Press Taylor hasn’t heard the criticism: ‘Ignorance is bliss’

The Jacksonville Jaguars couldn’t score a touchdown Sunday against the Kansas City Chiefs and many have pointed to offensive coordinator Press Taylor — who has taken over full-time play calling duties — as the biggest issue for the team’s offense.

That criticism hasn’t bothered Taylor, mostly because he hasn’t even noticed.

“Outside noise doesn’t affect us inside,” Taylor said Thursday. “I’m here, pretty much all day every day, so I really don’t have social media and don’t listen to the radio or watch TV. I don’t really have time to, so ignorance is bliss. That doesn’t really bother me at all.”

While Taylor says he’s unaware of the criticisms, Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson has been defensive of the team’s play calls on Taylor’s behalf.

“Sometimes it’s not about the plays,” Pederson said Sunday after the Week 2 loss. “I learned a long time ago that the players — you know, players play this football game and coaches coach. … We’re going to evaluate everything and make sure that we’re putting our guys in the right places. But I thought Press did a nice job today.”

Pederson told reporters a day later that a costly 3-yard loss near the goal line on a Trevor Lawrence run was a decision made by the third-year quarterback rather than Taylor. Pederson chocked some of the Jaguars’ offensive struggles up to players trying too hard to make big plays.

That’s an instinct coaches aren’t immune to, says Taylor.

“At times, you start fighting the feeling of, ‘Alright, we need a big play here. We need to spark momentum,’” Taylor said. “What got us going last year a little bit was just sticking through our plan. We built a game plan that we believed in, we executed the plan regardless of the situation, and we chipped away at whatever we needed to do to get ourselves going.

“You fight the urge to start digging and looking for a big play when it’s not necessarily there. Coach [Pederson] talks to the team all the time about making the play that comes to you, don’t go chasing plays. That applies to all of us, coaches and myself as the play caller.”