Latest / Jags A.M. / Jags A.M. Podcast Ep. 255 | Jaguars Evaluations Through Week 4 of 2026 Season
Transcript
- 0:15Speaker 1: We'll be right back.
- 0:16Speaker 2: Welcome into week 5 Jags AM on a Wednesday.
- 0:19Speaker 3: I'm kind honey Stevens, Brian Sexton, John Ogier are with
- 0:22Speaker 3: me today as this team gets prepared to take on
- 0:24Speaker 3: the Philadelphia Eagles in London, but a couple days practicing
- 0:27Speaker 3: here in Jacksonville before they take that flight across the pond.
- 0:31Speaker 3: Let's start out with our big things brought to you
- 0:32Speaker 3: by GEHA Government Employees Health Association. Big thing number one
- 0:36Speaker 3: is turn up the heat. Brian, if I told you
- 0:39Speaker 3: this team was going to be three in one heading
- 0:40Speaker 3: into those London games, I think we all would have
- 0:42Speaker 3: been excited with that. But now is not the time
- 0:45Speaker 3: to let the foot off the gas.
- 0:46Speaker 2: You need to really take advantage of these home games
- 0:49Speaker 2: in London.
- 0:49Speaker 4: Well, the circumstances are here, right? 3-1, fantastic. I thought
- 0:53Speaker 4: they would be 2-2. We did that episode before the
- 0:55Speaker 4: season began. So you're 3-1, and now you go and
- 0:58Speaker 4: get a Philadelphia team that has been decimated by injury
- 1:02Speaker 4: and isn't playing well and is struggling with a new
- 1:05Speaker 4: offensive scheme. Great. That's their problem. You now have an
- 1:08Speaker 4: opportunity at Tottenham on Sunday to take a team that
- 1:11Speaker 4: we thought was a contender. that isn't playing like a contender,
- 1:15Speaker 4: and grab another win.
- 1:16Speaker 1: Perfect.
- 1:17Speaker 4: Then the next week you get a Texans team that
- 1:19Speaker 4: is very talented. They can turn it on at some point,
- 1:23Speaker 4: and they will probably at some point, but probably not
- 1:26Speaker 4: going to going across the pond to play in London.
- 1:30Speaker 4: They may give you a game because they know you
- 1:31Speaker 4: very well. It's a division game. You have two big
- 1:34Speaker 4: opportunities to come home 5-1. and then have a home
- 1:37Speaker 4: game against the Colts. John, this is a perfect opportunity
- 1:40Speaker 4: for the Jaguars to take advantage of the back end
- 1:43Speaker 4: of the toughest stretch of their schedule and use it
- 1:46Speaker 4: as momentum going forward into November when the contenders separate
- 1:50Speaker 4: from the pretenders.
- 1:52Speaker 1: Yeah, I think I went through, when I was thinking
- 1:55Speaker 1: about this week, went through the same thing you guys
- 1:57Speaker 1: are talking about. Oh, look at these opportunities. And then
- 1:59Speaker 1: I realized what I lost sight of before the season
- 2:02Speaker 1: was the Jaguars are really, really good. In retrospect, I
- 2:06Speaker 1: shouldn't be surprised they're 3-1 because good teams get to
- 2:10Speaker 1: the quarter poll 3-1. That said, it's absolutely now a
- 2:15Speaker 1: case where, A, when the Jaguars are playing good teams,
- 2:19Speaker 1: for so long around here we thought, oh, they've got
- 2:21Speaker 1: to do something special and weird to beat these good teams.
- 2:24Speaker 1: Now they have to go play and take advantage of
- 2:26Speaker 1: who they already are. That said, It is a huge opportunity. 3-1,
- 2:33Speaker 1: if you can come home 5-1 with a home game
- 2:36Speaker 1: against the Colts, again, I think we're all getting used
- 2:42Speaker 1: to the fact that this team's good. Good teams go
- 2:45Speaker 1: do what they need to do the next two weeks, guys.
- 2:48Speaker 3: Stay ready is going to be our second big thing today,
- 2:52Speaker 3: and we talk about that a lot. Being ready, preparing
- 2:55Speaker 3: so that when you're in the game or you're thrown
- 2:56Speaker 3: into the game, you're ready to go. We saw that
- 2:58Speaker 3: in the secondary most recently in Cincinnati. Christian Braswell and
- 3:02Speaker 3: Monteric Brown were injured, so 100% of the snaps for
- 3:05Speaker 3: Travis Hunter.
- 3:05Speaker 2: And Jarrion Jones both at corner.
- 3:07Speaker 3: And then the safety injuries, Eric Murray and Caleb Ransaw
- 3:10Speaker 3: both injured in that game, so we saw Rayon Lane
- 3:13Speaker 3: thrust into the light. John, we might potentially see Jalen Husky,
- 3:16Speaker 3: a rookie as well, but this is the time when
- 3:18Speaker 3: you have to be prepared, so when your number gets called,
- 3:20Speaker 3: you're ready to go.
- 3:21Speaker 1: Yeah, Brian, we've seen enough weird, different circumstance games over
- 3:26Speaker 1: the years to know that in the fourth quarter the
- 3:28Speaker 1: other day, all of a sudden, once Ransaw and Murray
- 3:33Speaker 1: were out, you already knew about the corners. Once those
- 3:35Speaker 1: two guys were out, you thought, okay, well, this is
- 3:38Speaker 1: one they just got to figure out a way to
- 3:40Speaker 1: get the Bengals off the field a couple times. Forget
- 3:43Speaker 1: how it's done. Do it, and then go figure out
- 3:47Speaker 1: what you're going to do moving forward. But win this
- 3:49Speaker 1: because you had the opportunity to. Being ready, having all
- 3:56Speaker 1: 53 ready to step up, it's become a trademark of
- 4:00Speaker 1: this team. And it's one of four or five bullet
- 4:03Speaker 1: point reasons why I think they're really good with a
- 4:05Speaker 1: chance to go all the way.
- 4:06Speaker 4: Yeah, they're a deep team. We talked about this on Monday, Kai.
- 4:09Speaker 4: They don't have obvious weaknesses. And depth is relative in
- 4:13Speaker 4: the NFL today. They've got guys that they believe in,
- 4:16Speaker 4: some guys that have shown them things through a couple
- 4:18Speaker 4: of years that they think they can count on. They're
- 4:20Speaker 4: going to have to find a way to overcome this.
- 4:23Speaker 4: And I thought that Zach Taylor, the Bengals coach in
- 4:25Speaker 4: his postgame, actually I think it was on Monday, not
- 4:28Speaker 4: on Sunday afternoon, He basically said, when asked about it,
- 4:31Speaker 4: how are you going to figure out a way to
- 4:32Speaker 4: get things done if you don't have Jamar Chase and
- 4:35Speaker 4: you don't have T.
- 4:37Speaker 1: Higgins?
- 4:37Speaker 4: And he goes, no one cares. He goes, that's our job.
- 4:40Speaker 4: We all have injuries in this league. Every team is
- 4:42Speaker 4: dealing with injuries to some degree, and no one wants
- 4:45Speaker 4: to hear it. So we've got to figure out a
- 4:47Speaker 4: way to take the guys we have and go find
- 4:49Speaker 4: a way to win. Well, it's the same thing for
- 4:51Speaker 4: Liam Cohen and his coaching staff, Anthony Campanile in this case,
- 4:55Speaker 4: to figure out how to take the parts that are there,
- 4:58Speaker 4: Maybe a player or two they have to go sign
- 4:59Speaker 4: off of someone else's practice squad to be able to
- 5:03Speaker 4: get through the practice week. But this is a good
- 5:06Speaker 4: enough roster that they have answers to the questions. And, Johnny,
- 5:09Speaker 4: you've talked about how we always around here thought, well,
- 5:12Speaker 4: they've got to do something special because they didn't have
- 5:14Speaker 4: the answers. This team has answers.
- 5:16Speaker 1: Brian, Kai, do you guys care that Saquon Barkley and
- 5:20Speaker 1: Tank Bigsby are hurt? I'm aware. So that's the point.
- 5:24Speaker 1: You're not thinking about the other team's injuries that much
- 5:27Speaker 1: going into it. nobody's going to care about the Jaguars'
- 5:30Speaker 1: injuries at Saquon.
- 5:30Speaker 4: Exactly.
- 5:31Speaker 3: Let's go to our final thing today, which is never
- 5:33Speaker 3: let up. Looking at the Eagles, we talk about Saquon
- 5:36Speaker 3: Barkley injuries.
- 5:37Speaker 2: More injury news will come out as the week goes along.
- 5:39Speaker 2: We don't know who will be available.
- 5:40Speaker 3: But as much as we think this is an opportunity
- 5:43Speaker 3: for them to kind of get those wins across the pond,
- 5:46Speaker 3: it's important not to underestimate your opponent. Also, with that
- 5:49Speaker 3: travel involved, Brian, Liam Cohn will have to keep us
- 5:52Speaker 3: in focus this week.
- 5:53Speaker 4: Listen, focus is a huge point of mine this week, Kai.
- 5:56Speaker 4: Remember last year, the storyline was the Jaguars went over
- 5:58Speaker 4: early in the week to get ready for the game,
- 6:01Speaker 4: while the Rams didn't come in until, what, 9 o'clock
- 6:03Speaker 4: on Saturday night? And then the Rams proceeded to throttle
- 6:06Speaker 4: the Jaguars. It was all about being prepared, obviously, in
- 6:09Speaker 4: your best physical state, but about the focus that it
- 6:13Speaker 4: takes to play. and the Rams were a veteran team,
- 6:15Speaker 4: one of the better teams in the league last year,
- 6:17Speaker 4: and they found a way to get it done. Jags
- 6:19Speaker 4: are going at the normal time, right, leaving Thursday, landing Friday,
- 6:23Speaker 4: staying up through the game. Eagles aren't coming until Friday
- 6:26Speaker 4: and landing Saturday. It all just depends. But your team's focus, and, John,
- 6:31Speaker 4: we've seen this team at 3-1, exceptionally focused, especially since
- 6:35Speaker 4: the loss in Denver, on doing the little things on
- 6:38Speaker 4: the practice field, the detail work. If the Jaguars stay
- 6:41Speaker 4: to the detail work this week, They'll handle any of
- 6:44Speaker 4: the questions that are thrown at them on Sunday at Tottenham.
- 6:47Speaker 1: Yeah. So many circumstances in the NFL lead to what
- 6:52Speaker 1: happens on a Sunday. But the fact that the worst
- 6:56Speaker 1: game for this franchise since this new regime got here,
- 7:00Speaker 1: I think you would say was the Rams game last
- 7:02Speaker 1: year in London. What went into that? I don't know.
- 7:07Speaker 1: My guess is the way Liam Cohen uses things that
- 7:10Speaker 1: have happened, he'll be preaching to this team this week, hey,
- 7:14Speaker 1: we're not going to let that happen again. However that looks,
- 7:17Speaker 1: I would think that'll be a motivation. I think Liam
- 7:20Speaker 1: wants to be standing on the podium on Sunday, being
- 7:22Speaker 1: able to talk about what they did right this year
- 7:24Speaker 1: to prepare and not have that happen again.
- 7:26Speaker 3: All right, stay with us here on Jags AM. Coming
- 7:29Speaker 3: up after the break, we'll play a little This or
- 7:30Speaker 3: That as we look back at the first quarter of
- 7:32Speaker 3: the NFL season.
- 7:35Speaker 1: This or That. This or That.
- 7:41Speaker 2: We're going back.
- 7:41Speaker 3: Into Jags AM. It's week five, so we play 17
- 7:45Speaker 3: games now. It's not 16, so it's not perfect math,
- 7:47Speaker 3: but we're about a quarter way through the season, so
- 7:50Speaker 3: I figured it was time for us to kind of
- 7:51Speaker 3: look back on this month or so and.
- 7:53Speaker 4: See what we thought so far. That 17th game just
- 7:55Speaker 4: screws everything.
- 7:55Speaker 1: It is.
- 7:56Speaker 2: I need clean math.
- 7:57Speaker 1: See how bad I am at math? I thought it
- 7:59Speaker 1: was even.
- 8:00Speaker 2: I'm not a math lead anymore.
- 8:02Speaker 3: All right, so defense, who I think has been impressing
- 8:06Speaker 3: a lot of people so far. Who's your MVP on
- 8:09Speaker 3: defense or your most impactful player?
- 8:12Speaker 4: Well, I mean, I think we should all just say
- 8:14Speaker 4: it's Devon Hamilton and then choose the next.
- 8:16Speaker 2: Okay, fair enough.
- 8:17Speaker 4: Because their run defense is so good right now. They
- 8:21Speaker 4: are holding teams. Teams' success rate on first down in
- 8:24Speaker 4: the running game is like 30% of the time.
- 8:27Speaker 1: It's striking. It's unbelievable.
- 8:28Speaker 4: Which means the teams are setting up third down and
- 8:30Speaker 4: first down, basically. They're facing second and eight more often
- 8:32Speaker 4: than not. And Devon is a huge reason for that.
- 8:35Speaker 4: I'm going to say that the next most impactful defender
- 8:37Speaker 4: is Foye Oluwakun because he had the interception early against
- 8:41Speaker 4: the Browns that got the Jaguars going. And then the
- 8:45Speaker 4: one that he had in the red zone last week,
- 8:47Speaker 4: was the most impactful play of the game so I
- 8:49Speaker 4: think it's hard to say that it's not your leading
- 8:51Speaker 4: tackler and a guy that's making.
- 8:53Speaker 1: Big plays yeah I would probably go with Foye too
- 8:56Speaker 1: but for I guess the sake of being interesting maybe
- 9:01Speaker 1: just talk a little about Antonio Johnson and Travis Hunter
- 9:05Speaker 1: a little bit how again this isn't answering your question
- 9:08Speaker 1: but my MVP would be Foye or or Devon and
- 9:12Speaker 1: Brian tells me I can't talk about it.
- 9:15Speaker 2: We all just know.
- 9:16Speaker 1: I think the dynamic of Antonio Johnson rapidly ascending and
- 9:22Speaker 1: seeming to continue to get better and better, and all
- 9:26Speaker 1: of a sudden you've got Travis Hunter playing the number
- 9:29Speaker 1: two overall pick in the drafted corner. I don't know
- 9:34Speaker 1: that it ever felt last year like the secondary had
- 9:39Speaker 1: an identity. Maybe identity is not the right word, but
- 9:41Speaker 1: it had... okay, this is a hard team to play against. Now,
- 9:46Speaker 1: all of a sudden, there's two guys back there who
- 9:50Speaker 1: might be Pro Bowl level guys, might be guys that
- 9:53Speaker 1: make you a good team. That's a significant change. And
- 9:59Speaker 1: as good as they are against the run, and it
- 10:01Speaker 1: all starts with Devon, Trayvon, Josh up front stopping the
- 10:04Speaker 1: run at Foyer, but now you've got some impact stuff
- 10:08Speaker 1: in the back that, look, I wrote for my quick
- 10:11Speaker 1: thoughts this week. It's been easy to sort of say, well,
- 10:14Speaker 1: the Jaguars are one of the better defenses. They're quiet.
- 10:18Speaker 1: They're flat out one of the better defense in the
- 10:20Speaker 1: league now. You can take all of the qualifiers off
- 10:22Speaker 1: of it.
- 10:23Speaker 2: Especially when you don't let people score.
- 10:24Speaker 1: Yeah.
- 10:24Speaker 4: That's one of the more important stats. If people have
- 10:27Speaker 4: not seen Jeff Logginman's film room segment this week where
- 10:31Speaker 4: he features Travis Hunter, he said to me as I
- 10:33Speaker 4: was walking out of the room with him the other day,
- 10:36Speaker 4: he looks like a pro bowler with the things that
- 10:38Speaker 4: he did in the Cincinnati game. Being a pro bowler,
- 10:42Speaker 4: being all pro, means you do it consistently. So he's
- 10:44Speaker 4: got to go and do it this week and next
- 10:46Speaker 4: week and the week after. But he flashed on the
- 10:48Speaker 4: play where he got the interception against T. Higgins. Just
- 10:51Speaker 4: the athleticism there. There was also a pass breakup down
- 10:54Speaker 4: that same sideline later where he just floated up to
- 10:56Speaker 4: the ball like normal human beings can't do.
- 10:59Speaker 1: Big time one down in the red zone. He's doing
- 11:02Speaker 1: stuff now that you sort of overlook. I mean, you
- 11:05Speaker 1: look back on it, oh, wow, that was big time.
- 11:08Speaker 1: What a dynamic– What a gift, right? Like, I don't
- 11:12Speaker 1: know that any of us were expecting and didn't know
- 11:14Speaker 1: what to expect from Travis this year. Now all of
- 11:16Speaker 1: a sudden you're four games in and you think he's
- 11:18Speaker 1: that level?
- 11:19Speaker 4: Yeah.
- 11:19Speaker 2: Woo!
- 11:20Speaker 4: And you won't. Woo! He won't have played his 17th
- 11:23Speaker 4: game until they see the Giants on the Sunday before Thanksgiving.
- 11:27Speaker 4: So it shows you how much room he's got to
- 11:30Speaker 4: get better.
- 11:30Speaker 2: Still in the rookie year if you count it like that.
- 11:33Speaker 3: This one's a little bit similar and Devon probably also
- 11:35Speaker 3: qualifies for this, but.
- 11:36Speaker 2: Who's your unsung hero?
- 11:38Speaker 3: Who's doing the dirty work, isn't getting enough credit. We
- 11:41Speaker 3: don't talk about him enough, or we try to, but
- 11:43Speaker 3: who's someone that comes to mind for you that has
- 11:46Speaker 3: really helped this team along and hasn't gotten the credit
- 11:48Speaker 3: they deserve yet?
- 11:49Speaker 1: Yeah, Devon's probably that. You know, he's out, but maybe Murray.
- 11:55Speaker 1: I mean, you know, boy, when he got hurt the
- 11:57Speaker 1: other day, maybe unsung qualifies on this, right? Don't really
- 12:03Speaker 1: talk about him a whole lot. And then when he
- 12:04Speaker 1: got hurt, you're like, oh, uh-oh.
- 12:06Speaker 2: You notice.
- 12:07Speaker 1: That's not what we want to have happen. I think
- 12:12Speaker 1: probably the correct answer is on this team, they're 3-1
- 12:18Speaker 1: because they probably have 10 guys who could be the
- 12:20Speaker 1: answer to this. That's the kind of team they are
- 12:22Speaker 1: right now.
- 12:23Speaker 4: I love this question so much, I'm going to give
- 12:24Speaker 4: you two.
- 12:25Speaker 2: Let's do it.
- 12:25Speaker 4: One on each side of the ball. Ventrell Miller.
- 12:27Speaker 1: Who.
- 12:28Speaker 4: That's good.
- 12:28Speaker 1: I thought you were going to go Ventrell. I did too.
- 12:30Speaker 4: I was crossing my fingers. John, please don't take my guy.
- 12:33Speaker 4: The way that he flies to the ball and the
- 12:34Speaker 4: way that he impacts the play, even if he doesn't
- 12:37Speaker 4: make the tackle, he's blowing guys up and setting free
- 12:40Speaker 4: other players to go and make big plays. So I
- 12:43Speaker 4: think Ventrell Miller is absolutely... Because we spent so much
- 12:46Speaker 4: time on Foye and Antonio and Travis for the right reasons.
- 12:50Speaker 4: But we forget about this absolute ballistic missile wearing number
- 12:54Speaker 4: 51 coming your way. And then on the offensive side
- 12:57Speaker 4: of the ball, Nate Borkature. I mean, when he missed
- 13:00Speaker 4: practice last week because he was sick, my first thought
- 13:02Speaker 4: is I wonder if they'll be able to run the
- 13:03Speaker 4: ball as effectively without him. Remember when everyone was all
- 13:07Speaker 4: up in arms. Oh, my gosh. A blocking tight end
- 13:10Speaker 4: with the 56th pick. You're not the same without him
- 13:13Speaker 4: on the field. Because Brenton Strange, when he's out there,
- 13:16Speaker 4: has the ability to be both blocker and receiver. Borkature
- 13:20Speaker 4: just flat out moves people, moves them like few people can.
- 13:24Speaker 4: It was a great pick, and I think Miller and
- 13:28Speaker 4: Borkature are two guys that this team counts on, and
- 13:32Speaker 4: if either one of them misses a game, you're feeling it.
- 13:36Speaker 3: I think I'm going to go coaching, though, and this
- 13:38Speaker 3: is a little bit of a cheat, but Tim Lukabu
- 13:40Speaker 3: and what he's done with the linebackers, because when we
- 13:42Speaker 3: talk about Ventral Miller... And then you look back to
- 13:44Speaker 3: last season when he did with Devin Lloyd. I've been
- 13:46Speaker 3: really impressed. We give a ton of credit to camp,
- 13:48Speaker 3: but also just their position coach because he's really getting the.
- 13:50Speaker 2: Most out of his group. So I think that's what
- 13:51Speaker 2: I'm going to do with mine.
- 13:53Speaker 3: And now rookies. We talked about one rookie, which is
- 13:55Speaker 3: Nate Borkinger. Rookie impressions.
- 13:57Speaker 2: Who surprised you? Could be good, could be bad. Who
- 13:59Speaker 2: surprised you so far?
- 14:00Speaker 1: Well, I think Josh Cameron's the easy answer for me.
- 14:04Speaker 1: There's other guys who qualify, but I think I said
- 14:09Speaker 1: on this show the day after he caught the pass
- 14:11Speaker 1: in the opener, I thought somebody was hurt. Because you
- 14:14Speaker 1: just don't see sixth-round picks. As much as they talked
- 14:18Speaker 1: about him, as much as you heard in the building
- 14:19Speaker 1: they liked him, it's first quarter of his first game
- 14:23Speaker 1: and he's a sixth-round pick. You think, well, that's going
- 14:25Speaker 1: to be something we see in game six. He has, what,
- 14:30Speaker 1: five catches, 74 yards. Hasn't it felt like every catch
- 14:33Speaker 1: he's made matters?
- 14:34Speaker 4: And two touchdowns, yeah.
- 14:35Speaker 1: Beyond that, we've got 12 games left. I think we're
- 14:40Speaker 1: going to see him make five or six more impact
- 14:41Speaker 1: play and impact plays as a rookie. If you get
- 14:45Speaker 1: six or seven out of, uh, he matters. And, uh,
- 14:50Speaker 1: so as six round pick wide receiver with this franchise, uh,
- 14:55Speaker 1: Him and Parker Washington are the answer to the question
- 14:57Speaker 1: of how many six-round wide receivers have mattered for this franchise.
- 15:00Speaker 4: I'll go, and I totally agree that's a great answer.
- 15:02Speaker 4: I'll go with Emmanuel Pregnon. We talk to people after
- 15:06Speaker 4: the draft because we don't know about a guard from Oregon.
- 15:09Speaker 4: We can read like everyone else, but when you go
- 15:11Speaker 4: and talk to coaches and not just read something on
- 15:14Speaker 4: the Internet, you find out the truth. And the truth
- 15:16Speaker 4: that we were told when we asked about the guard
- 15:19Speaker 4: from Oregon was probably a year away. He's a powerful guy.
- 15:23Speaker 4: When he gets his hands on people, he moves them.
- 15:25Speaker 4: But it's probably a lot to expect him to come
- 15:28Speaker 4: in and play as a rookie and contribute, maybe on
- 15:31Speaker 4: special teams. Well, he's a starter, head left guard, and
- 15:33Speaker 4: he moves people, right? I mean, I just wrote something
- 15:36Speaker 4: about the running game. And, yes, you bring in Chris
- 15:41Speaker 4: Rodriguez and you go with Basil Tootin. But if you
- 15:44Speaker 4: don't have Borkature and Pregnon, you're missing two key components
- 15:48Speaker 4: to a running game that's a 1.1 yard per carry
- 15:51Speaker 4: average more successful four games in. So Pregnant constitutes a
- 15:57Speaker 4: surprise to me.
- 15:58Speaker 1: You talk about things the franchise did in the offseason
- 16:01Speaker 1: to get better. Pregnant, Chris Rodriguez, Borgature, add that to
- 16:06Speaker 1: Brenton Strange.
- 16:07Speaker 4: Oh, yeah.
- 16:07Speaker 1: All last year they talked about wanting to be physical,
- 16:09Speaker 1: and they played to that last year. They were, but
- 16:13Speaker 1: they couldn't be at their optimum because they didn't have
- 16:17Speaker 1: those guys. That is a major move in a direction–
- 16:24Speaker 1: that it's paid the dividend of what they want to
- 16:26Speaker 1: do in the offseason.
- 16:28Speaker 3: I'm with you on Pregnan because I think even when
- 16:30Speaker 3: we saw the writing on the wall that he was
- 16:32Speaker 3: going to get to start and become a starter right
- 16:35Speaker 3: out of the gate, We haven't had that welcome to
- 16:37Speaker 3: the rookie fully moment yet. There's going to be a game,
- 16:40Speaker 3: and I'm sure it'll come up.
- 16:41Speaker 2: There's moments. There's plays.
- 16:42Speaker 4: John Allen got him on the first play of the game.
- 16:44Speaker 3: There's always a play, but I feel like there's going
- 16:46Speaker 3: to be a game at some point where you're like,
- 16:48Speaker 3: he's just getting whooped. But he never gets fully fooled,
- 16:51Speaker 3: at least to this point, for an entire game. Plays, yes,
- 16:54Speaker 3: but not– when you're a rookie, there can be tough days,
- 16:56Speaker 3: and we haven't seen that yet. So I think just
- 16:58Speaker 3: the success right out of the gate has been impressive.
- 17:00Speaker 2: To me as well.
- 17:00Speaker 1: You're seeing a lot more whoa than uh-oh from him.
- 17:04Speaker 1: And as a rookie– First four games, every game for
- 17:08Speaker 1: a rookie guard to notice something is, yeah, it shows
- 17:12Speaker 1: you how good he's going to be.
- 17:13Speaker 4: If you want to know how good he is, watch
- 17:15Speaker 4: the game against the Patriots. Get the All-22, which you
- 17:18Speaker 4: can get online, and watch what he does against Christian
- 17:21Speaker 4: Barmore before he leaves the game and against Milton Williams
- 17:25Speaker 4: before he leaves the game because he moves those two
- 17:27Speaker 4: highly paid, very talented players. I don't want to say
- 17:31Speaker 4: effortlessly because you don't move anyone that big effortlessly, but
- 17:34Speaker 4: he made it look easy.
- 17:35Speaker 1: He does it routinely.
- 17:36Speaker 2: Yeah. Very cool.
- 17:37Speaker 3: All right, say let's, we're going to talk about what's
- 17:39Speaker 3: been going on around the NFL when we come back.
- 17:47Speaker 3: Around the NFL brought to you by Paramount plus the
- 17:49Speaker 3: streaming home of your live local NFL.
- 17:51Speaker 2: On CBS games. Welcome back in.
- 17:55Speaker 3: We're going to check in on the AFC South, and
- 17:57Speaker 3: we will check in as well on what's been going
- 17:59Speaker 3: on around the NFL. And I think we'll check in
- 18:01Speaker 3: on the only other team in the AFC South that
- 18:03Speaker 3: has had a victory Monday or two, and that's the
- 18:05Speaker 3: Indianapolis Colts, who got a win. They were in London
- 18:07Speaker 3: this last week, and they got a win over the
- 18:09Speaker 3: Commanders and their third-string quarterback. But what do the Colts
- 18:13Speaker 3: look like to you, John? It's hard to quite quantify
- 18:18Speaker 3: it because they look different than we've seen before, but
- 18:21Speaker 3: they are the same players.
- 18:22Speaker 1: Well, they're always dangerous because they have an elite talent
- 18:26Speaker 1: in the running back.
- 18:28Speaker 4: Jonathan Taylor's superb.
- 18:29Speaker 1: When you've got that, then you have a weapon that
- 18:32Speaker 1: makes you scary. It feels like they are a team
- 18:36Speaker 1: trying to stay afloat and figure it out. That's what
- 18:42Speaker 1: a lot of teams do early in the season, and
- 18:44Speaker 1: then they catch it and go. they lost nine straight.
- 18:48Speaker 1: They beat a struggling Texans team and then a Commander's
- 18:51Speaker 1: team that's down two quarterbacks. So I think the Colts
- 18:55Speaker 1: would even tell you, hey, we're still trying to get
- 18:58Speaker 1: our traction, but teams are scary until they think that's
- 19:03Speaker 1: not working. So they don't feel like a team to
- 19:06Speaker 1: me yet that belongs in that top 10, but there's
- 19:11Speaker 1: enough quality there that... What you hope is that the
- 19:16Speaker 1: Jaguars are, what, like 5-2, 6-1 when they play them
- 19:19Speaker 1: and then sort of knock them out here. But I
- 19:23Speaker 1: think you're still going to have to do that to
- 19:25Speaker 1: them because I think they're going to be around.
- 19:27Speaker 4: Taylor's sensational. You know, their offensive line for a couple
- 19:30Speaker 4: years was the best in the National Football League. And
- 19:33Speaker 4: Quentin Nelson still is the best guard, probably, if not
- 19:35Speaker 4: the best, the second best. And you could see in
- 19:38Speaker 4: that game how much better Taylor was than their backup.
- 19:41Speaker 4: I mean, he'd get in the field and he just,
- 19:43Speaker 4: he's so good.
- 19:44Speaker 1: He's one of a couple of guys.
- 19:45Speaker 4: And Tyler Warren, their tight end, I think, is sneaky good.
- 19:48Speaker 4: He hasn't achieved what I think he's capable of, but
- 19:51Speaker 4: the quarterback issues that they've had, their problem is their quarterback.
- 19:55Speaker 4: I mean, he looked terrible. Didn't look like he could
- 19:58Speaker 4: do much to help them. It's good for them to
- 20:00Speaker 4: see DeForest Buckner back because he dominated the action. But
- 20:04Speaker 4: if Daniel Jones doesn't get better the rest of the way,
- 20:08Speaker 4: they're going to have a hard time pushing this team.
- 20:11Speaker 1: Well i think kai that's sort of plays into what
- 20:13Speaker 1: i was getting at they're still trying to find their
- 20:15Speaker 1: way he had the achilles last year it would stand
- 20:17Speaker 1: to reason that he's still working trying to get back
- 20:21Speaker 1: um it's why again my guess is they're three and
- 20:25Speaker 1: three or so when they play the jags in november
- 20:29Speaker 1: that it is feeling like a game where you're playing
- 20:32Speaker 1: them here You can really punch them in the mouth
- 20:34Speaker 1: if you get them.
- 20:35Speaker 4: They go to Pittsburgh on Sunday, and Pittsburgh has given
- 20:37Speaker 4: us mixed results so far this year. I think that's
- 20:39Speaker 4: a fascinating game to watch from our vantage point.
- 20:42Speaker 3: Another interesting one is going to be Titans and Texans,
- 20:45Speaker 3: both winless. So someone will get their first victory of
- 20:48Speaker 3: the year when they face off this week. The Titans,
- 20:50Speaker 3: I don't think any of us necessarily thought this was
- 20:53Speaker 3: going to be a great season for them. They're in
- 20:54Speaker 3: rebuild mode, trying to figure that out with a new
- 20:56Speaker 3: coaching staff as well. But the Texans, who a lot
- 20:59Speaker 3: of people said were AFC South favorites, are 0-4. They
- 21:03Speaker 3: started 0-3 last year and were able to make a run,
- 21:05Speaker 3: but they're going to have to turn that run on
- 21:08Speaker 3: soon if they want to get back into things. And
- 21:11Speaker 3: it's not just C.J. Stroud.
- 21:12Speaker 2: You can't even point to that because the defense is
- 21:14Speaker 2: allowing a ton of points.
- 21:14Speaker 4: Yeah, they're 26th against the pass, which I don't think
- 21:17Speaker 4: anybody saw coming. When you look at the Titans, they're
- 21:21Speaker 4: not very talented. The Texans have talent all over the place.
- 21:24Speaker 4: I expect the Texans to go and get this win.
- 21:27Speaker 4: A bigger issue for the Titans is they're probably going
- 21:30Speaker 4: to finish in quarterback range. You remember a couple years
- 21:32Speaker 4: ago when the Bears drafted Justin Fields in 2021 and
- 21:37Speaker 4: then two years later punted him and grabbed Caleb Williams
- 21:40Speaker 4: because they said, well, this guy isn't as good as
- 21:42Speaker 4: the guy that we could have. They might be starting
- 21:44Speaker 4: all over again at quarterback this year because there are
- 21:48Speaker 4: good quarterbacks in this draft, and they're not going to
- 21:50Speaker 4: win enough games to draft out of quarterback territory, the
- 21:54Speaker 4: quarterback zone. So I think that's a bigger issue for
- 21:57Speaker 4: Robert Sala and that whole team there is– Are we
- 22:00Speaker 4: just basically washing this year until we can get another quarterback?
- 22:03Speaker 1: Yeah, the Titans feel like, frankly, multiple Jaguars teams over
- 22:08Speaker 1: the year. That slow start, 0-4, they've come close. They've
- 22:12Speaker 1: competed with some good teams. Just not quite ready to
- 22:17Speaker 1: start the process of accelerating yet. Look, I think the
- 22:21Speaker 1: Texans win Sunday. They are still dangerous because... They have
- 22:28Speaker 1: been down like this before and know that they can
- 22:31Speaker 1: come back. They've yet to have the knockout blow, a
- 22:35Speaker 1: punch in the gut. My guess is that'll be a
- 22:37Speaker 1: storyline in two weeks.
- 22:38Speaker 4: You know, I've been talking about their running game woes,
- 22:40Speaker 4: and they're in trouble with the running game. However, I
- 22:43Speaker 4: just read that their running game in the C.J. Stroud
- 22:46Speaker 4: era has never been above 26, right? So for them
- 22:51Speaker 4: to be a 27 right now doesn't seem like that
- 22:53Speaker 4: far of a fall. Here's the thing, though. They don't
- 22:56Speaker 4: have something right now that makes anybody worry about their
- 22:59Speaker 4: running game, which leaves it all on Stroud. And can
- 23:02Speaker 4: he throw the ball 50 times a game and beat you?
- 23:05Speaker 4: Because he might have to.
- 23:05Speaker 1: I mean, look, this is absurd to say. They're 0-4.
- 23:10Speaker 1: They've played four really good teams. They don't want to
- 23:14Speaker 1: hear this. They're probably the best 0-4 team. So they're not. pathetic.
- 23:19Speaker 1: They're not down in the dump. They just haven't won yet,
- 23:22Speaker 1: which is sort of the same thing. But they're still
- 23:26Speaker 1: not out of it because they don't believe they're.
- 23:27Speaker 2: Out of it.
- 23:28Speaker 4: People are making the case that they could be five
- 23:29Speaker 4: and five. And I think when you look at their schedule,
- 23:31Speaker 4: they could get hot and be five and five after 10.
- 23:33Speaker 2: We're going to keep an eye on it as we
- 23:35Speaker 2: always do.
- 23:36Speaker 3: But we also need to talk about the officiating because
- 23:39Speaker 3: I got into this on Happy Hour the other day.
- 23:41Speaker 2: Listen, the Jaguars-Bengals was weird.
- 23:43Speaker 3: 24 penalties, 10 for the Jaguars in the first half,
- 23:45Speaker 3: 13 throughout the game, 125 penalty yards.
- 23:48Speaker 2: But things were.
- 23:48Speaker 3: Wild around the NFL as well. A lot of that
- 23:51Speaker 3: stuff caught on camera. There was a referee cursing at
- 23:54Speaker 3: Arizona tight end Trey McBride during their game, got into
- 23:58Speaker 3: an altercation on the sideline.
- 24:00Speaker 2: There was also an interaction with one of the Vikings.
- 24:02Speaker 3: Linebackers who ran into a ref, tried to help him up,
- 24:05Speaker 3: and angered him that way as well.
- 24:07Speaker 2: And that led to some NFL... suspensions.
- 24:11Speaker 3: In fact, the line judge, Judge Seaman, who was the
- 24:14Speaker 3: one that was arguing with Trey McBride, was suspended for
- 24:17Speaker 3: two games.
- 24:18Speaker 2: And then Adrian Hill, who.
- 24:19Speaker 3: Was the other referee that was arguing with the Giants player,
- 24:23Speaker 3: he was suspended for one game. That came from the
- 24:26Speaker 3: NFL vice president officiating, Ramon George. And I think we
- 24:30Speaker 3: can all agree the officiating in the Jaguars game was
- 24:32Speaker 3: a lot.
- 24:33Speaker 2: It just wasn't even fun to watch. It went both ways.
- 24:35Speaker 3: It wasn't just like they were picking on the Jaguars,
- 24:37Speaker 3: but the officiating situations and just the hostility feels like
- 24:41Speaker 3: they need someone to come in and mediate and cool
- 24:43Speaker 3: the waters a little bit.
- 24:44Speaker 1: Yeah, I think cool the waters is the right thing. Look,
- 24:47Speaker 1: I guess tone can get away from people. The official
- 24:52Speaker 1: has to stay out of the way. I'm not talking
- 24:54Speaker 1: about that play, but I'm talking about you can't, No
- 24:57Speaker 1: matter what happens, the official has to have the approach of,
- 25:00Speaker 1: I'm not the story. You know, the old thing, Brian.
- 25:02Speaker 4: Yeah.
- 25:04Speaker 1: No matter what.
- 25:06Speaker 4: One of the statistical services that I subscribe to did
- 25:11Speaker 4: an analysis of the first four weeks, and I wrote
- 25:13Speaker 4: this for Quick Thoughts this week. You realize that there
- 25:16Speaker 4: are more plentily flags thrown through four weeks of this season,
- 25:20Speaker 4: more flags than since 2000. There are more offensive penalties
- 25:26Speaker 4: in the red zone that have been thrown since 2000.
- 25:28Speaker 4: 17 touchdowns have been overturned by penalties through four weeks.
- 25:33Speaker 1: 15 of them were Sunday.
- 25:36Speaker 4: Last year through four weeks, it was five. The year before,
- 25:39Speaker 4: it was four. The number of penalty flags that have
- 25:41Speaker 4: been thrown is so elevated this year. What? I mean,
- 25:46Speaker 4: they got a new contract in May. They just have
- 25:48Speaker 4: to prove their value in this? How could the league
- 25:51Speaker 4: benefit at all from the number of flags that have
- 25:53Speaker 4: been thrown? I refuse to believe that the league office
- 25:56Speaker 4: is saying, hey, we want to see more flags from
- 25:58Speaker 4: you guys.
- 25:59Speaker 1: You wonder if a lot of times they will emphasize
- 26:03Speaker 1: a lot of points of emphasis in the offseason. You
- 26:06Speaker 1: wonder if those points of emphasis were overemphasized or if
- 26:10Speaker 1: they're paying too much attention to them. Usually trends like
- 26:14Speaker 1: this The league office does.
- 26:17Speaker 4: Dial it back.
- 26:18Speaker 1: Yeah, and so I wouldn't expect this to be a
- 26:21Speaker 1: season-long thing. You would hope it's not because it is, again,
- 26:28Speaker 1: like you guys said, some of it's on the players. So,
- 26:30Speaker 1: you know, if they're committing more penalties, fine. That sort
- 26:33Speaker 1: of stat indicates that it's more that it's maybe not
- 26:37Speaker 1: all a player issue.
- 26:38Speaker 4: Well, all I know is I was watching the game.
- 26:41Speaker 4: on Monday night between the Falcons and the Saints. And
- 26:43Speaker 4: there were a bunch of flags early. I didn't go
- 26:44Speaker 4: back and look to see how many total they had,
- 26:47Speaker 4: but I thought, uh-oh, here we go again.
- 26:49Speaker 3: Still haven't gotten the memo. Maybe they'll talk to him
- 26:51Speaker 3: this week. We're going to hope for the best for
- 26:53Speaker 3: week five.
- 26:54Speaker 2: Stay with us here. We'll tell you what's coming up
- 26:56Speaker 2: the rest of the week and the travel plans for London.
- 27:04Speaker 3: Cheer on your Jacksonville Jaguars as they travel to London
- 27:06Speaker 3: to take on the Eagles this Sunday at the official
- 27:08Speaker 3: away game watch party at Mr. Chubby's Ponte Vedra location.
- 27:11Speaker 3: It's the best wings in town. Appearances from the roar
- 27:14Speaker 3: in Jacksonville. And you get your chance to win some
- 27:16Speaker 3: autographed items, game tickets, as well as.
- 27:19Speaker 2: Jaguars fans get to enjoy the game together.
- 27:22Speaker 4: Mr.
- 27:22Speaker 2: Chubby's Wings, proud partner of the Jacksonville Jaguars. Going to
- 27:25Speaker 2: be early. Going to need some coffee with your wings.
- 27:27Speaker 2: It's going to be 9.30 here in Florida.
- 27:30Speaker 1: Coffee and wings.
- 27:31Speaker 2: Coffee and wings, baby. That's a nice combo.
- 27:34Speaker 3: The team is traveling out on Thursday, and then they'll
- 27:37Speaker 3: be there for the two games. So they'll be there
- 27:39Speaker 3: for the following week and then fly back after the game.
- 27:42Speaker 3: Kind of have it down, Pat, at this point with
- 27:44Speaker 3: the two games at least. This is how they've traveled
- 27:46Speaker 3: there before, but they will practice today and tomorrow.
- 27:48Speaker 2: Before they leave on Thursday. John, have you downloaded some
- 27:51Speaker 2: movies for the plane? What are you going to do?
- 27:53Speaker 1: Oh, yeah.
- 27:55Speaker 2: Take a nap.
- 27:55Speaker 1: Do a little work, do a little reading. I've got
- 27:58Speaker 1: a little neck pillow I'm fired up about. Nice. Well-traveled.
- 28:01Speaker 1: I will be ensconced in my own self.
- 28:05Speaker 2: Don't take a nap when you get there. I hear
- 28:06Speaker 2: that's the key. No jet lag.
- 28:08Speaker 1: That's the key.
- 28:09Speaker 2: Brian, what are you looking forward to about this London
- 28:11Speaker 2: trip other than getting two wins?
- 28:15Speaker 4: I like where they stay, out at the Grove. Nice. Right?
- 28:18Speaker 4: It's a nice place, and there are great walking trails
- 28:21Speaker 4: through the woods in London. I want the two winds
- 28:24Speaker 4: more than anything else. But the ability to go and
- 28:27Speaker 4: enjoy the countryside, because that's where they stay, is something
- 28:31Speaker 4: I look forward to.
- 28:31Speaker 2: And a little bit of autumn.
- 28:32Speaker 1: And this team, I talked about it some last year,
- 28:36Speaker 1: this team likes each other. it's sort of a cliche
- 28:41Speaker 1: to talk about a bonding experience, but they're together for
- 28:43Speaker 1: 10 days. And this is the longest time that the
- 28:47Speaker 1: team is together like that for the entire year. So
- 28:52Speaker 1: I think they, not that they need that. It's not
- 28:56Speaker 1: like there's adversity that they're trying to deal with right now,
- 28:58Speaker 1: but that's never a bad thing for this team.
- 29:00Speaker 4: But for folks who do what we do, it's the
- 29:02Speaker 4: chance to see guys, you know, coaches and Support staff,
- 29:05Speaker 4: you know, sitting in the lobby having a cup of
- 29:07Speaker 4: coffee and sit down and get to know them a
- 29:08Speaker 4: little bit, right? Share some stories around the NFL. We
- 29:11Speaker 4: all kind of know people. It's a small world. That's
- 29:13Speaker 4: a good part of it, too.
- 29:15Speaker 2: Brian, you've got to get a cup of tea over there.
- 29:16Speaker 2: That's how this works.
- 29:17Speaker 4: I don't drink tea.
- 29:18Speaker 2: You're going to have to. We'll convince you at some point.
- 29:21Speaker 3: Jags AM we will have again, obviously, on Thursday before
- 29:24Speaker 3: they head out. And we'll get ready for, get you
- 29:27Speaker 3: a deep dive on what the Eagles matchup is going
- 29:28Speaker 3: to look like.
- 29:29Speaker 4: Your tea party a couple years ago with Cam Little.
- 29:31Speaker 1: Yes.
- 29:32Speaker 4: And Mason Smith. Still one of the most memorable stories
- 29:36Speaker 4: I remember.
- 29:36Speaker 2: I like tea time because it comes with snacks and
- 29:38Speaker 2: cakes usually.
- 29:39Speaker 4: That's my excuse. One of the biggest guys sitting next
- 29:43Speaker 4: to one of the smaller guys drinking tea. That's when
- 29:46Speaker 4: I decided I wasn't going to drink tea.
- 29:49Speaker 1: Enjoy your day.
- 29:49Speaker 2: We'll see you guys tomorrow.