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Fred Taylor: Jets matchup will come down to QB ability to maintain control of the ball | 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. It is Thursday night football. The
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: prime time lights are on. It's December. It's the week
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: of Christmas. It's a meaningful football game for the Jaguars
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  Speaker 1: and the Jets. And I don't know if many people
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  Speaker 1: expected this when they circled the calendar when the schedule
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  Speaker 1: came out for Thursday night before Christmas for these two.
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  Speaker 1: But here we are, Fred JP. Nothing like time time football, man. Uh,
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  Speaker 1: you know, the guys will be ready. I think the
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  Speaker 1: guys will be ready, ready to get on these lights.
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  Speaker 1: A lot of these guys hadn't played under the lights before,
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  Speaker 1: you know, and you know, having had an opportunity to
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  Speaker 1: have a prime time game. But this is when the
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  Speaker 1: stars come out, be up in New York City. Perfect
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  Speaker 1: setting around the holidays. You got the former number one
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  Speaker 1: and number two pick overall, they'll be going at it.
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  Speaker 1: So uh, it's a good setup. It's a very good
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  Speaker 1: set up, very meaningful. Uh. And both teams have been
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  Speaker 1: trending in the right right direction throughout the course of the
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  Speaker 1: the season. Both teams are experiencing their share of injuries too,
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  Speaker 1: but grit determination and heart will will determine who wins
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  Speaker 1: this one. Let's start with the quarterbacks. Obviously, Trevor Lawrence
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  Speaker 1: and Zach Wilson will get the nod again this week
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  Speaker 1: for the Jets with Mike White injured. Well, Wilson had
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  Speaker 1: lost some favor up there, of course, and White was
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  Speaker 1: in the lineup, so that kind of tells you where
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  Speaker 1: his situation is. Right now, Trevor Lawrence has started to
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  Speaker 1: find his way. These two guys will be connected really
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  Speaker 1: for the rest of their careers. They'll be talked about
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  Speaker 1: because they were drafted right next door to each other
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  Speaker 1: in the same draft. So here we are second opportunity
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  Speaker 1: to see a matchup between these two. But this one
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  Speaker 1: feels a little more real because Trevor's got his act
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  Speaker 1: together right now, I think, right right, And it's crazy
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  Speaker 1: how that works. Right in the history of the draft,
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  Speaker 1: if you have a one in two, two and one,
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  Speaker 1: this guy edges this guy, he does this better, that better.
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  Speaker 1: You're never know until their career is finished. Right for
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  Speaker 1: the most part of it. People are still to this day,
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  Speaker 1: uh talking about the Ryan Leaf Payton manning my draft class,
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  Speaker 1: and those guys have been tied to each other. Ever since,
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  Speaker 1: uh and the coach have obviously gotten a better into
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  Speaker 1: that pick. But UH, you know, both guys struggled a
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  Speaker 1: year ago. Both guys were rookie gun slingers. Zack was
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  Speaker 1: down some games. UH, Trevor was going through, you know,
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  Speaker 1: a coaching situation. So neither guy had an opportunity to
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  Speaker 1: really get out there and and and flourish in their
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  Speaker 1: rookie season. Both guys coming back for year two. Uh,
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  Speaker 1: Trevor is taking the lead in my opinion. Zach has
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  Speaker 1: had some set back. He's had some media stuff as
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  Speaker 1: well following him. Uh, and he's in a bigger market,
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  Speaker 1: so he has a bigger load on his shoulder. But again,
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  Speaker 1: I think the matchup will come down to which controls
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  Speaker 1: his team's control the ball. When I say that, that's
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  Speaker 1: taking care of the ball, making the better decisions, and
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  Speaker 1: I think Trevor has that that the heads up. Trevor
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  Speaker 1: is in the high head. It seems that is a
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  Speaker 1: bit more of a a hothead. I don't know the kids.
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  Speaker 1: I don't want to call them out, but just some
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  Speaker 1: media moments, UH not handling it pressed properly. You never
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  Speaker 1: see that out of the Trevor Lawrence. Uh, and that
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  Speaker 1: carries you a long way. Fred Taylor with us Trevor
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  Speaker 1: Lawrence this week said that you know, after that London game,
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  Speaker 1: you know, it wasn't really anything different. I think just
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  Speaker 1: as the season is going along, he said that he's
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  Speaker 1: learned how to really settle in and watch film a
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  Speaker 1: little better and you know, being more aware of of
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  Speaker 1: what's happening. And that's obviously a shown since London. Fourteen touchdowns,
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  Speaker 1: one interception, and he's making throws and decisions that you
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  Speaker 1: really want out of your quarterback. And then of course
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  Speaker 1: last week's game was nuts with the fumble at the end,
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  Speaker 1: but they got the ball back for him. There's a
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: belief building in this locker room. Maybe it's not even building,
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  Speaker 1: it's there now that all we're gonna do is get
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  Speaker 1: Trevor the football. A minute left, thirty seconds left, one
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  Speaker 1: time out, no time out, just get the guy at
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  Speaker 1: the ball. And there's a feeling they're gonna get down
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  Speaker 1: and get some points now. And that's a that's a
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  Speaker 1: big change from years passed around here. Yeah, that that's
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  Speaker 1: sort of leadership trickles down. You know, it's contactious man. Uh,
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  Speaker 1: you see it a few times you started believing in it.
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  Speaker 1: I can tell you my time in New England, uh
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  Speaker 1: and I referenced that a ton. Even when I speak
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  Speaker 1: to people, you developed a winning mindsets somehow. You just
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  Speaker 1: believe you can run through break walls. You believe that,
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  Speaker 1: know how, no matter how much time is that from
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  Speaker 1: the clock, if you're down, you're gonna find a way.
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  Speaker 1: And if you put in the work you know in
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  Speaker 1: the film room, that carries over to the practice field.
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  Speaker 1: If you demand that sense of urgency on the practice
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  Speaker 1: field in that respect from your teammates, and you go
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  Speaker 1: out there and you show it your play, you know,
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  Speaker 1: not quit. You know Trevor could have easily you know,
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  Speaker 1: touch this Taill a week aldgo and quit after that
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  Speaker 1: fumble because I was a big playing that moment in
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  Speaker 1: the game, even the interception, but the fumble was the
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  Speaker 1: one that really stood out. But he kept fighting. You know,
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  Speaker 1: you want to have that in the teammate and especially
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  Speaker 1: at the quarterback position, so those guys around him they
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  Speaker 1: believe in him. You know, he's granted that right of passage,
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  Speaker 1: but he has to continue to work hard at it,
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  Speaker 1: continue to grab these guys and leads and and say Hey, look,
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  Speaker 1: I need you guys studying as much as I am
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  Speaker 1: studying because we have an opportunity. We can't control what's
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  Speaker 1: happening with the Titans over there, right, but we can't
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  Speaker 1: control our destiny. And it starts right here with the
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  Speaker 1: Jets and getting this one and and tying this things
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  Speaker 1: up with the Titans and then figuring it out as
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  Speaker 1: these last couple of games unfold. But uh, it does
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  Speaker 1: start in classroom and starts with the hardest, starts with
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  Speaker 1: the leadership in the quarterback position, and it become effectious
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  Speaker 1: and uh a team follows suit and um man, it's
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: some good things can happen. And I think the guys
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  Speaker 1: know that Fred Taylor with us um the Jaguars defense
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  Speaker 1: has been under the microscope this year and they've given
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  Speaker 1: up some yards and it hasn't always been pretty. But
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  Speaker 1: last week, you know, they gave up the early touchdowns
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  Speaker 1: three in a row out of the Cowboys in the
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  Speaker 1: first half, and then they kind of settled in. They
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  Speaker 1: got a couple three and ounce they forced a couple
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  Speaker 1: of field goals. Yes, that made it a three score game,
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  Speaker 1: but touchdowns would have been a whole lot worse than that.
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  Speaker 1: Scenario and then they hung in there. They got an
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  Speaker 1: interception and of course to pick six at the end
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  Speaker 1: of the game. At the time, I mean that defensive
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  Speaker 1: performance last week, though it wasn't overall pretty looking at
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  Speaker 1: the stat book, if you break it down into what
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  Speaker 1: they did to keep it closer enough and give the
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  Speaker 1: ball back to the offense, Uh, it was opportunistic. I
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  Speaker 1: thought from this defense last week, and if that's what
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  Speaker 1: they get every week going ahead, they're in good shape.
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  Speaker 1: They pe I did, uh, and I agree with you.
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  Speaker 1: I did. First take Monday morning ESPN with Ryan Clark,
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  Speaker 1: Mike Irvan and Stephen A and Uh, look, they were
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  Speaker 1: trying to the There was a Dak Prescott segment right
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  Speaker 1: and uh, they totally wanted what they didn't want to,
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  Speaker 1: but the segment was about Doc and what DoD did wrong.
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  Speaker 1: I wanted to highlight what Jacksonville did right. And they
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  Speaker 1: didn't quit. You know, they were down seventeen. They could
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  Speaker 1: have went and took their tails, but there was a
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  Speaker 1: situation where the pick happened. They came out, they got
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  Speaker 1: a three and out, and then after they got the
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  Speaker 1: three and out, Jacksonville got the ball to throw the
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  Speaker 1: deep ball down there. Two plays later Tuesday, he scores,
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  Speaker 1: the defense goes back up. Two plays later, they get
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  Speaker 1: the interception. Then three plays after that you score on
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  Speaker 1: a third intended Marvin Jones, and then everything goes unfolds accordingly,
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  Speaker 1: as you mentioned what the defense stepped up and made
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  Speaker 1: plays when they needed to. They could have easily laid
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  Speaker 1: down and not have made any of those plays, and
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  Speaker 1: we would have been, you know, saying the same thing
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  Speaker 1: that we say, you know after the game on the
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  Speaker 1: radio show or Monday or Twitter. Everybody would have been heartbroken.
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  Speaker 1: But those guys deserve a ton of credit, you know,
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  Speaker 1: led by obviously Ray Sean, who played a tremendous game,
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  Speaker 1: one of the best efforts probably than ever in the
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  Speaker 1: history of the NFL with his performance, and everybody that
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  Speaker 1: stepped up, a few guys banged ups that you had,
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  Speaker 1: guys smooth and key going in making plays, and it
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  Speaker 1: just shows a sign of these guys have been in
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  Speaker 1: the meeting room, been paying attention, studying properly, waiting for
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  Speaker 1: their opportunity getting out there seas in a moment, taking
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  Speaker 1: the advantage of the opportunity they came away to win,
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  Speaker 1: and they're gonna need to display that same sort of
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  Speaker 1: effort tonight, red final thought, three games to go. Jags
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  Speaker 1: are one down in the division. But even with that,
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  Speaker 1: they control their own destiny right now. So if they
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  Speaker 1: went out and of course be Tennessee, they would finish
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  Speaker 1: tied in the division, they would have the tiebreaker or
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  Speaker 1: that point the destiny talk. I think it's a little
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  Speaker 1: early for that. They still have to go win some
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  Speaker 1: more football games. But there is something about the ball
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  Speaker 1: bouncing the right way for you when it didn't earlier
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  Speaker 1: in the year. Right, Sometimes the football gods even things out,
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  Speaker 1: and maybe this is the Jaguars time in the next
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  Speaker 1: couple of weeks. Yeah, they have an opportunity to control
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  Speaker 1: what they can control. It's funny that you say that
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  Speaker 1: now is thinking to myself, there's so much that goes
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  Speaker 1: on in life that we can absolutely not control. It's
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  Speaker 1: so much, but there are a few things that we can.
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  Speaker 1: And even in the game of you know, football or basketball,
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  Speaker 1: you know, the ball doesn't always bounce your way. But
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  Speaker 1: you know when you go out there, there are certain
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  Speaker 1: things during certain aspects of the game that you can't control.
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  Speaker 1: And that's how hard you play, you know, how you
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  Speaker 1: uh respond to things, the critical errors that happen throughout
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  Speaker 1: the course at the game, you know how you respond
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  Speaker 1: to those and bounce back. And I think this team
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: have shown that, even in spite of, you know, those circumstances,
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  Speaker 1: that will fight to the very in and they've been
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  Speaker 1: scrappy that way the entire season. They just gotta do
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  Speaker 1: it three more times, you know, in this regular season,
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: starting the night, and whatever happens at the end of
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  Speaker 1: the day, man, at least they can go out with
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  Speaker 1: their heads held high saying we fought our asses off,
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  Speaker 1: regardless of the outcome, but we did fight our butts off,
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  Speaker 1: and we're ready for any moment going forward. Always a pleasure, Fred,
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: enjoy the game. We'll talk to you a little later. Oh,
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: I'm gonna enjoy. I will be posting my lock on Twitter.
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: The lock. Huh. I didn't say it was the lock.
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: I said I would be posting my lock. You don't
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: want to tease it here, We'll tease it later. Sounds good, friend.
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: We'll see all right. J P.