Latest / Jags A.M. / Jags A.M. Podcast Ep. 253 | Championing Physicality, Talking Week 4 Matchup w/ Mike Petraglia
Transcript
- 0:16Speaker 1: Good morning and welcome to Jags AM, brought to you
- 0:18Speaker 1: by GEHA, Employee Benefits for Government Employees and Retirees. I'm
- 0:24Speaker 1: Brian Sexton in the Hyundai studios. Mark Duffner is here.
- 0:27Speaker 1: John Ogier is here. So let's get rolling with big things.
- 0:31Speaker 1: And right out of the gate, guys, here's the question.
- 0:33Speaker 1: Run it or rip it?
- 0:35Speaker 2: Conventional wisdom.
- 0:36Speaker 1: And what the Jaguars always used to do with Peyton Manning,
- 0:39Speaker 1: with Fred Taylor and Maurice Drew, run the ball, consume
- 0:41Speaker 1: the clock, shorten the game. But modern football doesn't really
- 0:46Speaker 1: play that way. And you have a quarterback who is
- 0:48Speaker 1: performing at a very high level. So, John Ogier, what's
- 0:51Speaker 1: the game plan on Sunday? Do you go in there
- 0:54Speaker 1: planning to run it and control the clock or run
- 0:56Speaker 1: it just enough to set up Trevor Lawrence in some
- 0:58Speaker 1: favorable passing situations and let her rip?
- 1:01Speaker 3: Well, I think pretty much any team, ideally, when they're
- 1:04Speaker 3: game planning, would love to just run it. But football,
- 1:07Speaker 3: as you say, isn't really made that way now. So
- 1:10Speaker 3: I think the good news for the Jaguars right here, Brian–
- 1:13Speaker 3: I don't know that they have come close to hitting
- 1:16Speaker 3: their peak running. I don't think the stats show what
- 1:19Speaker 3: they're going to be, mainly because they haven't hit any
- 1:22Speaker 3: explosive runs. And usually explosives are what your stats are
- 1:26Speaker 3: built on. But this team, I think right now, Duff,
- 1:30Speaker 3: they are running effectively enough to control games, get to
- 1:34Speaker 3: the pass, and eventually those stats are going to go up.
- 1:36Speaker 4: I think there's no doubt about that, John.
- 1:38Speaker 5: And I think You know, as you've seen, I mean,
- 1:40Speaker 5: Basil Tootin right now is inches from breaking big runs
- 1:44Speaker 5: as far as that's concerned. And here's the other thing
- 1:46Speaker 5: right now. The Bengals' defense well improved from last year
- 1:49Speaker 5: in the first two ballgames, struggled a little bit in
- 1:52Speaker 5: their last ballgame against Pittsburgh.
- 1:53Speaker 4: Pittsburgh ran the.
- 1:54Speaker 5: Ball for 138 yards and six yards a carry, had
- 1:58Speaker 5: trouble tackling. So I think attacking with the run game,
- 2:01Speaker 5: I like the rip part of it too, Brian.
- 2:04Speaker 4: Again, let's take advantage.
- 2:05Speaker 5: Set up Trevor for play-action pass and explosive plays.
- 2:08Speaker 4: Let's go get him.
- 2:10Speaker 1: Up next is a Bengals-run defense that a year ago
- 2:13Speaker 1: was an injury to the Bengals.
- 2:16Speaker 2: I mean, it was traumatic.
- 2:18Speaker 1: For Cincinnati and their playoff hopes. They gave up 165
- 2:21Speaker 1: yards on the ground per game, dead last in the NFL,
- 2:24Speaker 1: but they got new stripes this year. They went out
- 2:26Speaker 1: and brought in some guys, Boye Mafe from the Super
- 2:28Speaker 1: Bowl champion Seahawks. They bring Jonathan Allen, the former first-round
- 2:31Speaker 1: pick out of Alabama, who was in Washington and Minnesota.
- 2:34Speaker 1: And then the centerpiece is Sexy Dexy, right? Big Dexter Lawrence.
- 2:40Speaker 1: And he is a massive human being, and the coach
- 2:43Speaker 1: talked about what he's capable of doing in the middle
- 2:46Speaker 1: of that defense.
- 2:48Speaker 6: You can tell their linebackers are so much more patient.
- 2:51Speaker 6: They're not biting quite as hard on play action as
- 2:54Speaker 6: maybe they did at times last year. When you have
- 2:57Speaker 6: a front disruptor like Dex, it makes everybody's job easier.
- 3:03Speaker 6: He's essentially handling multiple gaps on his own. It's challenging
- 3:10Speaker 6: to back block him. It's challenging to, obviously, when you
- 3:14Speaker 6: get him in a zero, knows where to one-on-one block them,
- 3:17Speaker 6: whether it's on a run or a pass. Um, yeah, there,
- 3:20Speaker 6: there's a reason why he lines up so close to
- 3:22Speaker 6: the ball.
- 3:25Speaker 1: Listen, coach, the numbers say they're 42% better this year,
- 3:29Speaker 1: giving up just 95 yards on the ground through three games.
- 3:33Speaker 1: And you heard, it's not just what Dexter can do
- 3:35Speaker 1: in two gaps. It's the way that he impacts the
- 3:37Speaker 1: entire defense.
- 3:38Speaker 5: Oh, there's no doubt about it. He's brought an infectious,
- 3:41Speaker 5: aggressive attitude to the team. And, uh, I like what
- 3:45Speaker 5: I see out of this player right now. Heck, in
- 3:46Speaker 5: the game against Pittsburgh, I think he had two quarterback sacks.
- 3:50Speaker 5: He had, I think, four or five tackles, hits on
- 3:54Speaker 5: the quarterback. You mentioned earlier the additions. Allen, Moffay, Cassius Howell,
- 3:59Speaker 5: rookie right now. All of them had multiple quarterback hits
- 4:02Speaker 5: in the Houston game. So they've improved this defense by personnel.
- 4:07Speaker 5: I know the coaching staff's worked very, very hard to
- 4:09Speaker 5: improve technique and scheme, so they're playing at a high level,
- 4:13Speaker 5: much improved from a year ago, but again, had some
- 4:16Speaker 5: blips in the radar a little bit against Pittsburgh, a
- 4:18Speaker 5: team that put a number of points on them right now,
- 4:22Speaker 5: put 411 total yards on them. So I know this
- 4:25Speaker 5: coaching staff's going to work real hard to fix those issues.
- 4:28Speaker 3: Brian, was that sexy Duffy talking about sexy Dexy?
- 4:33Speaker 2: It might be. It might be. Good job there.
- 4:36Speaker 3: Look, the Jaguars need to score points in this game.
- 4:44Speaker 3: It's tough to do that against the Bengals' defense right now,
- 4:47Speaker 3: the way it looks. When I break down this game,
- 4:51Speaker 3: this is the matchup. I don't want to say it
- 4:53Speaker 3: concerns me, but the Jaguars have to work at. The Bengals'
- 4:56Speaker 3: offense is so good. and they're so confident and they're
- 4:59Speaker 3: so veteran, meaning they've got Joe Burrow, Jamar Chase. Remember
- 5:03Speaker 3: last year, Brian, the Jaguars had a lead, and even
- 5:06Speaker 3: with a backup quarterback, Bengals kept coming because they know
- 5:09Speaker 3: they can score. This is a game to me where
- 5:12Speaker 3: if the Jags are up 10 with 11 minutes to go,
- 5:15Speaker 3: they need to play offense, meaning they need to go
- 5:18Speaker 3: after it and get up 17 because this Bengals team
- 5:20Speaker 3: is dangerous.
- 5:21Speaker 2: Yeah, you've got to let it rip.
- 5:22Speaker 1: Jamar Chase last year had 14 catches for 165 yards
- 5:24Speaker 1: and two touchdowns.
- 5:27Speaker 2: Pardon me, one touchdown.
- 5:28Speaker 1: He has 25 catches and two touchdowns in his last
- 5:32Speaker 1: two outings against the Jaguars. You know, one place, Duff,
- 5:35Speaker 1: where they've got to make some hay and where they
- 5:37Speaker 1: can based on the Steelers game is special teams. The
- 5:40Speaker 1: Bengals gave up some points there. Perhaps that's an area
- 5:42Speaker 1: they can exploit.
- 5:43Speaker 5: Well, there's no question about it. I mean, there was
- 5:45Speaker 5: a rough and a muff, if you will, in the
- 5:47Speaker 5: game by the Bengals. They roughed a punter. They muffed
- 5:50Speaker 5: a punt. Led to 10 points for Pittsburgh. So special teams...
- 5:55Speaker 5: is going to be critical. All three phases are going
- 5:57Speaker 5: to be critical in this game. This is a 60-minute battle.
- 6:00Speaker 4: Count on it.
- 6:01Speaker 1: Fast and physical is our final big thing. It's something
- 6:03Speaker 1: that the coach talked about watching his defense play against
- 6:06Speaker 1: the Patriots when he.
- 6:07Speaker 2: Met with the media on Monday.
- 6:11Speaker 6: If a run goes to one way, and if you
- 6:14Speaker 6: see your backside corner hustling their tails off to create
- 6:20Speaker 6: an angle, that's when you know the guys are playing free,
- 6:25Speaker 6: they're running the football, they're playing together. There's a standard,
- 6:29Speaker 6: I think, on that side of the ball in terms
- 6:32Speaker 6: of being violent, being physical, running to the football. You know,
- 6:37Speaker 6: Campy says it all the time that God rewards those
- 6:39Speaker 6: who run to the ball, and it's true. And the
- 6:41Speaker 6: way that they play, it takes care of itself. And
- 6:45Speaker 6: so is it always perfect? Is there a ton to
- 6:48Speaker 6: continue to coach off of and learn from? Yes, without
- 6:50Speaker 6: a doubt.
- 6:52Speaker 1: God rewards those who run to the football. That's got
- 6:55Speaker 1: to be hanging on a wall somewhere. We need that
- 6:57Speaker 1: in the studio right here. You see performance so far. Listen,
- 7:01Speaker 1: the thing that matters the most is obviously at the
- 7:03Speaker 1: end there, Coach, 12 points allowed. The Jaguars are giving
- 7:07Speaker 1: up some yardage. They're giving up 8.8 yards per pass attempt.
- 7:12Speaker 1: But I think the bottom line, John, is that this
- 7:15Speaker 1: team is giving up yards, but other teams haven't been
- 7:18Speaker 1: able to finish on them. Defense has created negative plays.
- 7:21Speaker 1: It's gotten takeaways and gotten off the field. Against this offense, man,
- 7:25Speaker 1: they need those negative plays and takeaways.
- 7:27Speaker 3: Yeah, Bucky Brooks said this week on one of our shows,
- 7:31Speaker 3: really the two things that matter on defense in the
- 7:33Speaker 3: NFL is takeaways and points. And I believe that's true
- 7:37Speaker 3: because the league is built right now to have offenses
- 7:42Speaker 3: score and move the ball. So they're going to move
- 7:44Speaker 3: the ball on you because they're talented people. If you
- 7:47Speaker 3: can get takeaways, if you can keep them out of
- 7:49Speaker 3: the end zone, break serve, as I like to say,
- 7:51Speaker 3: then you're in good shape. And I think that's why
- 7:53Speaker 3: this Jaguars defense, I think they may have a game
- 7:56Speaker 3: or two or three where it doesn't look right because
- 8:00Speaker 3: you can't quite get them off the field. But Duff,
- 8:03Speaker 3: if you can stop the run and create turnovers, you're
- 8:06Speaker 3: going to be in games, what, out of 17, you're
- 8:09Speaker 3: going to be in 13 or 14 of those.
- 8:11Speaker 5: Oh, there's no doubt about it. And I think what
- 8:13Speaker 5: Bucky said and what you've just said is dead on.
- 8:15Speaker 5: I mean, again, it's all about scoring, scoring offense, scoring defense.
- 8:19Speaker 5: Last year, we were a top 10 scoring defense. Right now,
- 8:22Speaker 5: I believe we're number one in the league. That's only
- 8:23Speaker 5: three games. But if you can keep people out.
- 8:26Speaker 4: Of the end zone, that's how you win.
- 8:28Speaker 5: And then the takeaway battle right now, which again, last year,
- 8:31Speaker 5: we were, I think, two in the In the league
- 8:34Speaker 5: at the end of the season right now, I think
- 8:36Speaker 5: we're second right now with six takeaways. I think we're
- 8:39Speaker 5: second in the league with turnover margin being four plus four. So, again,
- 8:45Speaker 5: this defense, this coaching staff believes in scoring defense, keeping
- 8:49Speaker 5: people out of the end zone, playing great red zone.
- 8:51Speaker 5: They were perfect in the red zone last week against
- 8:54Speaker 5: New England in terms of defense.
- 8:55Speaker 4: And they believe in getting the ball off of people.
- 8:58Speaker 4: They practice it. They will it.
- 8:59Speaker 5: That's got to be a continued contagion and focus in
- 9:02Speaker 5: this game against Cincinnati.
- 9:03Speaker 1: Coach, since you have a defensive background and since you
- 9:05Speaker 1: were on that Bengal staff with Joe Burrow that went
- 9:09Speaker 1: to the Super Bowl, how do you play this guy?
- 9:11Speaker 2: I mean, blitzing him doesn't seem to work.
- 9:13Speaker 1: Because his passer rating is off the charts against the blitz.
- 9:17Speaker 1: What's the overall mentality for Campanile and company this week
- 9:22Speaker 1: as they approach Joe Burrow?
- 9:24Speaker 5: I think you've got to be in a position where
- 9:26Speaker 5: you just don't panic.
- 9:27Speaker 4: They're going to make plays.
- 9:28Speaker 5: This guy has the ability to surgically cut you up
- 9:32Speaker 5: in terms of passing. His preparation skill is off the chart.
- 9:36Speaker 5: His awareness, his decision-making, all these things, aside from his
- 9:40Speaker 5: physical skills, are elite.
- 9:42Speaker 4: And so they're going to make some plays.
- 9:44Speaker 5: I mean, again, the duo fling and cling of Burrow
- 9:47Speaker 5: to Chase is outstanding. And, of course, throw in T.
- 9:50Speaker 4: Higgins, Mike Giusecchi, and Chase Brown. There's numerous.
- 9:53Speaker 5: weapons over there. Again, we've got to make things muddy
- 9:57Speaker 5: for Joe as best we can, try to affect him,
- 9:59Speaker 5: get him off the spot.
- 10:00Speaker 1: And if the blitz doesn't work, John, it means they've
- 10:02Speaker 1: got to get pressure up front with four, and against
- 10:04Speaker 1: those two massive offensive tackles, it means 41 and 44.
- 10:09Speaker 1: Josh Hines-Allen and Trayvon Walker have got to get some
- 10:13Speaker 1: pressure on the quarterback without the blitz coming at their aid.
- 10:16Speaker 4: Yeah, it's hard.
- 10:17Speaker 3: I mean, it's... because they're not getting enough pressure from
- 10:20Speaker 3: the interior right now. So to me, this game will
- 10:25Speaker 3: be a game of moments. I expect Burrow to be
- 10:28Speaker 3: able to get some points. Can the Jaguars get to
- 10:32Speaker 3: him a couple of times when maybe you're not expecting it?
- 10:35Speaker 3: A couple of big sacks, a turnover. Win the moment,
- 10:40Speaker 3: even if they get you... in the long term some
- 10:44Speaker 3: in this game.
- 10:44Speaker 2: All right, there you have it.
- 10:45Speaker 1: Big things to start off a Thursday morning edition of
- 10:49Speaker 1: Jags AM.
- 10:51Speaker 2: And we've got a lot more.
- 10:52Speaker 1: Ahead, including Kai Stevens, who takes us behind enemy lines
- 10:56Speaker 1: and takes us to Cincinnati. Sunday's game against the Bengals
- 10:59Speaker 1: is presented by Bud Light. Bud Light is the official
- 11:02Speaker 1: beer of the Jacksonville Jaguars. And we're back with Kai
- 11:05Speaker 1: behind enemy lines right after this.
- 11:15Speaker 7: Welcome to Behind Enemy Lines, where we check in with
- 11:17Speaker 7: a media member covering the opposing team for the Jaguars.
- 11:20Speaker 7: And this week, the Jaguars are heading to Cincinnati, so
- 11:22Speaker 7: we're checking in with Mike Petraglia, beat reporter of the Bengals.
- 11:25Speaker 7: And Mike, I watched last week's game against the Steelers,
- 11:29Speaker 7: and I thought the Bengals had figured the defense out,
- 11:31Speaker 7: but it felt like a bit of a meltdown at
- 11:33Speaker 7: the end.
- 11:36Speaker 8: Really did, because I think the Bengals were caught off
- 11:40Speaker 8: guard by the rhythm that Aaron Rodgers threw at them.
- 11:44Speaker 8: He really mixed up the offense and the tempo of
- 11:48Speaker 8: the offense quite a bit. He went fast, went slow,
- 11:50Speaker 8: went in between, threw a lot of short passes over
- 11:54Speaker 8: the middle to the running backs and also used the
- 11:56Speaker 8: tight ends, which Bengals have been susceptible to over the
- 11:59Speaker 8: last couple of years. And they had a great deal
- 12:02Speaker 8: of success with that, especially in the first half. They
- 12:05Speaker 8: had touchdowns on the first two possessions, also had a
- 12:09Speaker 8: field goal in that first half. They didn't punt at all.
- 12:12Speaker 8: until the ill-fated punt by the Bengals that wound up
- 12:16Speaker 8: in a personal foul roughing the punter that led to
- 12:19Speaker 8: eventually seven more points for the Steelers. So I think
- 12:23Speaker 8: the Bengals' defense this week has to get back to
- 12:26Speaker 8: the drawing board just a little bit.
- 12:28Speaker 7: Obviously, Steelers game aside, we know that those divisional matchups
- 12:31Speaker 7: can be a bit strange, but what have you seen
- 12:33Speaker 7: in terms of offseason changes, adding Dexter Lawrence there in
- 12:36Speaker 7: the middle and then through the first two weeks?
- 12:40Speaker 8: They're winning at the line of attack. That's really the
- 12:43Speaker 8: biggest difference with the Bengals. They are really able to
- 12:47Speaker 8: dominate at the line of scrimmage. On Sunday in Pittsburgh,
- 12:51Speaker 8: Steelers had a bit of success neutralizing Dexter Lawrence for
- 12:55Speaker 8: a good portion of the first half, but in the
- 12:57Speaker 8: second half, he started to wear down, and so did
- 13:00Speaker 8: Jonathan Allen and Boye Mafe, the free agent acquisition for
- 13:05Speaker 8: the Bengals. They started to wear down the Pittsburgh offensive
- 13:09Speaker 8: line and started to get a little bit more pressure
- 13:12Speaker 8: on Aaron Rodgers but that's been the big biggest difference
- 13:15Speaker 8: because when you can rush the offense into a read
- 13:19Speaker 8: that they probably don't want to get into then the
- 13:23Speaker 8: defense become on the second and third levels become a
- 13:26Speaker 8: lot more effective and that was the case against the
- 13:29Speaker 8: Houston Texans certainly with CJ Stroud and even in week
- 13:32Speaker 8: one against Baker Mayfield.
- 13:33Speaker 2: And the Buccaneers.
- 13:35Speaker 7: This team, they played each other early last season, but
- 13:38Speaker 7: that was a Jake Browning game because Joe Burrow got
- 13:41Speaker 7: injured early. So is Joe Burrow back to form and
- 13:44Speaker 7: obviously all the weapons surrounding him?
- 13:47Speaker 2: I think so.
- 13:47Speaker 8: I mean, the game that Joe Burrow had on Sunday,
- 13:50Speaker 8: even Zach Taylor said it after the game on Sunday,
- 13:53Speaker 8: he said it again on Monday, had an outstanding game
- 13:55Speaker 8: against the Steelers, made all the right reads, really was
- 14:00Speaker 8: able to make some clutch throws on third down. a
- 14:03Speaker 8: couple of fourth down conversions, one to Jamar Chase. He
- 14:07Speaker 8: looked very confident in the pocket until when? The very
- 14:11Speaker 8: last offensive play of the game where he didn't take
- 14:14Speaker 8: care of the football and there was a strip sack
- 14:16Speaker 8: and it cost the Bengals the game. So Steelers were
- 14:21Speaker 8: not able to get through to Joe Burrow. Joe Burrow
- 14:23Speaker 8: was releasing the ball on time. He looked like his
- 14:26Speaker 8: old self on Sunday, very, very efficient, effective, and was
- 14:29Speaker 8: able to get.
- 14:29Speaker 2: The ball downfield.
- 14:31Speaker 7: I know the Jags are excited to get back up
- 14:33Speaker 7: there and kind of see where they are. This is
- 14:35Speaker 7: a tough stretch for them. Who's an X factor player,
- 14:37Speaker 7: maybe one on offense, one on defense you have for
- 14:40Speaker 7: this matchup if the Bengals want to win?
- 14:42Speaker 8: Well, I think if the Bengals really want to win
- 14:45Speaker 8: this game, I think Marius Mims is going to have
- 14:48Speaker 8: to have a great game against the Jaguars defensive front.
- 14:54Speaker 8: Marius Mims talked about it on Monday. He said, you know,
- 14:57Speaker 8: you go from Houston and their front to Pittsburgh and T.J. Watt,
- 15:02Speaker 8: and he had a fabulous game against T.J.
- 15:04Speaker 2: Watt.
- 15:04Speaker 8: No pressures from T.J. Watt during that game. And also
- 15:09Speaker 8: they handled Alex Highsmith pretty well in addition to that.
- 15:13Speaker 8: This week, Marius Mims said, you know, the Jaguars have
- 15:17Speaker 8: not one but two players who can really bring pressure
- 15:21Speaker 8: on every single snap against the Jaguars. So that would be,
- 15:24Speaker 8: to me, offensively where the Bengals have to really focus
- 15:28Speaker 8: their effort. in terms of protecting Joe Burrow. Defensively, I
- 15:33Speaker 8: think in this particular game, the Bengals' edge rushers in particular,
- 15:39Speaker 8: I'm going to go with Boye Mafe trying to get
- 15:42Speaker 8: after Trevor Lawrence and control the pressure on the quarterback.
- 15:46Speaker 8: If the Bengals want to win this game, they've got
- 15:48Speaker 8: to do a better job of pressuring the quarterback than
- 15:50Speaker 8: they did against Aaron Rodgers.
- 15:52Speaker 7: Always comes down to the trenches. It's going to be
- 15:54Speaker 7: a good matchup. Mike, we'll see you on Sunday. That
- 15:55Speaker 7: was behind enemy lines as we checked in on what's
- 15:58Speaker 7: going on with the Bengals. Stay with us here as
- 16:00Speaker 7: we'll tell you our predictions for game day.
- 16:11Speaker 1: Well, Senate is Florida's most trusted and dependable moving company.
- 16:15Speaker 1: Senate is proud to be the official moving company of
- 16:17Speaker 1: the Jacksonville Jaguars. To get a guaranteed quote, visit Suttoth.com
- 16:21Speaker 1: slash Jacksonville. And welcome back to Jags AM. Time for
- 16:25Speaker 1: one of our favorite segments. It's Coach Duff coaching on
- 16:29Speaker 1: what the Jaguars need to do.
- 16:30Speaker 2: We call it IF. Duff, what you got?
- 16:33Speaker 4: I got a lot today, man. Appreciate it, Brian, right now.
- 16:36Speaker 5: Give me your eyes and ears here because this is
- 16:38Speaker 5: going to be the best game of the week by far.
- 16:40Speaker 5: No question about it.
- 16:41Speaker 4: Here are the yes. First and foremost, be in control.
- 16:44Speaker 5: What do I mean by that? I mean control the clock,
- 16:48Speaker 5: a ball control offense. We've got to run the football, establish,
- 16:53Speaker 5: shrink the game, establish the line of scrimmage, keep the Bengals'
- 16:56Speaker 5: offense on the sideline, keep them over there anxious to
- 16:59Speaker 5: get on the football field. When we move the football
- 17:02Speaker 5: down the field, make it go fast, Use up the
- 17:05Speaker 5: clock and score touchdowns right now. That's going to be
- 17:07Speaker 5: the key. And when we're out there on defense, understand
- 17:10Speaker 5: that they're going to make plays.
- 17:12Speaker 4: Don't flinch.
- 17:13Speaker 5: Make them earn every inch. Make them go the long way.
- 17:16Speaker 5: Score touchdowns on offense. Make them go the long way
- 17:19Speaker 5: on defense. Be in control.
- 17:21Speaker 4: Number two.
- 17:22Speaker 5: Be special, all right? What I mean by that is
- 17:25Speaker 5: win the special teams right now. Win field position. That's
- 17:29Speaker 5: going to be critical in the game. Both of these
- 17:31Speaker 5: special teams units are, I think, exceptional at the top
- 17:34Speaker 5: of the league. But they've had a couple hiccups here recently.
- 17:37Speaker 5: We've got to improve our coverage in terms of our
- 17:40Speaker 5: punt coverage and kickoff coverage. Keep their returners to no
- 17:44Speaker 5: yards as best we possibly can. They've had trouble in
- 17:47Speaker 5: terms of what we call rough and muff.
- 17:49Speaker 4: They roughed a punter last week against Pittsburgh. They muffed
- 17:53Speaker 4: a punt.
- 17:53Speaker 5: That equaled 10 points for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Win special teams.
- 17:57Speaker 5: Kevin McPherson, their kicker. I mean, Evan McPherson, their kicker
- 18:01Speaker 5: right now, 20 out of 20 in field goals. He's
- 18:03Speaker 5: hit five in a row from over 50 yards, a
- 18:06Speaker 5: real scoring machine as far as that's concerned. And their punter,
- 18:10Speaker 5: Ryan Retko, golly, I think he led the league in
- 18:12Speaker 5: punting last year, got a booming leg.
- 18:14Speaker 4: Win field position, win special teams.
- 18:17Speaker 5: Number three, the final 15 win the fourth quarter. Bengals
- 18:22Speaker 5: have had trouble at times holding on to the league
- 18:25Speaker 5: in the fourth quarter, although they came back to beat
- 18:27Speaker 5: us last.
- 18:27Speaker 4: Year in the fourth quarter.
- 18:29Speaker 5: Joe Burrows had 11 game-winning drives in his career, so
- 18:32Speaker 5: this is going to be a 60-minute game. They thought
- 18:34Speaker 5: last week that they'd beat themselves. They had penalties, procedural errors,
- 18:39Speaker 5: issues that kind of kept them from winning the game
- 18:41Speaker 5: and scoring right now. This coaching staff at Cincinnati is excellent.
- 18:44Speaker 5: They'll fix all those issues. We're going to get their
- 18:47Speaker 5: A game in all three phases, offense, defense, and special teams.
- 18:50Speaker 4: Count on that. Handle the noise.
- 18:52Speaker 5: Handle the atmosphere as far as that's concerned. Be the
- 18:56Speaker 5: most physical, smart, tough football team. This is going to
- 18:59Speaker 5: be 60 minutes, four quarters of rock them, sock them,
- 19:02Speaker 5: buckle up.
- 19:03Speaker 1: Coach, let's go back to Joe Burrow, a guy that
- 19:05Speaker 1: you know and have a lot of admiration for. He
- 19:08Speaker 1: was brilliant last week in that loss. You say you're
- 19:11Speaker 1: going to get their A game. Didn't we see his
- 19:13Speaker 1: A game last week? Are you telling me there's another
- 19:15Speaker 1: level to his performance?
- 19:16Speaker 4: Well, I don't know. I've seen many, many great games
- 19:19Speaker 4: by Joe Bryant. That's for sure.
- 19:21Speaker 5: And last week he completed the first 14 passes in
- 19:25Speaker 5: a row in the game. He was 18 for 21,
- 19:28Speaker 5: I guess, for about 160 yards in the first half.
- 19:31Speaker 5: I mean, he was on fire. And again, I saw
- 19:33Speaker 5: his attitude after the game. He is so determined, so competitive.
- 19:37Speaker 5: We're going to get his best again. I've seen him
- 19:39Speaker 5: put together great game after great game. Anticipate that coming
- 19:43Speaker 5: because he's that special. oh boy john i think you
- 20:01Speaker 5: got to do everything you got you can to disrupt
- 20:03Speaker 5: him whether it's rerouting try to attract his attention, try
- 20:07Speaker 5: to distract his attention, if you will, as far as
- 20:09Speaker 5: that's concerned. You know, you made a great point there
- 20:11Speaker 5: a minute ago. I've never seen the first tackler tackle him.
- 20:14Speaker 5: He makes people miss.
- 20:16Speaker 4: You ought to see him.
- 20:17Speaker 5: He's an elite-looking athlete, and he's highly competitive, terrific young
- 20:21Speaker 5: man as far as that's concerned, and, again, just has glue. T.
- 20:24Speaker 4: Higgins, too.
- 20:25Speaker 5: I mean, golly damn, I've never seen anybody go up
- 20:27Speaker 5: and get more balls than that guy. So my point
- 20:29Speaker 5: to you is they've got explosive weapons right now. Again,
- 20:33Speaker 5: they're going to make some plays.
- 20:34Speaker 4: Don't flinch. Make them earn every inch.
- 20:37Speaker 1: So I want to go back to the runner to
- 20:38Speaker 1: rip it and how comfortable you feel with Trevor Lawrence,
- 20:41Speaker 1: the way that he's playing right now.
- 20:42Speaker 2: All of the numbers, Duff, say rip it.
- 20:46Speaker 5: I'm real comfortable with what I see him doing. And, yeah,
- 20:49Speaker 5: I don't want us to become conservative. I want us
- 20:52Speaker 5: to continue to take what the defense does, and he's
- 20:54Speaker 5: done that at a marvelous rate as far as that's
- 20:56Speaker 5: concerned right now. So running the ball, play action pass,
- 20:59Speaker 5: explosive plays, force them to tackle.
- 21:02Speaker 4: Like every defense.
- 21:03Speaker 5: You want to force every defense to be a tackling defense.
- 21:05Speaker 5: They struggled a little bit like that with that last week.
- 21:08Speaker 5: I know they'll work hard to fix it, but again,
- 21:10Speaker 5: let's go after them. We've got the weapons.
- 21:11Speaker 4: Unload them.
- 21:12Speaker 1: And facial tootin' is third in the National Football League
- 21:15Speaker 1: right now in forcing missed tackles, so that seems to
- 21:18Speaker 1: make a lot of sense.
- 21:19Speaker 4: Oh my gosh.
- 21:20Speaker 5: I mean, when you watched some of his plays last
- 21:22Speaker 5: week in the yak yards, yards after the carry, after
- 21:25Speaker 5: he got the ball, what he did right now, he's
- 21:27Speaker 5: making people miss across the board. His vision's better. His
- 21:30Speaker 5: cutting ability's better. Again, Positive yards from this guy. I
- 21:34Speaker 5: am so proud of him and so much a fan
- 21:37Speaker 5: of him in terms of the way he plays, how
- 21:39Speaker 5: hard he is. Watch him here. He's knocking people down
- 21:41Speaker 5: left and right. Again, they've got to bring their A
- 21:44Speaker 5: game in terms of physicality to take on Tashel Tootin.
- 21:50Speaker 4: I got so excited I couldn't even talk.
- 21:52Speaker 3: But, Duff, can you run on a team that has
- 21:55Speaker 3: extra lines?
- 21:56Speaker 5: I think you can. Here's the key. And actually, Pittsburgh
- 22:00Speaker 5: kind of gave us the blueprint. They went on the perimeter.
- 22:03Speaker 5: They ran outside. They attacked the edges of the defense
- 22:06Speaker 5: that Cincinnati presents.
- 22:08Speaker 4: You know, again, they've had some excellent additions.
- 22:10Speaker 5: We just talked about them earlier, whether it's Allen, whether
- 22:14Speaker 5: it's Cassius Howell, whether it's Boye Mafe, certainly Dexter Lawrence.
- 22:18Speaker 5: But again, they were vulnerable in the perimeter of their
- 22:21Speaker 5: defense last week against Pittsburgh. That's another area we should exploit.
- 22:25Speaker 2: There you have it.
- 22:26Speaker 1: Jaguars win if every week we get if from Coach Duffner.
- 22:30Speaker 2: And we'll be.
- 22:30Speaker 1: Back with tomorrow's headlines today, right after this on Jags AM. Well,
- 22:45Speaker 1: see fields first. Jacksonville's premier luxury auto group. Go to fieldsauto.com.
- 22:57Speaker 1: And on Thursdays, we like to take a look ahead.
- 22:58Speaker 1: A little prediction game here. What might we read in.
- 23:01Speaker 2: The headlines on Monday? John, let's start with you. I
- 23:06Speaker 2: went with.
- 23:09Speaker 3: Steady, solid success. And I guess I kind of disagree
- 23:13Speaker 3: with Duff a little bit. I kind of think this
- 23:16Speaker 3: game may be less spectacular and more about the Jaguars.
- 23:21Speaker 2: Being methodical.
- 23:23Speaker 3: They've lost a couple of sort of shootout games to
- 23:26Speaker 3: this team in the last few years. They lost out
- 23:27Speaker 3: here when Trevor got hurt, lost up there in sort
- 23:32Speaker 3: of a weird early regime kind of game. I think
- 23:36Speaker 3: the Jaguars may be able to run, and I think
- 23:39Speaker 3: it may be a less back-and-forth stressful game than what
- 23:45Speaker 3: we're anticipating.
- 23:46Speaker 2: Maybe I just hope that.
- 23:47Speaker 4: Yeah, no, I'm with you on that.
- 23:49Speaker 5: I'm praying like crazy it is like that. And with
- 23:51Speaker 5: our defense, the way they play, the consistency they demonstrate,
- 23:55Speaker 5: I think you have a good insight on it.
- 23:57Speaker 3: I think you've got to get turnovers to get to
- 23:59Speaker 3: that point. If you're going to be ahead of this team,
- 24:01Speaker 3: I think you have to turn the ball over in
- 24:03Speaker 3: the first half.
- 24:03Speaker 4: No doubt about it.
- 24:04Speaker 2: How about you?
- 24:05Speaker 5: Well, I had finish, you know, Jaguars finish, and I
- 24:08Speaker 5: think that's going to be the key on this thing because–
- 24:10Speaker 5: I believe it's going to be a six, like they
- 24:12Speaker 5: all are, they're 60-minute games, but in particular this one
- 24:15Speaker 5: I think is going to go down to the end
- 24:17Speaker 5: of the game. It's going to be a four-quarter battle,
- 24:19Speaker 5: back and forth, and I see the team coming out
- 24:22Speaker 5: at the end as victorious, but it's going to take
- 24:24Speaker 5: our best.
- 24:25Speaker 2: Burrow's a guy who knows how to win at the
- 24:26Speaker 2: end of a game. We've seen Trevor do it.
- 24:29Speaker 1: Doing it on the road in a hostile environment against
- 24:31Speaker 1: Joe Burrow would be a big step forward for a guy.
- 24:34Speaker 2: Who's taken big steps in the last year.
- 24:36Speaker 5: Oh, yeah, there's no question about it. Every week he's
- 24:38Speaker 5: ascending in areas of the game right now. His leadership,
- 24:41Speaker 5: his poise, his command, it's all right there. He's going
- 24:44Speaker 5: to demonstrate it in the Queen City.
- 24:45Speaker 1: I went with the AAA theme, and that is anyone,
- 24:48Speaker 1: any place, any time, which has been this team's rallying cry.
- 24:54Speaker 2: Early in the season.
- 24:56Speaker 1: John, it's one we're going to hear a lot over
- 24:58Speaker 1: the next couple of years as the Jaguars become America's
- 25:00Speaker 1: road team, playing in Orlando next year. But the mentality is,
- 25:05Speaker 1: and this is a great Bengals team, one that Trevor
- 25:07Speaker 1: Lawrence has not beaten, doesn't.
- 25:09Speaker 2: Seem to matter.
- 25:10Speaker 3: Yeah, and at some point you have to, if you're
- 25:14Speaker 3: going to be the anyone, anytime, anyplace, that was the
- 25:18Speaker 3: theme against Denver, didn't get it.
- 25:19Speaker 2: So Liam's right.
- 25:21Speaker 3: If this team is going to succeed over the next
- 25:23Speaker 3: couple years, it has to play to this, it has
- 25:25Speaker 3: to win games like this.
- 25:27Speaker 1: I talked to Matt Aruja, who is the defensive pass
- 25:29Speaker 1: game coordinator this week, really bright young coaching. And I
- 25:33Speaker 1: asked him about the challenge of this passing game. He
- 25:36Speaker 1: wouldn't even name Jamar Chase, Joe Burrow, or Tee Higgins.
- 25:40Speaker 1: He said, it is all about us. We're watching them,
- 25:43Speaker 1: but they're watching us. We're showing them what we can do,
- 25:47Speaker 1: and now we have to go do it. Can you
- 25:49Speaker 1: just give us a thought on the it's about us mentality?
- 25:52Speaker 1: Because people hear coaches talk about that But it's kind
- 25:56Speaker 1: of tough.
- 25:56Speaker 2: To believe when you're getting ready for Jamar Chase.
- 26:00Speaker 5: I think what Matt said is absolutely 100%. It's going
- 26:02Speaker 5: to be how we align, how we play with technique,
- 26:05Speaker 5: how we play with fundamentals. No matter who you play against,
- 26:08Speaker 5: it's always about that. If you get too distracted with
- 26:10Speaker 5: the fluff or the noise or the support of other
- 26:15Speaker 5: players right now, that distracts your focus on your job.
- 26:18Speaker 5: Do your job. Know it perfectly. Play fast.
- 26:21Speaker 4: When you do that right now, good things happen.
- 26:23Speaker 1: Everyone's focused on the– The Broncos trip to San Francisco
- 26:26Speaker 1: is the game of the week, right?
- 26:28Speaker 4: This one's a game of the week.
- 26:29Speaker 2: Or the Eagles and the Rams?
- 26:31Speaker 3: No.
- 26:31Speaker 2: John, he was telling me this morning he thinks it's
- 26:33Speaker 2: the game of the week. Historically, I would suggest that
- 26:37Speaker 2: it would be.
- 26:38Speaker 1: Two number one overall quarterbacks in back-to-back years facing off
- 26:42Speaker 1: at Paycore Stadium in Cincinnati on Sunday. And, of course,
- 26:45Speaker 1: we'll be back on Monday with Kai Stevens to wrap
- 26:47Speaker 1: it all up. And we'll revisit the headlines and see
- 26:50Speaker 1: just how right we were.
- 26:52Speaker 2: Lots ahead, folks.
- 26:54Speaker 1: Thanks for joining us here on Jags AM.
- 26:57Speaker 2: We'll see you Monday.