For Doug Marrone, The Message To The Jaguars Never Changes

Doug Marrone continues to preach the same message to his players on the Jacksonville Jaguars roster and pushes them to improve themselves each day.

Doug Marrone always has the right thing to say at the right time. Prior to his Jacksonville Jaguars taking the practice field at TIAA Bank Field, he spoke to the media about what he has observed the first two days of OTAs and what he continues to expect from the 90 players on the current roster. Just like every other press conference, it seems, Marrone is pushing his team to do better.

"“Really for our team, today, one of the things I tried to focus with them and talk to them about was that the one thing about playing and the one thing that we want to do as a team is we never want to maintain. We always want to get better,” he said.“We talk about in this league you are either getting better or getting worse. You are never really staying the same, and to put that thought process in it. Each day, I try to give the team tips on some of the things that will make us successful or give us a chance to win.”"

While this might seem like coachspeak, Marrone’s genuine tone is what motivates this franchise. He is a stickler for detail and is to the point about what has worked and what the team must improve on. During the first two OTA practices, Marrone preached conditioning and motivating players to improve each day.

It’s a blueprint that has worked so far. The first three days on the practice fields have been intense, with drills and scrimmages geared toward having this team ready for the preseason and the first game of the year at the New York Giants. Doug Marrone draws from his experiences as a player in this league to shape the football team and help these players get better with every concept instilled by the organization.

He said from the start of camp that no player can make the team right now, but they can get cut if they do not follow the principles this team follows on a daily basis. He continues to remind everyone of this.

"“We talk about turnovers the first day. We talk about field position and how it equates to our game and how it equates to winning,” he added."

While it might seem like a broken record and a topic discussed many times, this is the new and improved Jaguars. This is the team Doug Marrone has his fingerprints all over. This is the team he and general manager Dave Caldwell and Tom Coughlin, the Executive Vice-President of Football Operations, have devised to reach further than the year before.

You see the desire to win in Marrone’s speech and know he demands excellence – something that was lost on the old regime. He also talked about the importance of Veteran’s Day and for his team to come back on Tuesday ready to get after it again.

"“Obviously on Monday, we won’t be here. It will be a day off for everyone. Then, we just talked about being smart. When you look around the league for a period of time, there have always been unfortunate incidents that happen, so basically just be careful and make sure you’re doing the right things,” Marrone said. “Then, being ready to come back is a big thing for me because when you have these couple days off and you come back and practice on a Tuesday, we want to make sure that our players are ready.”"

Doug Marrone and his message are very clear as a coach. There were times when he hated conditioning drills as a player and knows those types of activities were what made him a better player. It’s what he conveys to his team.

"“I think that is important and has been said before. I think that it’s to push, more than it’s as you refer to it (as screaming). It’s to be able to push players, to keep pushing them, to be able to keep talking to them about what we want and what we expect,” he said.“When I talk about our expectations, I’m talking about as a team – both player and coach. It’s not necessarily just the coach. In doing so, I have said before that I always believe the definition of a coach is someone that can take you to a place that you can’t take yourself.”"

The Jaguars concluded OTAs for this week, return on Tuesday and will continue to use the formula Marrone and his staff have developed while still learning to become better football players, regardless if they are veterans on the roster or rookies trying to make the team.