Latest / The Jacksonville Jaguars Official Podcast Network / A Few Good Minutes | Jags’ “Next Man Up” Mentality for TNF vs. Ravens
Transcript
- 0:19Speaker 1: Welcome to A Few Good Minutes. And this week, the
- 0:22Speaker 1: emphasis is on few.
- 0:24Speaker 2: Because the turnaround from the end of the Colts game
- 0:26Speaker 2: on Sunday to kickoff on Thursday in Baltimore is something
- 0:29Speaker 2: like 100 hours.
- 0:31Speaker 1: Honestly, the week has been a blur.
- 0:33Speaker 2: I'm surprised I have everything ready to go for the
- 0:35Speaker 2: Publix pregame show and countdown to kickoff. I can't imagine
- 0:39Speaker 2: how fast the week has flown by for the coaches
- 0:41Speaker 2: and the players. The Jaguars, of course, are coming off
- 0:44Speaker 2: that 42-7 dismantling of the Indianapolis Colts, where nearly everything
- 0:48Speaker 2: that could go right did.
- 0:50Speaker 1: Emphasis there on nearly.
- 0:53Speaker 2: The loss of nose tackle Devon Hamilton, who would be
- 0:55Speaker 2: classified as all-world if there was such a designation, is
- 0:59Speaker 2: huge for the defense. And not just because Devon is
- 1:02Speaker 2: a big, powerful man. The Jaguars' run defense is the
- 1:05Speaker 2: best in the NFL again this season, allowing just 77
- 1:08Speaker 2: yards on the ground every game. And if they somehow
- 1:11Speaker 2: keep Derrick Henry under 75 yards on Thursday night, difficult,
- 1:15Speaker 2: I know. They'll become just the third team in the
- 1:17Speaker 2: Super Bowl era to hold opposing running backs to 75
- 1:21Speaker 2: yards or fewer in 25 consecutive games. So I went
- 1:26Speaker 2: to the guy I thought might be stressing a bit
- 1:28Speaker 2: over the loss of such an important player, defensive line
- 1:31Speaker 2: coach Matt Edwards. To be sure, he hates to lose
- 1:34Speaker 2: a player and a person the caliber of Devon. They
- 1:37Speaker 2: don't come any better. But he knows he can't do
- 1:39Speaker 2: anything but move forward with the guys he has. And
- 1:42Speaker 2: he's excited about them. He says they are also.
- 1:48Speaker 3: Everybody's preparing every day as if they're the starter. With
- 1:51Speaker 3: the expectation that when their number gets called, they're in
- 1:56Speaker 3: the game. And we have a standard around here. And
- 1:59Speaker 3: it doesn't matter what the name on the back of
- 2:00Speaker 3: your jersey is. It matters on the side of the helmet.
- 2:03Speaker 3: And that's the standard we're going to live up to.
- 2:05Speaker 1: A couple of young guys.
- 2:06Speaker 2: Albert Regis in particular is someone that the coach and
- 2:08Speaker 2: the general manager have talked a lot about.
- 2:09Speaker 1: What have you seen from Albert Regis so far?
- 2:11Speaker 3: Albert's done a great job. Obviously a little bit of
- 2:13Speaker 3: a setback earlier in camp, but since he's gotten back
- 2:17Speaker 3: every day he's working. He's being very deliberate in his practice.
- 2:22Speaker 3: He's continuing to grow, continuing to develop. Really proud of
- 2:27Speaker 3: the effort that he's put in and really excited to
- 2:29Speaker 3: see him out there.
- 2:30Speaker 1: And he's not a young guy.
- 2:31Speaker 2: He plays a lot for you, but Matt Dickerson's a
- 2:33Speaker 2: guy who Seems to have that strength profile to be
- 2:36Speaker 2: able to get in there and do what Devon did.
- 2:39Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, the greatest quality Dickey has is just
- 2:42Speaker 3: a toughness that is so fun to watch, so fun
- 2:46Speaker 3: to coach. He works to be a technician, and if
- 2:53Speaker 3: nothing else, he's physical.
- 2:56Speaker 2: The run defense is all 11, I get that. But
- 2:58Speaker 2: you guys are so good up front at the line
- 3:00Speaker 2: of scrimmage with your stuff percentage. What is it that
- 3:03Speaker 2: your guys do so well to set up everyone else
- 3:05Speaker 2: with their run defense?
- 3:06Speaker 3: I think that not just the D-line, but everybody on
- 3:09Speaker 3: the defense buys into the play style of we are
- 3:13Speaker 3: going to do job one first, and that's whoop the man.
- 3:16Speaker 3: And after we whoop the man, we don't stay blocked.
- 3:20Speaker 1: Whoop the man. What does that really mean?
- 3:22Speaker 3: It means put your eyes on your key. address the
- 3:24Speaker 3: guy trying to block with you, and win that one-on-one matchup.
- 3:29Speaker 2: You were with Derrick Henry for a time in Tennessee.
- 3:31Speaker 2: What do you know about him that makes him such
- 3:34Speaker 2: a great player?
- 3:36Speaker 3: I mean, Derrick's a great human. He's incredibly talented. He's
- 3:41Speaker 3: a rare mix of size and speed. And I enjoyed
- 3:44Speaker 3: my time there with him in Tennessee, and I'm excited
- 3:46Speaker 3: to compete against him here this week.
- 3:49Speaker 1: What do you tell your guys about getting that guy
- 3:51Speaker 1: on the ground?
- 3:53Speaker 3: Same thing we tell everybody. Don't stay blocked. We want
- 3:56Speaker 3: violent clamps, and we want population to the ball. The
- 3:59Speaker 3: idea is don't let them get started.
- 4:01Speaker 2: That makes a big difference, and we've obviously seen big
- 4:03Speaker 2: games from him this year. How about the challenge of
- 4:06Speaker 2: the quarterback position? Lamar is obviously a huge challenge, but
- 4:09Speaker 2: he's not playing, and Huntley might not play. It could
- 4:12Speaker 2: be an undrafted rookie. As a defensive lineman, how do
- 4:14Speaker 2: you prepare for that unknown?
- 4:17Speaker 3: We try to do our best to give our guys
- 4:18Speaker 3: as much information about the matchups that they have the
- 4:23Speaker 3: play style of the players that they're playing against. But
- 4:25Speaker 3: at the end of the day, it's really about focusing
- 4:27Speaker 3: on your job. If everybody's doing their job, then it
- 4:32Speaker 3: really shouldn't matter who's back there. Certainly there's some adjustments
- 4:35Speaker 3: from time to time, but the focus here is about us.
- 4:38Speaker 3: They have to deal with us.
- 4:41Speaker 1: Final thought then. Short week.
- 4:44Speaker 2: Lots of people have to do it, but 100 hours
- 4:46Speaker 2: basically from the end of one game until the start
- 4:48Speaker 2: of another.
- 4:49Speaker 1: How do you get ready for this?
- 4:51Speaker 2: From your perspective and the players, how do you maximize
- 4:53Speaker 2: the short time that you have?
- 4:55Speaker 3: I think for the players, it starts with rest, recovery, hydration,
- 5:03Speaker 3: body maintenance. Then we're not physically able to practice like
- 5:09Speaker 3: a typical week, so we really have to be tuned
- 5:11Speaker 3: in in meetings. We really have to take advantage of walkthroughs.
- 5:15Speaker 3: As coaches, we have to condense a lot of information
- 5:20Speaker 3: and get it to them in a clear, concise way
- 5:22Speaker 3: so that these guys can go out there and play
- 5:24Speaker 3: fast and play violent and physical.
- 5:26Speaker 1: Thursday night football. Best of luck, coach. Go get them
- 5:28Speaker 1: out there.
- 5:28Speaker 3: Thank you very much.
- 5:33Speaker 2: I absolutely love the four down segment I came up
- 5:35Speaker 2: with on the fly in London when I needed something different.
- 5:39Speaker 2: It's not original, I know, but it fits. And the
- 5:41Speaker 2: players seem to enjoy talking about things other than football.
- 5:44Speaker 2: I was in the locker room after talking to Coach Edwards,
- 5:47Speaker 2: looking for an interesting player to target when Albert Regis
- 5:49Speaker 2: walked by.
- 5:51Speaker 1: Bingo. This is providential timing, I thought. Little did I know.
- 5:55Speaker 2: Regis was terrific, and hopefully he performs as well on
- 5:59Speaker 2: the grass on Thursday night as he did in the
- 6:01Speaker 2: locker room on Tuesday afternoon. He's a wonderful young man
- 6:04Speaker 2: with a great disposition and energetic outlook on life and football.
- 6:09Speaker 2: He's also a promising young defensive tackle, which is why
- 6:12Speaker 2: the Jaguars made him a third-round pick in the draft
- 6:14Speaker 2: back in April. Here's this week's Four Downs.
- 6:17Speaker 1: Enjoy.
- 6:24Speaker 2: Fourth down, how hard is it to watch a teammate
- 6:26Speaker 2: go down for the season, even though it means an
- 6:28Speaker 2: opportunity for you?
- 6:29Speaker 4: I mean, it hurts watching one of my teammates go down,
- 6:32Speaker 4: especially a really close friend of mine, one of my
- 6:34Speaker 4: best friends, watching.
- 6:35Speaker 5: Him go down.
- 6:36Speaker 4: I mean, it wasn't something... that we all wanted to
- 6:39Speaker 4: see and it was really painful to watch.
- 6:42Speaker 2: Third down what's been the biggest transition for you from
- 6:45Speaker 2: their high level of college football to the nfl.
- 6:48Speaker 4: Um it's been a easy transition i mean just learning
- 6:52Speaker 4: the speed of the game that's really the biggest difference
- 6:54Speaker 4: but football is football at the end of the day
- 6:56Speaker 4: so as long as i got my cleats in the
- 6:58Speaker 4: ground and my eyes and hands are right i mean
- 7:00Speaker 4: everything else just works.
- 7:02Speaker 2: Out second down What's it like to go home to
- 7:05Speaker 2: a wife and a child? Not every player in this
- 7:07Speaker 2: locker room has that calming feature. How does it help
- 7:09Speaker 2: you be a professional to have that responsibility?
- 7:13Speaker 4: I mean, it's a blessing. I mean, God blessed us
- 7:15Speaker 4: with such an amazing opportunity. And for me to go
- 7:18Speaker 4: home to a loving wife and a daughter, I mean,
- 7:21Speaker 4: it makes everything just a whole lot better. And it
- 7:24Speaker 4: allows me to decompress and go from you know the
- 7:27Speaker 4: athlete who i am the man who i am to
- 7:29Speaker 4: the husband and father that i am and the man
- 7:31Speaker 4: who god calls me to be most importantly so as
- 7:34Speaker 4: long as i carry god through it all that i
- 7:36Speaker 4: just remind myself he's the reason i get to do
- 7:38Speaker 4: this and he's the reason i have my family and
- 7:40Speaker 4: everything i mean we rely on him heavy and that's just.
- 7:43Speaker 2: How we live and first down albert Primetime football. It's
- 7:47Speaker 2: your first primetime game as a professional. What's this week
- 7:51Speaker 2: been like? A hundred hours from the end of the
- 7:54Speaker 2: Colts game to the start of the Ravens game.
- 7:56Speaker 1: How focused do you have to be?
- 7:57Speaker 4: I mean, this game is just going to come down
- 7:59Speaker 4: to will and who wants it more. I mean, both
- 8:02Speaker 4: teams are hurting. I mean, we know how this game goes.
- 8:05Speaker 4: So everyone's in the same spot. So it's just going
- 8:08Speaker 4: to come down to will. I'm excited to be a
- 8:10Speaker 4: part of this. This is a great opportunity for everyone here,
- 8:13Speaker 4: including myself. And You know, I just view this, I mean,
- 8:15Speaker 4: it's another game. Yes, it's primetime, but I just always
- 8:19Speaker 4: see it as another opportunity to showcase the glory of
- 8:21Speaker 4: God in my play and redirect all the glory to Him.
- 8:25Speaker 1: Thank you for pouring out.
- 8:26Speaker 5: Yes, sir, anytime.
- 8:29Speaker 2: The story of the Jaguars' offseason was their move to
- 8:32Speaker 2: heavy formations. 12 and 13 personnel, for those of you
- 8:35Speaker 2: football-savvy listeners. The Los Angeles Rams and their head coach,
- 8:39Speaker 2: Sean McVay, a coach and a team that head coach
- 8:42Speaker 2: Liam Cohen has an affinity for, used multiple tight end
- 8:45Speaker 2: sets last season to their great advantage, and to the
- 8:48Speaker 2: detriment of most of their opponents, including Cohen's Jaguars, who
- 8:51Speaker 2: struggled to slow them down in that 35-7 loss at
- 8:54Speaker 2: Wembley in London. So, Cohen countered, or copied, whatever your perspective.
- 8:59Speaker 2: That's for me, he said, and they drafted Nate Borkature
- 9:01Speaker 2: in the second round, and Tanner Koziol in the fifth,
- 9:04Speaker 2: and they've set about using the heavy formations to great success.
- 9:08Speaker 2: One of the big beneficiaries of 12 and 13 personnel
- 9:10Speaker 2: is Brenton Strange, who's always been a terrific run blocker. But,
- 9:15Speaker 2: who is also an all-around chess piece now for Cohen.
- 9:18Speaker 1: Is he going to block?
- 9:19Speaker 2: Is he going to run down the seam? Defenders have
- 9:21Speaker 2: to guess, and we saw the Colts guess wrong last
- 9:23Speaker 2: week to the tune of 46 yards, that career-long reception
- 9:27Speaker 2: for Strange. I asked him about getting ready for the
- 9:29Speaker 2: Ravens in 100 hours.
- 9:37Speaker 6: Yeah, I mean, it's just our preparation every single day.
- 9:39Speaker 6: You know, it's the guys that we have in this
- 9:41Speaker 6: locker room who come to work every single day, and
- 9:43Speaker 6: Just put our best foot forward and focus in on
- 9:45Speaker 6: the details that the coaches preach. That's all it is,
- 9:49Speaker 6: just putting our best foot forward. I don't think that
- 9:51Speaker 6: we have reached what we can reach yet, but we're
- 9:53Speaker 6: just going to keep going and keep doing what we do.
- 9:55Speaker 2: The heavy packages were the story all offseason with the
- 9:57Speaker 2: tight ends. How has it worked out in 12 and 13?
- 10:00Speaker 1: Personnel? It sure seems to, from our perspective, to be
- 10:03Speaker 1: working well.
- 10:04Speaker 6: It's a good marriage. You can do anything out of it. Run, pass,
- 10:07Speaker 6: even expand the field and get us all wide. We
- 10:10Speaker 6: got the guys to do that. Everybody's athletic in this
- 10:13Speaker 6: tight end room. It just gives you the availability to
- 10:16Speaker 6: do certain things that maybe if you don't have those
- 10:19Speaker 6: guys that can't do so it's it's really fun as
- 10:22Speaker 6: well you know it puts a lot on our plate
- 10:25Speaker 6: but that's what we want and that's what we look
- 10:27Speaker 6: forward to.
- 10:27Speaker 2: That was one of the storylines that it would open
- 10:29Speaker 2: you up to do more things and of course we
- 10:30Speaker 2: saw the longest reception in your career is there another
- 10:34Speaker 2: level for you.
- 10:34Speaker 6: There's always another level for me man I'm always trying
- 10:37Speaker 6: to find ways to get better trying to find ways
- 10:39Speaker 6: to improve and I'm always trying to just reach that
- 10:42Speaker 6: next thing you know I don't ever kind of be
- 10:44Speaker 6: complacent I always just want to continue getting better.
- 10:47Speaker 2: When did you know that Nate Borkertscher was going to
- 10:48Speaker 2: be able to come in here and make an impact
- 10:50Speaker 2: as a rookie?
- 10:52Speaker 6: I'd say it probably took me a couple of times,
- 10:54Speaker 6: you know, a couple of practices and OTAs. But, you know,
- 10:56Speaker 6: once we got in together, you know, it's a big
- 10:59Speaker 6: thing with the Y and the F of having the chemistry.
- 11:01Speaker 6: And once we started building that chemistry together, you know,
- 11:03Speaker 6: on and off the field, things just started clicking for us.
- 11:06Speaker 5: And I knew right away.
- 11:07Speaker 2: There's a trust factor with every player, isn't there? It's
- 11:09Speaker 2: not just the quarterback and the tight end or the
- 11:10Speaker 2: quarterback and the receivers. It's the guy that you line
- 11:12Speaker 2: up with.
- 11:12Speaker 5: Yeah, no doubt.
- 11:13Speaker 6: You know, and that's something that has to be built.
- 11:15Speaker 6: You know, he sees things or he calls out certain
- 11:17Speaker 6: calls during the game to relay it to me or
- 11:19Speaker 6: I'll call out something to relay it to him. So
- 11:22Speaker 6: it's always chemistry and within the game.
- 11:25Speaker 2: Tell me about this week and 100 hours between the
- 11:27Speaker 2: end of the Colts game and the start of the
- 11:28Speaker 2: Ravens game. Is there a process that you have or
- 11:31Speaker 2: some secret, something you eat, sleep, acupuncture?
- 11:34Speaker 1: How do you get ready?
- 11:35Speaker 5: Sleep more.
- 11:36Speaker 6: That's the number one thing always is you want to
- 11:38Speaker 6: try to get as much sleep as you can. That's
- 11:40Speaker 6: the number one thing for recovery, but we're just going
- 11:43Speaker 6: to grind it out and we're going to be ready
- 11:44Speaker 6: to play on Thursday.
- 11:45Speaker 2: Let's end with a big story, and that's the way
- 11:47Speaker 2: that this quarterback is playing. You've been working with him
- 11:49Speaker 2: for a couple of years right now. I don't want
- 11:51Speaker 2: to use the word surprise because football players are rarely surprised,
- 11:53Speaker 2: but is there some part of you that's like, wow,
- 11:55Speaker 2: look at what he's doing?
- 11:56Speaker 6: Nah, this is always who he's been, man. This is
- 11:58Speaker 6: always who he showed since I've been here as a
- 12:00Speaker 6: rookie and I'm just happy for him. This is what
- 12:03Speaker 6: he does. Every time he steps on the field, he's
- 12:05Speaker 6: the best player on the field and he's showing that.
- 12:07Speaker 1: It's fun to be a Jaguar right now, isn't it?
- 12:08Speaker 5: It's always fun to be a Jaguar.
- 12:10Speaker 1: Best of luck tonight.
- 12:15Speaker 2: We'll wrap again this week with my conversation with Pride
- 12:18Speaker 2: of the Jaguars running back Fred Taylor, who has a
- 12:20Speaker 2: lot to say about his favorite football team. I caught
- 12:23Speaker 2: up with Fred while he was on the set of
- 12:24Speaker 2: The Pivot in New York. Taylor takes up the case
- 12:27Speaker 2: of the often overlooked Jaguars with his podcast partners. And
- 12:30Speaker 2: as you'll hear, They're starting to come around to the
- 12:32Speaker 2: team from the smaller market in North Florida that might
- 12:34Speaker 2: be the best bunch in football. We covered the gamut
- 12:37Speaker 2: this week from the quick turnaround to the quarterback, and
- 12:39Speaker 2: as always, his perspective is so valuable as we get
- 12:43Speaker 2: ready for a big game, something he knows a lot about.
- 12:46Speaker 2: We start with the same theme of those 100 hours,
- 12:48Speaker 2: which Fred the player didn't always appreciate, but now Fred
- 12:52Speaker 2: the businessman completely understands.
- 12:54Speaker 7: You know, I think if it wasn't spoke about as
- 13:01Speaker 7: much Mentally, you completely just throw it out. Your job
- 13:06Speaker 7: is to show up, be ready to play. And I
- 13:10Speaker 7: think from a physical standpoint, usually that's the toughest because
- 13:14Speaker 7: there are some things we can do schematically, preparation-wise, to
- 13:18Speaker 7: simplify the game plan so we can play fast, play
- 13:21Speaker 7: without obviously having to overthink. And I think if they
- 13:25Speaker 7: can tone it down and get it to that point,
- 13:27Speaker 7: then you give yourself an opportunity to be successful It's
- 13:32Speaker 7: the physical part of getting back. How well can you
- 13:37Speaker 7: take care of your body inside the first 48 hours
- 13:42Speaker 7: post-game and then preparing for the game? How could you
- 13:48Speaker 7: recover in terms of lymphatic drain techniques, getting all of
- 13:52Speaker 7: the lactic acid that built up over the previous game?
- 13:56Speaker 5: How can you get that out? And simply, that's by
- 13:58Speaker 5: way of routines.
- 14:00Speaker 7: Usually most guys are ready to get back to practice
- 14:02Speaker 7: during the week on Thursdays. At Wednesdays, late Thursdays, you
- 14:08Speaker 7: feel fresh.
- 14:09Speaker 5: So by Thursday morning, their legs should be back.
- 14:13Speaker 7: And then, you know, by Thursday night, they'll be able
- 14:16Speaker 7: to go full speed as long as they didn't sustain
- 14:18Speaker 7: sort of a major injury the Sunday before.
- 14:22Speaker 5: Which.
- 14:23Speaker 1: They did.
- 14:24Speaker 5: The Jaguars did.
- 14:25Speaker 2: And, you know, I thought this was maybe the most
- 14:26Speaker 2: complete team in the league at the start of the
- 14:28Speaker 2: season because they didn't have any weak spots and they
- 14:32Speaker 2: had some depth at nearly every position. But all of
- 14:34Speaker 2: a sudden that's being tested. You've lost your best offensive
- 14:37Speaker 2: lineman and your best defensive lineman in the last month.
- 14:40Speaker 2: We find out Basial Tootin is not healthy enough to practice,
- 14:43Speaker 2: whether he plays or not against the Ravens tonight remains
- 14:47Speaker 2: to be seen. This team has got to figure out
- 14:49Speaker 2: a way to play a little differently without some key players,
- 14:53Speaker 2: doesn't it?
- 14:54Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean, but that's the theme of the NFL.
- 14:57Speaker 5: Everybody has injuries.
- 14:59Speaker 7: You know, the big one with the Ravens, obviously, is
- 15:03Speaker 7: Lamar Jackson, then Tyler Huntley. They don't have a necessarily
- 15:07Speaker 7: a quarterback. They fell three levels down. So that's the
- 15:11Speaker 7: theme around the league. And that's also what makes it
- 15:15Speaker 7: the beauty of the NFL. You have to be able
- 15:18Speaker 7: to make your adjustments, not only in preparation, but also
- 15:23Speaker 7: in preparation for the players you don't have. It's the
- 15:26Speaker 7: next man up. You know, it's all about opportunity, taking
- 15:29Speaker 7: advantage of it for a lot of players staying ready.
- 15:32Speaker 7: Looking at my rookie year, I always go back to
- 15:34Speaker 7: my rookie year. I'm sure a lot of people didn't
- 15:37Speaker 7: want to start the season with me, which we didn't,
- 15:41Speaker 7: but because of injury, I had to step in and
- 15:44Speaker 7: make it happen. And I eventually was able to do
- 15:48Speaker 7: that early for the team. And we were able to say,
- 15:52Speaker 7: all right, we got that position. That position's fine now.
- 15:55Speaker 7: We can look at the other positions. So whoever's going
- 15:58Speaker 7: to replace Devon over at the defensive tackle part, we've
- 16:03Speaker 7: been fortunate to have Walker Little, who had a starter experience.
- 16:08Speaker 5: And he's playing well.
- 16:09Speaker 7: From an offensive standpoint, we can do some stuff schematically
- 16:12Speaker 7: to help the tackles, help the linemen by way of
- 16:15Speaker 7: chip on our release, all that different stuff. Defensively, they
- 16:19Speaker 7: just have to have a stronger rotation, and everybody has
- 16:22Speaker 7: to play a lot more disciplined football to take up
- 16:25Speaker 7: for any fall off.
- 16:27Speaker 5: Right.
- 16:28Speaker 2: The Jaguars have a one-two punch with Tootin, who's coming
- 16:30Speaker 2: off of two back-to-back strong performances. 246 yards and four
- 16:35Speaker 2: touchdowns from scrimmage for him. And of course, we've seen
- 16:39Speaker 2: Chris Rodriguez rip off some touchdown runs in recent weeks.
- 16:42Speaker 2: Best one-two tandem, I think, since 2007, when you and Maurice.
- 16:48Speaker 2: Combined for nearly 158 rushing yards per game. I'm not
- 16:52Speaker 2: saying that that's the style of play. But talk about
- 16:55Speaker 2: what you've seen from Tootin and Rodriguez and the value
- 16:58Speaker 2: of having two guys who complement each other.
- 17:00Speaker 1: Especially as you get into November.
- 17:02Speaker 7: Yeah, I think they're answering a lot of the questions
- 17:04Speaker 7: that were formed this offseason in terms of what we're
- 17:08Speaker 7: going to get from the running game. I think they're
- 17:11Speaker 7: running the ball efficiently. They complement the passing game very well.
- 17:16Speaker 7: And I think from an individual standpoint, the competition that
- 17:20Speaker 7: they had, well, Chris had a banged up foot, but
- 17:23Speaker 7: just the competition in the entire running back room, being
- 17:28Speaker 7: able to show up every day, being able to be
- 17:30Speaker 7: held accountable every day, being able to be challenged and
- 17:35Speaker 7: challenge each other every day. I think that's paying off.
- 17:39Speaker 7: And they are a solid one-two punch. Tootin' gives you
- 17:42Speaker 7: a little elusiveness and speed. And Chris Rodriguez, he's going
- 17:46Speaker 7: to be your battering ram and get it downhill. And
- 17:49Speaker 7: he's not going to allow one individual to tackle him.
- 17:53Speaker 7: So you have a short yardage combo. You have, you know,
- 17:56Speaker 7: where you can hit the home run. We've seen that
- 17:59Speaker 7: with Basial. So I think they have a good mix.
- 18:03Speaker 7: And from an offensive standpoint, that's what you want to have.
- 18:07Speaker 7: More importantly, they both can stand in there and pick
- 18:10Speaker 7: up the blitz on any down and any distance.
- 18:14Speaker 2: I can go through all the numbers, whether we're talking
- 18:16Speaker 2: about next-gen metrics or whether we're talking about standard quarterback
- 18:19Speaker 2: efficiency rating. Trevor Lawrence is at or near the top
- 18:22Speaker 2: of the league in every important category. And yet, listening
- 18:26Speaker 2: to a lot of the podcasts that I do, I
- 18:28Speaker 2: don't hear a lot of conversation about how good he
- 18:31Speaker 2: is or how well he's playing. So from your perspective,
- 18:34Speaker 2: having seen some of the best quarterbacks in recent memory,
- 18:37Speaker 2: how good is he playing right now?
- 18:40Speaker 7: I can tell you on one of our– so we
- 18:43Speaker 7: have this buy-sell– segment on Pivot Sports Show, the new
- 18:47Speaker 7: sports show that we do every Monday.
- 18:50Speaker 5: And our buy-sell.
- 18:51Speaker 7: Question was Trevor Lawrence MVP candidate.
- 18:56Speaker 5: And all of us bought it.
- 18:58Speaker 7: You know, we'd all agree that Trevor is certainly playing
- 19:00Speaker 7: top five football, over 1,700-yard passing, could be a lot more.
- 19:05Speaker 7: He's been taken out of a few ballgames this year, healthy, scratch,
- 19:10Speaker 7: late in the game, which means he could stay in
- 19:12Speaker 7: there and pad his stats if he had a maniac
- 19:15Speaker 7: coach who cared about stats.
- 19:17Speaker 5: But he doesn't.
- 19:18Speaker 7: He has a coach who wants to see him thrive
- 19:20Speaker 7: and see him get to the next ball game. I
- 19:23Speaker 7: believe it's, what is it, 17 touchdowns to four interceptions.
- 19:28Speaker 7: The touchdown to interception ratio is tremendous. It possibly is
- 19:33Speaker 7: the top around the league. And what he's doing well
- 19:36Speaker 7: is he's protecting the football. He's getting the ball out.
- 19:39Speaker 7: He's making great decisions. And because of him, He's given
- 19:43Speaker 7: this offense an opportunity to be successful. They're putting up
- 19:47Speaker 7: points each and every week, even in their losses. they
- 19:50Speaker 7: put up points. It doesn't seem that they're struggling to score.
- 19:55Speaker 7: And it's all because of Trevor Lawrence getting the ball out,
- 20:00Speaker 7: taking pressure off the offensive line, allowing the running game
- 20:05Speaker 7: to come around. So it's a big testament to him
- 20:09Speaker 7: his ability, and he's not loud. You know, a lot
- 20:13Speaker 7: of these players are loud. When you're in a smaller
- 20:16Speaker 7: market and you're playing well, your players are going to
- 20:19Speaker 7: speak for you. But sometimes in order to get everybody
- 20:24Speaker 7: else's attention, it sucks that you have to sort of
- 20:27Speaker 7: be vocal and you have the local media kind of
- 20:31Speaker 7: being an asshole for you, excuse my language, but I
- 20:34Speaker 7: experienced that. So I know what he's experiencing. But, hey,
- 20:38Speaker 7: sneak up on them on the back end. Continue to
- 20:41Speaker 7: play well. And at the end of the day, the
- 20:44Speaker 7: accolades and all that other stuff possibly will come. They're
- 20:47Speaker 7: not guaranteed. But I'm sure the Jaguar fans don't care
- 20:51Speaker 7: about that. What they care about is Trevor winning ballgames
- 20:55Speaker 7: and to be a franchise quarterback.
- 20:57Speaker 5: That's what you're rated on. And he is.
- 21:00Speaker 1: He's winning.
- 21:01Speaker 2: They're 13-2 in their last 15 games. By the way,
- 21:04Speaker 2: the last time he played in the fourth quarter in
- 21:06Speaker 2: a game in Jacksonville. against the Seahawks October 12th last year.
- 21:11Speaker 2: That is an astounding statistic in professional football. He's not
- 21:16Speaker 2: played in the fourth quarter of the last seven games
- 21:19Speaker 2: he's played in Jacksonville. In a league, Fred, where the
- 21:23Speaker 2: games are decided by eight points or fewer on average,
- 21:25Speaker 2: that number just beats you over the head. And it
- 21:27Speaker 2: leads me to my final thought. Jaguars are going to
- 21:29Speaker 2: Baltimore tonight with an opportunity to take a game that
- 21:33Speaker 2: maybe if Lamar Jackson's playing and those guys are healthy,
- 21:36Speaker 2: would be much more difficult for them to get. And
- 21:38Speaker 2: when you start talking about playing in Jacksonville, where the
- 21:41Speaker 2: Jaguars are not just winning, but they're winning by an
- 21:44Speaker 2: average of more than 17 points a game in a
- 21:46Speaker 2: very difficult environment, home field advantage in January, nobody will
- 21:51Speaker 2: want to come down there. That makes this game against
- 21:53Speaker 2: the Ravens tonight very important.
- 21:55Speaker 7: Yeah, it's all important, regardless of who the Ravens have
- 21:59Speaker 7: out there. Obviously, we know Lamar won't be there. But
- 22:05Speaker 7: the Jaguars have to worry about the Jaguars. Every game
- 22:08Speaker 7: here until the end of the season, they can't worry
- 22:11Speaker 7: about who the other team has out there. In terms
- 22:15Speaker 7: of game plan preparation, it does change some things to
- 22:18Speaker 7: go from a mobile quarterback to a pocket guy. But
- 22:23Speaker 7: we don't know what the Ravens are going to try.
- 22:25Speaker 5: They're desperate.
- 22:25Speaker 7: They've lost three in a row. They're at the bottom
- 22:28Speaker 7: of their division. They want to try to create a spark.
- 22:31Speaker 7: So Jacksonville has to go in there understanding that we
- 22:35Speaker 7: have to play Jaguars football and nothing else.
- 22:37Speaker 5: We can't get too far outside of ourselves. Let's focus
- 22:40Speaker 5: on what we do best.
- 22:42Speaker 7: That's play great run defense because the Ravens still have
- 22:46Speaker 7: Derrick Henry. You don't want to let him get going.
- 22:49Speaker 7: So we have to corral him, play great run defense
- 22:51Speaker 7: at the line of scrimmage. On the flip side, continue
- 22:54Speaker 7: to protect Trevor Lawrence, continue to protect and win the
- 22:57Speaker 7: turnover margin. And that's the recipe for success for the Jaguars.
- 23:02Speaker 7: If they can do that, They'll come back to Duval
- 23:04Speaker 7: with a win.
- 23:09Speaker 1: So there you have it.
- 23:10Speaker 2: A few good minutes with a few of the men
- 23:12Speaker 2: who figured out how to get through a short, injury-filled
- 23:15Speaker 2: week and get to the starting line in Baltimore on
- 23:18Speaker 2: Thursday night, ready to give their best shot at a
- 23:20Speaker 2: 6-2 beginning to the season. The Jaguars are in a
- 23:24Speaker 2: great spot in the AFC, and this would be a
- 23:26Speaker 2: big addition to their resume. It would also put them
- 23:29Speaker 2: in a great position when it comes to tiebreakers at
- 23:32Speaker 2: the end of the season. No one should want to
- 23:34Speaker 2: come to Jacksonville in January. Everbank Stadium has become deep
- 23:38Speaker 2: water for opponents, and the last seven couldn't swim. The
- 23:41Speaker 2: Jaguars are drowning their opponents in touchdowns and takeaways at
- 23:44Speaker 2: home this season, and few of the 42,500 in attendance
- 23:49Speaker 2: have any sympathy whatsoever. Home field advantage would be just that,
- 23:54Speaker 2: a huge advantage, and a win in Baltimore gives the
- 23:57Speaker 2: Jaguars some real momentum to that end. Thanks for listening
- 24:00Speaker 2: to A Few Good Minutes. We'll see you next week.