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I’m not wild about the Jaguars new uniforms, but I’m not against them either. For a while it looked like every team in every league was going to have some combination of teal and black in their uniforms. The Jaguars are getting away from that somewhat, with black and white their predominant theme. Black pants are “in” so the Jaguars are going that way. I really like the all white uniforms, but they’re not going to wear that at all. The whole, dark/light shirts according to the weather was silly anyway. This is at least the third uniform change the Jaguars have had since their inception, not counting the thing they unveiled at the mall before they even set foot on a practice field. The black numbers on the jerseys look good, and if the players think they make them play better, fine, wear whatever you want!
Here’s the latest transcripts from Byron Leftwich and Wayne Weaver’s meeting in the locker room when they unveiled the new uniform:
BYRON LEFTWICH NEWS CONFERENCE
WEDNESDAY, JULY 21, 2004
(on the new road jersey)
“I think we’ll look a whole lot better in black. I think (the jersey) matches better and it’s more of a tougher look.”
(how are you preparing getting ready for training camp?)
“Right now I’m anxious. There are a lot of guys getting depressed with camp coming up. Those guys who have been in camp for 10 years, they get depressed about this time of year, but at the same time we’re anxious. We know we have a great team on paper. We’ve been improving all off-season. We’re ready to get into camp and begin to improve.”
(do you talk to Reggie Williams much?)
“Yes.”
(what is his mindset now?)
“He’s anxious right now. He (thinks he) knows what to expect, but he doesn’t. That’s any rookie coming in. You kind of have an idea of what is going to happen, but at the same time we’re going to make sure we have fun. We’re going to make sure we have fun. We’re not going to put any added pressure on him. He’s already a hard worker, so he’s going to do the things he has to do to help us.”
(with missing most of training camp last season, do you know what to expect?)
“I got enough, and I know what I’m preparing for now. I missed some of camp last year, but I went through the season and I know what I’m getting ready for. Knowing that is good enough for me to know how to go out there and prepare myself.”
(do you have to pace yourself right now?)
“There is no pacing. I don’t think you can pace yourself. I think what you have to do is have the mindset every day ‘I’m going to out here and play the best I can play, practice as hard as I can practice’, and Coach Del Rio does a great job making sure we maintain our image. He won’t kill us out there. Even though we’re doing two-a-days, this is a great training camp schedule from what I hear. What we have to do as players and as a team is go out there and turn it loose every day and I think when you do that, that’s how you become a better football team.”
(do you look forward to the night practices?)
“Yes. I always play better under the lights for some reason. I always play better under the lights, so hopefully I can practice a whole lot better under the lights.”
(are you and the players excited to have NFL Films here during training camp?)
“It’s exciting because if they thought we were going to be a bad team, they wouldn’t be here. So everyone’s expectations around the league are high on us. So it’s a great thing to have them around here, but at the same time, you can’t let that control how you prepare. You can’t let that effect you in a way where it doesn’t allow you to go out there and do the things you have to do to help your team. So, it’s great from the standpoint that it’ll give us a lot of exposure but to be honest with you, it won’t affect any of us individually to go out there and have do something out of character. I think we’ll handle it great.”
(with your increased media exposure, how does that make you feel?)
“Hopefully, that’s a good thing. I hope it’s like that for 12, 15 years. When you play the quarterback position, you have to understand when it’s going great, you’re going to be the guy who gets the praise. When it’s not going great, you’re going to have to be the guy who puts everything on your shoulder. That’s OK with me. There is no way I can go out there and do this by myself. They had to put somebody on the cover of those magazines. They just chose me.”
(have you been working with Jimmy Smith or any of the other wide receivers?)
“(We) are going to get some throwing in (today). We’ve been working hard this off-season. Now it’s time for everybody to relax. With those guys, they have families and try to get as much time with them as they can. Me, personally, I’m by myself. I want to go out there and practice and throw every day, but now is the down time for everybody. Now is the time for everyone to relax and get off their feet because we only have about a week and a half left.”
(did you change how you get ready for this season?)
“Yes, because I know what to prepare for this season. Last year, it was like you hear about it but you don’t really know. Unless you go through it, it’s hard to really tell how you’re going to feel in week 12 and week 13. You just don’t know those things coming in as a rookie. Now I know what to get prepared for. Now I know the things I have to do to get better from the beginning to the end.”
(what are your expectations for the team?)
“My expectation is real high, from all of us. We understand everyone’s expectations are high on us, but as players our expectations far outweigh everybody else’s. We expect great things. Everybody is talking about Super Bowl and we understand that, and that’s our No. 1 goal, but I think you have to take it one step at a time. I’ve never seen a team go to the Super Bowl who never made the playoffs. So we have to take it one step at a time. The first thing we have to do is do the things we have to do in training camp to make sure we win games during the regular season so we’re able to make it to the playoffs. We’re just going to take it one step at a time, but believe me in the back of our mind, we do know the Super Bowl is here in Jacksonville. We do want to be the first team to make history. We do have all those things in our mind but it’s the other things in our mind that’s going to help us to get to that goal.”
(how have things changed with Bill Musgrave being more hands-on and being the quarterbacks coach?)
“It’s getting even better because I can always go to Coach (Ken) Anderson and talk to him. Both of those guys are former quarterbacks and any time you can have two former quarterbacks on your team and just pick those guys’ brains, it’s actually helpful. It’s great to be in there with Coach Musgrave, but at the same time it was great with Coach Anderson. So, it’s getting even better because I’m getting more input from both those guys.”
WAYNE WEAVER NEWS CONFERENCE
WEDNESDAY, JULY 21, 2004
(what do you think of the new uniform?)
“I like them a lot. The players love the black pants. I think with the white jersey, it really works. We liked our old uniforms but we thought it’s a new era, a new change, and went to the black pants and the players really liked that and we liked being able to use the black jersey once a year with the black pants. It’s just a new thing and the players get excited about it.”
(on the new lights on the practice fields)
“We think the fans are really going to enjoy it. Last year, we experimented with some night practices. We got more fans out at night after work, so we thought lightening the field would enhance that experience and we’re looking forward to it. I think we have 13 night practices scheduled this season.”
(with watching Byron Leftwich, seeing him as a mature individual and always seems to say the right thing, does it reinforce in your mind that you made the right selection?)
“I don’t think there’s any question that we made the right selection. Byron does have all the physical skills. He’s in the classroom. Every day he’s down here working in the classrooms and preparing himself. He knows that it’s just more than working out and having the physical skills. It’s the mental part of the game and being really prepared, and Byron just does a great job of that. We have high expectations of Byron, but the important thing is he has high expectations of himself.”
(update on Reggie Williams contract negotiations?)
“It’s that time of year that no one in the top 10 has signed yet. Every one of the agents sit back and wait until somebody starts falling into the slots, so we just have to be patient and we look forward to getting Reggie done. We need him here in camp. He needs to be here so we’re going to work hard at trying to make that happen.”
(how close do you have to get to the top 10 for somebody else to sign to start to think that could affect the slotting?)
“To me it’s not that important, but obviously to the agents it is. We’re negotiating. We certainly believe in the slotting system. We want to put a fair deal out there on the table to try to get this thing done so that Reggie is in camp.”
(what do you think the chances are?)
“I’m not going to put any odds on it, but hopefully I’m optimistic that Reggie will be here.”
(how excited are you to have NFL Films here and what does it mean for the city and for the team?)
“At first I was a little reluctant, but Jack and Shack had gone through it once before in Baltimore and they convinced me that this could be a good thing in that NFL Network is doing this made me more comfortable versus ESPN. I think it’s going to be good exposure for the community. I think it’s going to be good exposure for the team. I think it’ll be fun. I think the guys will enjoy it. But it’s not going to be a distraction. We’re not going to let it be a distraction and we’re going to go about camp and do the work we need to do to prepare for the season.”
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