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Charles Davis Anticipating Hard-nose Football vs. Steelers in Week 8 | Countdown to Kickoff · The Jacksonville Jaguars Official Podcast Network

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  Speaker 1: Countdown to Kickoff continues ahead of Week eight the Jacksonville
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Jaguars and the Pittsburgh Steelers, and on the call on
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  Speaker 1: CBS Sports, it's analyst Charles Davis, our good friend, back
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  Speaker 1: at it again. Old Jaguars Steelers matchup to get you
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  Speaker 1: going right, oh.
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  Speaker 2: Man, exciting right. This feels like back to the future,
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  Speaker 2: doesn't it, because of all the times in the past.
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  Speaker 2: And what I like is both of these teams have
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  Speaker 2: that same identity that we remembered because the Jags kind
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  Speaker 2: of lost that for a while. And what I mean
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  Speaker 2: by that is tough, hard nose, just that old school identity.
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  Speaker 2: You know. Meet you in the parking lot on Sunday
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  Speaker 2: you want to throw down, I'll be there. I'm still
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  Speaker 2: remembering Marcus Stroud, John Henderson just beat you to a pulp.
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  Speaker 2: Donovan Darius coming up from the secondary laying Wood. Steelers
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  Speaker 2: have always had that. We know that their down year
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  Speaker 2: is nine to eight now because we place it seventeen games.
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  Speaker 2: That's where we are. But both teams collisions body on body,
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  Speaker 2: and that team has it now. I know Doug Peterson's
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  Speaker 2: an offensive coach, that's what his reputation is. But Mike
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  Speaker 2: Caldwell's defense. Oh they don't strike you now, I mean
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  Speaker 2: you watch it from every level, they're going to strike you.
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  Speaker 2: This's gonna be.
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  Speaker 1: Fun, Carls. This Jaguars team won four games in four
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  Speaker 1: stadiums in three cities over a seven time zone span
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  Speaker 1: to go from one to two to five and two.
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  Speaker 1: What does that tell you about the resilience of the
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  Speaker 1: team as a whole and the coaching and the leadership
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  Speaker 1: of this team.
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  Speaker 2: Well, it just tells you that they have a plan,
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  Speaker 2: they put it into effect. They have a better team,
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  Speaker 2: and when you have a better team, you can handle
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  Speaker 2: a lot of things. Because a Jaguars team of three
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  Speaker 2: four years ago with that no shot, and even if
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  Speaker 2: they'd handled it, well, no shot, they weren't good enough.
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  Speaker 2: But now they're good enough. They have a plan to
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  Speaker 2: have a head coach is like, that's what's on the schedule.
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  Speaker 2: We're gonna go play it. But here's how we're gonna
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  Speaker 2: get there and handle it as best we can. And
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  Speaker 2: I think that it was somewhat fortuitous that they like
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  Speaker 2: being London's team. Okay, cool, he wants to stay for
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  Speaker 2: two weeks, no problem. Well that second week there, I
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  Speaker 2: think played a big part in beating Buffalo. I don't
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  Speaker 2: want to take any credit away. What they did on
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  Speaker 2: the field was outstanding, but Buffalo was trying to figure
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  Speaker 2: it out having been there for almost two weeks. I
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  Speaker 2: think it helps, and Jacksonville took full advantage of it.
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  Speaker 2: But I just like the fact that they don't care. Okay,
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  Speaker 2: this is where we go, this is when we play, this,
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  Speaker 2: when we show up. Here's the preparation we're gonna use
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  Speaker 2: to get there. Now, let's go turn it loose. And
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  Speaker 2: they've done it.
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  Speaker 1: Girl's Davis, CBS Sports with us Thursday night this past
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  Speaker 1: Thursday night in the Superdome. The Jaguars went in with
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  Speaker 1: some question marks. Obviously, the quarterback was a game time decision.
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  Speaker 1: There was the pregame warm up. He was good to go.
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  Speaker 1: He wore the brace on the left knee and lo
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  Speaker 1: and behold, he's the leading rusher in the game somehow
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  Speaker 1: with a bad knee and just fought his way through
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  Speaker 1: that game and they found a way to win that
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  Speaker 1: game as well. But that tells you a whole lot
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  Speaker 1: about Trevor Lawrence and his perseverance and his want to
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  Speaker 1: be out there to lead this team.
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely, quarterbacks just by being quarterbacks sometimes get that, oh,
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  Speaker 2: how tough are they? Type of a deal. I'm old
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  Speaker 2: enough to remember when quarterbacks were a lot tougher than
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  Speaker 2: people ever gave him credit for. Because you and I
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  Speaker 2: both know if we punch up the NFL films on
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  Speaker 2: YouTube or whatever right now, and watch what a quarterback
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  Speaker 2: at well quarterback went through getting hit in the pocket
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  Speaker 2: in the nineteen eighties and the nineties versus now, and
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  Speaker 2: there are no flags. A referee would come by and go, okay,
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  Speaker 2: you're getting up. That was it, I mean, and you
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  Speaker 2: darnia took a two by four and hit those guys.
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  Speaker 2: And back then, those quarterbacks were of a certain size,
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  Speaker 2: right of a certain dimension. Think about those quarterbacks of
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  Speaker 2: those days, Marina, Jim, Kelly, Boomer, Siasin, Phil Simms, Jim
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  Speaker 2: McMahon now McMahon. He took a lot of hits, but
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  Speaker 2: he always he would play through when he could, but
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  Speaker 2: he ended up missing it. A lot of those guys
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  Speaker 2: didn't miss games. They dragged themselves back at. Steve McNair's
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  Speaker 2: toughness is legendary now what those hits are now, flags, suspensions, fines,
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  Speaker 2: all those things. So it's a little bit different as
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  Speaker 2: we're going. Trevor Lawrence looks like an old school quarterback
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  Speaker 2: in dimensions, he looks like a new school quarterback when
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  Speaker 2: the hair flows out of the helmet and he takes
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  Speaker 2: his helmet off and everybody goes, my god, look at him.
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  Speaker 2: You know, he looks he looks like your next door
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  Speaker 2: pretty guy. But his ability to play through things and
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  Speaker 2: toughness what he did Thursday night in New Orleans, that's
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  Speaker 2: where all the memes of that's my quarterback actually apply
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  Speaker 2: in a positive manner because now you can rally around
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  Speaker 2: that quarterback, Your team will rally around you. Your defense
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  Speaker 2: will go, look at our quarterback. We can play for him,
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  Speaker 2: not just your offense. The rest of the team just goes,
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  Speaker 2: my goodness, we got a tough guy quarterback. And JP,
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  Speaker 2: you know you've been around this league. Any team that
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  Speaker 2: has a tough guy quarterback is well ahead of the
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  Speaker 2: game because the rest of the team will buy in
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  Speaker 2: on you.
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  Speaker 1: Now they don't grow on trees either. Charles Charles Davis,
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  Speaker 1: It's hard to do. Yeah, that's right, Charles Davis with
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  Speaker 1: the CBS Sports. You know, this offense really hasn't had
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  Speaker 1: its full arsenal A lot this season. Zay Jones has
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  Speaker 1: missed four games and he's had to come out of
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  Speaker 1: two others with his knee issues, so he's really only
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  Speaker 1: finished one game this year. When he's out there, that
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  Speaker 1: kind of changes the whole coverage idea for defenses, and
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  Speaker 1: then the running game can get involved. Travis Etn stepped
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  Speaker 1: in and scored two touchdowns and now three straight games,
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  Speaker 1: the first Jaguar to ever do that. But when they're
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  Speaker 1: at full strength and you've seen them this year, what
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  Speaker 1: can they be? And I don't think they've touched that
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  Speaker 1: ultimate Jaguar offense production that they're hoping for this year.
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  Speaker 2: No, I think that they can be the type of
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  Speaker 2: team that has answers for whatever you throw at them. Okay,
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  Speaker 2: you want a pressure Trevor Lawrence. I think he handles
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  Speaker 2: blitz as well and will step up in the pressure
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  Speaker 2: and can get rid of it quickly to people. Right,
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  Speaker 2: he has people to do that. You want to give
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  Speaker 2: him time and drop back. He'll survey the field and
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  Speaker 2: have the patience and take the checkdowns when necessary to
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  Speaker 2: keep it going. What's the expression all the quarterbacks do use?
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  Speaker 2: You never go broke taking a profit?
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  Speaker 1: Right?
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  Speaker 2: Okay? So I can speak a little quarterback myself, all right,
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  Speaker 2: the running game with ETN. I think the offensive line
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  Speaker 2: is starting to really develop their own identity because last
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  Speaker 2: time we saw you, JP, you're getting ready for a
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  Speaker 2: game with Kansas City and you had offensive linemen who
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  Speaker 2: were really dinged up and we weren't sure they could go.
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  Speaker 2: Every one of them went in that game. So that
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  Speaker 2: tells me something about that offensive line. Now you got
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  Speaker 2: Cam Robinson back, didn't have him last time we saw you.
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  Speaker 2: I'm not sure about Walker Little and his ability to
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  Speaker 2: play left guard yet, we shall see. But Tyler Shatley,
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  Speaker 2: he's like, hey, anytime you want me to play, I'm
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  Speaker 2: here for it. Fortner Sheriff, and I really think Antoine
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  Speaker 2: Harrison's coming along nicely as a rookie at right tackle.
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  Speaker 2: I think they're starting to take on some tough guy,
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  Speaker 2: you know, vibes of their own. But I do think
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  Speaker 2: that they have the mobility to move in the run
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  Speaker 2: game when you want them to. They will take care
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  Speaker 2: of their quarterback. As I said before, whatever you want
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  Speaker 2: to throw out them. I feel like this offense is
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  Speaker 2: starting to develop the idea that we've got answers for it.
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  Speaker 2: You want to let us run it, We'll run it.
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  Speaker 2: You want to let us throw it, We'll throw it
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  Speaker 2: whatever fashion that may be. But the last thing I'm
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  Speaker 2: going to say is etn at running back. One day
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  Speaker 2: you'll have to explain to me the idea that there
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  Speaker 2: was a coaching staff that said we're going to make
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  Speaker 2: him a slot receiver. Period. Please, one day we have
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  Speaker 2: to have that conversation, because that made zero sense.
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  Speaker 1: Earls Davis. Yeah, Today's not that day. The Pittsburgh Steelers
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  Speaker 1: have won two in a row. Now are they back?
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  Speaker 1: Are they on track? Are they they were a little
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  Speaker 1: underachieving early in the season. What are they now?
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  Speaker 2: I think back is too strong? Are they on better course? Absolutely?
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  Speaker 2: Their issue to me is nothing that's new, Nothing that
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  Speaker 2: I'm going to identify that you have neither read, seen, heard.
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  Speaker 2: Their inability to start faster on offense is the puzzler
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  Speaker 2: for them. Kenny Pickett does a wonderful job as their
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  Speaker 2: quarterback down the stretch, and he's won some big games
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  Speaker 2: in the fourth quarter. Going back to Baltimore on a
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  Speaker 2: Sunday night as a rookie, going back to Baltimore this year,
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  Speaker 2: earlier this season, going back last week to Los Angeles
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  Speaker 2: and taking on the Rams on the road. I think
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  Speaker 2: it's the first time they went out on the West
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  Speaker 2: Coast in ten to ten tries or something like that.
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  Speaker 2: But you can't live like that. That is not a
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  Speaker 2: seventeen game winning formula. Tim Tebow did that well for
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  Speaker 2: the Broncos and went to the playoffs, even throw a
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  Speaker 2: touchdowns to beabay right to Damarius Thomas on a beautiful
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  Speaker 2: throw against Pittsburgh in the playoffs. But is that sustainable
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  Speaker 2: where your defense has to hang in there every week
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  Speaker 2: you can be five of seventeen going into the fourth
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  Speaker 2: quarter and snap it together and win. It is not sustainable.
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  Speaker 2: Can he Pickett knows it? Pittsburgh knows it. I think
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  Speaker 2: they ask Mike Tomlin about, Hey, do you ever dream
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  Speaker 2: about him in consistencies that every day? But he loves
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  Speaker 2: Kenny Pickett. He knows that he can get there. Getting
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  Speaker 2: Deontay Johnson back a receiver will help them do that.
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  Speaker 2: But they've got to find a way to play better
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  Speaker 2: earlier and take some of the pressure off of their defense,
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  Speaker 2: which continues to be what Pittsburgh always has. An excellent defense.
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  Speaker 1: Your safety by trade. So when you see Nanjie Harris
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  Speaker 1: coming in the open, what's your plan?
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  Speaker 2: Find another profession? Is the first plan? All right? Well,
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  Speaker 2: my crazy, But you know with Pittsburgh, Jalen Warren didn't
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  Speaker 2: have the same dimensions. It runs with the same force,
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  Speaker 2: and that's what you got to deal with with them.
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  Speaker 2: It's supposed to be a change up because Warren looks different,
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  Speaker 2: but he provides some great thump as well. But Harris
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  Speaker 2: is the type of back that could be your four
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  Speaker 2: minute offense closer, and he helped do that in Los
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  Speaker 2: Angeles last week with the last touchdown to get it done.
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  Speaker 2: That's a lot of man coming at you. There's no
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  Speaker 2: answer butts about it. So what you're hoping is there's
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  Speaker 2: not a lot of open field before you get there.
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  Speaker 2: You are telling your defensive front, you're telling your linebackers, guys,
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  Speaker 2: got it. No big creases in holes where he gets
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  Speaker 2: a ten yard run up and then it's just me
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  Speaker 2: and him. Because if that's the case, their their theme
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  Speaker 2: music may be playing, not ours.
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  Speaker 1: Algie could jump over you as well.
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  Speaker 2: You do that too. It would hurt less, but it
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  Speaker 2: might be more humility.
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  Speaker 1: Oh, it would hurt more. I think would be injured.
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  Speaker 1: You'd be on the injury list next week.
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  Speaker 2: Hey, David's not playing this week, Pride.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a problem. Hey are you buying the Jaguars
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  Speaker 1: or is this kind of the time.
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  Speaker 2: Point for you? You don't even need to finish that one.
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  Speaker 2: I'm buying them because that Kansas City game told me
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  Speaker 2: a lot. Yeah they walked away with a loss, but
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  Speaker 2: was I think five times inside the twenty yard line
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  Speaker 2: no touchdowns in that ball game? Some of it. You
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: have to give credit to Kansas City for good stout defense.
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  Speaker 2: Two throws that I remember. I know Trevor Lawrence, I'm
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  Speaker 2: pretty sure would sit here and go, yeah, I think
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  Speaker 2: you're right about that. I missed those. They had opportunities,
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: and you know, teams that are learning to win go
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: through games like that. It happens. I mean, you don't
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  Speaker 2: just automatically go from that to oh yeah, we got
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: it all covered. You will have some of those bumps
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: along the way. Kansas City this year, to me, has
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: shown more of their metal than maybe in the previous
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: four or five seasons, just because their defense is really
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: doing a lot to help carry that team, which they
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: never did before. They were always we played with a
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  Speaker 2: fourteen point league defense. This year hasn't been that way,
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: and the defense is quietly one of the better ones
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  Speaker 2: in the league. So it wasn't like Jacksonville was working
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  Speaker 2: against the old Kansas City where they could be had.
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  Speaker 2: So I really think that the Jacksonville looks good that way.
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  Speaker 2: And then as you said, what they handled with the
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  Speaker 2: road with London, And by the way, who'd they beat
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  Speaker 2: in London back to back.
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  Speaker 1: Weeks Falcons and Bills.
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: Falcons now lead the NFC South. Bills came into the
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: Sea the season. Is one of the nice picks for
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: the Super Bowl, and rightly so, one of the better
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: defenses in the league. They may be having trouble now,
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: but when you played them, they were coming off of
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: a dismantling of Miami, a dismantling and Josh Allen had
• 12:42
  Speaker 2: a perfect quarterback rating in that one. Those are legitimate wins.
• 12:46
  Speaker 2: In New Orleans on a Thursday night, short week travel,
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  Speaker 2: one of the really good defenses in the league won
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  Speaker 2: that ball game. I'm buying this Jacksonville Jaguars team. And
• 12:57
  Speaker 2: this is not a default winning the af South. This
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: is a legit winning the AFC South. Potentially they have
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  Speaker 2: to close it out, but whoever they deal with. I
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  Speaker 2: come back to the toughness, I come back to the
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  Speaker 2: confidence level, and I come back to a quarterback that
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  Speaker 2: continues to ascend. And that's what you're looking for come
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  Speaker 2: playoff time.
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  Speaker 1: The pretty good formula sounds like to me, and I'm
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  Speaker 1: sure we'll be seeing you a lot down the stretch
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  Speaker 1: if that's the case as well. Charles is always a pleasure,
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  Speaker 1: appreciate it with me. We'll see you next time.
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: Thank you, Take care of JP.