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Perspectives - Keenan McCardell · The Jacksonville Jaguars Official Podcast Network

0:03
Speaker 1: The following presentation of the Jaguars Podcast Network is presented
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Speaker 1: by by Star Credit Kicker. They don't make football players
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Speaker 1: any tougher than Keenan McCardel. The twelfth round draft pick,
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Speaker 1: wouldn't take no for an answer, despite being cut multiple
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Speaker 1: times before he finally caught on in Cleveland. He wasn't flashy,
0:27
Speaker 1: unless you're talking about his sense of fashion. But when
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Speaker 1: the game was in doubt, there was no one who
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Speaker 1: wanted the ball more and no one you could count
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Speaker 1: on more to make the catch than number eighty seven.
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Speaker 1: There he goes thirty, there's keening in the twenty. He's
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Speaker 1: at the ten five touch down Jackson Bill mcardel for
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Speaker 1: sixty seven and six on the scoreboard. This is perspectives,
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Speaker 1: the story of the first twenty five years of the
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Speaker 1: Jacksonville Jaguars, told by the people who built the franchise
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Speaker 1: from the ground up. This is Keenan McCardell. McCardell has
1:02
Speaker 1: always played the game his way, on his terms. After
1:06
Speaker 1: years of struggle between the Bears and Redskins, he landed
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Speaker 1: in Cleveland and he posted a season worthy handsome free
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Speaker 1: agent contract with the Browns, becoming the Ravens. He knew
1:18
Speaker 1: he was going to have to look elsewhere. It's kind
1:21
Speaker 1: of funny. I kind of told a friend of mine
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Speaker 1: that I'm not going to Jacksonville. Um, not a place
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Speaker 1: for me. They want to be led by by a
1:31
Speaker 1: drill sergeant. And the changed when I took a trip
1:35
Speaker 1: here and and enjoyed it. Michael Hugh coach Coughlin, and
1:42
Speaker 1: I kind of said, it's not gonna be a bad place. Uh,
1:46
Speaker 1: It's a place to to put myself on the map,
1:50
Speaker 1: you know. And then I got here. Uh, Tom asked
1:54
Speaker 1: me immediately, you know, I need you to be a leader. Um.
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Speaker 1: I was like you, I'm I'm up for the task.
2:02
Speaker 1: And I'm coming from a Cleveland team that was dismantled
2:06
Speaker 1: because of the move. Had some really good players, um,
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Speaker 1: Andre Risen, Uh, Michael Jackson. Uh, guys that I've learned from,
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Speaker 1: you know, and my past had helped me kinda kind
2:22
Speaker 1: of know the kind of resilience this team needed, you know,
2:26
Speaker 1: because of my past, coming up as a twelfth round pick,
2:30
Speaker 1: always having to fight for what you wanted, you know,
2:34
Speaker 1: I've been cut a couple of times and uh, and
2:36
Speaker 1: in Cleveland, finally made my way and I needed to
2:40
Speaker 1: show some resilience in my career and coming here, I
2:46
Speaker 1: felt like this team needed to have a person that
2:49
Speaker 1: that could show resilience and we as a group needed
2:53
Speaker 1: to to have that because it was gonna be tough
2:57
Speaker 1: for us. We knew it was gonna be really tough
2:58
Speaker 1: for uce. Nobody els afected us to win second year
3:02
Speaker 1: UH franchise they can't get it together. Uh. But we
3:07
Speaker 1: found a way to get it together because we believed
3:10
Speaker 1: in each other in that locker room. UM. I don't
3:13
Speaker 1: know if it was the cause of us being against Tom,
3:17
Speaker 1: but whatever it was, we found a way to to
3:21
Speaker 1: come together, be resilient to practices that we were that
3:26
Speaker 1: we didn't like, find a way to make it fun,
3:30
Speaker 1: find a way to enjoy each other. And like you know,
3:34
Speaker 1: I always did have arrogancy about myself because I always
3:38
Speaker 1: felt like I was the best in the league. And
3:41
Speaker 1: that's the way I thought, and I wanted guys to
3:43
Speaker 1: think that way. And I always say, if you look,
3:46
Speaker 1: if you look at some of the videos back then,
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Speaker 1: I always say, why not us? You know, because the
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Speaker 1: coach I always told me, why not you? It doesn't
3:56
Speaker 1: have to be the first round pick. It has to
3:58
Speaker 1: be the fifth round pick. Why at you the twelfth
4:00
Speaker 1: round pick? And uh, and I always used to say,
4:04
Speaker 1: why not us? And the guys kinda said the same
4:07
Speaker 1: thing with me, Why not us? I mean, in that year, Uh,
4:12
Speaker 1: we kind of came together. It was tough early. It
4:15
Speaker 1: was tough earlier we had come to Jesus meeting uh
4:19
Speaker 1: in that locker room down in the coach's offices, with
4:23
Speaker 1: with time with the leadership committee, and but it all
4:27
Speaker 1: kind of brought this brought that team together. The Jaguars
4:31
Speaker 1: paid McCardell, but they weren't quite sure he was going
4:34
Speaker 1: to ignite their passing game all by himself. So they
4:37
Speaker 1: went back to Cleveland and swung for the moon All
4:40
Speaker 1: Pro wide receiver Andre Rising. I'm out and O t
4:45
Speaker 1: A s doing some good stuff and here comes Andre.
4:49
Speaker 1: You know, but I wasn't mad because Andre came, because
4:52
Speaker 1: I've played with Andre and I knew what kind of
4:55
Speaker 1: competitor he was. Um, everybody don't know what kind of
4:59
Speaker 1: teacher he is. I mean, he he's a He's a
5:03
Speaker 1: great motivator. Two guys, if you listen and know how
5:06
Speaker 1: to listen to the things that you need to listen
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Speaker 1: to from him, and uh, because I was in Cleveland
5:11
Speaker 1: when he was there, and I'll say this, he was
5:14
Speaker 1: one of the guys that really got my confidence to
5:18
Speaker 1: being where it needed to be weekend and week out,
5:22
Speaker 1: day in and day out in the league. I mean,
5:24
Speaker 1: how do you bounce back from from things? So with
5:28
Speaker 1: him coming in the room, I wasn't mad at all
5:31
Speaker 1: because I knew what kind of player he was. I
5:34
Speaker 1: knew he was on you know he was He still
5:36
Speaker 1: could play, he still could help us, But I didn't
5:39
Speaker 1: know how he was gonna how Willie, Jimmy, Reggie was
5:43
Speaker 1: gonna receive him, you know. So, you know, him coming
5:48
Speaker 1: in the room, it kind of rubbed Jimmy a little
5:51
Speaker 1: a little bit, I could tell, but he never let it.
5:53
Speaker 1: Really really show one good thing about our room. We
5:58
Speaker 1: laughed a lot. We our room liked each other. Our
6:03
Speaker 1: room really liked each other. We always wanted each other
6:07
Speaker 1: to be successful. It was just a competitive vibe in
6:10
Speaker 1: our room. But we never made it spiteful to one another.
6:15
Speaker 1: I mean, we could go hang out, We're gonna have fun,
6:18
Speaker 1: we go get on the boat, we go jet skiing together.
6:22
Speaker 1: Our room was it was fun. And then the thing
6:26
Speaker 1: about it. I I never forget the day. We were
6:29
Speaker 1: out in practice one day and bad Moon was out
6:32
Speaker 1: of practice, and uh, we were having one on ones
6:36
Speaker 1: and he came out and he was doing some stuff
6:41
Speaker 1: and one on one and he didn't get open. So
6:46
Speaker 1: Kevin Gilbride got on him and he turned to Kevin
6:51
Speaker 1: and said, I got three hundred and fifty six moves
6:56
Speaker 1: to get off the line. And Kevin told her, well,
6:58
Speaker 1: can you use one of them to get off the
7:00
Speaker 1: line of the day, and you should have started. We
7:03
Speaker 1: were all standing back there and we just fell out laughing.
7:08
Speaker 1: And that point right there, we knew that he would
7:13
Speaker 1: say whatever we needed him to say for us. We
7:16
Speaker 1: didn't have to be the guy that came in and
7:19
Speaker 1: said something. That was one thing about Dre. He wasn't
7:22
Speaker 1: afraid to say what was on our minds in that room,
7:25
Speaker 1: and he helped us. And so from that point on,
7:28
Speaker 1: I think Jimmy kind of loosened up about Dre and
7:33
Speaker 1: started to realize that no, this guy could help me.
7:37
Speaker 1: And then, you know, as the season went on, we
7:40
Speaker 1: just started to help each other here and there. And
7:44
Speaker 1: then I never forget the game in Pittsburgh we um
7:49
Speaker 1: when when the situation happened with Andre. Uh. It was
7:55
Speaker 1: we called it X read and we have a three
7:57
Speaker 1: ray read on the play for the X and Dre
7:59
Speaker 1: was land X and he saw it one way, Mark
8:02
Speaker 1: saw it another way, Mark through the past. It was picked,
8:07
Speaker 1: you know, and it was a pick six. And I
8:11
Speaker 1: think that was the downfall of what happened to Andre Rosen.
8:14
Speaker 1: He he just made a bad read. I mean, it
8:17
Speaker 1: could have happened to anybody, but just to say it
8:20
Speaker 1: happened to a veteran and a guy of his experience
8:24
Speaker 1: that has played in this league before, and he he
8:27
Speaker 1: should have saw it and it was a it was
8:29
Speaker 1: a clear picture that he should have saw. And you know,
8:33
Speaker 1: it happened. And you know, the next week, the monday
8:36
Speaker 1: he got cut, Jimmy. Jimmy came in the room and
8:40
Speaker 1: we were like, hey, man, it's us, let's go. I mean,
8:44
Speaker 1: and from that point on, it's been thunder and lightning
8:47
Speaker 1: and and we I mean, we've we've seen a good
8:50
Speaker 1: the bad. Uh, A lot of good times. Not a
8:53
Speaker 1: lot of bad times, but a lot of good times.
8:56
Speaker 1: Um Uh. Personally team wise, A bad thing that we
9:00
Speaker 1: didn't do is let's bring a championship here. I thought
9:03
Speaker 1: the dragonars were done when I walked into that locker
9:06
Speaker 1: room on the Monday after Pittsburgh. The players who respected
9:09
Speaker 1: and admired Rising, We're sitting on the floor at his feet.
9:13
Speaker 1: It seemed ominous. It seemed over. But it wasn't the end.
9:17
Speaker 1: It was the beginning. When that situation happened, you know,
9:23
Speaker 1: it was like, all right, somebody gotta put the big
9:25
Speaker 1: boy pants on the lead this team, and myself, Tony,
9:32
Speaker 1: you know, on offensive side of the ball mark in
9:36
Speaker 1: a way that Mark leads. Um just kinda picked up
9:41
Speaker 1: picked up the pieces. Um, we go, like you said,
9:46
Speaker 1: go to St. Louis, big, big game me personally. But
9:52
Speaker 1: in the end, we lose, and we lose on a
9:54
Speaker 1: play that you know, we we just we felt like
10:00
Speaker 1: we we were the better team and we lost. You know,
10:03
Speaker 1: like you say, five picks. You very setting when the
10:06
Speaker 1: NFL game with five picks. But it never broke us
10:09
Speaker 1: because I think we saw the potential and who we
10:11
Speaker 1: were offensively, and you know, and then you know, we
10:17
Speaker 1: we keep going. We get in there, we get in
10:20
Speaker 1: the locker room, we talked about it. It brought us closer.
10:25
Speaker 1: The likes of Robert Massey, the Clyde Simmons was keeping
10:29
Speaker 1: us together, you know. And I was a I was
10:34
Speaker 1: a young leader. Those guys were veteran leaders that have
10:37
Speaker 1: been in locker rooms. And I remember Robert Massey telling
10:42
Speaker 1: me his in his own way, young we got it.
10:48
Speaker 1: We just gotta get it, put it together. The talent
10:50
Speaker 1: is here, he said, I've seen I have. I haven't
10:53
Speaker 1: seen so much talent in one locker room. We just
10:56
Speaker 1: got to bring it together. Clyde would always tell me,
11:00
Speaker 1: you know, get them together over there. Y'all got it.
11:04
Speaker 1: We see it, you know. And those are guys that
11:06
Speaker 1: have seen greatness and and played against great teams, have
11:11
Speaker 1: been on some very good teams and some great teams,
11:14
Speaker 1: and it just kept coming back in our mind, resonating
11:18
Speaker 1: in our mind, like, hey, we gotta keep pushing, we
11:22
Speaker 1: gotta keep getting better despite what's going on with us.
11:25
Speaker 1: If we just continue to get better, the light is
11:29
Speaker 1: at the end of the tunnel for us. And hey man,
11:32
Speaker 1: we for some reason it clicked for us and we
11:35
Speaker 1: saw the light and we was running to it, running
11:39
Speaker 1: to it as fast as possible, because as as you say,
11:43
Speaker 1: why not us, we start to see it and start
11:46
Speaker 1: to feel it in our in our win street. We
11:48
Speaker 1: started to feel it and started, as they say, started
11:51
Speaker 1: to feel yourself. The next four games moved the Jaguars
11:56
Speaker 1: from four and seven to eight and seven, and at
11:59
Speaker 1: the very custom of any probable playoff appearance, winning the
12:03
Speaker 1: season finale against the three and twelve Falcons was old.
12:06
Speaker 1: It's stood in their way, and they stood there on
12:08
Speaker 1: the Jaguars playoff hopes until the game's final drive. They
12:13
Speaker 1: go down, just started moving the ball, catching the ball here. Yeah,
12:19
Speaker 1: I think Eric mccalfe caught the ball over the middle.
12:22
Speaker 1: Um My mind's going back terms matthis all those guys.
12:26
Speaker 1: I think Eric caught the ball. Iron Head was pounding
12:29
Speaker 1: the ball at us, and I was like, Eric, don't
12:32
Speaker 1: do this to us, you know. And then you know,
12:35
Speaker 1: they were moving the ball. So we get get a
12:38
Speaker 1: fourth get fourth down. Martin comes out and he's one
12:42
Speaker 1: of those guys that you know, being a veteran, it's
12:46
Speaker 1: just automatic, you know. And we're all on the sideline
12:51
Speaker 1: on the offensive side, just on our knees, looking at
12:54
Speaker 1: looking at him head down, praying that he missed. The
13:00
Speaker 1: snap comes. I remember looking at the snap. I'm looking
13:03
Speaker 1: at the ball and when he kicked it, I was like, oh,
13:07
Speaker 1: that doesn't look good. And I looked up and I
13:11
Speaker 1: was like, there's no way he's gonna make this. And
13:15
Speaker 1: when it was going, I mean, I was already up
13:19
Speaker 1: jumping and it's a picture at where I'm jumping and
13:23
Speaker 1: Tony Bracken's is pushing me so far up in there.
13:25
Speaker 1: He's just throwing me up. And it was just a
13:29
Speaker 1: big side relief because we knew we didn't play our
13:33
Speaker 1: best game. We're coming off a hot streak and played
13:39
Speaker 1: a terrible game. I think if you, if you went
13:42
Speaker 1: back to odds makers probably had us winning that game
13:45
Speaker 1: running away and we played bad. So with that happened
13:49
Speaker 1: and we got in. We came back and that week
13:52
Speaker 1: going to Buffalo was like, man, we're in the dance.
13:56
Speaker 1: We can write our home story right now. And it's like,
13:59
Speaker 1: why not, brother, let's I mean, we're going up to Buffalo.
14:04
Speaker 1: They've never lost the playoff game, enriched stadium and rich stuff.
14:08
Speaker 1: I was like, so what why not us? I mean,
14:11
Speaker 1: we got the best matchup on Bruce Smith with Tony Boselli,
14:15
Speaker 1: we got Nate playing out of his mind right now,
14:19
Speaker 1: We're gonna do our stuff outside, So we were looking
14:21
Speaker 1: at each other like, hey, we gotta we got a
14:24
Speaker 1: good chance. We like our matchups, so we went in
14:29
Speaker 1: and we just started playing like, look, it was cold,
14:33
Speaker 1: crowd didn't bother us. We wasn't even worried about the crowd.
14:36
Speaker 1: We were just so zoned in that that team. We
14:38
Speaker 1: were so zoned in on our matchups, winning our matchups.
14:43
Speaker 1: If we won our one on one matchups, we're gonna
14:46
Speaker 1: win this game. And it was just so gratifying to
14:49
Speaker 1: see Tony compete the way he competed against Bruce Smith,
14:53
Speaker 1: shut him down like he did, and it helped us
14:57
Speaker 1: it because going in it was like Bruce Smith is
15:00
Speaker 1: going to destroy this, this this and to have Tony
15:03
Speaker 1: go over and like silence him made it so much easier.
15:08
Speaker 1: And then we started running the ball search she started
15:11
Speaker 1: pounding him. On the other side, Nate started running the ball,
15:14
Speaker 1: and we had to make our plays outside when we
15:18
Speaker 1: got a chance to. We knew the weather was gonna
15:20
Speaker 1: be a big issue for throwing the ball, but we
15:23
Speaker 1: could lean on Nate, and that'side, That's how that team was.
15:27
Speaker 1: We could lean on everybody and and everybody just decided
15:31
Speaker 1: to step up and that game they played out of
15:34
Speaker 1: his mind. He played out of his mind. You know.
15:37
Speaker 1: Jimmy made a great catch, I made a big play.
15:41
Speaker 1: Mark made some big throws. I mean, everybody just kind
15:44
Speaker 1: of played the way they played. Our defense str k
15:48
Speaker 1: gun we were. It was it was just it was
15:52
Speaker 1: all coming together. So we got there, got to win.
15:57
Speaker 1: Now everybody was like, whoa, that was just luck. They
16:00
Speaker 1: just went in and and just got lucky in one one.
16:04
Speaker 1: Now we're going to Denver. That week it was fun.
16:09
Speaker 1: We were, we had I mean, we was playing with
16:11
Speaker 1: house money. We were like, you know, they don't expect
16:15
Speaker 1: us to win, why not us go in and show them.
16:19
Speaker 1: I mean, so we're playing with house money. Uh. Then
16:23
Speaker 1: about halfway through the week, we start to feel like,
16:27
Speaker 1: hey man, we belong here. They know house money anymore.
16:32
Speaker 1: It's us. It's a good team. We're good. Let's go.
16:36
Speaker 1: Young guys start to feel see themselves as been a
16:40
Speaker 1: good team. So we're going to Denver. We get there,
16:45
Speaker 1: we get an article Jaguars, Oh Tom makes that very
16:50
Speaker 1: known to us. Uh, this is what they think about you. Well,
16:56
Speaker 1: it could have broke us or could have made us. Huh.
17:00
Speaker 1: We had some veteran guys like Clyde Robert and Eddie
17:05
Speaker 1: Robb all those guys. We were just kind of like Jeff,
17:09
Speaker 1: which was a big key to us. Also on the defense.
17:12
Speaker 1: Uh like it was like, hey man, you guys just
17:16
Speaker 1: go out there and you know and like its way
17:18
Speaker 1: you go out there and you know what and play
17:20
Speaker 1: like you know what, and we're gonna handle this. And
17:27
Speaker 1: we came in that locker room and say, this is
17:29
Speaker 1: what they think about us. Let's go show him who
17:32
Speaker 1: we really are. And uh, we got in that game
17:37
Speaker 1: and we were like there was no stopping us. We
17:41
Speaker 1: they came out and played the way they played, made
17:44
Speaker 1: they threw a haymaker and then a big fight. We
17:48
Speaker 1: threw a hay maker back, and then once they thought
17:51
Speaker 1: they had us, they threw a couple of hay makers
17:54
Speaker 1: and all of a sudden we came back. Play down
17:57
Speaker 1: the sideline that I made, I mean on the touchdown
18:03
Speaker 1: kind of jump started us. But I have to make
18:08
Speaker 1: that play. I'm going to make that play. I mean,
18:11
Speaker 1: everybody's like, wow, that's the player at jump start. That
18:14
Speaker 1: was my number call. I was gonna make this play
18:16
Speaker 1: so to get this team started, because that's who I
18:20
Speaker 1: felt I was I was that leader that needed to
18:22
Speaker 1: make a play to really get us going in the
18:26
Speaker 1: right direction. And then after that, everybody just started playing
18:32
Speaker 1: the third down that Jimmy carp I mean, it's sealed
18:37
Speaker 1: the deal. I mean, I think, uh, those guys in
18:41
Speaker 1: Denverver really felt how felt bad to lose it to
18:48
Speaker 1: a team like us to upstart Jaguars, But they also
18:52
Speaker 1: knew we were we were a pretty good team. You know,
18:55
Speaker 1: I've never seen an FC championship game where the lights
18:58
Speaker 1: go out, you know, how does the lights go out
19:01
Speaker 1: in the n FC championship game? Man? But it went
19:04
Speaker 1: out in the Super Bowl, so I can't I can't
19:06
Speaker 1: say that, But at that time, it had lights that
19:09
Speaker 1: never went out. If we'd have played anywhere close to
19:13
Speaker 1: the level that we played the last two games, we'd
19:17
Speaker 1: have beat that team. And I think, you know, not
19:20
Speaker 1: saying it, that's the excuse. But they knew to slow
19:25
Speaker 1: us down, you know, and uh, you know, but you
19:28
Speaker 1: gotta get them credit. I mean, they played well at home,
19:32
Speaker 1: and we felt like we let one slip away, to
19:38
Speaker 1: be honest with you, and that taste was in our
19:41
Speaker 1: off the whole off season, you know, and the driving
19:44
Speaker 1: thing after losing that game. The only thing that we
19:48
Speaker 1: could talk about all the way back in was getting
19:53
Speaker 1: a playoff, getting the championship game here in Jacksonville. That
19:58
Speaker 1: was the only thing that we were talking about on
20:01
Speaker 1: a flight back. More perspectives following this from Vistar Credit
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20:39
Speaker 1: They were no longer an expansion team. They were a
20:42
Speaker 1: contender and they were confident because they had their quarterback
20:46
Speaker 1: and he at Thunder and Lightning one we had to
20:51
Speaker 1: have a quarterback, and Mark was the quarterback for us.
20:57
Speaker 1: My manner, uh it listened to us, would trust us
21:04
Speaker 1: on what we said, and he knew if he threw
21:07
Speaker 1: it in and kind of anywhere close to us, we
21:10
Speaker 1: will take care of it. We're gonna be wide open. Uh,
21:15
Speaker 1: like we always say, we're like sevent we're always open.
21:19
Speaker 1: Bro Um hit market tell y'all would tell him, I'm
21:23
Speaker 1: always open more just look my way. But for us
21:27
Speaker 1: to make the tandem that we were, we were so competitive,
21:36
Speaker 1: but it was it goes back to our I would
21:39
Speaker 1: starting in the National Football League. Um, both guys. I
21:45
Speaker 1: came in twelfth round. He came in the second round,
21:47
Speaker 1: had some situation, had entry situation in Dallas. They basically
21:54
Speaker 1: forgot about him, like all right, well, let's move on.
21:58
Speaker 1: So we're backs against the wall. Nobody's giving us a chance.
22:03
Speaker 1: And heck too to be a successful NFL player. Let
22:08
Speaker 1: along be a successful uh dynamic duo or dynamic receivers
22:14
Speaker 1: in this league. Um, we talked about it a lot.
22:19
Speaker 1: The next thing we we we said to ourselves and
22:23
Speaker 1: we used to say it to ourselves all the time.
22:26
Speaker 1: They were trying, they tried to kick us out. But
22:29
Speaker 1: now we're gonna write through. We're gonna we're gonna go
22:32
Speaker 1: out the way we want to go out. They'll never
22:34
Speaker 1: be able to kick us out. They're never we'll we'll
22:38
Speaker 1: never get cut. We're gonna walk away from this our
22:41
Speaker 1: own way, And we used to say that to us
22:44
Speaker 1: all the time. If we're coming down the ramp, we
22:46
Speaker 1: always say our way, bro, and we're gonna make it.
22:50
Speaker 1: We're gonna go out our way. So that kind of
22:54
Speaker 1: drove us. We were competitive as heck. Um, we always
23:00
Speaker 1: wanted the ball. We always want the ball, and a
23:04
Speaker 1: lot of times it was just out of share determination,
23:08
Speaker 1: fear of not being open and them saying that or
23:13
Speaker 1: they can't get open anymore. That's why they that's why
23:16
Speaker 1: they we should go out and get a number one,
23:19
Speaker 1: because they can't do it when they're not talented enough.
23:23
Speaker 1: So each and every day in practice, we wanted to
23:27
Speaker 1: destroy our own teammates. I hate to say it that way,
23:30
Speaker 1: but that's how we felt. Um. Any one on one
23:34
Speaker 1: situations uh, and and joint practices. We wanted to show
23:41
Speaker 1: people we were heading shoulders above everybody else, even their receivers. Uh.
23:46
Speaker 1: We wanted them to look at us. Um. I think. Um,
23:52
Speaker 1: that's the way we lived our lives here playing in Jacksonville.
23:57
Speaker 1: And then it helped that this was an upstart franchise.
24:00
Speaker 1: It played into what we had going. Nobody gave us
24:04
Speaker 1: any respect, so let's show him and every day we
24:09
Speaker 1: went out and it fueled us. When I left, it
24:13
Speaker 1: feeled me when I left, it feel Jimmy even when
24:15
Speaker 1: I left. Um just to show people exactly what they're
24:21
Speaker 1: missing and what a lot of people missed out on
24:25
Speaker 1: and two guys that they underestimated. The two men put
24:30
Speaker 1: up Hall of Fame type numbers together and helped to
24:33
Speaker 1: find the first era of jack words football. They also
24:36
Speaker 1: built a lifelong friendship, but not only endured through Jimmy
24:39
Speaker 1: Smith's personal struggles, but grew stronger as McCardell stayed close
24:43
Speaker 1: to his friend. I mean, it was tough for me to,
24:46
Speaker 1: uh to hear the things that I was hearing. Um Man,
24:52
Speaker 1: that's my friend. I'm a defender, I mean, And one
24:56
Speaker 1: thing I respected about Jimmy was that smooth never put
25:02
Speaker 1: anything in my face. I mean, I was big brother,
25:06
Speaker 1: little brother, what however you want to say it, It
25:08
Speaker 1: was never in my face. The things that he was
25:12
Speaker 1: doing was always and closed behind closed doors. And uh,
25:17
Speaker 1: everybody said, you had to have known. I never knew
25:20
Speaker 1: because it has so much he respected me, and I
25:24
Speaker 1: wouldn't have us assumed that he was doing it at all.
25:27
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, and the and the thing about
25:30
Speaker 1: it is that he never around me ever was that way.
25:36
Speaker 1: And you know, I I hate that I had to
25:42
Speaker 1: leave because I felt like we we would have still
25:48
Speaker 1: brought glory and probably brought a super Bowl here if
25:52
Speaker 1: I would have never left. Um, but you know, that's
25:57
Speaker 1: the way this business goes. I mean, and you know,
26:01
Speaker 1: and I felt like he could with me being there
26:07
Speaker 1: in that room. He knew that he had to be
26:13
Speaker 1: a better, better citizen, respect the room. And that's the
26:18
Speaker 1: thing that I felt like some of the guys in
26:22
Speaker 1: the room, he didn't respect the room, and some of
26:25
Speaker 1: the guys fell in the trap of following Jimmy. The
26:30
Speaker 1: young guys was following Jimmy. I was never a follower.
26:34
Speaker 1: I wasn't going to be a follower. I was gonna lead,
26:37
Speaker 1: and I was gonna show him how how it should
26:41
Speaker 1: be done, because when I got here, that's what I
26:43
Speaker 1: was told to do. That's what I was asked to dude,
26:45
Speaker 1: that's what that's who I am. Period. If you lead,
26:48
Speaker 1: if you follow me, if you're a leader, you're gonna
26:51
Speaker 1: have guys. You're gonna show people the right way to
26:53
Speaker 1: do things. And I think every day that I went
26:56
Speaker 1: out when I was here. He respected that, and I
27:00
Speaker 1: respected him going out every day and working the way
27:03
Speaker 1: he did. And I think when I left, he didn't
27:08
Speaker 1: have anybody to really push him to that point. And
27:14
Speaker 1: you know, and like today, you know, I called him.
27:18
Speaker 1: I just called him yesterday, you know, left him a
27:21
Speaker 1: message here. He usually calls me back. You know, I'll
27:24
Speaker 1: get a call today. We'll talk um. Relationship is good.
27:29
Speaker 1: You know, a lot of times we'll just let him
27:31
Speaker 1: be himself. And I was just you know, you're good.
27:34
Speaker 1: I mean he's like, yeah, I'm fine, man, I'm just
27:37
Speaker 1: chasing the kids. And then that's what happens now. You know,
27:41
Speaker 1: he realizes some things, you know, the embarrassment to his family, Uh,
27:47
Speaker 1: embarrassment to him. But that's part of life. I mean,
27:50
Speaker 1: you you you you pick up the pieces, you put
27:53
Speaker 1: it back together, and you'd be a better person. You
27:56
Speaker 1: just just try to do it one day at a time.
27:58
Speaker 1: And I think that's what he's doing. Those Jaguars were
28:02
Speaker 1: among the best teams in the a f C in
28:04
Speaker 1: ninety seven and ninety eight, and they were the best
28:06
Speaker 1: team in ninety nine except for the Titans. It was
28:10
Speaker 1: such a dislike that we felt like we had to
28:14
Speaker 1: go out and win instead of just playing like it
28:17
Speaker 1: was another team. It's kind of like you go the
28:23
Speaker 1: extra mile to try to beat them, but you overdo
28:25
Speaker 1: it instead of just being yourself, you know. I mean,
28:29
Speaker 1: I can remember the second game of the year that
28:38
Speaker 1: we were fourtune into an. I can remember Tom being
28:43
Speaker 1: furious because that week we had just one I think,
28:47
Speaker 1: and we're getting ready to play Tennessee, and his whole
28:51
Speaker 1: demeanor just changed that week. I'm like, we're thirteen and
28:56
Speaker 1: one right now, Let's go in here and play Jaguar
29:00
Speaker 1: football and not make a big deal about this, and
29:04
Speaker 1: let's play and see what happens. But everybody just seemed
29:08
Speaker 1: they got to get so uptight because it was Tennessee.
29:13
Speaker 1: Jeff Fisher, those guys that they beat us Hill, they
29:17
Speaker 1: beat us nine to six. I think in the rainy
29:19
Speaker 1: game here, it was a close game and we go
29:23
Speaker 1: up Tennisee and get our head beat in and I'm
29:28
Speaker 1: like and then everybody's like, well it was you guys
29:32
Speaker 1: had already clinched. It was just what formality this that
29:36
Speaker 1: and the other. I was like, no, it was too
29:39
Speaker 1: much of a dislike instead of personal about that one team.
29:46
Speaker 1: Instead of just playing this team as it's it's just
29:50
Speaker 1: another team. And I would say we played some better
29:53
Speaker 1: teams that year, you know, all before that, but it
29:58
Speaker 1: was just it's the Tennessee type. And I know it's
30:02
Speaker 1: a division game and divisional game, and you just gotta
30:08
Speaker 1: kind of sometimes you kind of have to go back
30:12
Speaker 1: to being yourself and playing your brand of football instead
30:16
Speaker 1: of trying to beat them and play who you are,
30:19
Speaker 1: Be who you are and let it happen and it
30:23
Speaker 1: will happen. And I really feel that way every time
30:26
Speaker 1: we play Tennessee, every time play them. After that, all
30:32
Speaker 1: it's just, uh, it's the Titans. We gotta do this
30:35
Speaker 1: and we get out of our game instead of playing
30:38
Speaker 1: jaguar football, and you know, and then coming in they
30:44
Speaker 1: beat us, uh three times, which is a big feat
30:51
Speaker 1: to do in the National Football League with all the
30:54
Speaker 1: film study and all that, and I think it got
30:57
Speaker 1: to be a mindset of who they were, and that
31:02
Speaker 1: was our big Achilles Hill from from from keeping us
31:07
Speaker 1: from from being in the Super Bowl. The talent on
31:10
Speaker 1: that team, No, I've been fourteen in two once in
31:19
Speaker 1: my career, no once in my career, have been twe
31:21
Speaker 1: before twice and that fourteen and two team was better
31:29
Speaker 1: than those two even four teams, but those two one
31:35
Speaker 1: of those two have but four teams got to the
31:37
Speaker 1: super Bowl. I think it's it's tryveristy because you look
31:45
Speaker 1: at the talent that was on that team, Corne l
31:47
Speaker 1: a Um, the Brackens, the Hearties, I mean the guys
31:55
Speaker 1: that Fred myself, I mean art to I mean you
32:01
Speaker 1: look at those look at the talent. You go down
32:03
Speaker 1: the line and it was it was set, and to
32:09
Speaker 1: not come through it, it was very disappointing for us
32:12
Speaker 1: that it It hurt us a lot. It's kind of
32:14
Speaker 1: like the franchise put all the eggs in the basket
32:18
Speaker 1: that year and we came up short, and then it's
32:22
Speaker 1: kind of like, let's go a different direction. It was like,
32:27
Speaker 1: it's kind of hard to say go to a different
32:29
Speaker 1: direction when there's only one team in the league that
32:32
Speaker 1: beat you. And I mean, I felt like that window
32:38
Speaker 1: of opportunity was still open for us and we should
32:41
Speaker 1: have kept it together one more time and let's see
32:44
Speaker 1: what happens. Because when you look at it, everybody was
32:47
Speaker 1: coming back. Everybody could have came back, you know, and
32:51
Speaker 1: I think that team would have been the team that
32:55
Speaker 1: that would have brought us a Super Bowl here more
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33:33
Speaker 1: by n c U. A. McCardell left in two thousand
33:38
Speaker 1: two and wouldn't return to Jacksonville until once again to
33:42
Speaker 1: lead the receivers. This time though from the front of
33:45
Speaker 1: the room coming back, I was so excited, um trying
33:51
Speaker 1: to get our franchise to being back in the limelight. Um.
34:01
Speaker 1: You know, winning a Super Bowl here is big for me.
34:05
Speaker 1: I mean even as a coach, because I feel like
34:10
Speaker 1: it's well deserved. It's been a lot of years of
34:14
Speaker 1: hard work for Mr Weaver um to Miss Weaver. I mean,
34:21
Speaker 1: they have they have put this franchise in the right direction.
34:26
Speaker 1: You know now that Mr Connor, he has it that
34:30
Speaker 1: now he has his going in the right direction. It's
34:34
Speaker 1: time for the Jaguars. Time for the city of Jacksonville,
34:37
Speaker 1: not just the jack was the city of Jacksonville to
34:39
Speaker 1: be seen as a champion, I mean a city of champions.
34:43
Speaker 1: And uh, I would love be a part of this,
34:47
Speaker 1: this this process of bringing it here because I mean,
34:52
Speaker 1: these fans in Jacksonville they deserve it, because they are
34:56
Speaker 1: one of the best fan bases that people don't know
34:59
Speaker 1: about out They know football, they know it from the
35:06
Speaker 1: ends and outs of football, and people don't realize it
35:09
Speaker 1: because it's such great college football here and they understand football.
35:15
Speaker 1: They love football. They eat and breathe football here in Jacksonville.
35:20
Speaker 1: And why not. It's Duvall and I should said the
35:25
Speaker 1: right way. Du All this time, though he didn't hesitate
35:31
Speaker 1: to work for the guy he once thought he couldn't
35:34
Speaker 1: play for, I care so much for him because he's
35:37
Speaker 1: a person that believed in me and gave me a
35:40
Speaker 1: true opportunity to be who I am now, who and
35:44
Speaker 1: who I always wanted to be in this in this league. Um.
35:47
Speaker 1: He believed in me. Um, That's all I wanted somebody
35:51
Speaker 1: to do is believe in me, because I'm gonna give
35:52
Speaker 1: you my best each and every day. Um. I played
35:57
Speaker 1: with an arrogancy because he has an errancy himself or
36:01
Speaker 1: being the best. Uh. It played right into what I wanted,
36:05
Speaker 1: what I needed as a coach. Um. You know, just
36:11
Speaker 1: him being who he is. He's straightforward, straight shooter. You know.
36:16
Speaker 1: I remember our conversations through the times of some situations
36:22
Speaker 1: that were happening here, you know, and I could come
36:25
Speaker 1: out and be myself and tell him the truth. He
36:28
Speaker 1: respected it. He might not have liked it, he still
36:31
Speaker 1: told me he didn't like it, but he respected it.
36:34
Speaker 1: And uh and in his own kind of way, he'll
36:37
Speaker 1: come back and say I hear you. He might not
36:40
Speaker 1: tell you right away, but in a way you and
36:42
Speaker 1: I kind of it's kind of like father's son. You
36:47
Speaker 1: You you kind of understand what he's talking about, and
36:52
Speaker 1: he kind of understands what you're talking about, and you
36:55
Speaker 1: get that that sense of all right, I got you,
36:59
Speaker 1: you know. And um, I mean he through all the
37:03
Speaker 1: times that he was tim the terrible we were rallying
37:07
Speaker 1: around ourselves, he he never waivered and I didn't expect
37:14
Speaker 1: him to waiver. But I could always go talk to
37:17
Speaker 1: him and and just say, hey, this is the field
37:21
Speaker 1: of the locker room. Um. You might not like it,
37:25
Speaker 1: but I'm telling you, Um, but we will handle it
37:30
Speaker 1: down there. You've got enough guys in the locker room
37:32
Speaker 1: that can handle it. Uh, you don't have to worry
37:34
Speaker 1: about it. We'll we'll get it together. You know. Tony
37:38
Speaker 1: was one of those guys too. It's like, we'll go
37:41
Speaker 1: down there and we'll get it together. And and he
37:45
Speaker 1: just let us be who we are, and we let
37:48
Speaker 1: him be who he was. The man noticed Thunder cares
37:52
Speaker 1: deeply about his legacy. He knows Jimmy what was the
37:54
Speaker 1: big play guy. And he's entirely comfortable with what he did,
37:58
Speaker 1: with what he meant, with what he means to the Jaguars.
38:02
Speaker 1: I'm that clutch guy. When you need it, call on
38:06
Speaker 1: me through whatever situation he was coming up with the football.
38:14
Speaker 1: You need a big play, called the playmaker, call me,
38:19
Speaker 1: called my number. It's gonna happen for us. Um. It's
38:22
Speaker 1: kind of funny you say that men Eric were great
38:26
Speaker 1: friends and being teammates in Cleveland and stuff like that.
38:32
Speaker 1: Every time I played that that franchise was always a
38:36
Speaker 1: little chip on my shoulder. So for you to say
38:40
Speaker 1: that that defined me, probably did because showed the arrogancy
38:45
Speaker 1: that I had and showed the determination to prove Baltimore wrong.
38:52
Speaker 1: It's just part of who I was. I mean, always
38:55
Speaker 1: trying to prove something, and that that that situation we
39:00
Speaker 1: needed it, We had to have it, so I had
39:03
Speaker 1: to make a catch, and me being that guy, being
39:06
Speaker 1: the guy that was supposed to make a catch. That's
39:09
Speaker 1: your job, because you are the leader. Let me leave.