HEAD COACH JACK DEL RIO (on Maurice Jones-Drew)
"I think Maurice has been a stud. I think he's been great all year. He's been the focal point of our offense, and he's delivered. I think when we made the decision to move on with Fred Taylor early in the spring, it was with the idea of getting Maurice more opportunities. It really had nothing to do with us and our respect for Fred, because he was a great Jaguar. But we felt it was time for more Maurice Jones-Drew, and he's delivered."
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HEAD COACH JACK DEL RIO (on Jones-Drew being 5th in rushing and fitting into his role)
"He's really delivered. Everything that we thought we would get by making him a feature guy, we've been able to get. It's kind of interesting, when we play the Colts, I always remember the first time that we're going to the combine process and I get my first live exposure to Maurice. I'm sitting in the stands and I watch him just explode on a drill, just running down the field, and I say, 'I can visualize him doing that very thing, and I want it to be on our team and not for Indy.' A situation where he was very explosive. It was obvious that he had talent. We're real happy to have him."
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HEAD COACH JACK DEL RIO (on not wanting to see Jones-Drew on the Colts)
"I don't want to see Peyton have him on his team, I want to get him. That was my first exposure to him live, watching him work out, and that's where it was (RCA Dome in Indianapolis), so it was kind of (ironic)."
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HEAD COACH JACK DEL RIO (on controlling their own destiny and winning out, and that being what matters)
"Absolutely. We just have to win. A divisional game, you always look forward playing your division. This is a team that's been outstanding. In our time here, they've been the class of the AFC and really been tremendous. Between them and New England, one of the other each of the last few years, has been the team to beat. Indy is out there in front again, everybody else is playing chase, and at this point they've run away and already clinched, and they're going to be at home throughout the playoffs and all that kind of stuff. We have a lot of respect for them, but we're looking forward to the challenge."
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HEAD COACH JACK DEL RIO (on if it matters to knock the Colts from the ranks of the unbeaten)
"I don't think right now because of our own situation that that's at the forefront of our minds. I think we need to win. We don't just want to put a blemish on their perfect record. We need to win. We need to stay alive. We're in the playoff hunt. We're a needy group right now. I think they've always been of the mindset of thinking about the big prize. For us right now, we can't get after the big prize without getting in. We have to find a way to squeeze out these last three weeks all that we can as a football team to try and qualify."
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HEAD COACH JACK DEL RIO (on consistency and trying to get on a roll)
"I think we have a great handle for where we are. We're a scrappy bunch. It's been a team that's been very much about achieving all year. Really, we've played a lot of young guys, we're a very committed group, the guys are working hard every day. I think they've responded the way that I would like to see them to respond to adversity. This has been a group that's persevered all year. It's been the most fun I've had coaching in a long time. It's really been a joy to work with this group of young men. So we're just going to work every day. We're kind of grinding at it and keeping our head down, and we know when we play well things can go well, and we know if we don't, that we can have a hard time against anybody. We're just kind of enjoying the process of coming to work and trying to squeeze all we can out of each other."
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HEAD COACH JACK DEL RIO (on seeming to get fired up to play the Colts, and if there is something to that)
"I think there's probably a natural reaction when you look at how good they are that you don't want to get embarrassed, and you better get ready to play well because if you don't, they'll embarrass you. Our guys, I think there's a respect, but there's also a grit and determination thing, 'We're going to go challenge these guys.' I think it's probably a combination of things."
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RB-MAURICE JONES-DREW (on the offense and how the season is going as the No. 1 RB)
"We're doing OK. We have a lot of things to work on still. Mainly, things haven't been going the way we want it to as an offense. This is where you've got to get hot if you want to kind of make a run for things. Overall, I think we've been doing pretty well for the cards we've been dealt with, but I think we can play much better."
RB-MAURICE JONES-DREW (on how much has perspective changed, when you're the guy, after years of him and Fred Taylor)
"Something I learned from Fred, and I learned a bunch of things, but the main thing he taught me especially the year they released him was, 'Remember to take care of your body and stick to it.' That's the main thing. I feel great. Obviously I'm sore after games, but it's not to the point where I can't walk or I'm struggling to make it through practice or anything like that. I just kind of stick to the same routine, flexing my legs, getting massages, cold tub, rolling, I have a hyperbaric chamber I sleep in. Those things I think are critical, to just keep your body as close to 100 percent as possible."
RB-MAURICE JONES-DREW (on how long he has been sleeping in a hyperbaric chamber)
"I got it last January."
RB-MAURICE JONES-DREW (on more players using hyperbaric chambers)
"It's something I think everybody should invest in, not even if you play football but for your everyday life because of what it does. It pumps pure oxygen to your body. I guess we have two-percent oxygen that comes in the air we breathe because it's so polluted with so many different things. This machine takes the air out of the room, filters it to where it's pumping pure oxygen to your body, and it makes sure everything is healed up, helping your blood warm up a little bit, it does a lot of great feelings."
RB-MAURICE JONES-DREW (on if he sees a difference)
"Oh, definitely."
RB-MAURICE JONES-DREW (on how often he uses the chamber)
"I do it two to three times a week. I sleep in it at night. I try to get 24 hours in it throughout the week."
RB-MAURICE JONES-DREW (on if the chamber helps him recover)
"You have a lot of bruises, obviously, or you might get nicked up or have a strain or whatever it is. What it does is just takes all the bad blood and kind of just funnels it through your body to your heart and takes all the red blood cells and pumps pure oxygen to them so they can go out and heal it. Every hour, every red blood cell in your body is going to have as much oxygen as it can hold and it's going to go to any part that's sore in your body. It's an hour cycle, so that's why I try to do 24, so I can get that cycle done 24 times to my body (per week)."
RB-MAURICE JONES-DREW (on things that Fred Taylor taught him, including not listening to the media)
"(Laughing). Yeah, that was one of the main things I learned when I got here. You can't look and read the papers. You've just got to stick to what you believe in and do it to the best of your ability."
RB-MAURICE JONES-DREW (on reading the Jacksonville clips and a story reporting the Jaguars not having a running game, and if that was news to him)
"They get upset when you don't rush for 100 yards every game. But I think it's kind of respect when people load the box and they really concentrate on the run. Obviously, we haven't done the best at times, but it's helped our offense when we've been able to pass the ball a little bit. We struggled this last week, but it's just things we can learn from as a young team and a team heading in the right direction right now."
RB-MAURICE JONES-DREW (on trying to get on a roll) Tuesday, December 15, 2009
"You know, it's pretty tough. I'm not going to say it's not. We just have to, as a team, understand what it takes week in and week out. Every time you win, the target gets bigger on your chest. That's why you have so much respect for (the Colts), because they are able to figure out a way and figure out how to win. When you watch the Colts, you watch them every week to see how their defense is playing, and I have a couple friends on the team as well, so I want to see how they're playing, and Antoine (Bethea) is playing lights out right now."
RB-MAURICE JONES-DREW (on if he and Antoine Bethea are friends) Tuesday, December 15, 2009
"We have the same agent. Our relationship grew from then on. Just seeing how those guys are able to go out and find a way to win every week, and obviously they do have one of the best quarterbacks, but still, as a defense, they're flying around to the ball and playing well. Clint Session is playing lights out right now. Gary Brackett is doing everything he's done before and he's doing it at a higher level. (Melvin) Bullitt just came in and he's stepping up and filling in for Bob Sanders, and he's been doing a great job. And then you've got these young corners, and you expect them not to play well, and they're d-ing up Randy Moss and Andre Johnson. They've got guys that are stepping up, and I don't even want to talk about the defensive line. We already know what they do. It's a tough challenge, but for us, we feel like every time we get a chance, every game is an opportunity to go out there and play our ball and play the best ball we can."
RB-MAURICE JONES-DREW (on if he thinks at all about maybe not playing the Colts' top defenders due to the team clinching the No. 1 seed) Tuesday, December 15, 2009
"I don't think they'd do that to us. It's too big of a rivalry. We go in, obviously, knowing that they're going to come in and play. Regardless of who they have, we're preparing to play the best. That's what they are. They've got some of the best players, we're preparing to play them. We know it's going to be a physical game, and that's the kind of game we like."
RB-MAURICE JONES-DREW (on not minding if players like Dwight Freeney and Robert Mathis would take Thursday off) Tuesday, December 15, 2009
"Sure wouldn't. But when you want to have an offense that's talked amongst the best, you want to be able to play the best. Granted, the regular person in me would tell me, 'I don't want to play them,' but the competitor in me wants me to go out there and play them because you wouldn't want to go out there and not play the best. That's kind of how we see it. You always want to compete."
RB-MAURICE JONES-DREW (on winning out and Jacksonville has a playoff spot, but would it mean something extra to end the Colts' unbeaten streak?) Tuesday, December 15, 2009
"You know what? We're not really worried (about that). Obviously that's all we've been hearing, that they're unbeaten and everything, but we're worried more about improving as a team. Last week, our defense played well, our special teams played great and the offense didn't do well. We know, in order for us to win, we have to play great on all cylinders. We just want to improve as a team and an offense, and it's another opportunity to go out there and show what we're all about."
