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O-Zone Podcast: Mark Brunell · The Jacksonville Jaguars Official Podcast Network

0:00
Speaker 1: Oh so. Welcome to the Ozone Podcast, presented by by
0:12
Speaker 1: Star Credit Union, featuring Jaguars senior writer John Osher and
0:16
Speaker 1: executive producer Dave de Canders. This week's guest, I'm excited
0:20
Speaker 1: about talking to him. Jaguars fans obviously, no former Jaguars
0:24
Speaker 1: quarterback market. Now we're gonna talk something about Gardner Minshew.
0:27
Speaker 1: We're gonna talk something about his life in Jacksonville now
0:30
Speaker 1: and some of the changes around the league since he played.
0:33
Speaker 1: So without further ado, Former Jaguars Quarterbacks two thousand and three, Mark,
0:40
Speaker 1: you're a long time presence with the organization as well
0:43
Speaker 1: as in the community now the coach at Episcopal at
0:45
Speaker 1: the Episcopal School of Jacksonville. I say that right, because Mark,
0:48
Speaker 1: when I went there, it was j h S. Baby
0:51
Speaker 1: Jacksonville Episcopal High School. But that's a long time ago,
0:54
Speaker 1: well before your time. And Mark, as I was sort
0:57
Speaker 1: of preparing for this, I laughed because I thought we
0:59
Speaker 1: shoot this on a Wednesday years ago. If this had
1:02
Speaker 1: been a Wednesday and I had said, hey, Mark, I
1:05
Speaker 1: need some time from you, I would have gotten a
1:08
Speaker 1: very specific anti reporter, anti John Ozier. Look, boy, how
1:12
Speaker 1: times have changed in twenty five years. Huh. You know
1:17
Speaker 1: back then you would have asked me to go on
1:19
Speaker 1: a zoom. Now I'm asking you if I can go
1:21
Speaker 1: on your your podcast. You know your zoom podcast. So
1:25
Speaker 1: now I'm happy to be on with you. John, always
1:27
Speaker 1: a pleasure. I appreciate it. And uh, as I think
1:31
Speaker 1: most people know you're the coach at Episcopal and what
1:36
Speaker 1: I'm curious about. To start, we'll get into the Jaguars
1:38
Speaker 1: and some gardener mints. You talk a little bit later,
1:41
Speaker 1: but did you envision yourself We've talked about this a
1:43
Speaker 1: little before. I don't think you really thought when you
1:47
Speaker 1: were playing that you would wind up as a high
1:51
Speaker 1: school coach, and from our conversations over the years, really
1:55
Speaker 1: enjoying it. Like you you sort of found a niche
1:58
Speaker 1: that you really like. Yeah, I have, John, And you know,
2:02
Speaker 1: my dad was a was a teacher and a coach
2:04
Speaker 1: athletic director at the high school level. And it's interesting
2:08
Speaker 1: if I didn't get an opportunity in the NFL and
2:11
Speaker 1: and get to stick around for a while, that's probably
2:14
Speaker 1: what I would have got into. At least that was
2:16
Speaker 1: the plan. Um And uh, you know you always looked
2:20
Speaker 1: up to my father still do of course. Um, he
2:24
Speaker 1: was a baseball guy coach football as well. But what
2:28
Speaker 1: I remember was he was always around. He was he
2:30
Speaker 1: was in my life. He was at my games, and
2:32
Speaker 1: he was at the dinner table. We had to spend
2:34
Speaker 1: a lot of time together. That was a great takeaway
2:38
Speaker 1: for a kid, uh, you know, knowing what his dad
2:40
Speaker 1: did for a living, and it was you know, I
2:42
Speaker 1: had a very good upbringing because he was around and
2:44
Speaker 1: his job afforded him that. So, Um, I got to
2:49
Speaker 1: play for a while. And when I got done, I
2:52
Speaker 1: didn't have the intention of going into coaching high school football.
2:55
Speaker 1: I got asked to be a volunteer quarterback coach of Providence.
2:58
Speaker 1: I took the job because I was still rowing and
3:00
Speaker 1: still hoping to to get one more year. And uh,
3:04
Speaker 1: after that year, John I got offered the episcopal job.
3:07
Speaker 1: I took it, and with each passing year, I enjoy
3:10
Speaker 1: it more and more, far more than I ever thought
3:13
Speaker 1: I would. Um. I mean, it's it's not the perfect gig,
3:17
Speaker 1: of course, there is no gig that's that's perfect, but
3:20
Speaker 1: it's pretty close. I really enjoy it. And uh um,
3:24
Speaker 1: and we're in our eighth season now and I'm having
3:27
Speaker 1: a really good time, John, Now what have you found
3:30
Speaker 1: you liked about? I mean, being around football is one thing.
3:34
Speaker 1: But my guess is you've probably found in the relationships
3:38
Speaker 1: and being around the kids as satisfying as the actual football.
3:43
Speaker 1: There's no question. And Uh, if you're coaching high school
3:47
Speaker 1: football for just the football, uh, you're in the wrong business.
3:51
Speaker 1: That's not what it's about. Um, it's it's really about
3:55
Speaker 1: these these young men and developing them on the field.
3:59
Speaker 1: Teaching them for all the fundamental was all that, but
4:01
Speaker 1: more importantly, teaching them and communicating to them really what
4:05
Speaker 1: they game with the game of football can do for them. Uh. John,
4:10
Speaker 1: When I was in high school, I you know, played quarterback.
4:14
Speaker 1: I love the game. It was fun. I had some
4:15
Speaker 1: big games. But as I look back, my the biggest
4:19
Speaker 1: takeaways wasn't the wasn't the opportunity to play at the
4:22
Speaker 1: next level in college and then the prost My biggest
4:24
Speaker 1: takeaway is I learned how to work hard, and I
4:27
Speaker 1: learned that if I wanted to be good, I had
4:28
Speaker 1: to work hard. I learned about how to be a leader,
4:32
Speaker 1: the importance of teamwork. How do you overcome adversity? Well,
4:37
Speaker 1: you know, and on the football field, you gotta lock
4:39
Speaker 1: arms with your teammates and and figure it out and
4:42
Speaker 1: fight through it together and just keep going. Well that's
4:44
Speaker 1: the way life is too so, but we're trying to
4:47
Speaker 1: do it. Episcopals teach these life lessons to these young
4:50
Speaker 1: men who were using the game of football as as
4:52
Speaker 1: the tool. So the relationships there with those with those
4:56
Speaker 1: guys are great. Um And but not only my my
5:00
Speaker 1: my players, but my coaching staff. I've got a core
5:02
Speaker 1: group of guys that have been there the whole time.
5:04
Speaker 1: These guys are my brothers. I love coaching with them,
5:07
Speaker 1: I love doing life with them. I appreciate them, respect them.
5:11
Speaker 1: Some guys have been coaching for for almost forty years.
5:15
Speaker 1: Some guys have been coaching for for uh for about
5:18
Speaker 1: four months. So uh, it's uh, I'm really enjoying it.
5:23
Speaker 1: And like I said, it's it's it's almost the perfect gig,
5:28
Speaker 1: right what um In, You're gonna laugh when I ask
5:32
Speaker 1: you this, because when I coverage you, and even since
5:35
Speaker 1: you've told me a million Tom Coffin stories, you didn't
5:38
Speaker 1: necessarily get along with them all the time. There were
5:40
Speaker 1: times you bucked under under the influence and he wasn't
5:44
Speaker 1: a perfect coach. Nobody's perfect, but I'm wondering if there
5:47
Speaker 1: are times that you hear yourself saying things that he said,
5:52
Speaker 1: anything like that, where you kind of say, oh, my goodness,
5:55
Speaker 1: I can't believe that came out of my mouth. It's
5:58
Speaker 1: funny you say that. So just just yesterday, well two
6:01
Speaker 1: days ago, we uh to answer your question. Yes, two
6:05
Speaker 1: days ago, we had a kid that was doing a
6:07
Speaker 1: drill and uh he had he had some knee problems
6:11
Speaker 1: last year, and so he did his knee again and
6:13
Speaker 1: and it wasn't too bad. And he had told us,
6:16
Speaker 1: you know, a couple of days ago that he was
6:17
Speaker 1: gonna be fine, and and uh, it was funny. I
6:22
Speaker 1: I just I walked right by him two days ago
6:25
Speaker 1: because he says, coach, I'll be back tomorrow. I said, I, well,
6:27
Speaker 1: I guess we're gonna find out how tough you are tomorrow.
6:30
Speaker 1: And there was no smile on my face. I thought,
6:33
Speaker 1: what have I become? Just like something that the conflin
6:37
Speaker 1: would say. So it even gets better. Yesterday we're a
6:40
Speaker 1: practice and he's he's kind of limping around and listen,
6:43
Speaker 1: he's a great kid. He's a tough kid, and uh
6:47
Speaker 1: so he's and I found myself John not wanting to
6:50
Speaker 1: say one word to him. I was mad at him
6:52
Speaker 1: the whole day for not practicing. That day, I thought
6:55
Speaker 1: I have become Tom Coughlin. I am I. I mean,
6:58
Speaker 1: if I could find the kid, I absolutely would. I
7:03
Speaker 1: mean I did say that, Kitty. But um, listen, yeah,
7:07
Speaker 1: there's no question I've had a lot of head coaches,
7:09
Speaker 1: and I have found my myself, you know, using phrases
7:14
Speaker 1: or behaving in a manner as a coach that you know,
7:18
Speaker 1: really I was, you know, I was exposed to it.
7:20
Speaker 1: And Coach Coughlin was was the coach that I had
7:24
Speaker 1: the the longest, and honestly the coach that I appreciate
7:28
Speaker 1: the most. Uh. He gave me my shot. And was
7:32
Speaker 1: it easy to play for Coach Cofflin. No, it wasn't
7:34
Speaker 1: for me. It wasn't for anyone. But I learned a
7:37
Speaker 1: lot of a lot about football, and uh, I learned
7:41
Speaker 1: a lot about life. I learned a lot about uh,
7:45
Speaker 1: you know, how to how to be a professional in
7:47
Speaker 1: the NFL. So I'm forever grateful to Tom Coughlin, and
7:51
Speaker 1: but I do find myself h kind of coaching and
7:55
Speaker 1: saying things that that that he used to say, which again,
8:00
Speaker 1: if that, if that had come out of your mouth
8:02
Speaker 1: when I was covering you, how to laugh at because
8:05
Speaker 1: no way, no way. Again, we'll get the current Jaguars
8:11
Speaker 1: with the next question. That. Um, one thing about Tom
8:14
Speaker 1: that's struck me, and I think fans are always fascinated
8:17
Speaker 1: to hear about Tom. Most players that I've talked to,
8:20
Speaker 1: even the ones that bucked against him the most, have
8:24
Speaker 1: always said later, I'd go back and play for him
8:26
Speaker 1: again because of the level of preparation and looking back,
8:31
Speaker 1: you always knew you were going to be prepared to
8:33
Speaker 1: win the game that day. There was never gonna be
8:35
Speaker 1: a stone left unturned. You know, as a coreter, you
8:38
Speaker 1: played for a lot of coaches. You played for Gibbs,
8:40
Speaker 1: you played for some great ones. Sean, I assume you
8:43
Speaker 1: would agree with that statement. The preparation level was off
8:46
Speaker 1: the charts, There's no question. And uh, because I have
8:50
Speaker 1: played for other coaches, I will say that if if
8:53
Speaker 1: you're a head coach in the NFL, AH, you better
8:56
Speaker 1: be pretty good at preparation. Um. And some some are
9:01
Speaker 1: better than others. And uh, of course that's my experience
9:05
Speaker 1: in in in different ways. Um, But Tom, what was
9:10
Speaker 1: he prepared his players, and that there's no question. He
9:13
Speaker 1: demanded that his coach prepared the players. And here's the
9:17
Speaker 1: strength of the strengths of Tom in my in in
9:21
Speaker 1: my view one, I've used the word already, and it's demanding.
9:24
Speaker 1: He demanded a lot of us. But listen, we're in
9:27
Speaker 1: the NFL. That's the way it should be. He demanded
9:30
Speaker 1: that we gave Gret great effort. He demanded that we
9:33
Speaker 1: handled ourselves and like professionals. He demanded that we were
9:36
Speaker 1: on time. And uh, and there was absolutely nothing wrong
9:40
Speaker 1: with that. But you know when you're twenty four or
9:43
Speaker 1: five and you've got the world by the tail and
9:46
Speaker 1: you just got out of college and you think, okay,
9:49
Speaker 1: I'm in the NFL, I'm free, I can you know,
9:52
Speaker 1: you know I've made it well. And then you then
9:54
Speaker 1: you get a chance to play for coach Coffin. You're thinking, oh,
9:56
Speaker 1: wait a minute, wait, wait a minute, it's not how
9:58
Speaker 1: it was supposed to be. But for us, it was
10:01
Speaker 1: the best thing. We were a young team. John, you remember,
10:03
Speaker 1: we weren't a very good team. We needed uh, we
10:07
Speaker 1: needed that demanding um um. Way about coach Coffin, here's
10:14
Speaker 1: the other thing. And he was consistent. Um, he was
10:18
Speaker 1: very consistent. You didn't you know, you knew exactly what
10:21
Speaker 1: you're gonna get every day, and that and and that
10:25
Speaker 1: in ways is comforting. Uh, it's it's it's the consistency
10:31
Speaker 1: is Listen, I know what the expectations are. They're really high,
10:35
Speaker 1: but I know every day that coach Coughlin is going
10:37
Speaker 1: to demand and expect a lot out of me. You know,
10:41
Speaker 1: I've been in some places where, you know, the head
10:43
Speaker 1: coach might be in a good mood and really laid
10:45
Speaker 1: back and and and just kind of taking it easy,
10:47
Speaker 1: and then the next day they're just out of their mind,
10:49
Speaker 1: angry and ticked off and yelling at everywhere all over
10:53
Speaker 1: the place. That wasn't tough. He was firm, Uh most
10:58
Speaker 1: of the time he was. He was fair demanding, Uh,
11:02
Speaker 1: and you always knew where you stood. So while when
11:05
Speaker 1: you're in it, all of those things seem kind of
11:08
Speaker 1: hard to manage under and to a degree they are.
11:12
Speaker 1: But for us, and I can really speak for me,
11:15
Speaker 1: it was the best place for a young quarterback to be,
11:19
Speaker 1: not easy for not the easiest place for me, but
11:22
Speaker 1: it was the best for me. Tell me about this
11:25
Speaker 1: Jaguars team. I mean, it's we can go into it
11:27
Speaker 1: because there's always a million things to talk about with
11:29
Speaker 1: any team. But just overall impressions there one in three
11:34
Speaker 1: obviously one in three in the NFL is not over.
11:37
Speaker 1: It's a long season. Just overall thoughts, if you will, Well,
11:42
Speaker 1: I think I think where they're at right now is
11:46
Speaker 1: is at least where I expected them to be. What
11:48
Speaker 1: did Bill Parcel say? Says, listen, you are what you
11:50
Speaker 1: are If they are one in three right now, you know,
11:53
Speaker 1: maybe there are four and twelve team as that plays out,
11:56
Speaker 1: still a lot of football. But um, and actually I
12:00
Speaker 1: listened to uh, I listened to you on the radio
12:03
Speaker 1: a few days ago, and you use this word no, no, no,
12:06
Speaker 1: you use this word, and I thought it was it was.
12:08
Speaker 1: I laughed a little bit of my car. You said, hey, listen,
12:12
Speaker 1: you know along the way, they're going to be some stinkers,
12:15
Speaker 1: you know, And I think that's what we can expect.
12:17
Speaker 1: We can expect some games just to be stinkers. Right
12:20
Speaker 1: The defense isn't very good right now, Gardners. Uh, you know,
12:24
Speaker 1: he's been two different quarterbacks the first two weeks. In
12:26
Speaker 1: the last two weeks. In my opinion. There are some
12:28
Speaker 1: bright spots, but now there's we have some injuries. Um, listen,
12:34
Speaker 1: I I expect them to win four, four or five
12:37
Speaker 1: games this year. I expect some of those. You know,
12:40
Speaker 1: those wins are gonna be great and we're gonna all
12:42
Speaker 1: be back on the bandwagon, and but more times than not,
12:45
Speaker 1: there's going to be some stinkers and um, you know,
12:51
Speaker 1: And that's that's kind of what I see from this team.
12:53
Speaker 1: I hope I'm wrong, Listen. I hope they get six
12:56
Speaker 1: seven wins. I hope they turn it on and and
12:58
Speaker 1: maybe get the five hundred. I don't expect that to happen, John,
13:01
Speaker 1: But if I'm being honest, what you see on the
13:04
Speaker 1: field right now is a defense that is really struggling,
13:07
Speaker 1: and you see an offense that's that's inconsistent, and you know,
13:12
Speaker 1: with a few limitations at quarterbacks. So so we'll see
13:15
Speaker 1: John and you know, we'll see take me through Minshew,
13:19
Speaker 1: And we've talked about it a little bit. Uh, there's
13:22
Speaker 1: obviously two things about him. Every intangible you want, every
13:27
Speaker 1: competitive quarterback thing that you want, and he's going to
13:30
Speaker 1: maximize what he is. And then there's the reason he
13:34
Speaker 1: was drafted in the sixth round, which is he's six
13:36
Speaker 1: ft and he does not have an incredibly powerful arm. Uh,
13:41
Speaker 1: the two things I mentioned last I are they coming up?
13:47
Speaker 1: Do you see them? And are they overcomable? If if
13:50
Speaker 1: you will? Well as far as the arm strength, um,
13:55
Speaker 1: you know, there have been plenty of guys that have
13:57
Speaker 1: went on to have successful careers that just didn't have
13:59
Speaker 1: a really really strong arm. You know that Joe Montana
14:03
Speaker 1: was one of them. Um just didn't have a He
14:06
Speaker 1: just didn't have a John Elway rifle or Brett Farve cannon.
14:09
Speaker 1: He didn't, but he made it work. You do see
14:12
Speaker 1: that on tape a little bit. Um. But UM, I
14:18
Speaker 1: think which what really, what really pops is really the
14:22
Speaker 1: the just the not like you said, poise isn't the word,
14:28
Speaker 1: because he's not a He's not an unpoised player, just
14:30
Speaker 1: an unpolished pocket passer, maybe a little unnerved, a little
14:35
Speaker 1: too quick to get out of the pocket, not every time,
14:38
Speaker 1: but enough where you think, you know, is he just
14:41
Speaker 1: uncomfortable in the pocket or could he not see what's
14:43
Speaker 1: going on down? There are guys just not getting open
14:45
Speaker 1: and these um, So I think you see that, UM.
14:49
Speaker 1: And I can speak from experience, John, I was a
14:51
Speaker 1: young player, man, I had a tough time in the pocket.
14:53
Speaker 1: I just did six one. I didn't have a lot
14:57
Speaker 1: of college experience. Um, you know, in the offense that
15:01
Speaker 1: I cut my teeth on in Green Bay for the
15:02
Speaker 1: first two years, it was a three step five step
15:06
Speaker 1: ball is out real quick, you know, and progression based
15:10
Speaker 1: offense where you just this receiver, this receiver, this receiver,
15:14
Speaker 1: and typically one of those first three were we're open.
15:17
Speaker 1: So you're seeing some of that on film right now.
15:20
Speaker 1: And uh, but I think there's two things about Gardner Minshew. One,
15:24
Speaker 1: I think Gardner Minshew can pay play fifteen years in
15:26
Speaker 1: the NFL. Now, will he be a franchise starter, Um,
15:31
Speaker 1: I don't know, but there's certainly a place for a
15:33
Speaker 1: guy coming off the bench who has those intangibles that
15:36
Speaker 1: you mentioned that can be a spark and go out
15:39
Speaker 1: there and just on just on Moxi alone, go win
15:43
Speaker 1: a game for you. But he's gonna be around for
15:45
Speaker 1: a long time. And I think the other thing, too,
15:47
Speaker 1: is is that when you're a quarterback and you're still
15:50
Speaker 1: trying to figure it out and you realize you're probably
15:54
Speaker 1: gonna have to score thirty five points every Sunday and
15:58
Speaker 1: be near perfect every drive to win a game. That
16:02
Speaker 1: adds a lot of unnecessary pressure that no young quarterbacks
16:05
Speaker 1: should have to endure. So as confident and as tough
16:10
Speaker 1: as he is, you know that that's that that could
16:12
Speaker 1: That's a lot of weight on a on a young quarterback.
16:15
Speaker 1: So that's really what I see with Gardner as a
16:17
Speaker 1: as a person. I gosh, I love the kid. I'm
16:21
Speaker 1: rooting for him. I'm cheering for him as we all
16:23
Speaker 1: are that have been around him. But uh, listen, we
16:27
Speaker 1: have twelve more games. Let's let it play out, and
16:29
Speaker 1: I think by the end of the year we're gonna
16:31
Speaker 1: know if if he's the guy. You obviously, because that's
16:34
Speaker 1: saying you know a lot more about offensive football than
16:36
Speaker 1: I do. What do you like about Grooden? It seems
16:40
Speaker 1: like he is coming pretty close to maximizing what he's
16:44
Speaker 1: got on his side of the ball in most games
16:46
Speaker 1: so far. Yeah, I mean, I've I've I've got a
16:49
Speaker 1: very very good friend that worked with him last maybe
16:52
Speaker 1: four or five years. And uh, who's who's now in
16:56
Speaker 1: l A with the Rams was jump and coordinator and
17:02
Speaker 1: it was with Jay and said and said he's a
17:07
Speaker 1: brilliant guy and uh, really smart, great play caller, just
17:14
Speaker 1: a good offensive minded coach. And John we're seeing that, right,
17:17
Speaker 1: We're seeing that our offense for all its limitations, okay, uh,
17:23
Speaker 1: averaging about twenty four points a game. It's not what
17:26
Speaker 1: you want, but it's pretty good. It's not bad. You know,
17:30
Speaker 1: you try to get up to that north of that mark.
17:32
Speaker 1: But but and they're doing some really good things. Gardner
17:36
Speaker 1: had at times has been efficient. Um, you know, he's
17:41
Speaker 1: I think it's eight touchdowns, forn receptions something like that.
17:44
Speaker 1: Maybe it's yeah, and uh, pretty good numbers, higher completion
17:49
Speaker 1: percentage and that's very commiment in the NFL right now.
17:52
Speaker 1: But I think he understands what he has in Gardner,
17:55
Speaker 1: he understands what he can do and what he can't do.
17:58
Speaker 1: I think he has a very good and um I
18:02
Speaker 1: for you know, put getting players in the right position
18:04
Speaker 1: and calling the appropriate play. Um. I think he's working
18:09
Speaker 1: wonders with with James Robinson. So answer your question, I
18:13
Speaker 1: absolutely love what I see. There's some creativity there, there's
18:16
Speaker 1: some there's some things that you don't expect to see. Um.
18:20
Speaker 1: But you know the thing is is that this is
18:23
Speaker 1: a this is an offense that has to stay healthy.
18:26
Speaker 1: DJ charks out two weeks ago. Yeah, we couldn't really
18:29
Speaker 1: do anything. He gets back in there and they get
18:31
Speaker 1: a couple of touchdowns. Brandon Linder, in my opinion, has
18:35
Speaker 1: a lot to do with the way Gardner has looked
18:37
Speaker 1: the last a couple of weeks. So I think I
18:41
Speaker 1: think Jay is doing I think Jay is doing really
18:43
Speaker 1: well and it will continue to do so. Sort of
18:46
Speaker 1: a high end NFL question. And I've been thinking about
18:50
Speaker 1: this more and more the last couple of weeks. It's
18:52
Speaker 1: and I realized it's not going back to the way
18:54
Speaker 1: it was when I covered you. But you're seeing so
18:58
Speaker 1: much incredible Her back play is a lot of that, though,
19:03
Speaker 1: because the rules have gotten so much to the point
19:06
Speaker 1: that you can't hit anybody these it's so skewed the
19:12
Speaker 1: word quarterbacks. And again I'm the crotch of the old
19:15
Speaker 1: man who believes it was better when I was covering
19:17
Speaker 1: the NFL and in the eighties. But it's a dramatically
19:21
Speaker 1: different game than the one you played, isn't it on
19:24
Speaker 1: that front? Yeah, it really is. On the rules front,
19:26
Speaker 1: there's no quay. It's night and day. It's night and day,
19:29
Speaker 1: you know, um, and it certainly benefits the offense, which
19:33
Speaker 1: isn't that what people want? Though? I mean, that's that's
19:35
Speaker 1: why they did it. More points. I think it's the rules.
19:40
Speaker 1: I think it's it's really the um the offenses that
19:45
Speaker 1: you you know, what they were doing in college that
19:48
Speaker 1: spread offense and triple off to all this all this
19:52
Speaker 1: run pass options. We're gonna need all these college kids
19:56
Speaker 1: that were just throwing up big time numbers, Well now
19:59
Speaker 1: they're established, really good NFL players doing the same thing.
20:04
Speaker 1: And you look at the highest scoring teams right now,
20:07
Speaker 1: like the top ten teams in the NFL and scoring
20:10
Speaker 1: which are on record breaking pace by the way, in
20:13
Speaker 1: the NFL. And you look at these guys and are
20:18
Speaker 1: you look at these teams and and all the quarters,
20:21
Speaker 1: not all the quarterbacks because you've got you got Brady
20:23
Speaker 1: in there, and Matt Ryan and Aaron Rodgers, you know,
20:25
Speaker 1: those kind of pocket pastor guys for the most part,
20:28
Speaker 1: but a lot of these guys, you know, it's Dak
20:30
Speaker 1: and Patrick and and the list goes on Russell who
20:34
Speaker 1: has just been playing out of his mind. Those guys
20:36
Speaker 1: with the ability to run it and throw it out.
20:38
Speaker 1: How do you defend those guys. And how do you
20:41
Speaker 1: defend those guys if you didn't have an off season,
20:45
Speaker 1: Uh no o t s or no mini camps, you
20:47
Speaker 1: didn't have training camp, no preseason games, and all of
20:50
Speaker 1: a sudden you're a defense and you've got to go
20:51
Speaker 1: against Russell Wilson and and Patrick Mahomes and Lamar you
20:56
Speaker 1: don't have a chance. So, for multiple reasons, a lot.
21:00
Speaker 1: There's a lot of scoring going on. I think too.
21:03
Speaker 1: We got some really bright, creative, innovative minds right now
21:07
Speaker 1: in the NFL calling plays on offense. So it's not
21:11
Speaker 1: just one thing. Um, it's players, it's plays, it's rules. Um.
21:18
Speaker 1: But it's fun though. It's sure fun to watch some
21:20
Speaker 1: of these guys. As you were talking, I was thinking, boy,
21:24
Speaker 1: if you'd been born twenty five years later, Oh yeah,
21:30
Speaker 1: I mean me and Priscoe used to rip you all
21:32
Speaker 1: the time for leaving the pocket. Now we'd be praising it. Yeah. Well,
21:36
Speaker 1: all of my all of my runs were not designed.
21:39
Speaker 1: You know, maybe there was a draw every now and then.
21:41
Speaker 1: But these runs the guys are there. I mean, they're
21:43
Speaker 1: designed runs. But I was my I was so stick
21:47
Speaker 1: and stubborn. Though I would have hurt myself because I
21:50
Speaker 1: would have, you know, kept the ball more times than
21:52
Speaker 1: I should and would try to take on the likes
21:54
Speaker 1: of Greg Lloyd too often or something like that. But
21:58
Speaker 1: I would have loved to have played in those offenses.
22:01
Speaker 1: But I promise you if I was in one of
22:02
Speaker 1: those offenses, my my body wouldn't feel as good as
22:06
Speaker 1: it does right now. I'm actually doing pretty good. It
22:08
Speaker 1: would it'd be pretty ugly. We do one thing with this.
22:18
Speaker 1: It's five quick questions. We call it the ozone five
22:21
Speaker 1: and it can be quick answers out. I'll run that three. Um,
22:26
Speaker 1: what's your last binge watch? Mark? Do you binge watch?
22:30
Speaker 1: Last binge watch? Uh? Is? Uh? Yeah, I'm sorry, it's quick.
22:36
Speaker 1: I I actually have quite a few going on. Um yeah,
22:41
Speaker 1: I'm zaka. Well, I don't see like like six or
22:44
Speaker 1: seven going on. I just finished season two of uh
22:49
Speaker 1: what's it the Boys? Okay? Yeah, yeah, I just finished that.
22:54
Speaker 1: The last song you listened to in your car? Oh boy?
23:00
Speaker 1: What Johnny? I'm fifty years old right now? Um, you
23:05
Speaker 1: know at all likely in all likelihood it was a
23:07
Speaker 1: George Straight song. Um, big George Straight fans, So it was,
23:12
Speaker 1: I promise he was one of his older ones. Goods
23:15
Speaker 1: still a baseball guy at all, and it's so World
23:19
Speaker 1: Series pick. Ever since I stopped playing it, I just
23:22
Speaker 1: stopped watching it. Um so listen as thirty two years ago.
23:27
Speaker 1: So I'm not a fan. Your go to coaching cliche
23:32
Speaker 1: the one you cringe the most when you say it.
23:35
Speaker 1: Oh gosh, um that's pretty good. Um oh this is this.
23:42
Speaker 1: I don't cringe, but um so so in Episcopal we
23:49
Speaker 1: we uh, we need we need help on blocking and tackling.
23:53
Speaker 1: Other than that work great, okay, And so my my,
23:57
Speaker 1: I don't really cringe, but I find myself saying in
23:59
Speaker 1: it especial on special teams, they find work, find some work,
24:03
Speaker 1: because we've got we've got a lot of guys out
24:05
Speaker 1: there that they know they're supposed to block, but they're
24:07
Speaker 1: they're they're not real thrilled about going to block anybody,
24:10
Speaker 1: or kind of sometimes trying to avoid block in your tech.
24:13
Speaker 1: And so I said, listen this, when you're you know,
24:14
Speaker 1: when you're supposed to block, will find some work. Go
24:17
Speaker 1: find somebody to block, Go find somebody to hit. Um.
24:20
Speaker 1: I don't know which coach I got that from, so,
24:22
Speaker 1: but um, you know my players could certainly give you
24:26
Speaker 1: a few that that they're tired of hearing. But that's
24:28
Speaker 1: one that I always go to. That I was catching
24:30
Speaker 1: myself saying, you know, you think it's not a bad one,
24:33
Speaker 1: but but you know you got to go find somewhere.
24:37
Speaker 1: Final one And I sort of saved this for former players.
24:42
Speaker 1: If I asked you to give me one series, could
24:44
Speaker 1: you still do it? One series? Absolutely? There's no question.
24:51
Speaker 1: Now is that a Is that a three and out?
24:53
Speaker 1: Or is that a twelve play drive and score? Because
24:55
Speaker 1: you know both series, so what are you talking about?
25:00
Speaker 1: You can keep me out of a third and seven?
25:02
Speaker 1: You know seven plus I might have a chance, but
25:05
Speaker 1: anything anything over that could be problematic. I didn't ask
25:09
Speaker 1: Keenan that mark, But had I asked Keenan, he said
25:12
Speaker 1: he could give me the whole season. Oh, there's no question,
25:16
Speaker 1: and you know what he might be right, keen and
25:19
Speaker 1: I would believe nobody else. Of course, that Keenan is amazing.
25:22
Speaker 1: I'll close it out. It seems like you're in a
25:24
Speaker 1: good place, buddy, I am. I'm uh. I still love
25:28
Speaker 1: in Jacksonville. You know a lot of my teammates are
25:31
Speaker 1: still around here, John uh good friends. I love, I love,
25:35
Speaker 1: I love coaching and episcopal. My family is doing well,
25:38
Speaker 1: my wife and children. So uh, things that things are
25:42
Speaker 1: going well. Things are going well. Remember the first day
25:45
Speaker 1: I saw you walk into uh what's now t I
25:47
Speaker 1: bank Field as a whole a whole bunch of media
25:50
Speaker 1: guys sitting around. You kind of walked through and introduce yourself.
25:52
Speaker 1: Did you ever dream back in nine that you'd be
25:55
Speaker 1: around twenty five years later in this town? It's crazy, actually,
26:00
Speaker 1: you know what, maybe not in john but in in
26:04
Speaker 1: nineties six and nine seven, I think my wife would
26:07
Speaker 1: tell you the same thing. You know, we we felt
26:10
Speaker 1: we we felt like this was becoming a home. We
26:14
Speaker 1: felt a connection here and it was for multiple reasons.
26:17
Speaker 1: But but um yeah, you know we we were here
26:22
Speaker 1: for nine years. We couldn't wait to get back, and
26:24
Speaker 1: we were when we were gone, we still had one
26:26
Speaker 1: fot here in Jacksonville. So this is home for us,
26:28
Speaker 1: There's there's no question. And we love it as much
26:31
Speaker 1: today as we did and you know when we were
26:33
Speaker 1: just starting out here in Jacksonville and the town feels
26:37
Speaker 1: the same way in Mark, I know, you gotta run.
26:39
Speaker 1: I appreciate you doing. It's always great catching up with
26:41
Speaker 1: you and I enjoyed it. Thank you very much. All right,
26:43
Speaker 1: thank you Ozone. I appreciate it. Take care. I don't
26:46
Speaker 1: want to thank Marks for joining us. Uh, it's always
26:49
Speaker 1: good to catch up with Mark. As I joked about
26:51
Speaker 1: at the very beginning of the podcast, it's always funny
26:55
Speaker 1: to me, Dave, when I talked sort of casually to Mark,
26:58
Speaker 1: now what years after I covered him, He was not
27:04
Speaker 1: the easiest guy to cover. I don't think many quarterbacks
27:07
Speaker 1: are because there's a different dynamic media quarterback relationship. But
27:13
Speaker 1: Mark was, by his own admission, tight, didn't love doing interviews,
27:18
Speaker 1: a little bit guarded. We would stand around his locker
27:22
Speaker 1: and as you know, Dave, there's a locker room dynamic
27:25
Speaker 1: and there was a lot of one word answers and
27:27
Speaker 1: you know some I would say contentious because he was
27:31
Speaker 1: never a bad guy, but he he really didn't love
27:34
Speaker 1: the interaction. And since getting to know him, since I've
27:37
Speaker 1: been back in Jacksonville, consider him a friend and enjoy
27:40
Speaker 1: spending time with him. Find him very insightful. And Uh,
27:44
Speaker 1: I thought he was good today when we talked to him,
27:47
Speaker 1: and I for I'm sure for you A young Jaguars
27:51
Speaker 1: fan growing up and rooting for the Jags. It's still
27:55
Speaker 1: gotta be neat to listen and talk to Mark right now. Heck,
28:00
Speaker 1: yeah it is. I was a huge Markertel. Marconnell was
28:03
Speaker 1: my guy. Him and Jimmy Smith were my two guys.
28:05
Speaker 1: And uh, I had a had a Marcronelle poster on
28:08
Speaker 1: my wall and said on the Mark I remember him
28:10
Speaker 1: within a cool post I uh I also had was
28:15
Speaker 1: this is kind of funny. You might not remember this,
28:17
Speaker 1: but him and Carrie Collins had some kind of shoe
28:21
Speaker 1: deal where there was like a shoe they indoors and
28:24
Speaker 1: like the market. The Marcronel one was steel and the
28:27
Speaker 1: carry Collins one was like Carolina blue, like for the Panthers.
28:31
Speaker 1: And uh and I had the Marconnell shoes for a
28:33
Speaker 1: little while, um because because he was in the commercial.
28:37
Speaker 1: So that was cool. But yeah, no, I was a
28:39
Speaker 1: huge Markronel fan. And what was kind of funny is
28:42
Speaker 1: so when I came back here, probably a few years
28:45
Speaker 1: after I I came back to Jackson Will start working
28:49
Speaker 1: at the TV station in town. Mark became the analyst
28:53
Speaker 1: on the preseason broadcast and he never did TV at
28:57
Speaker 1: that point. So, um, are my boss or news director
29:01
Speaker 1: at the time suggested Mark come in and practice in
29:06
Speaker 1: the TV studio doing some like you know, watch a
29:09
Speaker 1: game on TV and doing analysis, and I was assigned
29:14
Speaker 1: to help him out. Um, so we kind of did
29:17
Speaker 1: like like twice a week for like two or three
29:20
Speaker 1: weeks before the season started. He would come in and
29:22
Speaker 1: watch and he was like really into it, trying to
29:24
Speaker 1: get better and trying to uh learn how to do it,
29:27
Speaker 1: and um, but it was just cool because you know,
29:29
Speaker 1: this is you know, my favorite athlete growing up and
29:33
Speaker 1: I'm sitting here working with him and trying to help
29:35
Speaker 1: him out, which was a little weird at the time.
29:37
Speaker 1: I'm like twenty six years old, and was just it
29:40
Speaker 1: was very surreal for me. And but he was always
29:42
Speaker 1: super nice and cordial. And what's funny about it is
29:45
Speaker 1: like a year later, two years later, he starts working
29:48
Speaker 1: on ESPN and is you know, an analyst on like
29:50
Speaker 1: NFL Live, which which I was, which I used to
29:53
Speaker 1: always joke with him like I got him to start
29:55
Speaker 1: in TV. So we did a nice job on that.
29:57
Speaker 1: He was good, I mean, yeah, yeah, And uh, one
30:00
Speaker 1: more story about that. I remember he was in our
30:02
Speaker 1: office one time and somehow it's It was in the
30:06
Speaker 1: sports office and we're all talking and it got back
30:09
Speaker 1: to him, like I guess I think it was Bred
30:12
Speaker 1: Martineau or someone else I worked with started talking about
30:14
Speaker 1: like how much I was a Mark Gretel fan growing up.
30:17
Speaker 1: It was like really, I was like, yeah, I knows,
30:19
Speaker 1: and and someone goes, which, this is true. I had
30:22
Speaker 1: a Mark Gretel jersey at my desk since he started
30:25
Speaker 1: coming around. I had it in there for like two
30:26
Speaker 1: and a half years, and he would come all the time,
30:30
Speaker 1: and I was just never wanted to ask him because
30:32
Speaker 1: I was embarrassed and all this kind of stuff. And
30:34
Speaker 1: someone say, hey, he's got a jersey and his desk
30:36
Speaker 1: for you to sign. He's like really, I was like, yeah,
30:39
Speaker 1: I brought it out, he signed, It was great, and
30:42
Speaker 1: he grabbed my face and gave me a big kiss
30:45
Speaker 1: on the on the cheek. It was just funny. It's funny.
30:48
Speaker 1: It was a great story. And then since then it's
30:50
Speaker 1: just like we're always joking around and stuff, and he's
30:53
Speaker 1: a good guy with me, and I always appreciate Mark. Yeah,
30:55
Speaker 1: he's uh. I was kind of joking that with his
30:59
Speaker 1: style early on. Now he got hurt and wanted and
31:03
Speaker 1: and I wasn't his mobile after about but he would
31:07
Speaker 1: have been a prototype these days, he would have. You know,
31:10
Speaker 1: I'm not kidding when I say me and Crisco were
31:12
Speaker 1: covering the Jaguars for the paper, would constantly criticize him
31:18
Speaker 1: for leaving the pocket to Earth because he just didn't
31:20
Speaker 1: do that back then. Now, if he played it would
31:23
Speaker 1: be you know, I think his transition, some of the
31:26
Speaker 1: criticism he took at times would be you know, far
31:31
Speaker 1: less because his his style would fit right in. And uh,
31:36
Speaker 1: you know so I thought it was also interesting some
31:38
Speaker 1: of the things he said about Minshew. You know, I
31:41
Speaker 1: think he's I think he's dead on. I think Gardner's
31:44
Speaker 1: got some growth there. And I think people who listened
31:46
Speaker 1: to that we'll get a pretty good idea of sort
31:50
Speaker 1: of where Gardner needs to improve and why he's not
31:56
Speaker 1: ordained or anointed as the absolute franchise guy. There's some
32:00
Speaker 1: good insight there from Mark. Yeah, you know, with Mark
32:03
Speaker 1: two was just I remember that, especially that second half
32:05
Speaker 1: of that ninety SI season. It was just the way
32:08
Speaker 1: he played was just so exciting, you know, just to
32:11
Speaker 1: watch just how to break the pocket, the runs and
32:14
Speaker 1: and all that kind of stuff. And he didn't play
32:17
Speaker 1: most of his career like that, but I think the
32:19
Speaker 1: most the average Draguar fan is that's how you would
32:23
Speaker 1: describe him, you know, as this mobile, mobile quarterback, you know,
32:26
Speaker 1: when he didn't really play like that from the most
32:29
Speaker 1: most of his career. He clicked for him in the
32:31
Speaker 1: second half and ninety six and he had he had
32:35
Speaker 1: played at that point about twentieth games as a starter.
32:40
Speaker 1: He got it where he was seeing it, you know,
32:42
Speaker 1: exactly when to run. He was still greater at running.
32:45
Speaker 1: He heard his knee early the following year and really
32:47
Speaker 1: stayed in the pocket a lot more after that. So
32:49
Speaker 1: he was a different player. I always credited him. He
32:52
Speaker 1: was not great when he came to Jacksonville in the pocket.
32:55
Speaker 1: He got a lot better after he got hurt. Nine
33:00
Speaker 1: was a very very very good NFL quarterback, changing his
33:03
Speaker 1: natural style. So as always fascinating to have him on.
33:07
Speaker 1: I thought he uh, I thought he got into things
33:09
Speaker 1: that we're very interesting in terms of the Jaguars, their season,
33:12
Speaker 1: in his career. We're closing with that. We'll close it
33:16
Speaker 1: as always by me thanking Dave the Canvas and thanking
33:19
Speaker 1: Joe Fortunato for making me sound much better than I
33:22
Speaker 1: actually am. I know this one didn't stuck. Markotine was
33:25
Speaker 1: a great guest. I appreciate it, and we'll talk to
33:27
Speaker 1: everybody next week