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The O-Zone Podcast | Week 4 Deep Dive, Players Buying Into Selfless Mentality · The Jacksonville Jaguars Official Podcast Network

• 0:07
  Speaker 1: Welcome to the ozone podcast with Jaguars senior writer, John.
• 0:12
  Speaker 2: All right. Welcome into this Tuesday ozone podcast. And, uh,
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: I'm Jaguars senior writer, John Osher. And I'm here in
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: the Hyundai studios along with, uh, I guess we call
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: her regular guests now. Kanani Steven.
• 0:25
  Speaker 3: Yes.
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: Uh, this is our little gig. I, I appreciate you
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: doing it. Uh, 22, 17 over the Bengals. Uh, We
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: talked on AM this week. I thought it was just
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: a huge NFL win, and I know I'm repeating myself
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: a lot on this topic this week, but these are
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: the wins early in the season that set you up,
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: get you where you want to go, maybe get lost
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: at the end of the season, but you remember them.
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: I just thought it was a really important, impressive win.
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: Look at this game last year. It was one we
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: talked about all year long that if they had won,
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: you know, could help them come playoff time. So some
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: of these early matchups, especially against AFC opponents, can come
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: back and play like a really big part, especially if
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: you want to be a postseason team, someone that makes
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: a run. So getting a win against a team that–
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: and a really good quarterback and talented offense in Cincinnati
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: on the road when you didn't play great, you got
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: a lot of penalties, which was a whole other situation.
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: Mm-hmm.
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: And you found a way. We say that every time.
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: Finding a way to win, great teams do it. They always,
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: even if it's out of what their normal is, they
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: find that way to get it done. And they did
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: that in Cincinnati.
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: And they had won. I think observers and Jaguars fans
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: are maybe still used to, it's been a long time
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: since they were consistently good. I think this is going
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: to be a consistently good team. And then this team
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: has sort of spoiled them. Amazingly, they went from, being
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: the desert of this franchise for a long time, they go, what,
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: four and three to start last year, and then at
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: the end of last year, you start spoiling them with,
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: I think it's eight out of 11 wins have been
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: by 14 or more.
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: Yeah, nine in a row to end the year.
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: You want to say, hey, remember, guys, that's not normal.
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: This is not college football. You're not going to have
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: these double digits. So, again, you followed the Patriots for
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: a long time, and that game yesterday felt like the
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: way the Patriots were For that 20-year period, yeah, they
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: had some huge wins, but they also got a lot
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: of 23-13 weird early-season games where they just won it
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: because they were smarter, they did the right things, they
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: played the percentages, and they came out of there with
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: a win at the end. Again, I keep going back.
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: That win to me on Sunday impressed me as much
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: or more than the two blowout wins here.
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: You learn more about your team that way. If you
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: win in a blowout, okay, the other team didn't show up,
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: as everyone likes to say. But when you're in a
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: tightly contested matchup, that's what helps you later in the
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: season because you've played in games like that. And that
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: can help you in the playoffs because you already know
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: how to be in a game like that. There's never
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: a playoff game that's not going to be like that
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: for this team. And so to be able to find...
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: an edge uh be really smart situationally that's one of
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: the things they they harp on you know in this
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: game late in it i feel like they were really
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: smart ray on lane on the last play of the
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: game going low for that tackle to hold up and
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: not let them get the first down that was huge
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: it saved the game and and that's someone who probably
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: didn't expect to be playing that significantly on the back
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: end of that game ray on lanes they're long way
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: down the list so to have those players in there
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: and still be making smart plays that you can tell
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: that it's harped upon and they focus on that so
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: much so that even when it's not just the starters
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: in there, they all understand.
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: Yeah, the ability to not quit. I mean, not quit,
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: but always sort of be on point and keep playing.
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: Jarrion Jones, I thought, exemplified that yesterday as well. Gave
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: up a lot, but never stopped playing. It's really a
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: hallmark of this team. Offensive deep dive time. Okay. Look,
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: I think because of Trevor Lawrence, this team's always going
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: to be associated with the pass. And it's what the
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: NFL is now. It's the pass. And I don't know
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: that they're going to have a 1,700-yard rusher to make
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: people think about this running game. But the run, the
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: big plays, the big moments, to me, the Chris Rodriguez
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: touchdown at the end, I asked Liam about this in
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: the presser, was really a case of, if you're a
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: team that doesn't commit and believe to it, maybe you're
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: passing in that situation late, right? This team with Liam,
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: clearly it is going to keep committing, keep staying with it.
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: And I thought the Rodriguez touchdown at the end sort
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: of showed that.
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: They have the combo they want now. I think we
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: talk about last season at times, they did get away
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: from the run more than they probably wanted to and
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: did throw more and saw how that affected their team.
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: And This year, they're committing to it. They have two
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: definitive backs. You have Chris Rodriguez, your power guy, but
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: can turn on the Jets if he has to once
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: he gets going. And then Basial Tootin, whose best runs
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: of the day got called back by penalties, so it's hard,
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: but he still carries 73 yards. He had a good
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: day on the ground, and when you can have a
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: high yards per carry average, both of them, and really
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: have someone respect that, that opens things up for everyone else.
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: You sort of wonder if Basial was on the sidelines.
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: I didn't get a chance to talk to him after
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: the game. You know, he's been close and close and closer.
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: And then he breaks one and gets called back by penalty.
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: You almost wonder if he's on the sidelines looking up
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: and going, all right, really? He's so chill.
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: He might not be, but if it was anyone else,
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: if it was like LaQuint or someone, I'm sure they
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: would be freaking out. But Basial's so, like, even-keeled. He's
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: probably just like, all right, give it back to me.
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: Give me the rock again.
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: And he keeps... I think it's easy to forget sometimes
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: that these running backs come into the league, and when
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: they're blessed with the speed that Travis Etienne sort of
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: fell in this category some early in his career here,
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: and I think Basial's going through the same thing, you're
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: so fast and you're so strong that in college you
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: can sort of just run away from people. That allows
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: you to get the big runs. In the NFL, you
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: have to make moves once you get into that second
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: and third level, and They don't really have the experience
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: to have done it. I'm not saying Basial's bad at this,
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: but it's an area that he's working on. But you
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: can sort of see him getting better and better at
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: that each week. You can sort of see his growth
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: if you watch him carefully.
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: What's the running back slow to fast through, they always say.
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: And I think last season he got a little quick to,
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: you know, didn't want to wait for that hole necessarily
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: and was getting a little antsy. And that's something he
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: focused on in the off season. You could see it
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: right out of the gate that he's being more patient
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: with things. And then when it does open up or
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: you see it happening, he's right through and he's, and
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: he's just, he hasn't quite hit it yet. And I
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: said that because some of the plays that were called
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: back in this game, uh, where you know he's going
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: to rip off some of these huge runs. It's right there.
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: The blocking is there for it. His ability is there,
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: and it's going to matter sooner than later. I think
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: we'll get a real running back game, if you will,
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: and he's right knocking on the door for it.
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think the thing that they like about both backs, look,
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: the explosive is going to happen at some point, but
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: the way this team's going to win and where the
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: backs are going to benefit this team the most is,
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: if you notice, every carry, I shouldn't say every carry, Many,
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: many carries. There's four yards there, and they're getting five.
• 7:41
  Speaker 2: There's three yards there, and they're getting five. Both of
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: these guys finish and get more than maybe the play
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: was called for, and that's what they wanted out of
• 7:51
  Speaker 2: both of these guys, and it's been impressive. Defensive deep dive, guys. See,
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: we went offense first. Now we're going to go defense.
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: I don't even know how deep dive this is, except
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: that people tend to, overlook the running game in the
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: NFL these days these guys aren't just.
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: Good at it yeah on the other side stopping it.
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: They're high in good at it and the the turnovers
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: are cool the turnovers won the game yesterday I thought
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: but the calling card of this defense it's almost like
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: they led league and run defense I'm gonna say people
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: didn't notice it but they just don't look at it
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: it's a huge reason if if you're making bullet points
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: about why this team is good okay why have they
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: won 16 of their last 21? I'm not so sure
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: that you don't put that at the top of the list.
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: John, I don't always go to box score because I
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: think sometimes that can be misleading, but for this game,
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: it was absurd. The, the lack of run and, and
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: they didn't try to run a ton. So I will
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: say that, but their longest rush was for six yards.
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: Their leading rusher had nine attempts and had 10 yards rushing. That's, insane.
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: So when you look at those stats, it's like that
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: wasn't even an option of their games. They were just
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: throwing it. And listen, Joe Burrow can throw it. They
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: have a ton of success doing it.
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: It makes sense.
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: But when you don't have the balance, they don't have
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: to respect the run whatsoever. And so you saw a
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: lot of harassment of Joe Burrow. They were getting in there,
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: quarterback hits, and that's because they didn't have to wait
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: that extra second to see if they were going to
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: run it, because they were never going to run it.
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: And you do wonder, this team came in They have
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: capability to run. The Bengals have run okay in the past.
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: Who knows how coaches are thinking during the game. But
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: you do wonder if it's a case of, look, we
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: know these guys are really good at it, meaning the
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: Jaguars are really good at stopping.
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: Yeah, let's not even try, maybe.
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: We're going to try early, and if it doesn't work,
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: maybe not even consciously, but you're thinking they're down on
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: the scoreboard, so there's a little bit of pressure there.
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: and you just get away from it but the fact
• 9:59
  Speaker 2: that the jaguars are so good at it does bring
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: in an element of, hey, we're not even going to
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: worry about it. It makes you one-dimensional. And again, I
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: get the pass rush stuff. I get whatever that they
• 10:11
  Speaker 2: gave up at the end. But when you can take
• 10:14
  Speaker 2: one thing away in the NFL and truly make teams one-dimensional...
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: it gives yourself a chance each week to play really
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: good defensively. Sometimes you don't, because the other team can
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: just get big hits, meaning big moment plays. But having
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: that is what makes you believe that over the course
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: of 17 games, this team's going to play good defense
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: a lot more often than it doesn't. Your moment to remember?
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: A last play of the game for me.
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: Rayon Lane, who has not had a significant amount of
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: playing time, great on special teams, but uh, called into
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: that game. Caleb Branson went out with a knee injury. Uh,
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: Eric Murray had a concussion. So they're down to safety.
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: They're already down to corners going into that. So the
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: secondary was overworked to say the least. And they were
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: going over the middle. Cause you always go with the
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: new guy, right? Like you, you, you pick it, pick
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: on them until they figure it out.
• 11:04
  Speaker 2: It was not a dumb guy. He, He knows when
• 11:07
  Speaker 2: the fourth safety's in there.
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: Yeah, he's smart enough to do that. And this wasn't
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: directly at him. They went over the middle short of
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: the line to gain, though, and had a couple more
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: yards to go. And Rand Lane coming in low where
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: you need to tackle to stop their momentum from going forward,
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: flip the receiver over, and about a yard shy, and that.
• 11:24
  Speaker 2: Ends the game. Never stopped playing, and he could have
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: gotten discouraged.
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: Absolutely, especially in that drive where they had three big
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: chunk plays and then it was those three incompletions and
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: then that to end it. So for me, it's the defense,
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: you know, the way that they go through the zone
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: and the way they run zone and different schemes that
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: they run, they do allow plays, but they're so good
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: in the red zone. They'll let you get the chunk plays.
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: They'll let you get the yards, but you're not getting
• 11:51
  Speaker 2: the points.
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: And that's what's allowed them to be effective because you
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: can look at the stats and say, oh, Joe Burrow
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: threw for this much and yada, yada, yada. but they
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: only allowed 17 points. They're not letting their opponents score,
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: and that's how you win football games.
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: Yeah, my son played tennis, and every coach he ever
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: had and every tennis coach who's ever coached tennis tells
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: their players this, forget about the last point and play
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: the next one. And if you look at tennis, for example,
• 12:17
  Speaker 2: most of the great players win about 53% of the
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: points in their career, right? Well, Jake, who's my son,
• 12:24
  Speaker 2: three or four years ago we were talking about just
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: sort of remembering stuff, and he goes, Yeah, if I
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: had listened to that when I was 12, how much
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: better it would have been. The point I'm making is
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: it's one of the hardest things to do in sports.
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: Of course.
• 12:36
  Speaker 2: This defense and this team seems to be really good
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: at that of whatever happened on the play before, we're
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: going to keep playing, we're going to play for 60 minutes.
• 12:46
  Speaker 2: All these are cliches, but when you do those things
• 12:52
  Speaker 2: that are tried and true, that are hard to do,
• 12:55
  Speaker 2: you tend to be pretty good. And I think that's
• 12:57
  Speaker 2: one of, There's a few hidden things that make this
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: team much better than I think analysts think on paper.
• 13:04
  Speaker 2: I think that's one of them. So we're going to
• 13:07
  Speaker 2: go now to a segment that I like to call
• 13:11
  Speaker 2: Liam Said What? What?
• 13:13
  Speaker 3: There's a critical third and four where C-Rod, we handed
• 13:18
  Speaker 3: it off to him in the shotgun where BT had
• 13:21
  Speaker 3: a heck of a block. that he, you know, he
• 13:24
  Speaker 3: was on the other side, but he took the nickel
• 13:27
  Speaker 3: and drove him about 10 yards down the field and
• 13:30
  Speaker 3: did a great job on C-Rod's touchdown, like you mentioned,
• 13:34
  Speaker 3: and caught the touchdown, caught an outcut in the side.
• 13:37
  Speaker 3: I mean, did some really good things. So was really
• 13:40
  Speaker 3: proud of the way he responded and continues to do so.
• 13:43
  Speaker 3: And each week, you know, you just don't know who
• 13:46
  Speaker 3: it's going to be. But when you go out and
• 13:47
  Speaker 3: play like that and you go play physical and you
• 13:50
  Speaker 3: go play, um fast like he did um good things
• 13:54
  Speaker 3: will continue to happen.
• 13:56
  Speaker 2: Yeah kai i chose that clip because it sort of
• 13:59
  Speaker 2: ties into some of these other things we've just been
• 14:01
  Speaker 2: talking about uh i think the naysayers will say well
• 14:06
  Speaker 2: btj caught two passers 17 yards and he was open
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: for the catch in the end zone okay all of
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: that aside um he had two or three really important
• 14:15
  Speaker 2: blocks downfield including on the in the rodriguez play uh
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: The entire team does this, willing to do things that
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: aren't necessarily the fun stuff, willing to play for the
• 14:33
  Speaker 2: team and not for themselves. And you say, well, of
• 14:36
  Speaker 2: course you should be able to. Not all wide receivers do.
• 14:40
  Speaker 2: I'm not going to say they don't win that game
• 14:45
  Speaker 2: without BTJ, but he made significant plays to help them
• 14:49
  Speaker 2: win that game at a time where it would have
• 14:55
  Speaker 2: been possible for him to go in the tank. Of course.
• 14:58
  Speaker 2: And to be down and to say, well, I'm not
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: blocking on this third level. Nobody's going to notice it.
• 15:04
  Speaker 2: So I just thought it was impressive. I want to
• 15:07
  Speaker 2: sort of play that up as, I guess maybe what
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: we've been talking about in that, I don't know that
• 15:12
  Speaker 2: BTJ is going to be the alpha one male top
• 15:15
  Speaker 2: 10 receiver. Maybe he will be. I hope so. But
• 15:18
  Speaker 2: he sure is. can fit into this and make this
• 15:22
  Speaker 2: team a better team in the way that a lot
• 15:24
  Speaker 2: of guys are right now.
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: It's not going to be built that way. It's just
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: not going to have a one receiver. Parker Washington only
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: had three targets, right? That's like the guy you want
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: to get 10 plus targets to every, he had three
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: targets in that game. It's not always going to be
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: everybody's day. Every game, Brent strange's game was in Cincinnati.
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: He had eight targets, seven receptions. And the one that
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: he missed was an overthrow by Trevor. So he would
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: have been eight for eight. Um, And it's going to
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: rotate every single week. If you don't want to buy
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: in and play the way they want you to play,
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: that includes blocking, that includes everything that goes into your job,
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: you're not going to be on the field. And BTJ
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: has bought in. He's playing that role. He was open
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: for his touchdown because of a broke-down coverage. He was
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: ready for the football to come his way. If it
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: wasn't originally, he wasn't the first plan, he wasn't paying attention,
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: maybe he doesn't get that touchdown.
• 16:12
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: And you also haven't even tapped into, they really haven't
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: aired him out much at all. They haven't had a
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: ton of downfield plays. He is your threat there. If
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: you can open that up, that's a whole other part
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: of your game that then people are going to have
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: to plan for. So I'm sure they're trying to. But
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: that's something you don't have on this roster. You can say, oh,
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: someone else could have caught that touchdown. There's other stuff
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: that BTJ does that no one else on this roster
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: can do, and that's why you keep him and why
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: you utilize him.
• 16:36
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and I think it's easy. All these things we're
• 16:40
  Speaker 2: talking about are things that, logically you would say, well,
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: of course they're doing that. Of course they're playing as
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: a team. Of course they're not zoning out if they
• 16:49
  Speaker 2: don't get the ball. But to have everybody doing it collectively,
• 16:55
  Speaker 2: it's such a game of moments and inches and all
• 16:59
  Speaker 2: these cliches. But to me, that really is more than
• 17:03
  Speaker 2: anything why this team is 3-1, why they're solid, why
• 17:08
  Speaker 2: you feel... If you wonder... okay, you're 3-1. And I
• 17:13
  Speaker 2: said to somebody, I said, boy, that thing seems pretty good.
• 17:15
  Speaker 2: And this person said, well, that's fine, but we've got
• 17:18
  Speaker 2: to do it 13 more times and four more times. Well,
• 17:21
  Speaker 2: the thing that gives you confidence that they will is
• 17:25
  Speaker 2: that you've sort of seen them do this for the
• 17:27
  Speaker 2: first 21 games of this regime. I don't think guys
• 17:33
  Speaker 2: playing together, guys playing and putting last plays behind them,
• 17:39
  Speaker 2: all the stuff we're talking about, This is not a
• 17:41
  Speaker 2: one-off thing. They do it consistently. So I think it's
• 17:44
  Speaker 2: the identity of this team, and it's what gives you confidence.
• 17:48
  Speaker 2: They're going to win a lot of games because other
• 17:50
  Speaker 2: teams don't play that way. And when a team playing
• 17:53
  Speaker 2: the Jaguars way plays against teams that aren't, the team
• 17:57
  Speaker 2: playing the Jaguars team is hard to beat. And I
• 18:00
  Speaker 2: guess you can relate to it because this is a
• 18:01
  Speaker 2: lot of how New England was good for a long time.
• 18:05
  Speaker 2: Team stuff that gets lost in the stats.
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: It's a culture thing, right? Do your job, Patriot Way, whatever.
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: If you're not doing the dirty work on Liam Cohen's team,
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: you're just not going to play, and you're going to
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: stick out like a sore thumb because everyone else is.
• 18:20
  Speaker 2: That's a much better way of putting what I was saying.
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: It's extra obvious because when you're playing on a team
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: where everybody's bought in and everybody's making that extra block
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: or going forth and putting that extra effort, when you
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: don't do it, it's so obvious and it looks so bad.
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: So peer pressure alone should make you want to do it,
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: and if not, you're not going to get much more
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: of an opportunity.
• 18:38
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's outstanding. Yeah. We could end it right here.
• 18:45
  Speaker 2: We won't, because we're going to go to rankings. And
• 18:49
  Speaker 2: right now, my league rankings are... Did we make it?
• 18:52
  Speaker 2: We did make it, and I think it's legit. People go, oh, legit,
• 18:55
  Speaker 2: you know, whatever. I had the 49ers on top, because
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: they seem pretty healthy, and when they're healthy, they're good.
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: Even when they're not healthy, they're good.
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and so.
• 19:07
  Speaker 2: I heard somebody on one of the shows I was
• 19:09
  Speaker 2: watching last night talk about, well, they've never won a
• 19:11
  Speaker 2: Super Bowl. Look, this team's a consistent team for a decade.
• 19:16
  Speaker 2: And when they get it going, they're 4-0 early in
• 19:17
  Speaker 2: the season. They're dangerous. Yeah, they usually go to the
• 19:19
  Speaker 2: Super Bowl when they start 4-0. So they're really good.
• 19:22
  Speaker 2: I went with Kansas City next because they're undefeated. Seattle
• 19:25
  Speaker 2: because they're the defending champs, and I still believe in them.
• 19:27
  Speaker 2: Jags 4. Let's go. Dropped the Bills to 5. Could
• 19:30
  Speaker 2: have kept the Bills up. But, you know, look, the
• 19:33
  Speaker 2: week-to-week league thing that we talk about and the, you know,
• 19:37
  Speaker 2: Remember last week, there was almost this national dismissal of, well,
• 19:42
  Speaker 2: the Jags beat the Patriots by 29, but the Patriots
• 19:44
  Speaker 2: are having problems, you know, all this. The Patriots went
• 19:47
  Speaker 2: and beat the Bills, who I had number one before,
• 19:49
  Speaker 2: on the Patriots. the road. The Jaguars beat the Browns
• 19:53
  Speaker 2: week one. Browns haven't lost since. If you're paying attention
• 19:57
  Speaker 2: to the Jags, they're a top five team. Maybe better
• 20:00
  Speaker 2: than that. If I was going with my gut, I'm
• 20:05
  Speaker 2: not sure there's a team I would rank over them
• 20:06
  Speaker 2: right now.
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: Right, but no one follows them as closely as we do,
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: so they don't get that kind of credit, which is
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: probably for their own best interest, I think, because that
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: motivation they have of not feeling they have respect is
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: what drives.
• 20:20
  Speaker 2: Them at their core. If I had put them number one,
• 20:22
  Speaker 2: somebody would have probably said, stop doing that because we
• 20:25
  Speaker 2: want the incentive. So I'll put them at 32 next week.
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so the disrespect keeps coming, and that's what motivates them,
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: and works it works.
• 20:32
  Speaker 2: Who does your game ball go to?
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: My game ball... You know what? I'm going to go
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: with Mr. Played 100 Snaps on defense, Travis Hunter.
• 20:41
  Speaker 2: That's good. He is coming along, and good for him.
• 20:48
  Speaker 2: He's doing stuff now that I think when people around
• 20:54
  Speaker 2: here were talking about, hey, he's only played eight or
• 20:56
  Speaker 2: nine games, nobody wants to hear that, right? Nobody outside
• 21:01
  Speaker 2: wants to hear that. They want to see the finished
• 21:03
  Speaker 2: product early. He's starting to look like a pro cornerback, right?
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: He is.
• 21:08
  Speaker 2: And I don't know that he did before, but he's
• 21:10
  Speaker 2: really looking good to me.
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: And they wanted to do the rotation, and that's fine,
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: but injury necessitated that. Both Travis Hunter and Jarrion Jones
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: played 100% of those snaps because there just wasn't any
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: other bodies, and you saw what that looked like. And
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: like I said, some of the way they play defense
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: is to allow some catch. So I don't know if
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: all the stats back it up, but you're holding a
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: team to 17 points, an offense that is used to
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: scoring over 30. That's good to me. And seeing him
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: look comfortable, look physical, John, we talked about that on
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: Monday on Jags AM. We hadn't really seen that part
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: of his game. We know he put on about 10,
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: 15 pounds of muscle in the offseason, but he was
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: coming and making physical tackles.
• 21:47
  Speaker 2: He did. It was impressive. My game ball, I'm going foyer. Fair.
• 21:56
  Speaker 2: And there's so many, on a game like Sundays, there
• 21:59
  Speaker 2: were so many plays and moments that you don't win
• 22:03
  Speaker 2: the game without them. But the interception early in the
• 22:07
  Speaker 2: fourth quarter, to me, it felt like the Bengals had
• 22:12
  Speaker 2: found what they wanted against the Jaguars' defense. They were moving.
• 22:16
  Speaker 2: You go up 17-16 there, which they were in the
• 22:20
  Speaker 2: red zone with a chance to go up 17-16. All
• 22:24
  Speaker 2: of a sudden, even the Jaguars' players may be thinking, hey,
• 22:26
  Speaker 2: this happened against Denver. We've lost the lead now. The
• 22:28
  Speaker 2: Jaguars never lost the lead in that game because of
• 22:30
  Speaker 2: that play. It was... An outstanding veteran read, him being
• 22:37
  Speaker 2: cerebral on the defensive half.
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: Of the ball.
• 22:42
  Speaker 2: Again, to me, that's the biggest play of the year
• 22:44
  Speaker 2: so far. The biggest single play of the year. I
• 22:47
  Speaker 2: don't think they win that game without him. Credit to
• 22:49
  Speaker 2: him for being the eyes, ears, defensive brain of the defense.
• 22:55
  Speaker 2: Big-time play that, as I said on AIM this week,
• 22:58
  Speaker 2: I think it's one that he'll look back on when
• 22:59
  Speaker 2: he's done with this game and think that's why I played.
• 23:02
  Speaker 2: That's why it was fun. That's what made me good.
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: It's a dirty work kind of play. And I know
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: Foy likes to say gritty, not pretty.
• 23:09
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: And that's exactly what that win was and what his
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: style of play is. And, uh, it shouldn't surprise any
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: of us because he's been doing it for so long,
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: but it's always nice to have that consistency in the
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: middle and just know that there's trust there.
• 23:22
  Speaker 2: Uh, final thought I'll get, I'll give you mine. I'll
• 23:24
  Speaker 2: let you close with yours. I think this team's really good. Um,
• 23:28
  Speaker 2: And I think the reason they're good is because of
• 23:32
  Speaker 2: what I said earlier. They're really good, and I don't
• 23:36
  Speaker 2: think that Liam will allow them to believe that they're good,
• 23:42
  Speaker 2: if you follow me. He always wants them to know
• 23:45
  Speaker 2: they're good, but they have to play a certain way
• 23:50
  Speaker 2: to be good. They have played that way for the
• 23:53
  Speaker 2: most part, except the fourth quarter against Denver, maybe.
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 23:57
  Speaker 2: I think it's going to be consistent. I think they're
• 23:58
  Speaker 2: going to win a lot of games the way they
• 24:00
  Speaker 2: did yesterday. They'll lose a couple because when you play
• 24:03
  Speaker 2: those games, something's going to bite you. Yesterday could have
• 24:05
  Speaker 2: bitten them. But they're going to lose more of those
• 24:07
  Speaker 2: than they win, and they're going to have some games
• 24:09
  Speaker 2: where they get away from people because I think they're
• 24:11
  Speaker 2: that good and that well coached. I think this is
• 24:13
  Speaker 2: a really good team, and I feel more confident about
• 24:16
  Speaker 2: it after yesterday than I did after the first three games.
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: I agree with you, and I think I'm very confident
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: about this London swing. When normally I'm a bit more cautious,
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: I was worried when the schedule came out. Obviously the
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: Eagles have been so good for so long. And then
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: the Texans, a divisional matchup, you know, takes away your
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: home game here in Jacksonville. So that was tough, but
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: I go into this seeing, you know, could they get
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: out of here with a sweep out of London and
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: go into the bi-week looking pretty good as opposed to,
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: you know, even if it's one-on-one, I just think they're
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: in a lot better place. Cause this was a chunk
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: of the schedule that worried me. There's that later stretch
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: as well, when they're gone on the road a lot, November, December,
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: but this was a chunk that I, that concerned me
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: just the, so many playoff teams back to back and
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: just kind of tough matchups, but they're, they're rising to
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: the occasion and, And even the game that they lost
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: to Buffalo, that was a close one. So I am
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: impressed with where they're at and maybe exceeding expectations similar
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: to what they did last year for me.
• 25:04
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a very NFL start in this sense. Coaches
• 25:09
  Speaker 2: always talk about wanting to go 3-1 during quarters to
• 25:11
  Speaker 2: get you to 12-4. This feels like that sort of thing.
• 25:15
  Speaker 2: You got through a tough part of your schedule, 3-1,
• 25:18
  Speaker 2: doing what you wanted to do, playing the way you
• 25:20
  Speaker 2: wanted to play, and having certain parts of your roster
• 25:24
  Speaker 2: that needed to prove things. Continue to step. So it's
• 25:28
  Speaker 2: a very good first quarter. You can't say quarter anymore.
• 25:31
  Speaker 2: It's 17 games. First quarter-ish. We're in a smidge. Of
• 25:33
  Speaker 2: the season. Kai, thank you. Thank you to Brent Reber,
• 25:36
  Speaker 2: Joe Fortunato. I'm John Osher. This was the Tuesday Ozone Podcast.