jake Elliott Jake Elliott.
Yeah.
So so within from there is when we kind of get hot and we kind of start beating up on teams, and that's when you start getting into you know, you look back at it, and we were beating teams pretty good, pretty handily, which doesn't happen much in the NFL. So you started thinking, yeah, you know, we might be pretty good here, and we've got our showdown with the Rams.
The Rams are you know, coming out like Gangbusters early on, and I think that was Sean's first year and my brother's on staff there, and we go out there and play those guys in just a battle, lose Carson in the game, Nick gets us through, get the win, clinch the division. But then you're like, all right, things are going well, well we just lost the MVP candle, Now where is it going to go? So it was, you know, there was kind of the ebbs and flows throughout the seat.
I think We're the first ever one seed to be an underdog in the second round.
Of playoffs against Falcons.
So I don't know. There were times where he felt like we might be really good. Then you lose your quarterback, then you lose Jason Peters, then you lose Darren. I mean it was just kind of there was enough ebbs and flows that kind of kept us on our toes and which probably ultimately got us over the hump. There was never letting your foot off the gas.
Carson Wentz, I mean, such an interesting figure right now. I don't think he's even on a team at the moment. I've been been checking my phone of the day. But you coached him in multiple places. The good of Carson Wentz. If you were to make the case to a coach who's like, should I bring this guy on? What is the good of Carson Wentz? As far as if you're doing a pros and cons and will make the case for why he's still a viable player in this league.
Well, I mean he's a great athlete, honestly. Now, he went through a lot of entry and tearing his acl, had a broken bones, back whatever you know. The next season has had his share of injuries that I think a little in a little bit hampered his athleticism. But
you know he's a great athlete. He's incredibly cerebral. He spends a lot of time, is able to process a lot of information, has a very aggressive mindset, and the way he plays wants to push the ball down the field and then he'll lay it on the line for his team. I think you know he brings a physical aspect now I think at times that hinders him, you know,
willing to let go of play. But you know, as far as a teammate and a guy you're coaching, and a guy that will put it out their first team all the time, you know that's what you're asking for.
Yeah, all right, our last in the rapid fire. And it's more of a philosophical question and a message to young coaches out there. You said it. You were living in a basement of your mom's sorority sister and you are driving yourself to Tulsa and saying, hey, I could do anything. Would be your message to a young man or woman leaving college and you know, no job opportunity in the NFL sitting there waiting for them, but they say I want to coach football, What would be your message to that person.
Find a way to get your foot in the door. At your foot in the door, and then make yourself as valuable as possible to where when people leave your staff, you know they have to take you because of the things you provided, the things you were able to do, and the staff you're on has to keep you because they don't want to lose the things you're able to do. Whatever it may be. You know, I took a lot of pride and take an initiative, and I did the job requirement that I was asked to do. And then
I wanted to do. Now, what can I do? How can I make the offensive coordinator's life easier, the quarterback coach's life easier, the quarterbacks life easier. What can I do to provide value? And you know, you can't take it hard when you throw an idea out there, or you do something and you don't see the fruits of it at the time. You know, yeah, that's a good idea, but we're not going to do it. You know, Okay, great, you know I researching idea, I brought an idea. It
doesn't fit us right now. That doesn't discourage me from continuing to try to find ideas, try to find value, try to push ways to progress the team.
Or push that idea in the future. Right to me, that's important. We do this. We do a TV S every day and it's like a young producer comes up. It's like I got this idea and we kind of like poop poo it and I'm like, no, no, no, that stick with it.
I like that.
I like that you're thinking of things. That's good.
Yeah, you're just trying to grow. I mean that's the coolest thing about being in the NFL is it's football twenty four to seven. I mean we are We are constantly watching film, tinkering scheme, stealing ideas, molding things that fit our players, listening to our players. You know, it's a partnership with players, and I think not putting yourself on this pedestal to where nobody else can give you an idea. I mean I will take an idea from anybody at any time that can get us four yards.
You know, we're willing to do it four yards. Yeah, that's I mean, we're staying ahead of the change. We get four so so you know that's you kind of got to leave your ego at the door and you're just trying to get better every single day. We tell our players that too, but that's the ultimate goal. It's just I want to continue to grow.
Who's a play call then maybe doesn't get the same credit he might deserve. I mean we always hear about Shanahan McVay and even you know, your brother gets a lot of love for some of the stuff you get. They do it to. Like, who's someone that you say, you know, you should check out with this guy doing because what he does is pretty impressive too.
You know, I always kind of liked and this isn't just because he's on your podcast, but I always liked kind of what Nate Hackett was doing in Buffalo and Jacksonville when he was doing it originally there and it looked a little different than it does now. You know, obviously you continue to grow in evolve. I like watching Shane Walderton in Seattle. You know those guys are he did a great job interesting.
You know, Shane's on that whole tree also never gets mentioned. He's been with those guys Lafloor and all those guys.
Yeah, did a great job, you know, helping put Geno Smith in great positions while keeping their identity of running the football and the things they want to do. So honestly, you know, I'll watch anybody at any time.
I know the goes on.
Yeah, so it's a lot of fun to just see what's going on the leagues in good hands of just I think football is in good hands, just these forward thinking minds, everybody kind of pushing the envelope and compete and do to make football better.
Our last thing, and you know it's for the Jaguars fan specifically, as we get excited for this season, your message to down there in Duval County is what I think.
There's a lot to be excited about. You know. Obviously we we have we have the right guy pulling the trigger, and I think that's the biggest thing. You know, we'll go along way, I think with Trevor Lawrence as our leader, uh and and coach Peterson obviously the guy at the front of it all. With those two, I think my message to the Gyro fans were in good hands. You know, just just stick with us, keep showing up. The last two they were essentially playoff games. Titans game in the
Charge game. Awesome environment, right, our crowd was as good as any crowd I've ever been in, and so when Duval comes out, it's a it's a pretty special thing in our players feed off it and stick with us. We got the right people leading the charge.
All right, from the basement of the sorority sister's house to the grunt work under Chip and you know, helping with the Philly Special to now being the offensive coordinator one of the hottest teams. And the sex I say sexy. The word sexy makes sense, but you know the one that they very hot pick for this summer. Press Taylor, I'm so happy for you to come on the podcast.
Hope you had a good time, and we appreciate you taking the time, especially during your one vacation week when the training camp gets gone.
I appreciate it. Man, always good.
Talking to awesome stuff. Press Taylor, Jaguars, Oh see on the season. That was great. I'm bringing in our producer, Aaron wan Kaufman. Aaron, you've been on riding shotguing me for most of these podcasts. There's something that I like. I smile when I hear I was living in the basement of my mom's sorority sister because she lived near Tulsa that I'm like, I love that stuff. I love that and of course he you know, he finds his own way. But pretty cool story at a Press Taylor too.
Yeah, yeah, and especially with last week's too, we have working the enterprise, rent a car and yeah, Brad Holmes living in the one room apartment you know, at the end of the train line. And now you know, Press like going driving all night to get somewhere. He doesn't have an appointment or anything. He's just like, yeah, I'm here. He told me to come meet him, and here I am for to talk.
You know. I started with the special with Press because I love that part of the Philadelphia Eagle season and I was obviously coasting Good Morning Football at the time, and there was all sorts of coverage about that play, and like the hours afterwards, I remember talking to someone with the Eagles and they're like, I'm like, where the hell did that play come from? And They're like, twenty four year old Press Taylor find him. And I'm like googling who that is and he's in the bottom of
the org chart. But like, isn't that a sweet message that like any ideas can come from anywhere And in that case, it was the assistant quarterbacks coach who essentially was basically you know, low level guy at the time, but now he's the offensive coordinator of the Jaguars. Yeah.
I also love him talking about every time you assembled this like new collection of coaches, whether it be offensive or defensive, they're all bringing in influences from the Chip Kelly system, the Andy Reid system, the McVeigh system, and you get like parts of each of them, which is a really fun thing to think of. And none of these coaching staffs are like static and yeah, just the same thing, no matter who's at the head of it.
So that I loved hearing about that too, and all of the different people he's worked with.
It's really cool. We're wrapping up two weeks in a row of doing Lions GM last week, Jaguars OC this week. Two teams that have not been on the radar relatively. We were a little blip for the Jaguars few years ago. But I might pick that as my Super Bowl this year, Like this is why the NFL is the best. Were in July and I'm talking Jaguars and Lions as a Super Bowl pick as a possibility. But you hear from
some of the decision makers. You hear from some of the coaches, and it's hard not to kind of take a bite out of that apple and be like, I like where these teams are had at. Young Ascending had a taste of success at the end of last year the Lions and the regular season the Jaguars obviously won a playoff game. It's almost here, dude, it is almost here.
It would be it would be wild for the Kansas City Kansas City's next rival to be the other brother, the other Taylor brother.
They went from Zach Taylor to all right, this is the season with Peter Schreger. We love you guys listening.
We're gearing up. Training camp starts soon on behalf of Aaron Wan Kauffman are awesome producer, and Jason English and Grace Fuse and Kurt the great editor, and of course we've got our folks back in LA and we can go down the list, Jason Kleinman doing an awesome job, and Meredith Batten and her team at Schneider his squad, David Jurenka, who runs the whole show as far as digital goes, and then of course we talk about you guys.
The listeners keeping this thing going. I feel like I don't want to say it's a cult it's a cult favorite, because that means it's a small favorite, and it means that doesn't have a huge audience. But the truth matter is the amount of texts I get based on these interviews, whether it be the Kellen Moore, than Daniel Hackett or even the Hankers area in a few weeks ago, got a lot of love, so we'll keep them coming. I
love doing it, and we love that you're listening. Tell your friends, subscribe, and let's keep on rocking as the season approaches. The Season with Peter Schrager is a production of the NFL and partnership with iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.