Latest / The Jacksonville Jaguars Official Podcast Network / The O-Zone Podcast | Mac Jones is Fighting to the End, Despite Jaguars' Struggles
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: All right, welcome to this week's Ozone podcast. And this
- 0:02Speaker 1: is a podcast I was hoping to do at some point.
- 0:05Speaker 1: I guess I was hoping to do it, not hoping
- 0:07Speaker 1: to do it because nobody wants the starting quarterback hurt.
- 0:11Speaker 1: But I've been looking forward to talking to Jaguars quarterback
- 0:14Speaker 1: Mac Jones.
- 0:15Speaker 2: Mack. Thanks for doing this, Yeah, no problem, thank you
- 0:16Speaker 2: for having me.
- 0:17Speaker 3: So. First of all, I asked you about the team.
- 0:20Speaker 1: You've talked about on the podium some but as you
- 0:22Speaker 1: go into these last three games, I guess, how do
- 0:26Speaker 1: you sort of stay focused as a team? And I
- 0:30Speaker 1: would think you're pretty proud of how the effort has maintained.
- 0:33Speaker 2: Yeah, for sure. I think that's just testament to Doug
- 0:36Speaker 2: and the coaching staff of just getting us ready to play,
- 0:38Speaker 2: and then also the players for really understanding each other
- 0:41Speaker 2: and really the why behind each guy. So why do
- 0:44Speaker 2: you play football? And for me, obviously, it's to have
- 0:47Speaker 2: fun and try and win, and some people it's money,
- 0:49Speaker 2: some people it's for their family. So you just you
- 0:51Speaker 2: got to find out what each guy's why is. And
- 0:53Speaker 2: I feel like we've done that this year, and we
- 0:56Speaker 2: just got to finish strong here and continue to have
- 0:59Speaker 2: fun and don't put too much pressure on ourselves.
- 1:01Speaker 1: Is that tough at as you get into this, just
- 1:06Speaker 1: sort of stay focused on the pride and the professional
- 1:09Speaker 1: as an aspect because it's a little bit of a
- 1:11Speaker 1: cliche for sure, Yet if you're going to succeed in
- 1:13Speaker 1: this league, you got.
- 1:14Speaker 2: To grasp it, right Yeah, I mean, yeah, the reality
- 1:17Speaker 2: is it's it's a it's a business for sure, and
- 1:20Speaker 2: it's a tough business. But at the same time, like
- 1:22Speaker 2: I've always played that fun, like I said, and I
- 1:25Speaker 2: understand it's a business, but I don't really think about
- 1:27Speaker 2: it like that. I think about it as I'm privileged
- 1:29Speaker 2: to be able to play this game with really great
- 1:31Speaker 2: people from all over the country, right you know, you
- 1:34Speaker 2: meet people on your team that are some people are
- 1:36Speaker 2: from California, some people are from New York. So it's
- 1:38Speaker 2: just I love that part of the game. Just being
- 1:40Speaker 2: with my brothers and being here has really opened myself
- 1:43Speaker 2: back up to that, just the brotherhood and the team,
- 1:46Speaker 2: even though the results maybe haven't been there as much
- 1:49Speaker 2: as much as we wanted sure so far, but that's
- 1:51Speaker 2: going to eventually turn into something great.
- 1:53Speaker 1: And we talked and you've talked about it a lot
- 1:57Speaker 1: on the podium some we talked about it a little
- 1:58Speaker 1: bit before we went on the air. Yeah, but playing
- 2:01Speaker 1: for your hometown team, and I think people sort of
- 2:04Speaker 1: see that story and they read that story and think.
- 2:06Speaker 3: It'd be cool.
- 2:07Speaker 1: Yeah, but it's got to be on some level even
- 2:10Speaker 1: though you're not having success, almost surreal.
- 2:13Speaker 3: Yeah in a way.
- 2:14Speaker 2: Yeah, Yeah, I mean it's it's awesome. It's I always
- 2:19Speaker 2: wanted to play NFL football and really to do it here.
- 2:21Speaker 2: It's cool for this year, and I'm gonna keep fighting.
- 2:25Speaker 2: I think one thing I've shown is I'm going to
- 2:28Speaker 2: battle to the end, and we've shown that as a team.
- 2:30Speaker 2: So that's my personality, That's who I am. So I
- 2:35Speaker 2: know the win some of the wins haven't been there,
- 2:36Speaker 2: but really you just got to focus on battling all
- 2:39Speaker 2: the way through and eventually it'll go your way.
- 2:41Speaker 3: You strike me as a guy watching you play. A
- 2:45Speaker 3: lot of players talk about.
- 2:46Speaker 1: I'm just embracing the moment and play and play to play. Yeah,
- 2:50Speaker 1: something about you though, you really do it?
- 2:53Speaker 2: Yeah?
- 2:54Speaker 3: Has that always been that way? Or think.
- 3:00Speaker 2: And gracefully? So, because like I feel like that was
- 3:03Speaker 2: one of my challenges and still is is just taking
- 3:06Speaker 2: each play one play at a time, and it's such
- 3:08Speaker 2: an emotional sport and I put a lot of passion
- 3:11Speaker 2: and time into the game, so I expect great results
- 3:14Speaker 2: if that makes sense. And I'm a little bit of
- 3:15Speaker 2: a perfectionist, but I'm kind of moving away from that
- 3:18Speaker 2: and just playing trying to play functional if that makes sense. Sure,
- 3:21Speaker 2: And that's helped me a lot, and I got to
- 3:23Speaker 2: continue to do that better for you know, there's some
- 3:25Speaker 2: games I'm doing it for fifty eight minutes. I just
- 3:27Speaker 2: got to finish the end there. So I know that.
- 3:29Speaker 2: I know I can't put too much pressure on a
- 3:31Speaker 2: certain play and that's a big part of it. And
- 3:34Speaker 2: I learned a lot of that from coach Saban, to
- 3:36Speaker 2: be honest, just taking each play one play at a time.
- 3:39Speaker 2: And I mean, he's he's an awesome guy. And learned
- 3:42Speaker 2: a lot from him. But he won so many games
- 3:44Speaker 2: and never talked about winning, you know what I'm saying.
- 3:46Speaker 2: So he never once said like we need to win
- 3:49Speaker 2: this game. It was always like, you need to do
- 3:50Speaker 2: your job and together and indeed the process. So that
- 3:53Speaker 2: was interesting. And coach Doug does the same stuff. So
- 3:56Speaker 2: it's interesting to see differences between each coach, but I
- 3:59Speaker 2: definitely learned that from from both.
- 4:01Speaker 1: So when you say you are a little bit of
- 4:03Speaker 1: a perfectionists, sounds like that means.
- 4:06Speaker 2: You're a lot of bit a lot of Yeah. I
- 4:09Speaker 2: try to just eliminate that word because that has it's
- 4:12Speaker 2: a really good thing, right. You want to be very
- 4:14Speaker 2: detailed and love the game and love the preparation, but
- 4:18Speaker 2: also the whole point of football is to is to
- 4:21Speaker 2: make it hard on the quarterback and the players, and
- 4:23Speaker 2: you have to realize that it's a tough game and
- 4:26Speaker 2: it's not going to be perfect, and the defense is
- 4:28Speaker 2: going to make plays and people do make forty fifty
- 4:31Speaker 2: million dollars that you're playing against. So you got to
- 4:33Speaker 2: understand that this is part of the game of football.
- 4:36Speaker 2: It's it's responding really to how those bad plays.
- 4:39Speaker 3: Really, that's what it comes on that front.
- 4:40Speaker 1: Ye, the dynamic of going from a backup, which is
- 4:47Speaker 1: very much sort of I guess following Trevor's lead in
- 4:51Speaker 1: terms of being the leader in.
- 4:52Speaker 2: The locker room.
- 4:53Speaker 3: Yeah, I know it has to be an element of that.
- 4:54Speaker 1: Yeah, to within one week of going to the starter
- 4:57Speaker 1: where it's has.
- 4:59Speaker 3: Got to be to point your team.
- 5:01Speaker 2: Yeah.
- 5:01Speaker 1: Yeah, how tricky is that? And is it something you
- 5:05Speaker 1: started to think about as you're doing it?
- 5:06Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean I've always been in different roles on
- 5:09Speaker 2: different teams, so that's really helped me a lot. Been
- 5:12Speaker 2: a starter, been second, been third, so kind of been everything,
- 5:16Speaker 2: been fourth, So you have to understand your role, and
- 5:19Speaker 2: to me, it doesn't matter. It's it's all about doing
- 5:22Speaker 2: whatever your job is on that day. Like when I
- 5:24Speaker 2: was running the scout team, I wanted us to make
- 5:26Speaker 2: every play and I think we we didn't make every play,
- 5:28Speaker 2: but we came pretty close throughout the year, just having
- 5:31Speaker 2: fun making plays and challenging the defense. So that's where
- 5:34Speaker 2: it starts, and then carrying that over to how do
- 5:36Speaker 2: you do that when you're starter And the process hasn't
- 5:38Speaker 2: really changed because every week you're preparing like a starter.
- 5:41Speaker 1: Now, you've always ever since you got here, people and
- 5:44Speaker 1: Jacksonville followed your career, I would say, because you're from here.
- 5:47Speaker 1: But since you've gotten here, you've had that reputation of
- 5:49Speaker 1: being a fun, loving guy, enjoying the moment. Has that
- 5:55Speaker 1: always been your personality or Okay, so even with the perfectionist.
- 6:00Speaker 2: It's definitely yeah. I think as you just play more
- 6:03Speaker 2: plays and get older, you kind of just realize it's
- 6:06Speaker 2: you don't have to put so much stress and pressure
- 6:08Speaker 2: on one bad play or one good player. So I
- 6:10Speaker 2: have learned that and I need to continue to work
- 6:12Speaker 2: on it. I'm still technically young in my career. I know,
- 6:15Speaker 2: I've played a lot of football, but I'm still learning
- 6:17Speaker 2: and and that's the fun part about the game. It's
- 6:19Speaker 2: it's learning about not only the x's and o's and
- 6:21Speaker 2: the people you're working with, but yourself and your mentality
- 6:25Speaker 2: for each game, which can change.
- 6:26Speaker 3: Got you now.
- 6:27Speaker 1: I was asked to ask about your relationship with BTJ. Yeah,
- 6:31Speaker 1: you guys are pretty tight and at first I guess
- 6:33Speaker 1: you were like one of the few people who could
- 6:35Speaker 1: get him to laugh.
- 6:36Speaker 2: Oh yeah, yeah, it's kind of been your It's kind
- 6:38Speaker 2: of my claim to fame. You know, I should get
- 6:39Speaker 2: like a T shirt or something that says what kind.
- 6:42Speaker 3: Of I mean on that front.
- 6:45Speaker 1: He's he's low key reserved young, which is, as you know,
- 6:49Speaker 1: most rookies are not coming out of their show real quick. Yeah,
- 6:52Speaker 1: but it sounds like he's a guy who's got a
- 6:55Speaker 1: lot of personality in there as well.
- 6:56Speaker 2: Yeah, he does, and it definitely shows on the field,
- 6:58Speaker 2: and he's very three B in his own way. But
- 7:01Speaker 2: I always talk about the first time, you know, in
- 7:03Speaker 2: the first game, he's like talking smack the Jayleen Rambay.
- 7:06Speaker 2: I'm like, that's my guy right there. Right away. I
- 7:09Speaker 2: was like, Yeah, you want guys like that on your
- 7:11Speaker 2: team and really guys that you can build. I know
- 7:13Speaker 2: Jackson will be able to build with him and throughout
- 7:16Speaker 2: the years really you know, hopefully he'll be here for
- 7:18Speaker 2: a long time and continue to make plays. But very
- 7:21Speaker 2: humble guy. And he's starting to wear some more jewelry
- 7:24Speaker 2: and whatnot, so he kind of he got a new grill.
- 7:26Speaker 2: He kind of blinded me with the.
- 7:27Speaker 3: Other day about.
- 7:31Speaker 2: Yeah, just a little bit. I didn't know he had
- 7:33Speaker 2: it in and.
- 7:33Speaker 3: You can't pull it off problem.
- 7:34Speaker 2: No, I can't. I mean maybe the one he had
- 7:36Speaker 2: was nice, was like the silver or white gold. It
- 7:39Speaker 2: was pretty cool, but I didn't know he had it on.
- 7:41Speaker 2: And he smiled, and I was like, whoa, there's a
- 7:43Speaker 2: lot of money right there.
- 7:45Speaker 3: Now.
- 7:46Speaker 1: You've played, especially in college, with a lot of special
- 7:49Speaker 1: at that position. Yeah, I in terms of just being
- 7:53Speaker 1: able to do it naturally, he's got it.
- 7:54Speaker 2: Right, Oh yeah, yeah for sure. And yeah, I've played
- 7:57Speaker 2: with some great players both in the NFL and college
- 8:00Speaker 2: with that position and skill positions. And I've also I
- 8:03Speaker 2: love football, so I love to watch great players like
- 8:06Speaker 2: that wide receivers that can make plays. And that's young
- 8:08Speaker 2: and old. But he has a lot of good characteristics
- 8:11Speaker 2: of a great receiver. And I hope he just continues
- 8:14Speaker 2: to work and it's not always going to be, you know,
- 8:17Speaker 2: the highest of highs. Like I'm not saying it, you
- 8:19Speaker 2: want anything bad to happen, But he just has to
- 8:21Speaker 2: understand like it's a it is a journey and you're
- 8:23Speaker 2: gonna have your up and downs. But he just he
- 8:25Speaker 2: does a great job preparing and putting himself in a
- 8:27Speaker 2: good position.
- 8:28Speaker 1: This is an impossible question to answer in our format,
- 8:32Speaker 1: but it's always struck me as it struck everybody.
- 8:35Speaker 3: You play for Quirky and coach Rogers, who I covered. Yeah,
- 8:39Speaker 3: the paper I call hi quirky.
- 8:42Speaker 1: You put Quirky, Saban and Belichick. There may not be
- 8:45Speaker 1: a player ever played in the NFL he's played for
- 8:48Speaker 1: coaches with more rings, right.
- 8:49Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean you've seen it.
- 8:51Speaker 2: Yeah, it's pretty crazy.
- 8:52Speaker 1: The influence that just that sort of coaching leadership has
- 8:58Speaker 1: had on you has to be you probably even realize
- 9:01Speaker 1: it because you went through it. Yeah, but I would
- 9:03Speaker 1: think it's pretty extreme.
- 9:04Speaker 2: Yeah, it's tough. I always say, like playing for those
- 9:06Speaker 2: guys is like one year is really like three years.
- 9:09Speaker 2: So it was tough. But I definitely have a lot
- 9:11Speaker 2: of good notes and things that I've written down and
- 9:14Speaker 2: things that I've carried with me to this day. And
- 9:16Speaker 2: with coach Rogers, same thing, as you know, he's a legend.
- 9:19Speaker 2: Coach Saving and coach Belichick and Doug they've all won
- 9:22Speaker 2: championships at their respective positions multiple times and that's something
- 9:26Speaker 2: that you know, you look at their body of work
- 9:29Speaker 2: and you want to figure out how they did it
- 9:31Speaker 2: right each person. And obviously the first thing is everyone
- 9:34Speaker 2: loves football. So if you if you love the game
- 9:36Speaker 2: and you stick with it, eventually things will.
- 9:38Speaker 3: Go your way. Is that in your future? Do you think, yeah,
- 9:43Speaker 3: you definitely want to coach?
- 9:44Speaker 2: Yeah? I think the notes and the oh yeah, yeah,
- 9:48Speaker 2: I definitely, Uh, one day I want to do that.
- 9:50Speaker 2: Hopefully I can can keep going, but we'll see what happens.
- 9:53Speaker 2: I definitely love the game, and one I obviously have
- 9:56Speaker 2: a family and enjoy my family, but we'll see what happens.
- 9:59Speaker 2: I think that they definitely are good examples.
- 10:03Speaker 3: It's a stunning it's a stunning resume.
- 10:06Speaker 1: So I got to ask you, with your personality, which
- 10:10Speaker 1: of those three.
- 10:12Speaker 3: I think a lot of people watching this podcasts I
- 10:14Speaker 3: probably know quirky a little bit. Obviously, which of those
- 10:17Speaker 3: three would you see, Mac? Or is it just going
- 10:19Speaker 3: to be a different.
- 10:20Speaker 2: Yeah, I think just take the good from each and
- 10:22Speaker 2: then learn from the yelling experiences from everybody else. But
- 10:28Speaker 2: I feel like I'll be you know, we'll see. But
- 10:31Speaker 2: if I even want to do that. But at the
- 10:33Speaker 2: end of the day, I know I'm always, like I said,
- 10:34Speaker 2: I'm gonna have fun, and sure that's something my dad
- 10:36Speaker 2: and my mom have always told me. That's that's what
- 10:38Speaker 2: I meant. My best is just whether I was playing dodgeball,
- 10:41Speaker 2: at bowls or football, I was just having fun and
- 10:44Speaker 2: really that made that made me better and allows me
- 10:48Speaker 2: to play free. And if I'm doing something else, I
- 10:50Speaker 2: think that's the same mindset I'll have.
- 10:52Speaker 1: Got you now if you're remiss not to ask you
- 10:55Speaker 1: sort of about on field Mac, which is sort of
- 10:58Speaker 1: you know, I got home the other night, my wife said,
- 11:00Speaker 1: you know, he's cocky, but I want him to win.
- 11:05Speaker 1: So I said, you know what, that sort of defines it.
- 11:09Speaker 2: Yeah.
- 11:10Speaker 3: Have you always sort of had that edge to you
- 11:12Speaker 3: when you play?
- 11:13Speaker 2: Yeah?
- 11:13Speaker 3: That so it makes it fun, right.
- 11:14Speaker 2: Yeah. I think confident would be a better word, but
- 11:17Speaker 2: I mean I don't really. I think if you go
- 11:19Speaker 2: out there with no confidence, you don't have a chance.
- 11:22Speaker 2: So I've been there before to be honest, and to
- 11:25Speaker 2: get back and have my confidence really just hitting the
- 11:28Speaker 2: reset button. You know, you've seen the men in Black movie.
- 11:31Speaker 2: When they hit the button, then you forget everything. I
- 11:34Speaker 2: try to do that each week really and go out
- 11:36Speaker 2: there and say, hey, I'm a great player. I can
- 11:39Speaker 2: do this and I can help our team win. And
- 11:41Speaker 2: I think the guys feel that when I'm out there,
- 11:43Speaker 2: and that'll never change, you know, even maybe if I
- 11:45Speaker 2: didn't have a great game the week before, because I'm
- 11:47Speaker 2: gonna have confidence because of the work I put in.
- 11:50Speaker 1: So, yeah, you're enjoying on some level. You really are
- 11:55Speaker 1: enjoying this experience, aren't you.
- 11:57Speaker 2: Yeah, it's for sure.
- 12:00Speaker 3: No more.
- 12:03Speaker 1: The last thing we do here I call it the
- 12:05Speaker 1: ozone five. It's five quick questions. I have some fun
- 12:08Speaker 1: h Mac Jones. What was your last binge watch?
- 12:12Speaker 2: Actually, this is a great one, Harry Potter. We watched
- 12:15Speaker 2: me and Sophie, my girlfriend, we watched all seven during
- 12:17Speaker 2: the bye.
- 12:18Speaker 3: Week, So yeah, had you watched that before?
- 12:21Speaker 2: Yeah? So they were all giving me crap for it
- 12:23Speaker 2: because I hadn't seen it, you know, the offensive line
- 12:25Speaker 2: and everybody. So I was like, you know what, I'm
- 12:26Speaker 2: gonna watch it during the bye week and not watch football.
- 12:28Speaker 2: So that's what I did.
- 12:29Speaker 3: Who's the biggest Potter nerd on the offensive line?
- 12:33Speaker 2: Probably Blake Hants. I mean he dressed up is one
- 12:36Speaker 2: of the characters for Halloween, him and his wife, so.
- 12:39Speaker 3: It's pretty high end.
- 12:40Speaker 2: Yeah, he's pretty locked in. But the offensive line, I'd
- 12:42Speaker 2: say they have some some good Potter fans in there.
- 12:46Speaker 3: What's the last song you listened to on the way
- 12:47Speaker 3: in this morning?
- 12:48Speaker 2: Oh that's a great question. I usually just click like
- 12:54Speaker 2: the wrap playlist and just shuffle it. So we could
- 12:56Speaker 2: have been anybody, probably like Gunner or somebody.
- 12:58Speaker 3: I got it were other than football.
- 13:01Speaker 2: That you would have played tennis?
- 13:03Speaker 3: Yeah, my sister was a big time tennis player.
- 13:05Speaker 2: Yeah, my dad was pro pro tennis player and coach.
- 13:07Speaker 2: And then my sister played at college at Charleston.
- 13:11Speaker 3: Big time program. Yeah, so yeah, she my son played tennis,
- 13:13Speaker 3: So I've got Yeah.
- 13:14Speaker 2: I can still hit it around pretty good. In my
- 13:16Speaker 2: backhand needs a little work, but everything else is good.
- 13:21Speaker 2: I can hit with her, which is impressive.
- 13:22Speaker 1: But it is impressive. The person or people most responsible
- 13:27Speaker 1: for you being here.
- 13:28Speaker 2: Definitely my parents and my family, just everybody, my grandma,
- 13:33Speaker 2: my grandpa who's not here anymore, but really just give
- 13:36Speaker 2: me the opportunity to, you know, grow up, go to
- 13:38Speaker 2: great school and and really do everything they could to
- 13:41Speaker 2: help me play well at football. And there's a lot
- 13:44Speaker 2: of coaches along the way, and one person is my
- 13:46Speaker 2: private quarterback coach, coach Joe d Joe Dickinson, So shout
- 13:51Speaker 2: out to him. He's been with me since I was
- 13:53Speaker 2: you know, eight nine years old, so you know, everyone
- 13:56Speaker 2: has their their mentors, but he's definitely one of them
- 13:58Speaker 2: that I talked to every day. So and see my parents,
- 14:00Speaker 2: you know, they they are awesome people. And anybody that's
- 14:03Speaker 2: met my dad or my mom, you know they they
- 14:05Speaker 2: love football and they love following me around and supporting
- 14:09Speaker 2: me and I appreciate that for them, for all they done.
- 14:11Speaker 1: Final question, uh most memorable Jaguars moment, not since you've
- 14:17Speaker 1: been here, but growing up.
- 14:20Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a good one.
- 14:21Speaker 3: I honestly, I know there weren't that many.
- 14:23Speaker 2: Yeah, there were some good ones. I mean, I like
- 14:26Speaker 2: the AFC, I mean getting to the FC Championship game
- 14:29Speaker 2: and I still think, you know, Miles Jack wasn't down.
- 14:32Speaker 1: So you will have uh many Jaguars.
- 14:37Speaker 2: And that was against my former team. So I was
- 14:39Speaker 2: watching it in college and I was like, I really
- 14:41Speaker 2: wanted the Jacks way for them to get there. I
- 14:43Speaker 2: was like, all right, we can build on that had tears.
- 14:46Speaker 2: It was a sad moment, but a great, great season
- 14:49Speaker 2: for them, So no doubt.
- 14:50Speaker 3: Mac Jones.
- 14:51Speaker 1: I know during a busy week, this is a tough
- 14:53Speaker 1: thing to do. I appreciate your time and thank you
- 14:55Speaker 1: for joining those own podcasts.
- 14:56Speaker 2: Cool, thank you, Appreciate you