Latest / The Jacksonville Jaguars Official Podcast Network / Senior Moments: The Land of Cleve
Transcript
- 0:01Speaker 1: Something you may remember from the good old day. I
- 0:04Speaker 1: feel so you're old. Headed to the land of Cleave.
- 0:18Speaker 1: Time for senior Moments. Bryan Sexton, along with senior writer
- 0:21Speaker 1: John Ozier Joe Forgnado, is bantering about somewhere in the studio,
- 0:25Speaker 1: in the vast confines of this enormous studio. Hello Joe, Joe, Joe.
- 0:30Speaker 1: Senior moments as we get set to head to Cleveland
- 0:33Speaker 1: the O and nine Browns, And of course you're hearing
- 0:36Speaker 1: about a trap game. I'll be honest with you, I
- 0:40Speaker 1: don't see how this could possibly be a trap game
- 0:42Speaker 1: for a team that had to scrape to get out
- 0:44Speaker 1: of their game against the Chargers, and all you have
- 0:46Speaker 1: to do is turn on the tape to see the
- 0:48Speaker 1: Browns haven't quit. Watch what they did against the lines.
- 0:50Speaker 1: They may not be very good, but they're not laying down. Yeah,
- 0:53Speaker 1: it's absolutely not a trap game because A I don't
- 0:56Speaker 1: think the Jaguars have one enough to slip into that
- 1:01Speaker 1: over good mode. And I do get a feeling that
- 1:05Speaker 1: this team is still at a stage, meaning the Jaguars,
- 1:09Speaker 1: where they're still sort of excited about seeing how good
- 1:14Speaker 1: they can be, sort of thing. I think the defense
- 1:18Speaker 1: goes into every game wanting shut out, they want to dominate,
- 1:21Speaker 1: they want to be able to talk. That's sort of
- 1:22Speaker 1: so I don't think they'll have a letdown per se,
- 1:26Speaker 1: but I do think it's a very dangerous game. More
- 1:29Speaker 1: dangerous and that's not just coach speak. It's you're talking
- 1:33Speaker 1: about a game where whether it could be a factors
- 1:35Speaker 1: which is usually an equalizer degrees and wins north of
- 1:39Speaker 1: twenty five moms. So all of a sudden, you start thinking, okay,
- 1:42Speaker 1: lower scoring than normal. As you said, a team that
- 1:47Speaker 1: hasn't given up. The Jaguars are and should be and
- 1:50Speaker 1: have earned the favorites role. But if you get a
- 1:54Speaker 1: situation like the Jets where a couple of quirky things
- 1:56Speaker 1: go the other way early. That's how Cleveland stayed in
- 1:59Speaker 1: at the other day against the Alliance and Allions got
- 2:03Speaker 1: back on top and eventually pulled away in that game
- 2:06Speaker 1: because they have explosive things happening on offense. Well, Jaguars
- 2:11Speaker 1: don't really have that right now. So the Jaguars for
- 2:13Speaker 1: them to feel safe in this game, they need to
- 2:16Speaker 1: get up early and they need to eliminate the quirky
- 2:19Speaker 1: stuff that can keep unfavored teams in it. See, this
- 2:22Speaker 1: feels like a muscle up game to me, because if
- 2:24Speaker 1: the wind is really that strong, throwing the ball is
- 2:26Speaker 1: going to be a major challenge. I mean to be
- 2:28Speaker 1: a major challenge if you lined up with all Sean
- 2:30Speaker 1: Jeffrey and Dez Bryant. I mean, it's just it's not
- 2:33Speaker 1: that easy to do. And with this receiver corps, it's
- 2:36Speaker 1: a challenge if it's perfectly because they're hurt well, and
- 2:39Speaker 1: the offensive line is hurt too. I mean, Parnell is
- 2:42Speaker 1: not expected to practice on Wednesday. Neither is Patrick. Oh
- 2:44Speaker 1: mom a uh, you know, burns out. But you've gotta
- 2:49Speaker 1: be able to run the football this week. It's never
- 2:51Speaker 1: been more paramount. And you know, the Browns don't do
- 2:53Speaker 1: a lot well, but they do play well up front.
- 2:56Speaker 1: Danny Shelton is a load. I'm not sure how much
- 2:58Speaker 1: Jamie Collins injury in packs their run defense. Although he's
- 3:01Speaker 1: a terrific player, he's gone for the year. The Jaguars
- 3:04Speaker 1: ability to run in these conditions will dictate their ability
- 3:07Speaker 1: to score, and they have struggled to run in the
- 3:09Speaker 1: last couple of games when for Net has been active.
- 3:12Speaker 1: Because they've struggled to run against that all out in
- 3:15Speaker 1: the box deal. One of my themes this week, Brian
- 3:19Speaker 1: is I think the Jaguars are going to need a
- 3:23Speaker 1: big play per half out of Blake boards in the
- 3:26Speaker 1: passing game the rest of the season. I think that's
- 3:29Speaker 1: gonna be their formula. You saw it the other day.
- 3:31Speaker 1: You have struggle to run, struggle to run. They had
- 3:33Speaker 1: five passes in that game. Uh one of them worked,
- 3:38Speaker 1: meaning five deep passes that were close. Couple of them
- 3:41Speaker 1: skim They had Keelan Cole running open once and they
- 3:43Speaker 1: hit healing once. Blake's thowing that ball pretty well right now.
- 3:47Speaker 1: I think I think he was more accurate in the
- 3:48Speaker 1: deep ball than he has been. He had two bad
- 3:50Speaker 1: passes last week, Let's be honest. They've But I think
- 3:53Speaker 1: it's for the Jaguars, which is a scary formula. Offensively,
- 3:57Speaker 1: I think they're gonna need to hit those big plays.
- 4:00Speaker 1: Sometimes you hit him, sometimes you don't. Sometimes you eat
- 4:03Speaker 1: the bear, sometimes the barr eat you. We'll see what
- 4:05Speaker 1: that does in Sunday in Cleveland again, the weather condition
- 4:08Speaker 1: is supposed to be horrific. By the way, I just
- 4:09Speaker 1: gotta throw this out there. I don't want to see
- 4:11Speaker 1: guys standing next to the jets, I don't want to
- 4:13Speaker 1: see him trying to get warm, but because you want
- 4:15Speaker 1: to be there, I'm on the sideline now, Folks Europe
- 4:19Speaker 1: in the press box, I and and so from my perspective,
- 4:22Speaker 1: I need easy access to that. I'm a forty nine
- 4:25Speaker 1: year old man. Those are young kids playing. You can
- 4:27Speaker 1: stay warm. But it's something that a wise old man
- 4:29Speaker 1: used to say, is what you don't want to the
- 4:31Speaker 1: players huddled around. The opponent looks and sees you know,
- 4:34Speaker 1: Cleveland plays in that stuff, and they see you over
- 4:36Speaker 1: there huddled around, and they know. We get these guys
- 4:38Speaker 1: to the fourth quarter, they're gonna be looking at the
- 4:40Speaker 1: clock and they're gonna be wondering how long until they
- 4:42Speaker 1: get to leave. You gotta put all that behind you
- 4:45Speaker 1: and just focus on the game. Don't worry about getting
- 4:47Speaker 1: the code on, don't worry about it. Shut it out
- 4:50Speaker 1: of your mind. Yeah, I'll bet still see some of it. Uh.
- 4:53Speaker 1: And they got to play through it, yeah, playing and
- 4:55Speaker 1: simply have to play through it. So Jags are six
- 4:58Speaker 1: and three, first place tie. The question is how high
- 5:02Speaker 1: can they climb in the playoff rankings In terms of
- 5:05Speaker 1: now and I'm talking about power rankings, folks, that's just
- 5:07Speaker 1: for fun. I'm talking about can they work their way
- 5:11Speaker 1: to one or two? Could they if the schedule favorite
- 5:14Speaker 1: favors them, and I think it does, could they get
- 5:17Speaker 1: to the number two seed and have a first round
- 5:19Speaker 1: by Well, I can't imagine that that's something that they're
- 5:23Speaker 1: talking about, first of all, but I'm interested. I would
- 5:27Speaker 1: think someone on the lines right now, the way this
- 5:31Speaker 1: defense is playing, and the way the schedule lays out,
- 5:33Speaker 1: and the way they believe, uh, they ought to be
- 5:37Speaker 1: somewhere having that as a goal. Because you've got seven games,
- 5:42Speaker 1: five of them are against teams with what appears to
- 5:46Speaker 1: be deficiencies on offense. Well, that plays into what this
- 5:51Speaker 1: team does. So you're gonna be favorite, I would I
- 5:53Speaker 1: would guess five times. Maybe not favorite at Arizona because
- 5:57Speaker 1: of the trip or whatever, but it's not a game
- 5:59Speaker 1: that you can't win. Uh. And again Colts Texans uh.
- 6:03Speaker 1: And I'm drawing a blank on the other one. Nobody
- 6:07Speaker 1: assumes wins. But if if you get those, you're ware
- 6:10Speaker 1: you already eleven or you get those five year eleven right, Well,
- 6:15Speaker 1: that's probably not enough for a first round. Boy, it's
- 6:17Speaker 1: not unless one of those wins is over the Titans
- 6:19Speaker 1: at the end of the year and you win the division.
- 6:21Speaker 1: It's not enough. But that's why can't they beat the
- 6:26Speaker 1: Seahawks here? Why can't they beat the Titans here? I'd
- 6:30Speaker 1: be surprised if they're not in their games, is my point.
- 6:32Speaker 1: Let's go through the list real quick. So I'm just
- 6:34Speaker 1: gonna look at it from the perspective of quarterbacks, which
- 6:36Speaker 1: is your arena in particular. So you say, well, can
- 6:39Speaker 1: you beat de Shaan Kaiser? Yeah? Can you beat Drew
- 6:42Speaker 1: Stanton or Blaine Gabbert? Sure? Can you beat Jacoby Brisider,
- 6:45Speaker 1: Scott Tolziner? Can you beat Russell Wilson? I didn't say
- 6:49Speaker 1: will you? I said can you? That's the toughie obviously
- 6:52Speaker 1: because he's so savvy. But can they Okay? All right,
- 6:58Speaker 1: so that's still love. He's the one guy on that
- 7:00Speaker 1: list though so far that can beat you if you
- 7:05Speaker 1: have a better team than he does. Okay, makes sense.
- 7:07Speaker 1: C J. Bethard, he can't do that. Uh, Marcus Mariota?
- 7:12Speaker 1: Can you? Can you beat Marcus Mariota? You can? He
- 7:14Speaker 1: can also do what Wilson can do. I don't I
- 7:18Speaker 1: don't put him in that class yet, but he can
- 7:20Speaker 1: beat you if his team's not. But you get my point.
- 7:22Speaker 1: When you look at the line up there and you
- 7:24Speaker 1: see what's left, you think, well, yeah, yeah, if they
- 7:28Speaker 1: can play consistent football and keep winning, they can get
- 7:30Speaker 1: into that conversation. Now, there were some your top question
- 7:33Speaker 1: on this, on this how can think? How high can
- 7:36Speaker 1: they think? I can make a confession. Yeah, I looked
- 7:39Speaker 1: at the Patriots schedule this week, and I looked at
- 7:41Speaker 1: the Steelo schedule this okay, so you can tell me
- 7:43Speaker 1: based on the confession there is actually look at yeah,
- 7:46Speaker 1: you're thinking about it. It crossed my mind because you
- 7:48Speaker 1: look at it. There one game in back of those teams. Uh,
- 7:52Speaker 1: they have a schedule that they have a win over
- 7:54Speaker 1: the Steelers, by the ways, which is big. So you
- 7:56Speaker 1: start looking at it. The Raiders and the and the
- 7:59Speaker 1: Patriots play this week in Mexico City. The gut when
- 8:03Speaker 1: you first think about it is, wow, the Patriots can
- 8:06Speaker 1: put the Raiders out of this. But are you maybe
- 8:09Speaker 1: pulling for the Raiders the Jaguars fan, you absolutely are. Well.
- 8:14Speaker 1: The other school of thought is if the Raiders lose
- 8:16Speaker 1: a couple more than they're out and you're probably in.
- 8:19Speaker 1: I mean, that's sort of the thing you know about
- 8:20Speaker 1: wild card there, because the Raiders are dangerous and they
- 8:24Speaker 1: could easily be the six wild card. But if you
- 8:26Speaker 1: look at your schedule as a Jaguars fan and you're
- 8:28Speaker 1: thinking about opportunities, you're trying to pull the top of
- 8:31Speaker 1: the af C closer to you, not push the bottom
- 8:33Speaker 1: of it away as much. Well, there's I guess I'm
- 8:36Speaker 1: more conservative in nature. I always want to guarantee, I
- 8:39Speaker 1: want to get in, so I would there would be
- 8:43Speaker 1: part of you that would like the Raiders at four
- 8:45Speaker 1: and six, at seven and three. If you're thinking big, right,
- 8:47Speaker 1: if you're thinking about two, but I think small, But
- 8:50Speaker 1: I'm thinking big, And that's this question. I'm thinking big.
- 8:53Speaker 1: If you're thinking big, you already have the division titles,
- 8:55Speaker 1: so you're not worried about the Raiders or the Bills.
- 8:57Speaker 1: The answer to the question is the next two weeks, obviously,
- 9:01Speaker 1: are going to decide how legitimate this conversation is. But
- 9:06Speaker 1: Brown's winnable, Arizona winnable. Uh, you get to eight and three,
- 9:11Speaker 1: which is what they would be, then uh, you're darn right.
- 9:14Speaker 1: You should be thinking about seating see. And I know
- 9:16Speaker 1: that there's some Jaguars fans that are listening to this
- 9:17Speaker 1: thinking that we're a couple of drunken sailors all of
- 9:19Speaker 1: a sudden, WHOA six wins for the first times there's
- 9:22Speaker 1: two thousand and ten. But you can't think that way.
- 9:24Speaker 1: You have to look at the schedule at twelve thirty,
- 9:26Speaker 1: but maybe around six thirty. You gotta look at the schedule.
- 9:30Speaker 1: I don't tell you, um. You got to look at
- 9:32Speaker 1: the schedule and see what's possible and see what's there. Again,
- 9:35Speaker 1: let me ask you a question. Can the Jaguars beat
- 9:38Speaker 1: Ben Roethlisberger? Yes? Can the Jaguars beat Tom Brady? Yes?
- 9:44Speaker 1: They can because pass rush, Yes, because they have a
- 9:48Speaker 1: defense for it right, because they can disrupt. And you
- 9:51Speaker 1: can beat the Patriots because their defense isn't very good.
- 9:53Speaker 1: Here's the big point of this segment. In the last
- 9:57Speaker 1: nine weeks, the hopes, focus conversation around this team has
- 10:02Speaker 1: changed dramatically. This is the outer edge of that change.
- 10:07Speaker 1: That's what we do here. We push on It's there's
- 10:11Speaker 1: no reason that you shouldn't be in this conversation right now. Uh,
- 10:16Speaker 1: considering you just got through what appears to be a
- 10:19Speaker 1: brutally tough matchup in San Diego. Sunday's win over San
- 10:23Speaker 1: Diego is the kind of game that gets you into
- 10:25Speaker 1: this conversation, you know, And wouldn't the folks in Los Angeles,
- 10:28Speaker 1: if you will, Ah, John, it isn't that easy, is it?
- 10:33Speaker 1: It just it isn't that easy. The folks in Cleveland,
- 10:37Speaker 1: the fans in Cleveland, would love to be having this
- 10:39Speaker 1: kind of conversation. Let's be honest. I've said to you
- 10:41Speaker 1: the last two years. Just get us to to Thanksgiving
- 10:44Speaker 1: where we're talking about playoffs scenarios and it becomes fun again.
- 10:48Speaker 1: Let alone the fact that the scenarios all seem to
- 10:50Speaker 1: work in your favor. It's fun in Jacksonville, It's not
- 10:54Speaker 1: fun in Cleveland. Remember the off season when all I
- 10:57Speaker 1: talked about this team has to get out of the abyss, Well,
- 10:59Speaker 1: they store them down to the abyss. All of a sudden,
- 11:01Speaker 1: there you know, if they lose their next seven, you know, no, no, no, no,
- 11:07Speaker 1: there's six and ten. You know, it's been a remarkable turnaround.
- 11:12Speaker 1: And I know where you're going next. How did it happen?
- 11:15Speaker 1: An unbelievable offseason has led to this, And I'll set
- 11:19Speaker 1: up your question, Well, the question is is it the
- 11:23Speaker 1: way that you build a team today? Aman who's followed
- 11:26Speaker 1: this league knows the Browns are trying to do it
- 11:29Speaker 1: the same way the Jaguars tried to do it, which
- 11:31Speaker 1: is tear it down to the studs, tear down to
- 11:34Speaker 1: the nub and then build through the draft. And it's
- 11:36Speaker 1: a very idealistic, uh, you know, white board approach. It
- 11:41Speaker 1: looks fantastic on paper. We're gonna build through the draft.
- 11:44Speaker 1: We're gonna have all these young guys mature. They're gonna
- 11:46Speaker 1: mature at the same time. Uh. And that was the
- 11:49Speaker 1: plan here with some with some free agency to supplement it. Well,
- 11:53Speaker 1: it's really been free agency built on defense. I mean
- 11:56Speaker 1: there there's Jalen, there's Telvin, there's Miles jack Dan. So
- 12:02Speaker 1: it's there, but more accurately would be described as an
- 12:07Speaker 1: absolute perfect storm. I mean, all of a sudden, you've
- 12:09Speaker 1: got Calais Campbell, You've got Buried Church. Who are these
- 12:13Speaker 1: these core leadership type veterans. Well most contending teams, those
- 12:19Speaker 1: guys are six and seven and eight year guys who
- 12:24Speaker 1: have been with you forever. Luke Keikley, you know, it's
- 12:27Speaker 1: sort of a defining guy for Carolina's defense. He's been
- 12:30Speaker 1: with him since eleven. Well, Klais feels like that, doesn't
- 12:33Speaker 1: He feels like Clais has been here since nive you know.
- 12:38Speaker 1: I mean, he's the guy who's the voice to face.
- 12:41Speaker 1: Barry Church doesn't get quite as much pub but among
- 12:44Speaker 1: the secondary he's that guy. When you walk over to
- 12:47Speaker 1: Bury Church and talk to him, it's like he's been
- 12:49Speaker 1: around here since the nineties. He's the voice of reason,
- 12:52Speaker 1: the the old man, the guy that other people come to.
- 12:55Speaker 1: It's hard to get that through free agency. That's what
- 12:59Speaker 1: the Browns lack right now. They are young. They make
- 13:03Speaker 1: mistakes that give you the game. They do things the
- 13:05Speaker 1: Jaguars have done the last three or four years. The
- 13:08Speaker 1: Jaguars are out of that abyss, I think because they
- 13:11Speaker 1: have more guys who they can depend on like that.
- 13:13Speaker 1: What you wonder if you're the Browns is can they
- 13:17Speaker 1: find that perfect storm that the Jaguars found this offseason.
- 13:22Speaker 1: It takes a little luck, you know. I don't know
- 13:25Speaker 1: that the Jaguars plan of two thousand and twelve and
- 13:28Speaker 1: two thousand thirteen, fourteen or fourteen more accurately is going
- 13:33Speaker 1: to be something the league can follow, because we've seen
- 13:36Speaker 1: it this year that you have to have veteran experience
- 13:39Speaker 1: to make it work. Right now, that's the Browns efficiently.
- 13:42Speaker 1: They don't have that, and I think it's worth pointing out.
- 13:44Speaker 1: So when you dive into free agency, there's obviously hits
- 13:47Speaker 1: and missus, right. I mean the Jaguars missed wildly on
- 13:51Speaker 1: Jared Odrick and Julius Thomas. Now they structured the contracts wisely.
- 13:55Speaker 1: They've called well did so they could get out when
- 13:57Speaker 1: they were ready to get out. Those guys are on
- 13:59Speaker 1: the books. Um, but they wanted to Olivia Vernon last year,
- 14:02Speaker 1: you remember that, and they didn't get him. If they
- 14:05Speaker 1: get Olivia Vernon last year, do they have Clay's campbell
- 14:09Speaker 1: this year? And you're the funny thing, you know, many fans,
- 14:13Speaker 1: many observers, we're just furious, Well, why did you pull
- 14:18Speaker 1: out of Olivier Vernon? Why did you stop on that?
- 14:21Speaker 1: Why did you pull out of the bidding? Well, they
- 14:24Speaker 1: just got uncomfortable with it and it was just too much.
- 14:26Speaker 1: Well for last season, it hurts you. Now, No, not
- 14:31Speaker 1: gonna Olivia Vernon. He was a good player, very good player.
- 14:34Speaker 1: But you're ecstatic that you had the room that you're
- 14:37Speaker 1: set up to have Clay's Campbell, a J boy, and
- 14:40Speaker 1: very chur Let's not forget Marcel Darius, who, by the way,
- 14:43Speaker 1: you can afford because you didn't have their additions on defense.
- 14:47Speaker 1: Especially when you throw Darius in in there are right now,
- 14:51Speaker 1: he looks like a twenty seven year old court player
- 14:54Speaker 1: who might be here for three or four years. I
- 14:56Speaker 1: don't know. I have no idea how to. You saw
- 14:58Speaker 1: that instagram from Darryl Jeremant of him taking the center
- 15:01Speaker 1: and throwing him on his butt. I saw the play.
- 15:04Speaker 1: I didn't necessarily. I can't stop watching that instagram is
- 15:08Speaker 1: like twenty seconds of him against the center and he
- 15:11Speaker 1: just tosses him aside wildly. That guy he played eighteen
- 15:15Speaker 1: plays game, that's it, twelve the game before. But in
- 15:17Speaker 1: thirty place here he's been an impact player. Think about
- 15:22Speaker 1: you're talking about Darius an all Pro level player. You're
- 15:26Speaker 1: talking about Clais Campbell storm who is playing like an
- 15:29Speaker 1: all pro level player. So far as you don't if
- 15:31Speaker 1: you make that, it's a tough. It's tough to get
- 15:33Speaker 1: Pro Bowl guy, a J boy man. It make the
- 15:35Speaker 1: Pro Bowl, but it ain't gonna be embarrassing if he does,
- 15:39Speaker 1: you know, and Buried Church who probably a pro bowler,
- 15:42Speaker 1: but as important, you just don't hit that. And it's
- 15:45Speaker 1: been you know, my view from the ozone on Thursday
- 15:49Speaker 1: is the seven guys who made the biggest impact and
- 15:52Speaker 1: make the point. It's just a remarkable thing to have
- 15:54Speaker 1: for Net Robinson, Darius, these guys, it's a third of
- 16:00Speaker 1: a new team and they all hit. It never happens,
- 16:03Speaker 1: it really doesn't. And there's one other factor here that
- 16:07Speaker 1: threads through this whole thing, and that is the Jaguars
- 16:09Speaker 1: aren't paying a quarterback. So if you're paying twenty five
- 16:11Speaker 1: million dollars like the Saints and the Packers and you know,
- 16:15Speaker 1: the teams with the elite level quarterbacks, you can't go
- 16:21Speaker 1: grab guys like Calais and Marcel and a j boy.
- 16:24Speaker 1: You just can't afford to do that. Now, the flip
- 16:26Speaker 1: side is, as long as you have that quarterback, you
- 16:28Speaker 1: never need to go completely to the studs. So the Jaguars,
- 16:31Speaker 1: the Jaggar's philosophy fits a team that doesn't have a quarterback.
- 16:35Speaker 1: A team that does have a quarterback, it doesn't. Now
- 16:37Speaker 1: at some point what you hope be it Blake who
- 16:41Speaker 1: I get doesn't look like that right now. Um, you
- 16:44Speaker 1: hope to get one. You hope that it happens in
- 16:47Speaker 1: the next year to three years that that becomes an issue,
- 16:52Speaker 1: and then you take the Seattle route, which is where
- 16:54Speaker 1: you start off. Just like this team right now looks
- 16:58Speaker 1: just like Seattle did uh in thirteen and fourteen, And
- 17:02Speaker 1: now Seattle looks like it's turning into a quarterback centric
- 17:06Speaker 1: We're gonna pay Russell Wilson build around him for the
- 17:08Speaker 1: next ten years. You eventually flow into that. That's okay,
- 17:12Speaker 1: but it happens over time, and it's sort of morphs
- 17:14Speaker 1: that way. That's what you hope happens here. We'll find out.
- 17:17Speaker 1: Then be cold on Sunday. Bring your gloves. I'll be
- 17:19Speaker 1: in the press spot. Listen cocoa. I wanted to let
- 17:24Speaker 1: me up there, not if I can seeing your moments.
- 17:29Speaker 1: We'll be back with the Thanksgiving you this year next week, folks.
- 17:32Speaker 1: You don't want to miss it. John's gonna wear silly
- 17:34Speaker 1: good night,