Jacksonville Jaguars tight end Evan Engram spoke in the locker room and, as always, we were there for everything.

To watch his interview again, see above.

Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson spoke Monday. Below is a transcription.

Q: On an injury update on WR Christian Kirk?

Pederson: “He had surgery this morning, so he’s finished. Yeah, too bad. I try to play late. I landed on it. The linebacker fell on top of him. Yeah. Difficult. Difficult for him. It’s hard for us, but he will get through it and he will get better.

Q: On an injury update on WR Brian Thomas Jr.?

Pederson: “He just has a little bruise on the left side of his chest. It’s going to be painful. It’s kind of an everyday thing. »

Q: What if Thomas Jr. should be available for Week 9 against Philadelphia?

Pederson: “Yeah, I think it’s more a question of how much he can tolerate.”

Q: On any other injury updates?

Pederson: “Gabe (WR Gabe Davis) should be fine. Again, it was just the shoulder. He just lost a little bit of feel and we were just waiting for it to come back a little bit during the match. Sometimes it’s funny stuff, but it should be okay. Ezra (OL Ezra Cleveland), ankle. It probably will be, starting today, probably day to day until the weekend. Scherff (OL Brandon Scherff) returned. Scherff is going to be hurt. A tough guy. Fought. I came back, finished the game. Should be fine for this weekend. Darby (CB Ronald Darby) will be more on a daily basis.

Q: On WR Parker Washington stepping into his role?

Pederson: “Yeah, I mean, he did some great things yesterday. He is a player who has proven he can do it. So we are convinced that he can fulfill this role, occupy this place.

Q: On OL Cooper Hodges’ performance Sunday against Green Bay?

Pederson: “Yeah, I mean, tough. He plays right guard, then he has to come in at tight end for PAT, field goal, then he has to move to left guard. He was everywhere. It wasn’t perfect, but if he has to go this week with a week of preparation, a week of training, doing all the reps, all that kind of stuff, he’ll be a lot better. It was good for him to play just to feel a little bit of the speed of the game and to have done some good things, but I think a week of work if that’s the case will do him some good.

Q: On QB Trevor Lawrence settling into the game and the offense getting off to a slower start?

Pederson: “Yeah, it’s tough. I mean, God, I mean you watched it yesterday. You had a good start, first down, what, six to seven yard completion on first down to Tank (RB Tank Bigsby)? And then two incompletenesses. I mean, these are just things that we need to continue to look at. It’s just that execution part, right? As coaches we make the decisions and the type of calls we make, you just have to look at it and make sure we’re doing the right thing in that regard. But again, it took us the second quarter against New England to get going, and it took us about the 14th play of that game to get going. So that’s something we need to look at and really focus on starting the way we finish. This would be ideal as we move forward.

Q: What if he was happy with how the team came back from a 10-point deficit?

Pederson: “Yes, I am. I am very happy with the way we are responding. You don’t want to be down 10, but it’s been two weeks in a row that we’ve been down 10, but we responded. The fact that we did what we did at the end to equalize is pretty remarkable considering how many injuries we had late in the game. Trevor (QB Trevor Lawrence), I think, has done a great job leading the team. The guys around him, Parker, Tim (WR Tim Jones), Evan (TE Evan Engram), Brenton (TE Brenton Strange), I mean, they made plays for him too. The offensive line did some good things. So that part was good and now we have to somehow make that translate into the first play of the game and then move on from there.

Q: On the difficulties of defense?

Pederson: “It’s just something that when we watch the tape, when we watch the personnel, you try to put your finger on it. Is this the diagram? Is it the execution by the players? I’d say it’s a bit of both at the moment. Look, the main thing is sometimes, and I’m not saying it is, but you don’t want to overdo it on the field, right? You don’t want to take matters into your own hands and think you have to do what someone else is doing. We’re just asking you to do your job. Coaches coach, players play, all that. But just do your job and you’ll be fine. When you see the good there, that’s what happens. All 11 play as one. But sometimes, every once in a while, there’s a guy who maybe is out of his space or doing something a little different or forgot an assignment or something like that, and that hurts us. Those are the things we’re trying to clean up right now and just making sure we continue to coach. Coach the details, coach the finer points and try to eliminate some of that.

Q: On his level of concern about the pass rush?

Pederson: “Yeah, I mean, obviously you want to affect the passer, and you go in there every week thinking you can. Look, we need to take a look. I believe we still have the good guys there. Whether we move them more or we put pressure on five or six, whatever we need to do to affect the passer, we have to be able to do it. I know Ryan (defensive coordinator Ryan Nielsen) is thinking about it carefully and is very proud of it. This is an area we need to improve.

Q: As for whether he will take a more active role in defensive game planning) “No. Look, I’ll leave it to the experts over there. I’m an offensive guy. I will stay on attack. I will help where I can. That way I can help with personnel and different decisions, but as far as projects and stuff, I mean, that’s what they get paid for and they let them do their job.

Q: On the offensive personnel change?

Pederson: “Well, I mean, I think it just changes based on the nature of the people that are on the ground. But yeah, I mean, missing Christian (WR Christian Kirk) is going to sting a little bit. Obviously his leadership and the way he played, but we’ll see this week where BT is at and we know you’re just asking Parker to take Christian’s place, and we feel very comfortable there. So, I don’t think that there will be a whole series of changes schematically. We just have to put our players in the best situations, that is, take their strengths and use them in the game plan.

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