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Perspectives - Maurice Jones-Drew · 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. Maurice Jones. Drew stands tall among
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  Speaker 1: former Jaguars, ironic in a way that the five ft
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  Speaker 1: six running back who's slid to the second round the
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  Speaker 1: stick of the two thousand six draft because of his height,
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  Speaker 1: remains to this day not only one of the most
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  Speaker 1: beloved Jaguars, but one of the NFL networks best analysts
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  Speaker 1: and a guy who commands the attention of coaches, players
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  Speaker 1: and fans alike. This is perspective, the inside story of
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  Speaker 1: the jaguars first twenty five seasons told by the people
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  Speaker 1: who built the franchise from the round up. This is
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  Speaker 1: Maurice Jones Drew. There is also irony that the smallest
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  Speaker 1: star player the Jaguars have ever had is also the
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  Speaker 1: biggest champion of the smaller market in the NFL. The
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  Speaker 1: record speaks for itself. Only one playoff season in the
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  Speaker 1: last twelve years, missed opportunities in the draft and free
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  Speaker 1: agency that have magnified struggles on the field, and a
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  Speaker 1: less than full stadium in Jacksonville, combined with an now
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  Speaker 1: annual trip to London that fuels the fires of misinformation
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  Speaker 1: about the city and the fan base and their credentials
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  Speaker 1: as a football town. Maurice works at the NFL Network
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  Speaker 1: and lives in Los Angeles, where he doubles as the
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  Speaker 1: color analyst for the Rams and their radio network. But
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  Speaker 1: it's clear that no matter where he lives and no
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  Speaker 1: matter who signs his check, Mojo is a teal blooded
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  Speaker 1: Jaguar through and through. My connection with this team is
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  Speaker 1: I think it's less about like the team in general,
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  Speaker 1: but it's more about the people who are in the building. Um,
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  Speaker 1: It's more about the people outside the building. It's more
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  Speaker 1: about the city. Uh. Coming here at twenty years old,
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  Speaker 1: you think you know everything. I learned a lot of
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  Speaker 1: lessons here. Um, But it's completely different than any other
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  Speaker 1: place I've ever been to my lightly. I've been to
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  Speaker 1: minnesota've been to Green Bay, I've been too obviously Oakland
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  Speaker 1: was the last year I've been all these places. But
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  Speaker 1: this is a family. This this you know. When I
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  Speaker 1: came here, Wayne Weaver ran this organization, he ran in
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  Speaker 1: like a family. I remember going to the Christmas dinners.
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  Speaker 1: I remember seeing the wives and the players hang out,
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  Speaker 1: and to me, that was that's what football is. It's
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  Speaker 1: about creating relationships. And I remember seeing the security guards
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  Speaker 1: every day who would smile even I mean after some
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  Speaker 1: of the worst losses that we had, people will still
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  Speaker 1: come and say maybe you did a great job, or hey,
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  Speaker 1: you guys can do it like it was. It was
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  Speaker 1: a family. And that's to me, the most important thing
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  Speaker 1: that you can have here. Um, when I when I
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  Speaker 1: am on TV and I'm talking about it, and I'm
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  Speaker 1: not talking from a place where people are like you know,
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  Speaker 1: where other people might have a bad my my situation
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  Speaker 1: here in two thousand twelve was strictly financial, and I
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  Speaker 1: said that in the press conference. It was strictly a
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  Speaker 1: financial move. It was. It had zero to do with
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  Speaker 1: me not liking people. I love the people here. I
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  Speaker 1: always will love the people here, regardless of how how
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  Speaker 1: it ended when I left, or how it was when
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  Speaker 1: I was here. I still love the people in this building.
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  Speaker 1: I love the cooks, I love the janitor, I love
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  Speaker 1: the security guards, I love the people in the streets
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  Speaker 1: that when you say hello after games. I love the kids.
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  Speaker 1: I loved everything about this place because I grew up
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  Speaker 1: here in the way people treated you and then the
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  Speaker 1: way you treated them. Um, that that to me is
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  Speaker 1: the most important thing. And so when people always ask, hey,
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  Speaker 1: like what about jackson Like you know nothing about Jacksonville
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  Speaker 1: because you've never been there. You don't know what it's
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  Speaker 1: like there. You don't know how the people, the people
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  Speaker 1: will give you the shirt off their backs. You know,
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  Speaker 1: Dan Edwards, his daughter, his daughter was our our babysitter
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  Speaker 1: at one point in my life, Like, if I wanted
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  Speaker 1: a date night, I would call his daughter, or I'd
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  Speaker 1: call other players on the team to come watch or
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  Speaker 1: drop our Like you can't do that everywhere else. And
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  Speaker 1: it's not as if you know, you know, and again
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  Speaker 1: I don't know every other relationship, but this wasn't just
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  Speaker 1: one player that would call to come watch my kids.
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  Speaker 1: It'd be multiple players. It wasn't just you know. I
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  Speaker 1: remember walking by uh the uh, the ticket office and
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  Speaker 1: people just having it like, hey, how are you Like
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  Speaker 1: it was a family atmosphere here, and that, to me
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  Speaker 1: is what saved me because again again a kid coming
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  Speaker 1: from Los Angeles having a bunch of money thrown in
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  Speaker 1: his pocket, like I could have made a ton of mistakes,
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  Speaker 1: and I didn't make a ton of mistakes, but the
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  Speaker 1: people here protected me and they allowed me to grow
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  Speaker 1: and be who I was, and and that's the most
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  Speaker 1: important thing. Talking with Maurice, the connection is clearly durable,
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  Speaker 1: nothing contented, and it won't ever end. It's also clear
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  Speaker 1: that his love affair with Jacksonville and it's professional football
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  Speaker 1: team began almost as soon as he put his feet
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  Speaker 1: on the ground. But we did thirteen years ago. Well,
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  Speaker 1: I remember first getting the call and thinking, I'm going
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  Speaker 1: to Florida. I tryed to Miami. All of Florida is
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  Speaker 1: the exact same and so uh so we land, you
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  Speaker 1: get off, you walk on the tarmac. Uh, I get
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  Speaker 1: met by I forget who it was at the time,
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  Speaker 1: but uh picked up and Mercedes weren't on the same
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  Speaker 1: flight because I'm from Francisco, he's from l A. So
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  Speaker 1: we end up meeting here. But getting here, there was
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  Speaker 1: so much potential I saw um And it's funny to
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  Speaker 1: say that at twenty years old, Like I saw a potential.
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  Speaker 1: But like, the people were nice, everyone was excited. Uh.
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  Speaker 1: They were excited to have us here, which is crazy
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  Speaker 1: because we got drafted by a trojan usc trojan. Uh.
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  Speaker 1: But we just wanted to come and play. And at
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  Speaker 1: the end of the day, when I when I first
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  Speaker 1: got here, I was nervous. And so when you're nervous,
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  Speaker 1: you kind of put on extra I was nervous because one,
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  Speaker 1: I'm not from Florida. Uh. Two, I was nervous because
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  Speaker 1: I got drafted in the second round when you had
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  Speaker 1: Fred Taylor here, and I didn't know how he was
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  Speaker 1: going to react to it, because you've heard horror stories.
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  Speaker 1: I actually talked to Aaron Rodgers about his situation, what
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  Speaker 1: Brett Farve and how that wasn't the best early on um.
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  Speaker 1: And then three, just being you know, young kid half
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  Speaker 1: away across the country, out your family. You're just nervous.
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  Speaker 1: And so when I came in, I had to put
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  Speaker 1: on this this persona, this this fake false attitude as
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  Speaker 1: if I'll be fine, I'll be fine, I'll be fine. Um,
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  Speaker 1: and it all went into it all broke down when
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  Speaker 1: the first day of O t a s or Mini camp.
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  Speaker 1: I think we had it first and uh And in May,
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  Speaker 1: the first week of May where I met Fred Taylor
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  Speaker 1: and I was so nervous to meet him because I
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  Speaker 1: don't know how he was going to react. And I
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  Speaker 1: went up to him. I remember going up to him.
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  Speaker 1: I remember sitting in the locker room, not talking to anyone.
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  Speaker 1: You're seeing guys like Marcus Stroud, Big John, Mike Peterson.
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  Speaker 1: They're laughing, having a good time. I could barely understand
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  Speaker 1: what they were saying because I wasn't from the South.
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  Speaker 1: Um but um. I went to talk to Fred and
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  Speaker 1: I walked over to what Before I got to Fred,
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  Speaker 1: excuse me, I saw Greg Jones and I was like,
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  Speaker 1: what am I doing in here? Like this is this
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  Speaker 1: is not a place for me because you're seeing the
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  Speaker 1: size and those type of things. But I walk over
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  Speaker 1: to Fred and I go, hey, Fred, like, I'm Maurice,
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  Speaker 1: Nice to meet you, Like I just want to come
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  Speaker 1: and learn everything that I can from you. And Fred
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  Speaker 1: was like, oh, man, I already saw your highlights. Man,
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  Speaker 1: you're good. Like we're gonna use you in these type
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  Speaker 1: of ways and we're gonna do this, We're gonna do that.
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  Speaker 1: And that really then made me so much more confident
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  Speaker 1: in my abilities because he was like, Hey, this is
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  Speaker 1: what you do well, and these are some things I
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  Speaker 1: saw you struggle with or you need to work on
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  Speaker 1: or you need to improve on. And then literally that
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  Speaker 1: whole offseason we worked on being more patient, We worked on,
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  Speaker 1: you know, all the little things. And so when I
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  Speaker 1: came in here, like especially coming from l A where
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  Speaker 1: it's bright lights, and we were the man and we
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: were a big team and we did really well. Um
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  Speaker 1: to have a guy who had been so successful in
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  Speaker 1: the NFL to come in and say, Hey, this is
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  Speaker 1: what we're gonna do together, it really helped me out
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  Speaker 1: a ton. And so once I got on the field,
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  Speaker 1: and the one thing I always tell people that Fred
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  Speaker 1: told me that I'll never forget. Um. I think it
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  Speaker 1: was one of the one of the first practice I
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  Speaker 1: struggled in and he was like, dude, like, why why
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  Speaker 1: are you pressing? Like this is like Pop Warner. The
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  Speaker 1: same moves that they have worked in Pop warn they
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  Speaker 1: work here. Trust me. And that was my mindset for
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  Speaker 1: the rest of my career was that this this was
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  Speaker 1: just like Pop Warner youth football, that, um, you go
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  Speaker 1: out there and play the same way, like, trust me,
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  Speaker 1: the little move that you did in Pop Warner is
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  Speaker 1: gonna work. And it worked, and they just kept working
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  Speaker 1: on and on and on and so, Um, that's where
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  Speaker 1: the confidence came from, is practicing against that tough defense,
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  Speaker 1: learning from Fred, learning from Kennedy, pola Um, you know,
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  Speaker 1: being able to be put in certain situations. Um, telling
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  Speaker 1: myself every day like I'm competing with one of the
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  Speaker 1: better running backs in the league. Uh. You know, my
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  Speaker 1: mindset was always trying to come in and be the starter,
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  Speaker 1: but to go in there and learn and compete like that.
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  Speaker 1: The confidence kind of this came out and then that
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: matter more perspectives following this from Vistar Credit Union Advice Star,
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• 9:06
  Speaker 1: together in two thousand and seven. The golden era of
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: Jaguars football is generally regarded as the Coughlin years and
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: it's best team bunch that went fourteen and two. What
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: the two thousand and seventy may have lacked an overall talent,
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: it more than made up for with huge personalities that
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: shape as fun at season and the Jaguars have ever had.
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: Two thousand and seven was a special year just because
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: I think it all came together for us as an organization,
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: as a team that one year. Um, two thousand and six,
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: we were close, Uh, go to Kansas City, had a
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: chance to win in Kansas City. If we win in
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: Kansas City, we make the playoffs and we I think,
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: I forget what we lost by, but we lost. So
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: that that kind of that off season. I remember a
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: lot of the guys we went on a vacase and
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: they were like, look, this is the year. Everyone go
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: and work hard. Everyone do what you have to do.
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: Come back and let's go. Let's go and take this
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  Speaker 1: thing over. Um. So two thousand seven we come back. Uh. Granted,
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: you talked about we talked about Chris Naoli, we talked
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: about Vinnie man oh Y, we talked about Brad Measter.
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  Speaker 1: We had a Tony pass shows that year. UM, and
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: so it was crazy to see Kalif Barnes and left
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: tackle who doesn't get enough credit for blocking Dwight Freeney
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: and Robert Mathis by hisself. When we would go on
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: those games, we would never slide the line. We would
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: slide the line the other way and he would have
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: to be one on one with either Dwight Freeney or
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: Robert Mathis. And so we knew going in that we
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: had an opportunity. And that year was it was a
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: little weird because that's the year Byron left, which gets
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: cut right before the season. UM. And I remember Mike
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: Peterson UH having a team meeting saying like it doesn't matter,
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: you know, we can't control that, and that was something
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: that was really important for us to hear because we
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: were a young team. Now that I look back at it,
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: like I think Fred might have been twenty seven, Mike
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: Peterson might have been twenty six seven ish, and I'm
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: twenty one UM at the time, so I'm thinking these
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: guys were like super old, but they're young, you know. UM.
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: And so to have that leadership from our leaders who say,
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: we can't control what's going on over there. All we
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: can do is control our play on the field, and
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: if we believe that we're a playoff team or a
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  Speaker 1: championship team, will go and show it. And so uh
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: we start we start running. UM. I would say a
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: year we played the Falcons where that was the year
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: Big got in trouble. We played the Falcons, We got
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: after them pretty good. Um we played, Uh, David Garas
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: are starting quarterback, We're rolling, David gets hurt. We're going
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: to Tampa and beat Tampa. And we I think we
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: threw the ball seven times or eleven times, um, and
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: we It was funny. I remember going on the field
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: and I remember them uh talking about being nine on seven,
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: which is like a run inside run drill, and Uh
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: we did. We wanted to see if Tampa was ready
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: for Tampa was a cover two team. They wanted to
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: play West Coast offense. Did they were they able to
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: handle smash mouth football? And we went out there and
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: Quinn Gray as our quarterback and and he threw Uh.
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: I want to say, one touchdown to Matt Jones. But
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: other than that, we ran the ball seventeen times in
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  Speaker 1: a row. At one point we were gonna impose our
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: will and everyone and obviously everyone remembers going into Pittsburgh,
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: beating Pittsburgh in the regular season, and then once we
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: got to the playoffs, I never saw the intensity I
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: now I then understood why the playoffs were the playoffs,
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: because practice was so intense. I mean, guys were tackling
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: each other and man, we were hidden and we were
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: doing everything to make sure that we understood. You know,
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: during the regular season, some guys would stay here and
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: you know, hang out, some guys would go places. In
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: the playoffs, everyone stayed and watch film. Everyone knew what
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: was at at hand. And so to go into Pittsburgh
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: and and and then beat them a second time, a
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: team that was built like we were. Uh, I wanted
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: to be physical, run the ball, bigger quarterback, Um, all
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: those things are going there and beat them way we
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: did in that fashion. Um, it was nice. And then
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: to be honest, going to New England was even that
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: week was even crazier. And that I think that's when
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: I realized, you know, that's when I gained a lot
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: of respect over the years for New England because I
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: was so tired that week. I think I was going
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: to be at like six o'clock every night and so
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: trying to just get my energy. I've never played into
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: January before and never been there, so I was doing
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: everything I could to keep my energy up. Um. I
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  Speaker 1: think everyone else was doing the same thing. Practice were
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: even more intense. Um, we're going to that game, but
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: we were rolling. We we had a you know, a
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: couple of mishaps here, but we had an opportunity to
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: win the game and it just didn't happen. But that team,
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: it was so many little things that went on throughout
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: that year, um, that we overcame. And that's part of
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: the you know, always tell people, you know, there's a
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: little luck involved when winning a championship. It's not you
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: you are a really good team, but there's a little
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: bit of luck involved. You're healthy, which is one which
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: we were that year. Um. You you don't, you know,
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: Mike Vick goes out so we don't have to play
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: him and against Atlanta, we we have some different other teams.
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: We knew we were a good team. We lost to
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: the Colts twice, but we knew we had him beat
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: in Indian up and we knew we could beat him. Um.
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  Speaker 1: But I mean there were so many little things that
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: went on, like so many uh a little adverse situations
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  Speaker 1: that we're able to kind of use his motivation to
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  Speaker 1: get better. Um, you know, it made it so special
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  Speaker 1: even til today, Like, um, I would I would anytime
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  Speaker 1: I go to Hawaii, I go hang out with Chris
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  Speaker 1: Naoli and Benny Mana Ya rest his soul, and and
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: those guys. We would just talk about life, right, we
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: talked about football. We talk about those times. I remember
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: being here in two thousand seven, a young kid um
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: going out and Chris Naoli would like pick me up
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  Speaker 1: from my house to drive me to work because it
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  Speaker 1: meant that much to him, or you know, his his
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: wife would cook for me. Or I would go and
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: eat at certain people's houses because I didn't have I
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: didn't have I wasn't married at the time, I didn't
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: have when to live. I was living by myself, so
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: I was eating like Sonic Burger and stuff. But they
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: knew it was so important that they'd be like, well,
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: you come over and get a home cooked meal. Right.
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: Those little things are the things that made that team special.
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: I had to hang out with Fred and we we
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: go and watch tape, and we go and do certain
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: things like we just we just were a complete team
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: at that point. They came back to Earth in two
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: thousand eight, and in early two thousand nine, everything changed.
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: The Jaguars released Fred Taylor and elevated Jones drew to
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: the role of feature back. It was the opportunity he craved,
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: but it came at the expense of the teammate he loved.
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: His relationship with Taylor helped the transition and set the
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: stage for three incredible years. In two thousand eight, we
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: we had a championship team, but those adverse situations that
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: we had in two thousand seven that were able to overcome,
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: we weren't able to do it because of you know,
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: the NFL is so different than any other level of
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: football or other sport because money comes into play, and
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: so we had some moves there that people couldn't we
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: couldn't get over, we couldn't overcome, and so we had
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: a lot of injuries, we had a lot of thing
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: and it just wasn't a good year for us. Uh Um.
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: I remember in two thousand and eight being in Lake Tahoks.
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: I just had my first son and we were going
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: to Tahoe as a family, and I got a call
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: from my agent saying like they just released Fred and
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: I was like, what are you kidding me? And so
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: I merely text him like hey, man, like is this true?
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: Like what's going on? He was like yeah, you know, Um,
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: I appreciate everything, Like you know, if you ever need anything,
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: call me, and I'm like, I'm going to I'm about
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: to I'm literally about to leave Lake Tahoe in two
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: days and I'm going to Miami. So I'll see you
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: in in like three or four days and we'll talk
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: about it. Um, and I get down there and again,
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: you know, I'm I'm supposed to replace him. There's all
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: these different things that are going on, and yet he
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: was still willing to be that mentors to me, like
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: still pushing me when we're training in Miami, still doing
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: the little things that we had did from the day one.
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: And so it was it was hard for me to
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: be able to rationalize or be able to understand that,
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: you know, like how to how that happens, Like you
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: just got released and then you're still willing to the
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: guy that they're putting in your place. You're still willing
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: to help out. Um. But you know that's what Fred,
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: That's who Fred was. And so I trained that offseason
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: understand that I had a high there was expectations set
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: on me at this point. Right, you got a new
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: tough contract. Um, Fred's gone. What Fred had did in
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: the past, right, ten thousand yards, all these big seasons,
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: like I had to go and be able to either
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: match that or surpass that. And so that was my
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: that was my goal, my personal goals, UM, and that's
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: what I trained for. Uh. Granted, obviously the team goal
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: is to win a championship and we would play to
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: do those things. But that that was a time in
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: my life where I really didn't under I didn't understand,
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: you know, I felt like we had all we needed
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: was like one more piece. It was like, just keep Fred,
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: We'll figure this thing out. We have one more piece.
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: But the organization wanted to go in different ways, and
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: it was what it was. But the reason those three
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: years were those three years that I had after Fred,
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: was because there was I always knew that he has
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: set a standard in a bar for running backs and
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: that I had to to either uphold it or lifted
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: even higher. And that was to me the most important
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: thing I can do. Um to do my job to
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: the best of my ability, no matter if you had
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: eight or nine guys in the box. You know, I
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: was sitting meet with the offensive line and Brad Meester
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: was still here, Benny Man and I was here for
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: a little bit. Oocha knew Wharry was here. Um, we
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: had a passials was there for a second. I mean,
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: we had a bunch of guys that you know, we
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: ended up drafting Eugene Monroe and Evan Britten, and I was,
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: you know, as a whole we were trying to at
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: least I was. I wanted people understand, like the standards
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: still the standard, right, Like when Fred was here, you
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: could have put fifteen guys in the box. We were
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: still gonna run the ball when you know, And it
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: was because the way offensive line was gonna block it
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: was the way I was gonna run. It was the
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: way that David was going to check into the right play,
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: like everything had to be the same, and so uh
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: those years going into it, it was all about making
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: sure that I didn't um, that I did not mess
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: up what the the running back the running backs of
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: Jacksonville have set from all the way back from James
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: Stewart to nature. Means. I was Fred Taylor to myself
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: and then too when I left, I said the same
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: thing that the next guy like, you know, like this
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: is Denard Robinson, Like here you go, like you gotta
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: make sure that you do it this way because this
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: is what the standard is and so um, but you
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: know it was. It was some good times man like,
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: like I mean, there's so many stories you could talk
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: about that. I remember um in two thousand and eleven
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: when we won the Rushing Todd And I say we
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: because the receivers really were selfless blocking on the outside
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: like fullbacks, and Greg Jones was here and in our
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: line and we were seeing nine and ten guys in
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: the box every week. It was there was no there
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: like it was. It was just like, hey, this is
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: what is gonna be. And I laugh now because I
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: see these guys complaining about having loaded boxes and I'm like, yeah,
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: that was the everyday thing for us. That was everyday
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: thing for us. So it's uh, you know, those years
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: were real special for me. More perspectives following this from
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• 20:14
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  Speaker 1: A A passionate football player, Jones Drew was also a businessman,
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: and he could see the change was in the air.
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: After a two thousand ten season which fell short of
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: the playoffs. It's funny how this, you know, the the
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: NFL lambscape and landscape can change. Um. I remember again
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: in two thousand eleven, we're going into the season and
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: we cut David Garrard the week before the season or
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: the week of the season, and it was like, oh no,
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: all right, well we did this last time. This has
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: a chance to work. The difference was we didn't have
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: the personalities in the locker room that we had in
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: two thousand and seven the last time we did it.
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: So my as a leader on the team and as
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: one of the older people on the team, it was
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: my job to corral everyone. So I we had a
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: team meeting and it was like, look, well it doesn't matter,
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: we have to go out there and do our job.
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: And so um that year we drafted Blaying Gabber. We
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: had the lockout situation. There was so much going on
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: in this building, right there was there was the rumblings
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: of the team being sold. There was all type of
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: stuff going down, and so you're trying to you know, people,
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: I want to people talk about distractions like that is
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: the craziest thing I've ever been a part of, because
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: you don't know if the team is sold, if you're
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: gonna make it, because now it's it's a different owner
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: wants to do whatever he wants to do. You don't
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: know if the team is gonna be moved. Yeah, family
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: stuff you have to worry about. I mean, there's everything
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: that goes into that. On top of now, we gotta
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: play football without our starting quarterback, right and I still
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: feel to this day if David would have played in
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: in two thousand and eleven, we probably would't went to
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: the playoffs and made some noise because we were close
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: a couple of games. But going back to the season,
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: you know, Luke McCown uh is our starting quarterback. UH
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: play really well in the first game when the first
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: game we go to the Jets and he throws four picks,
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: And I knew in that situation what was gonna happen.
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: I already knew, Like if he didn't play well, Blaine
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: Gabard was coming in and we're gonna play with this
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: rookie quarterback who still he had the armed talent, but
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: still didn't understand that the NFL landscape the game of
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: football because of what he did in high school and college.
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: He played in the spread offense. So it's a little
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: bit different. Um. But again, it was one of those
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: things where I was like, hey, like I I still
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: have to uphold my end of the bargain to Fred Taylor.
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: As an organization and as a team, we stopt to
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: uphold our our ore into the bargain is going out
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: there and putting our best foot forward. And we did.
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: We did everything we could. Um. You know, we again
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: we ran against eight nine in boxes. Um. You know,
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: we did everything that we had to do to try
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: to put ourselves in position to win, and we we were,
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: and we lost a bunch of games by close scores.
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: So it wasn't like we were getting blown out like
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: we did against the Jets. UM. But you know, that's
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: part of it. Like it was, it was just a
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: lot of outside noise that kept seeping into what we
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: were trying to do. UM. After at the end of
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: that year, I remember or towards the end of that year.
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: I remember, like every day and practice, the offensive linem
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: be like, how many more yards we need to win
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: this thing? How many more yards we need to win
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: this thing. I was like, I don't know, I don't know,
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: but let's just keep rolling. And I end up either
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: hurting my hip flex or in like week eleven, and
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: so I couldn't practice anymore at this point, and the
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: offensive lineman would be like, yo, you're playing in the
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: game right, like this is the one thing that we're
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: gonna do. If we don't do anything else, we're gonna
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: win this Russian time. I was like, I got you.
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: I'm gonna playing the game. And I would get here
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: like five of the morning, get treatment all these different things.
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: I would try to run some days it wouldn't work. Uh,
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: really didn't get going until running back to like week
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: thirteen or fourteen late in the year. And then I
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: remember the morning of the last game, le Shaw McCoy's
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: up uh or he was I think he was gonna
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: be active, but then they decided to make him inactive
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: and so but we still we had won the rushing
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: tile the morning of the Coast game, but we wanted
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: to get the the single season rushing record, and so
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: I remember warming up to get the day of the
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: game and pulling my Hamshire and warming up and I
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: was like, oh, this is crazy, and so I hurry up,
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: I run in and I go talk to Mike Ryan.
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: I'm like, you know, I think I either pulled my
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: Hamshire or a tour it or something, but like, we
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: need to get this thing fixed because I have to
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: play um. And only only people that knew were Mike
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: Ryan and and uh melt Tucker. At the time, there's
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: only two people that knew. So we get in the game.
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: I think we might have been like currently around. We
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: might have been sixty yards a hundred and sixty yards
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: away or something, which was it was like a tall task,
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: but we knew we could do it, and I think
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: we got one sixty nine or something that day. But
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: the smile on those guys faces on everyone from the receivers,
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: the offensive linemen to the coaches, that that's what it
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: was all about. It the end the day was like,
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: regardless of how bad this season was, we were able
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: to hang our hat that we're able to win the
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: rushing title in a season that we had a ton
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: of things, team being sold, coach being fired, had starting
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: quarterback cut week one, all these different things going around,
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: we were still able to salvage something UM and it
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: was it was awesome. Now it goes from being on
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: the high of highs too. During the off season. During
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: that season, we were in the contract talks, uh, possibly
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: during another extension, UM, so that you know, I could
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: retire a Jaguar, like be a Jaguar forever. That was
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: something that was important to me. UM. But like as
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: we were playing once a team sold, UM, we stopped communicating.
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: And I think that was the biggest issue that I
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: had with the front office at that time, was that
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: there was no communication. UM. So you know, after the season,
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: I made it clear and I don't think people will
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: know this, but I made it clear, like I wanted
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: a new contract. We we had we had I want
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: to say, we just won the rushing title sixteen hundred yards. Uh.
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: The year before that it was through and so whatever
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: in the year before that was thirteen. So it was
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: that the numbers were there, um, and that we were
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: facing things that no one ever faced before. And so
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: I was like, yo, like it's time to start rewarding
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: us for the things that we're doing, um in these
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: adverse situations. And so I made it clear that I
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: wanted a new contractor I wanted an extension, um going
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: into that going into that off season, which I didn't
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: think was hard because it wasn't like we had a
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: ton of money. There was a lot of you know,
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: there wasn't really many people out there. Um, so uh,
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: we're I remember my agent going to the combine and
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: him talking to the front office and the people in
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: the building, and you know, they kind of like they
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: never just they tried to make it like the elephant
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: was the room. Never just wanted to speak on it, like, oh, well,
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: this guy is doing well, because my agent had a
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: bunch of other guys on the team, and this guy
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: is doing well. And I am like, well, you know,
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: like I know, Maurice has talked to you. Um, he's
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: really adamant about getting this deal done before it's you know,
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: it's all said and done. All we got some other
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: things we gotta do, and you know, we're we're we'll
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: work on it all right. So, uh, at that point,
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: they hadn't hired coach Malarkey. They were waiting on hiring
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: finding a coach, um, I think, and then they hired
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: coach Malarkey and some different things, and UM, what upset
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: me more than anything was that they went out and
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: paid some guys in free agency that had UM I
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: don't I don't know how to say it, because they
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: just they just didn't put they the numbers and the
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: stuff they had done. The production they had had nothing
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: compared to what I did at that point, and so
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: that frustrated me. Was like, okay, you can give you know,
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: the whole adages take care of home first, Like for
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: some reason, we forgot about that, and so we had
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: guys in our building that should have been paid, obviously
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: myself included. UM, but you go out and paid get
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: these other people all this other money, and then you know,
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: one guy gets hurt, another guy ends up playing a
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: little bit. It just it just it didn't. It didn't
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: feel right to me, and so I told him, I'm like,
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: you know, I understand the whole argument of honor your contract,
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: but at the same time, you have to understand where
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: I'm coming from as well as a players that we're
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: we're going out there running against. It doesn't matter who
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: the receiver receivers were else outside. It didn't matter anything,
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: Like you could have had Randy Moss team when you
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: played Jacksonville like they still do today. They're gonna load
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: the box and do their job. And so we didn't
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: have a lot of communication throughout. There was some you know,
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: I there's some things that people say like I better
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: do something or this and that, and if you know
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: me that that's like the worst thing you can tell
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: me because I always do the opposite. Um. And so
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: it just it went from being on the top of
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: you know, see the rushing title, to the miscommunication, the
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: not really just telling me as a as a man
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: or as an adult saying, hey, you know, we're not
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: gonna redo your deal. I'd rather you just something we're
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: not gonna do your deal and you have to come
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: in and give me, give us one more year and
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: then we'll talk about it instead of just not talking
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: to me. Period. And it went from that to the holdout. Um.
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: Finally coming back from the holdout, which you know, was
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: one of the toughest things I've ever done because at
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: that point, my my oldest son was just understanding football
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: and learning football, and every day he would say, I
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: thought you love football, Like why don't you want to play?
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: And all these things, and I was trying to explain
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: to them how it's this is. It's just not it's
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: not like youth football, high school or college. This is
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: this is a business, and you know there's a part
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: in business that that kind of uh takes over a
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: little bit. Um. But then coming back and and I
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: actually being in the Russian Leader for a couple of
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: weeks and then breaking my foot and and it was
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: crazy because I come back and I'm in great shape,
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: I'm running, I'm having I'm doing a great you know,
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: we're we're doing a great job. Even though we weren't winning,
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: we were we were getting better. And then we go
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: to Oakland, the team that we should have beaten, um,
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: and the first play someone just lands on me wrong
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: on my foot brakes and a half and that was it.
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: Jones Drew saw the transition from Jack del Rio to
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: Mike mclarkey in two thousand twelve, and then Mike mlarkey
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: to Gus Bradley inteen. He transitioned himself from Jacksonville to
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: Oakland in and then from playing to broadcasting shortly after
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: that season ended, his body no longer able to withstand
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: the punishment it dealt out weekly to defenders on his
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: way to the end zone. He left with eighty one
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: career touchdowns, the most in Jaguars history, and his sixteen
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: hundred and six rushing yards in eleven remained the franchise's
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: single season record at nine and eighty yards from scrimmage
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: is also the team mark. Along the way, countless memories
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: were created, from his taking a knee at the Jets
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: one yard line to set up a field goal and
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: kill the flock, to that touchdown run against the Patriots
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: where he seemed bottled up then it floaded from the
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: pile to his incredible yard day with two eighty yard
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: touchdown runs in Tennessee. The list goes on and on
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: and on. Someday in the very near future, he'll be
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: recognized for his incredible commitment to Jacksonville on and off
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: the field, and it's another moment he can't wait to
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: share with his family in Jacksonville. Uh Man being put
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: in the Ring of Honor would be one of the
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: top things that uh, you know, it's it's it's hard
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: to think about. Earlier this month, I was put on
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: the ballot for the Hall of fame, And I never
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: would have thought that because at the end of the day,
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: I played because I loved it. I played because I
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: was around the right people, and I love the people
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: I was around. UM. But to get recognized later in
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: your career for what you did when you're playing is
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: is one of the best honors you can have, UM.
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: And to be able to put up next to Fred Taylor,
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: guy that I you know that I love, Like when
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: when when when Fred wasn't number one, I was hurt
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: for him as much as I wanted to be number one,
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: like it hurt me because I know I saw what
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: he did every day. Now granted I didn't see Tony
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: Boselli and what he did every day, but I saw
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: Fred played through injuries. I saw Fred get up here
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: in the morning and all the stuff that he did.
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: And so that was my personal connection with him. To
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: be able to be up there with with him, Brad Measter,
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: all these like like it to me, it's like it's
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: just like it just feels like it. UM. I'm trying
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: to think of the word, but it's it's not even
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: accepted or except it's just like gratifying, like all the
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: hard work we put in together for the guys that
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: I played with. It came out for something and and
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: and you know, I know what I mean, lots of
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: my family I know me and a lot to my
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: friends that are in this city. Um, and my kids
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: for sure love it. But uh, I can't wait for
• 32:39
  Speaker 1: that day to come. And it'll be exciting.