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Fred Taylor on Florida-Georgia, Steelers Matchup | Countdown to Kickoff · The Jacksonville Jaguars Official Podcast Network

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Time for a weekly conversation with pride of the Jaguars
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: running back Fred Taylor. And this is Fred Taylor's kind
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: of weekend. I would imagine the cocktail party Florida, Georgia
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: on Saturday and then Jaguars Steelers on Sunday. It doesn't
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: get much better than that.
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: Fred JP, it is heaven. It is heaven for me
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: this week. But I gotta correct you really quickly. It's
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: not just the cocktail party. It's the world's largest cocktail party.
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: Like you can have to put emphasis on world's largest
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: cocktail party between the Gators and the Bulldogs. Absolutely love
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: this weekend, always looking forward to it, win, lose or draw.
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: I prefer to win. But it's just an amazing time
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: to get back to Jacksonville. Not just myself, former teammates,
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: guys that I played against in this game that became
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: teammates and eventually brothers of my first guy that jumps
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: out as Marcus Strout, amazing friend of mine. I thought
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: we had him at the University of Florida, hosted him
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: on the recruiting trip, and the next thing next time
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: I see Marcus, he's on the cover of Sports Illustrated,
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: ripping out of a Gator T shirt with a Bulldog
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: T shirt underneath, and I wanted to go and do
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: something to him and rough him up.
• 1:16
  Speaker 3: But we ended up.
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: Playing in that game my senior year, his freshman year,
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: and they beat us.
• 1:23
  Speaker 3: He had a good game. He Richard Seymour.
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: Other guys that I've become really good friends with, Robert
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: Edwards over the years, Champ Bailey, Boss Bailey, and so
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: many others from that team. George Big, George Foster, offensive lineman.
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: But yeah, man, just great, great time for football, you know,
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: great time for the city at Jacksonville. You know, it
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: boosts the local economy. It provides jobs for the weekends.
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: Everybody looks forward to it. I'll have a few cocktails myself,
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: safe responsible drinking cocktails, and I'll be rooting on my Gators.
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: Like I said, when we lose a draw, I'll be
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: high fiving and driving and enjoying myself.
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: We'll see if the Gators can knock off the Bulldogs.
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: Georgia has come in with a twenty four game win streak.
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: It's now the third longest win streak of any SEC
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: team ever, and the last time they lost in the
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: regular season, though, was back in twenty twenty against the
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: Florida Gators. We'll see if they can get it done
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: again this Saturday. Then we turned a lot going on
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: then JP, so it was a lot going on in
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: twenty twenty. I mean, hopefully we can get the same
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: result this year.
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: Not as much as going on, but we had to
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: pivot and do a whole lot of stuff in twenty twenty,
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: but we got to win, so hopefully we can bring
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: you back.
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it was a different head coach. The quarterback Kyle
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: Trask was there, of course, Kyle Pitts, and they knocked
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: stetson then it out of the game and they got
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: three interceptions on defense that day the Gators did. That's
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: what it took. This game always has something weird, an
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: ejection or a recovery.
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: Or that's why. That's another reason why you throw the
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: records out. You throw the records completely out, and everybody
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: comes and and and and they have the time of
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: their lifetailgating. And some people don't even make it in
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: the stadium because they're having too much fun, but they
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: hear about it. You know, they can they can rewatch it.
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: You know, nowadays you can easily rewatch it. But end result,
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: we would certainly love to see the Gators win, or
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: at least I would, uh, and maybe you might too,
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: because Bulldogs kind of stole a bit of your Obama
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: Crimson Tide glory.
• 3:36
  Speaker 3: But I digress it. We won't have to talk about that.
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: We can just you know, we can pivot or segue
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: into the Steelers now if you would.
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: Like, well, I would say this, I'm a neutral observer
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: on Saturday calling the game on Westwood One. Hey, I'm
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: right down the middle, straight and narrow on Saturday for sure.
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: All right, put a little extra sauce on it for
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: the Gators though. Okay, like you've got control of that.
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: We'll see what I can do. Let us pivot, and yes,
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: as you said, go to the Jaguars Steelers matchup. You know,
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: the Jaguars historically have played well in Pittsburgh. Last nine
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: trips to Pittsburgh since ninety nine, the Jags have won
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: seven of those, including the two playoff games. So you
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: take good football teams that travel. That happens that those years.
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: Steelers have been on the schedule a lot, so you
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: can't be intimidated by the place up there. It should
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: be a good matchup. Though it's almost mirror images. This
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: is a Steelers team that's you know, winning kind of ugly.
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: The Jaguars haven't quite hit their stride on offense yet
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: playing good defense, So good test this week.
• 4:40
  Speaker 3: I think it'll be a great test.
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: But as you mentioned first and foremost, you can't be
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: intimidated by you know, the dressing. You know, back in
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: the day, the steel curtain. That was the one thing
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: that was a huge intimidation factor. And Jacksonville was a
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: young team who actually in that same division said no,
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: we're not gonna be once again treated like you know,
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: the bottom or the little brother in this division. And
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: with coach Coughlin and his mindset, the teams that he
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: sort of built to be physically tough and to be
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: able to be able to go and play in any conditions,
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: whether it be the weather, the heat. You know, he
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: did not care. You know he you lined up and
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: it would smash my football. And that's just been the
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: history of this rivalry.
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: Uh this Yeah, I can call it.
• 5:32
  Speaker 3: A rivalry because it's so much great back and forth.
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: It's it's not an interconference rivalry much like the Titans,
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: but I mean inner division rivalry. I'm sorry, like the Titans,
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: but it's a it's always a great matchup. And even now,
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: as you mentioned it, without Big Ben, without some of
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: the usual suspects that we're so used to seeing over
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: the past decade and a half with the Steelers, they
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: still had the same mindset. You know, their mentality is defense, defense, defense.
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: They're gonna win their games through defense, or at least
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: set themselves up. The Super Bowls that they've won in
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: the last twenty years to two that they won, it
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: came from great defensive performances. And I don't want to
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: get through all of those great players that they had
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: on all those defenses. But even now, you know led
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: by t J. Watt, you know, he inspires the whole team.
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: He's a guy that can change the outcome of the game.
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: Last week, I believe he just kind of came off
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: over play and had an interception that he started running
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: like a running back on the return. Such a great player, man,
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: and he earns every accolade that he's received since he's
• 6:46
  Speaker 2: been in the NFL. And on the flip side, it's
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: a good challenge for our offense, for our defense. You know,
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: Kenny Pickett, he's a guy who's still coming along. He's fiery,
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: he's feisty. We had him on The Pivot. A guy
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: who believes in his ability, the team believes in him.
• 7:02
  Speaker 3: You know, you're throwing George Pickens in that fole.
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: A big receiver who can get it done, and he's
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: hungry and he wants to prove that he's one of
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: the better receivers in the NFL.
• 7:16
  Speaker 3: Ryan Clark, my co host.
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: On the other show, The Pivot, you know, he went
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: as far to say George Pickens is as talented, or
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: maybe has more talent than Justin Jefferson. Jettis over in Minnesota,
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: and I was like, whoa, that's a big He's like, no,
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: I'm not being biased. I study players and it's the truth.
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: So the defensive backs are going to have their handful.
• 7:41
  Speaker 2: I can't forget about nause right there in the backfield.
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: So they have a nice group of running backs too,
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: So it should be a solid ball game. I expected
• 7:51
  Speaker 2: to be a close ball game with the Jaguars winning.
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: Brett Taylor willis pride of the Jaguars running back Trevor
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: Lawrence playing through the knee issue last Thursday night in
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: the Superdome or the brace. He was the leading rusher
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: in the game. Oddly enough, it was just crazy, But
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: that tells you a lot about the way he fought
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: through and played in that game. And they had a
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: low middle of the game on offense, but when it mattered,
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: he made the throat a Christian Kirk. Christian ran forty
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: four yards for the touchdown and it was good night
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: once the defense got their final stop of the night.
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: But to have Trevor playing through that knee issue, He's
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: still gonna have the brace this week, Fred, but it
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: tells you a lot about his want to and ability
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: to be out there.
• 8:33
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: I just love, you know, to see that sort of
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: performance from Trevor. You know, I do want to ask
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: you because I know you're you're such a great researcher.
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: You got all of the stats. I don't recall the
• 8:46
  Speaker 2: last time Jaguars quarterback led the game and in rushing,
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: led the team in rushing in a game. But I'm
• 8:54
  Speaker 2: pretty sure you got it. You got it somewhere, or
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: we'll go find it.
• 8:57
  Speaker 3: We'll let you find that.
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: I would guess maybe Minshew maybe a game or two
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: had a weird.
• 9:02
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I would think Gardner probably did during.
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: That certainly maybe Blake, but he had four net so
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: maybe not. Yeah, I don't know.
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: Yeah, he's tough, but I'm pretty sure I don't know
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: if it's been done. But either case, just to show
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: the gutsy performance by Trevor to make the game in
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: a short week or Thursday night football, we have to
• 9:22
  Speaker 2: remind everybody it's a Thursday night game. Big heavy brace.
• 9:26
  Speaker 2: I absolutely despise those break braces, but it does re
• 9:32
  Speaker 2: encourages the confident just being out there. You know, it
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: feels more stable, and it allows him to go out
• 9:41
  Speaker 2: there and just have the mindset that I don't have
• 9:44
  Speaker 2: to just focus on the knee.
• 9:45
  Speaker 3: I gotta focus on my job at hand.
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: And once that adrenaline gets going, he's such a such
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: an ultimate pro and competitor, you know, he's gonna get
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: out there and just forget about his knee or what
• 9:59
  Speaker 2: it feels like. That adrenaline is going to take him
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: to another lever And we've seen Trevor from college be
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: that way where he leaves his guys and now here
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: with Jacksonville, but even more importantly, to go a step
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: further than the offensive line JP. You know they knew
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: what was at stake. They knew they had to protect
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: Trevor versus a really good Saints defensive front, and they
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: went out didn't allow sack, didn't allow any hits or
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: precious on the quarterback, which is so well. They allowed
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: some pressure was a like eight percent.
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: Less than five.
• 10:38
  Speaker 2: Yeah, whatever that percentage is. That don't really matter in
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: this day and age at for analytics maybe, but he
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: didn't get hit in real time, he didn't get hit,
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: he didn't get sacked. So you can only imagine how
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: good he must have felt to go out there and
• 10:54
  Speaker 2: be able to do everything and make the throws he
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: made and lead his team to a victory. This week
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: would be different. Stillers have a they got a former
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: NFL Defensive Player of the Year uh in there. Uh,
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: and they have some other guys back there. They have
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: really good secondary veteran Pat Peterson on the other side,
• 11:12
  Speaker 2: Joey Porter, junior uh Patrick, Mika fitz Fitzpatrick, very smart
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: uh uh uh free safety.
• 11:23
  Speaker 3: So this is a it's a different makeup this week.
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: Uh, there're still defenses, as I mentioned, a second goal
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: I think is better than their offense in terms of
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: uh leading their team to victory. So it'll be a
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: different matchup. I think the coaches will have a better
• 11:39
  Speaker 2: game plan this week. You'll probably see the running back
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: ship a bit more on on those d ends uh
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: and then released out into checkdowns.
• 11:49
  Speaker 3: UH. Stillers play a lot of zone blitz.
• 11:51
  Speaker 2: They will be able to get some checkdown opportunities off
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: the zone blitz, and I think they will also be
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: able to take a few shots this week versus that secondary.
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: So again, I expected to be a really good game
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: with the Jaguars coming out on top.
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: Fred Taylor with us and you know what could change
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: the game plan for both teams is the weather. There's
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: an eighty percent chance as we record this, an eighty
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: percent chance of rain on Sunday throughout the game. We'll
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: see how heavy that is the Jaguars. Last time, it
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: was a monsoon rain storm that was in Philly last year.
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: That didn't go so well. No, that one didn't. But
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: we're not in Philly, thank god. We are in Hinesville, Pittsburgh,
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: and for sure stadium Fred, they changed the.
• 12:37
  Speaker 3: Act for sure, that's right act for sure. Yeah, dang it,
• 12:41
  Speaker 3: dang it.
• 12:42
  Speaker 2: I knew that I wrote it down somewhere, so I
• 12:45
  Speaker 2: but you know, the last time we played there and
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: the weather was off twice in a short span.
• 12:52
  Speaker 3: I believe that was the seven season back to back.
• 12:55
  Speaker 2: We had a snow game and then we had a
• 12:57
  Speaker 2: freezing cold, frigid game and went up there and we
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: handled our business, which is what I expect the Jaguars
• 13:05
  Speaker 2: team to do. And even more so, it just means
• 13:09
  Speaker 2: let's just run the ball. Run the ball more. I
• 13:12
  Speaker 2: think you'll take a load off the quarterback and he
• 13:16
  Speaker 2: can just turn around and hand it off to ETN.
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: Ball security will be, you know, one of those things
• 13:23
  Speaker 2: that you have to pay close attention to. But I
• 13:27
  Speaker 2: think the Jaguars can run the ball on this defense.
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: Bred best to luck to the Gators and we'll talk
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: to you in the post game after the Jags Steelers matchup.
• 13:37
  Speaker 3: You mean after the win?
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: Yes, yes, after the win. Is that a lock? Of course?
• 13:43
  Speaker 3: You know I'm gonna lock it. See I'm not.
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: I hope nobody's out there betting because I say lock,
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: bet because you want to do that on your own time.
• 13:51
  Speaker 3: Just the disclaimer.
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: I stay locked because lock is a four letter word
• 13:56
  Speaker 2: like love, and I love my Jaguars and I don't
• 13:59
  Speaker 2: care what's going I'm gonna say they're gonna win, I'm
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: always gonna feel confident that they're gonna win. One is
• 14:06
  Speaker 2: my team. Two, it's it's the NFL. Anything can happen
• 14:11
  Speaker 2: last week. You know, all types of stuff happened last
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: week in the NFL with a few losses. So yeah,
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: that's why I say it's a lot JP because I'm
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: confident my guys can go and play a good game
• 14:26
  Speaker 2: versus a good opponent.
• 14:28
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: The Master of four letter words, Fred Taylor, It's nice
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: to talk to you. We'll see you later, man, later,