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Senior Moments: Fleeky? · The Jacksonville Jaguars Official Podcast Network

0:01
Speaker 1: Something you may remember from the good old day. I
0:04
Speaker 1: feel so old. Senior Moment's crew with you here midweek
0:17
Speaker 1: and midway through the season, Brian Sexton, John Os, you're
0:21
Speaker 1: Joe Fortunato, who still does not have a voice in
0:23
Speaker 1: this thing. At some point you need to turn that
0:25
Speaker 1: microphone on and at least jump in here and say hello.
0:28
Speaker 1: He's waving folks welcome in Senior Moments. Lots to talk about,
0:33
Speaker 1: more than we possibly can, except that this football team,
0:37
Speaker 1: John is now sitting in first place with the Titans,
0:41
Speaker 1: and they're not sneaking up on anyone anymore. Now, all
0:45
Speaker 1: of a sudden, people around the league have an idea
0:47
Speaker 1: who this team is. Well, they're not a surprise anymore.
0:50
Speaker 1: They're not you know, our little Jaguars that you don't.
0:53
Speaker 1: I mean, he probably still haven't gotten the national recognition
0:56
Speaker 1: that a lot of fans would want. But people in
0:58
Speaker 1: the league know who they are and tee you the Chargers, um,
1:03
Speaker 1: who have beaten this team a lot in recent years.
1:07
Speaker 1: I imagine they're looking at film and for the players
1:10
Speaker 1: out there who may not get it. The coach is saying, hey,
1:12
Speaker 1: this is not the Jaguars. We've beaten a lot. I
1:15
Speaker 1: guarantee Philip Rivers is thinking that this is an aggressive,
1:19
Speaker 1: good team that by any measure, Brian, you're five and three.
1:23
Speaker 1: You had five blood. If people nationally didn't associate the
1:29
Speaker 1: Jaguars with losing in the past, I think they would
1:32
Speaker 1: easily look at this team and say five double digit
1:35
Speaker 1: victories by sixteen or more points. Number one of the
1:37
Speaker 1: league in sacks, number one of the league in passing defense,
1:40
Speaker 1: number one the league in rushing defense, top ten offense,
1:43
Speaker 1: top five defense, A bunch of guys who look like
1:47
Speaker 1: they're going to the Pro Bowl on on defense, improving quarterback,
1:52
Speaker 1: you would be depends on these guys. In is a
1:55
Speaker 1: favorite now and away from that, but they have to
1:58
Speaker 1: play that role now. They're would not not necessarily a
2:01
Speaker 1: favorite for the Super Bowl, but they're gonna be favored
2:03
Speaker 1: in a lot of the games. And hear all out
2:05
Speaker 1: Chargers Browns. I don't know about the cardinalship, but they're
2:08
Speaker 1: playing with Drew Stanton, so I would imagine they might
2:10
Speaker 1: be the Colts. The Seahawks come across the country. Who
2:13
Speaker 1: knows where there will be at that point, right, I
2:15
Speaker 1: mean you you could see them being favored in seven
2:18
Speaker 1: of the final eight games. Yeah, they gotta walk a
2:20
Speaker 1: little taller. Um, there's a different thing to you know.
2:24
Speaker 1: It felt the other day like when they were playing
2:27
Speaker 1: the Bengals, they still had a little bit maybe manufactured
2:33
Speaker 1: chip on their shoulder stuff. And I think it was
2:35
Speaker 1: easy to get because of the comments about Blake, what
2:38
Speaker 1: happened with Jalen. You know, uh, you were on the sidelines,
2:42
Speaker 1: you probably know better, but it just felt like it
2:44
Speaker 1: was still the Jay was still felt like the kid
2:48
Speaker 1: who are trying to prove themselves to the big brother,
2:50
Speaker 1: so to speak, a little bit of that. There's no doubt. Now.
2:53
Speaker 1: I don't know how much more you're gonna have that,
2:55
Speaker 1: because this is turning into a team that's good. Well,
2:57
Speaker 1: I want to tell you that I think that Tom
2:58
Speaker 1: Coughlin's statement yesterday about Jalen Ramsey. I I think that
3:03
Speaker 1: plays into us against the world mentality. Long you can
3:08
Speaker 1: hold that the better. And I think people who don't
3:11
Speaker 1: know Tom don't realize that he's not above doing that.
3:15
Speaker 1: He's not. He will do that in a heartbeat. And
3:18
Speaker 1: I imagine that those players in there when they read that,
3:21
Speaker 1: their chest boat up a little bit. You got it,
3:23
Speaker 1: Us against the rest of the league, and we got
3:25
Speaker 1: the guy in the corner with the rings Hall of
3:28
Speaker 1: Fame future. He's behind us now. Now we're gonna go
3:31
Speaker 1: out and play just like we did last week because
3:33
Speaker 1: our guys behind us. I thought it was a masterstroke.
3:35
Speaker 1: You know, I don't knowing players. I don't know that
3:40
Speaker 1: all sixty guys read it. And then they had a
3:44
Speaker 1: meeting and said we love talk. Not like there's four
3:48
Speaker 1: or five of them in there though that will take
3:49
Speaker 1: it and sayd you see this? Yeah, and again it
3:52
Speaker 1: won't be their overriding motivation, you know, but it'll be
3:58
Speaker 1: a thing where if they had any doubt if the
4:00
Speaker 1: quote old man supported, I mean, you know, uh, there's
4:04
Speaker 1: no doubt. And Tom probably doesn't get a chance to
4:07
Speaker 1: talk to the players, especially did a head coach obviously,
4:10
Speaker 1: so I think it was his way of saying, hey,
4:12
Speaker 1: I'm behind you, this whole organization is behind you. Um uh, jail,
4:17
Speaker 1: and we have your back. I thought there was nothing
4:19
Speaker 1: negative to it at all, So let me sure something
4:22
Speaker 1: that I witnessed with you from the sidelines that I
4:24
Speaker 1: don't I don't know if you could see from the
4:28
Speaker 1: press box or feeling the locker room afterwards. So as
4:31
Speaker 1: Jalen was leaving the field, there was this um simmering
4:35
Speaker 1: anger amongst the defense. Right. Uh, some of it was
4:39
Speaker 1: at a j green for the obvious, but the rest
4:40
Speaker 1: of it was, they're throwing our guy out. They came
4:43
Speaker 1: out in the second half and we're a buzz saw.
4:48
Speaker 1: I mean, if they were in the first half, then
4:51
Speaker 1: it was a lumber mill saw and sixteen total yards
4:55
Speaker 1: in the second half. They took apart the Bengals their
4:58
Speaker 1: intensity level, from Telvin to too Sean Gibson, who made
5:01
Speaker 1: a couple of big hits in the second half, to
5:03
Speaker 1: the guys up front. It was at a completely different,
5:05
Speaker 1: nearly scary level for an offensive line and for a
5:08
Speaker 1: quarterback to play at. And that's the thing about there's
5:12
Speaker 1: growth in that unit and they're playing at a high
5:15
Speaker 1: level already. Well it's you get to the points sometimes
5:19
Speaker 1: when you're seeing a team grow and you're so close
5:22
Speaker 1: to it that maybe you're missing the big picture. And
5:24
Speaker 1: I thought about it in the last couple of days.
5:25
Speaker 1: I was just sort of trying to figure out what
5:27
Speaker 1: I was gonna write this week. You wonder how good
5:29
Speaker 1: they can be, because right now they're good defensively, but
5:35
Speaker 1: in the last two or three games, really since the
5:37
Speaker 1: Colts game, even even sort of before then Steelers. When
5:42
Speaker 1: you see him midweek, you see him in the locker room,
5:45
Speaker 1: and I had this image in my mind of of
5:48
Speaker 1: Miles Jack sort of skipping through the locker room one
5:51
Speaker 1: day on his way out to a meeting, and the
5:55
Speaker 1: same bunch of guys, Miles and and and sort of
5:57
Speaker 1: the group he's around, just giddy on Thursday and Friday
6:01
Speaker 1: in the locker room, teasing one another, giving each other crap, etcetera, etcetera.
6:06
Speaker 1: But they really like playing together, and there's a there's
6:10
Speaker 1: a young feeling of excitement and of just enjoying what
6:14
Speaker 1: they're doing. And I mentioned that because it all sort
6:19
Speaker 1: of feels like it's feeding on themselves, that these guys
6:21
Speaker 1: really like each other. They're having fun, uh, and you
6:25
Speaker 1: wonder how much that can grow. It feels like this
6:29
Speaker 1: thing is just sort of starting. If you know, if
6:31
Speaker 1: you I mean, I've only known they're good. You think
6:33
Speaker 1: about it. They thought they were good in training camp,
6:37
Speaker 1: but they didn't know, and they hadn't played here the
6:41
Speaker 1: second year. He hadn't been out there, and you get
6:43
Speaker 1: the feeling of Week one, dominate, lose, win, lose winter
6:49
Speaker 1: and now all of a sudden they're figuring out, we
6:51
Speaker 1: can do this all the time and this is a
6:53
Speaker 1: lot of fun. So midway through the season, I look
6:56
Speaker 1: at some of the best teams in the league. I
6:59
Speaker 1: just grabbed NFL dot COM's power rankings for whatever it's
7:02
Speaker 1: subjectives they might be. But you know, you have a
7:04
Speaker 1: Rams team that most people think is one of the
7:06
Speaker 1: two or three best teams in the league right They
7:08
Speaker 1: put up fifty one last week. They put a forty
7:10
Speaker 1: over the Cardinals when they were in London. One town,
7:13
Speaker 1: one touchdown on offense, if it weren't four, the punt return,
7:18
Speaker 1: the block punt, and the shank I'm sorry, the kickoff returned,
7:20
Speaker 1: the block punt, and the shank punt which directly led
7:23
Speaker 1: to seventeen points. You're talking about this team having beaten
7:28
Speaker 1: a team that most people think is the best team
7:30
Speaker 1: in the league right now and really allowed one good
7:33
Speaker 1: touchdown Dry had aside from that. Not so and the
7:37
Speaker 1: and the Steelers, another team that most people have amongst
7:39
Speaker 1: the top five in these subjective rankings. Jack Wis didn't
7:42
Speaker 1: let them score a touchdown and intercepted Ben Roethlisberger five times.
7:46
Speaker 1: So it brings me to this question that I asked myself.
7:49
Speaker 1: Is there a team in this game that the Jaguars
7:52
Speaker 1: couldn't beat? No? No, they absolutely not that you could
7:58
Speaker 1: match them up. There's not a matchup that you say,
8:00
Speaker 1: we don't like that. No, Tom Brady is true like that. Okay,
8:04
Speaker 1: most people don't. But their defense in in New England
8:08
Speaker 1: isn't very good at all, so maybe it's a better
8:10
Speaker 1: matchup than it has been. But the Eagles, uh, you know,
8:13
Speaker 1: the Saints, these other teams that are surging, the Vikings.
8:18
Speaker 1: There's not a matchup there that you say that's bad. Yeah,
8:22
Speaker 1: you know couch that I say. And at some point
8:25
Speaker 1: to get there, you're probably gonna have to win three
8:29
Speaker 1: or four in a row. I look at this team
8:31
Speaker 1: and there's still in consistencies in places where it's hard
8:36
Speaker 1: to pick him to win four in a row. And
8:40
Speaker 1: that's what you gotta do, the playoffs, one at a time.
8:42
Speaker 1: And I'm not trying to get to you that they've
8:44
Speaker 1: arrived and they belong in that um, but they're on
8:47
Speaker 1: the cusp of it. In other words, they're proving weekend
8:49
Speaker 1: and we got with the double digit victories and what
8:51
Speaker 1: they're doing on defense, and the way that Blake Boardles
8:54
Speaker 1: is playing right now, and we've got to focus some
8:56
Speaker 1: attention on him. But the reality of it is is
8:58
Speaker 1: that the way this team stays healthy, which they have
9:02
Speaker 1: done for the most part a rob side, they can
9:05
Speaker 1: line up and play on any given Sunday with anyone
9:08
Speaker 1: in this league. And how long has it been since
9:10
Speaker 1: we've said that? You tell me, because I've never said it.
9:13
Speaker 1: Sent back, I'm not. I'm not sure we've said it.
9:17
Speaker 1: I'm I don't think we said it in two thousand seven.
9:20
Speaker 1: This was the last playoff team. We didn't in five,
9:22
Speaker 1: which was the playoff team previous to that. Knew they
9:26
Speaker 1: could line. My perception from a distance, you know, I
9:30
Speaker 1: observed the Jaguars teams in oh five, oh seven, oh six,
9:34
Speaker 1: was that on on a given day, they could obviously
9:36
Speaker 1: go be a team like the Colts. The perception of
9:39
Speaker 1: them at the time was that they would have trouble
9:43
Speaker 1: doing that week to week to week because they had
9:46
Speaker 1: an up and down field. Now this team has had
9:48
Speaker 1: that before. There's something about this defense, Brian. You always
9:51
Speaker 1: had the feeling in those first eight games of this season.
9:54
Speaker 1: That and I said it many times. Don't say that
9:58
Speaker 1: the defense is playing in consists sly, you know, don't
10:01
Speaker 1: lump that group into the up and down field, because
10:04
Speaker 1: they've been consistent since Week one. I mean they for
10:07
Speaker 1: the most part, a half against the Titans, a couple
10:10
Speaker 1: of plays against the Jets. Well, in this league, if
10:13
Speaker 1: you can point to a half and a couple of plays, well,
10:16
Speaker 1: that stuff happens. This has been a remarkably consistent defense
10:19
Speaker 1: that has played the same way, uh with the same
10:22
Speaker 1: intensity to a degree that you know it's up there.
10:27
Speaker 1: I have a tough time seeing I don't cover all
10:29
Speaker 1: thirty two. I don't know that there's any defenses that
10:32
Speaker 1: have played consistently weekend and week out with the fury
10:36
Speaker 1: and the effectiveness. If this team has free games, but
10:38
Speaker 1: the numbers say there hasn't been in a decade. But
10:40
Speaker 1: we can save that, you know, see how they do
10:42
Speaker 1: down the line. Speaking of consistency, consistency, two weeks, two
10:47
Speaker 1: games in the last three weeks, like Bortles has looked
10:49
Speaker 1: like a quarterback that you can win with. And and
10:52
Speaker 1: I'm not sure that either one of us was willing
10:54
Speaker 1: to say that after the Titans game in Week two,
10:57
Speaker 1: decision making. I thought he was good against the Colts.
11:00
Speaker 1: I thought the game Sunday against the Bengals was hands
11:05
Speaker 1: down the best game he's ever had, and much better
11:09
Speaker 1: than everybody always those out two thousand and fifteen. He
11:12
Speaker 1: did it Sunday when it mattered. He did it Sunday.
11:14
Speaker 1: That game ended up sixteen points, but when he was
11:17
Speaker 1: doing his best quarterback in the other day, the best
11:19
Speaker 1: third down decision making, accuracy, right decision before during the play.
11:25
Speaker 1: It was a close game where a lot of those
11:28
Speaker 1: third downs he converted. If he hadn't converted him, it's
11:31
Speaker 1: a six point game, or since Andy can go score.
11:33
Speaker 1: There were some pressure, clutch plays and he made him again.
11:36
Speaker 1: I keep going back to three times in the last
11:39
Speaker 1: six games he's played as well as I've ever seen
11:41
Speaker 1: him play. You wonder if that can continue. UH nine
11:45
Speaker 1: of eleven at one point on third down, and there
11:47
Speaker 1: were a couple of throws, one on the move on
11:49
Speaker 1: third and seven in the fourth quarter. UH. Game was
11:54
Speaker 1: out of hand by then, it was long since decided
11:56
Speaker 1: because of the defense, but the quality of the throw
11:59
Speaker 1: was remarkable and it engaged that eight minute and thirty
12:03
Speaker 1: three second drive to the point that the Bengals couldn't
12:06
Speaker 1: even get the ball back and allowed the defense just
12:09
Speaker 1: stand there with their helmets in hand and enjoy the
12:11
Speaker 1: fact that they were only playing thirty seven snaps thirty
12:14
Speaker 1: five really because two of those were Bengals kneel downs
12:17
Speaker 1: at the end. Are you kidding? What they do and
12:22
Speaker 1: what they're doing this year is absurd? And uh, it's
12:28
Speaker 1: not like they've done it against all I get that
12:31
Speaker 1: the Bengals are struggling a little bit, but there's talent
12:33
Speaker 1: on that team Pittsburgh, etcetera. They haven't played the Browns
12:36
Speaker 1: and they don't see the Niners still Christmas Eve. Which
12:38
Speaker 1: you wonder about Blake is this decision making. Um, it's
12:44
Speaker 1: it's been so good the last couple of games that
12:47
Speaker 1: you wonder if if he's starting to get it in
12:50
Speaker 1: on Nathaniel Hackett's offense. And I know they believe that
12:55
Speaker 1: he's starting to get that, starting to get what his
12:57
Speaker 1: decision making is supposed to be within it. It will
13:00
Speaker 1: be very interesting to me to see if he can
13:02
Speaker 1: continue the third down check to the right receiver stuff
13:08
Speaker 1: that he has done in the last two days because
13:09
Speaker 1: that's what to me, he couldn't do in two thousand
13:12
Speaker 1: and fifteen. That's separated that year from being a truly
13:15
Speaker 1: good year. He's doing it now, and uh, that's big stuff.
13:20
Speaker 1: That's big time stuff, all right. So Sunday, it's almost
13:24
Speaker 1: tried to say, boy, this is a really big game. Um,
13:27
Speaker 1: it is because you're in the first place tie with
13:29
Speaker 1: the Titans. And and I contend that this is a
13:33
Speaker 1: really really big game because the Titans have the Bengals.
13:36
Speaker 1: So you assume that they're going to beat that Bengals
13:38
Speaker 1: team that we saw last week. If if that Bengals
13:40
Speaker 1: team shows up their six and three, then they have
13:43
Speaker 1: a Thursday night game in Pittsburgh who they have not played.
13:46
Speaker 1: You've played some tougher games on the common schedule already,
13:50
Speaker 1: and you go to the Browns. So it seems to
13:54
Speaker 1: me like you get this one, then you have a
13:56
Speaker 1: shot to go up a game the week after because
13:58
Speaker 1: they face now they can go win in it. But
14:00
Speaker 1: short week in Pittsburgh, the way the Steelers are playing
14:03
Speaker 1: right now, it seems like puts more onus on this game.
14:05
Speaker 1: There are people, for some reason in the fan base
14:08
Speaker 1: the observer world who tend to discount Tennessee and I don't.
14:11
Speaker 1: I don't understand it. Um to me, Tennessee is extremely
14:15
Speaker 1: dangerous for a couple of reasons. Like you said, they
14:17
Speaker 1: play the same schedule essentially in the Jack was a
14:20
Speaker 1: couple of mixed in there, but they also have a
14:22
Speaker 1: home game against the jack as the end of the season.
14:25
Speaker 1: Jacks need to get to ahead at some point or
14:28
Speaker 1: win that game. Now. I don't know what the tie
14:30
Speaker 1: it's truly know the tiebreaker there, but the doesn't it
14:34
Speaker 1: feel like Brian that they need some going to do.
14:37
Speaker 1: They need to get some space or they're gonna have
14:39
Speaker 1: to win that game at the end of the season,
14:41
Speaker 1: no matter how good you're playing, going and winning in
14:43
Speaker 1: that house with the division on the line, if that's
14:45
Speaker 1: what it is, is big. So the Jailers have been winning.
14:50
Speaker 1: They need to run off some games in a row
14:51
Speaker 1: now and try to get some distance. Well, when you
14:53
Speaker 1: look at the Titan schedule, you know they have the
14:56
Speaker 1: Thursday game in Pittsburgh and then they get the Colts
15:00
Speaker 1: and the Texans right behind you. So when I look
15:03
Speaker 1: at the schedules and football people won't agree with this
15:05
Speaker 1: at all. But when you look at the schedule. They
15:07
Speaker 1: still have the Steelers and they have the Rams, right,
15:10
Speaker 1: you have the Seahawks and then they each have each other.
15:13
Speaker 1: Obviously also goes Arizona, which is a tough and they
15:18
Speaker 1: have the Cardinals as well. But Drew Stanton, it's not
15:20
Speaker 1: like you're going to face Carson Palmer and David Johnson
15:23
Speaker 1: and Calais Campbell. Right, I'm looking at games that I
15:26
Speaker 1: think are those pivotal games, and they've got I think
15:30
Speaker 1: they've got one more than you do. So you have
15:32
Speaker 1: to take advantage home games in particular, You've got to
15:35
Speaker 1: take advantage of it. And that means this week they
15:37
Speaker 1: have got to play lights out against Philip Rivers. And
15:41
Speaker 1: I said it all week, this has been a nemesis
15:43
Speaker 1: team for the Jaguars. Philip Rivers has been maybe the
15:47
Speaker 1: nemesis player and observers are gonna have a monkey on
15:50
Speaker 1: their back field for this game. I'm interested when we
15:54
Speaker 1: go talk to players in a little while if they
15:56
Speaker 1: feel that as well, because I'm not sure they're going to.
15:59
Speaker 1: I don't think they do it all. I think they
16:00
Speaker 1: think that they should be able to rush this guy
16:03
Speaker 1: beat him. I don't think they're scared of Philip Rivers,
16:06
Speaker 1: Is Campbell, Marcel Darius. Yeah, they've never experienced that, so
16:11
Speaker 1: I mean it's a different bunch of cats that that
16:13
Speaker 1: Rivers is playing this week. So we'll leave it on
16:16
Speaker 1: that a different bunch of cats did with the Claws
16:19
Speaker 1: Out and my hip. I don't know. Did you use
16:21
Speaker 1: the word lit? I will in the next here's a
16:25
Speaker 1: nothing your moment. What does fleaky mean? Do you know?
16:29
Speaker 1: I'll google it? When I the other day when we
16:31
Speaker 1: did UM drive time, I used the word lit and
16:35
Speaker 1: it was I guess it's the word my kids use.
16:38
Speaker 1: And someone afterwards said to me, why micks fleaky in?
16:41
Speaker 1: And I went, what's that? That's what you find fleaking
16:44
Speaker 1: for me? They said, well, it's it's the state of fleakness.
16:46
Speaker 1: And I know, I said, if I go on Miriam
16:48
Speaker 1: Webster's dot com if I gonna find that word. They said,
16:53
Speaker 1: you're playing at a new level of cool for me,
16:55
Speaker 1: the feeling fleaky. We will sign off for Joe Fortunato
16:59
Speaker 1: and John Ozier. Bryan Sexton here senior moments Rear Fleet,
17:03
Speaker 1: The Out