Latest / The Jacksonville Jaguars Official Podcast Network / Fred Taylor on Wild Card showdown vs. LA & the future of the AFC | Countdown to Kickoff

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Fred Taylor on Wild Card showdown vs. LA & the future of the AFC | Countdown to Kickoff · The Jacksonville Jaguars Official Podcast Network

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: It's time out for our weekly conversation with Pride of
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: the Jaguars running back Fred Taylor ahead of the a
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: f C wild card playoff game between the Chargers and
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  Speaker 1: the Jaguars at t I A. A. Bank Field. And
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  Speaker 1: here we are, the postseason begins. Fred. I know you're
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: fired up for this one. I am fired up and
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  Speaker 1: I hope all that the fans are fired up and ready.
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: Hey football in um Florida in mid January. Man, you
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: can't ask for anything better than that, JP, So it's
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  Speaker 1: go time. Just do it. Well, it's been go time
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  Speaker 1: for the Jaguars for about a month and a half
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  Speaker 1: and you know what they went. They got it done.
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  Speaker 1: They finished the regular season a five game win streak
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  Speaker 1: to win the division and rally. So, how different is
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  Speaker 1: the mentality this week with it being a true playoff game.
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  Speaker 1: There's a logo on the field now that says NFL
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  Speaker 1: playoffs and wild Card there's everything that goes with that.
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  Speaker 1: But last week was a must win game as well
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  Speaker 1: for this Jaguars team. This one just is it different
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: because of the title or how do you get past that? Playoffs?
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: Just the term itself brings a bit more to the table.
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  Speaker 1: The guys understand what's that stay, you know, much like
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  Speaker 1: they did a week ago, right. I think they did
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  Speaker 1: an amazing job of being at home but going in
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  Speaker 1: there when the ball kicked off handling pressure, you know,
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  Speaker 1: because for the majority of the game, we all know,
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  Speaker 1: the Titans were leading, and they got ugly for and
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  Speaker 1: scary for a while, you know, and then they finally
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  Speaker 1: because they play hard and uh and and they were persistent,
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  Speaker 1: they didn't quit. Some good things happen, And that's what
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  Speaker 1: you have to do in these playoffs. You just got
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  Speaker 1: to go out there and play hard, you know, from
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  Speaker 1: the first kickoff to the ending uh three zeros on
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  Speaker 1: the clock, and hope for some good things that happened,
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  Speaker 1: you know, throughout that. So I think they'll be ready.
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  Speaker 1: I think they have done a great job mentally and
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  Speaker 1: and and focusing. Um so, yeah, I expect to see
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  Speaker 1: a good, sound football game and a lot of that's
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  Speaker 1: Doug Peterson's leadership obviously, to to show them the way
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  Speaker 1: to prepare for a game like that. He's been through
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  Speaker 1: it for There's not many players on the rosters that
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  Speaker 1: have been in the playoffs. A few have, but you know,
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  Speaker 1: for a young football team to have that guidance from
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  Speaker 1: someone who's done it before. That's something the Chargers don't have.
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  Speaker 1: By the way, Brandon Saley is in his first playoff
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  Speaker 1: run as a head coach and maybe the the advantage
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  Speaker 1: Jaguars in that department. Yeah, I think Jaguars will have
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  Speaker 1: the advantage in that department. The one thing that I
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  Speaker 1: learned in my thirteen year career JP is uh that
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  Speaker 1: you know, sports life, you know all that stuff, relationships, friendships,
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  Speaker 1: everything is built and based on trust. Right you have to,
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  Speaker 1: especially in football. You want to be able to trust
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  Speaker 1: the captain. You know that he's not gonna go out
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  Speaker 1: there and hit the iceberg. You know, we had a
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  Speaker 1: few of those moments last year and just think the
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  Speaker 1: whole fleet. Uh So, I mean, Doug's a guy who's
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  Speaker 1: full of integrity. You know, he's consisting stint is what
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: I'm hearing coming out of the locker room, which is
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  Speaker 1: what the guys love. And he's transparent. You know, things
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  Speaker 1: are black and white, much how coach Coughlin was, you
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  Speaker 1: know when he was here. And either you can handle
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  Speaker 1: it or you can't. And I think the guys have
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  Speaker 1: done a great job or Doug has done a great job,
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  Speaker 1: and the guys have done a great job responding, and
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  Speaker 1: they they've created a bund in, a certain chemistry and
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  Speaker 1: relationship inside that locker room. And that's what you need
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  Speaker 1: before you step on the field, because you know, at moments,
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  Speaker 1: you know, certain times black clouds hang over your head,
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  Speaker 1: but you gotta be able to look to your left
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  Speaker 1: and look to you right and say, these are the
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  Speaker 1: guys that I've built with, you know, throughout the week,
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  Speaker 1: And because it's the playoffs, they can look at that
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  Speaker 1: further and say, these are the guys that I built
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  Speaker 1: with from April, you know, when Doug came in, they
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  Speaker 1: had his first speech about look from now, we're working
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  Speaker 1: on making the playoffs, winning football games, making the playoffs
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  Speaker 1: towards our goal, which is the super Bowl. And I
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  Speaker 1: think they can look to each other and say, all right,
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  Speaker 1: let's go. I trust you, you trust me, you know
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  Speaker 1: what I'm about, and let's do this together. So I
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  Speaker 1: think overall, collectively as a group, they will go out
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  Speaker 1: there and uh, we'll see an amazing result because this team,
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  Speaker 1: without that chemistry that they have and that trust, they
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  Speaker 1: wouldn't be here. So I expect him to do well
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  Speaker 1: because of it. Fred Taylor with us prior of the
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  Speaker 1: Jaguars running back. This is a fantastic quarterback matchup. It's
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  Speaker 1: a reason, big reason why it's a primetime kickoff. It's
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  Speaker 1: justin Herbert in his third year now with the Chargers,
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  Speaker 1: his first playoff appearance, and of course Trevor Lawrence with
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  Speaker 1: the Jaguars his second season, his first playoff appearance. This
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  Speaker 1: feels like what could be the beginning of a number
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  Speaker 1: of years of these two quarterbacks going head to head
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  Speaker 1: in these playoffs scenarios. You're just get a feeling the
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  Speaker 1: Jaguars are hanging around for a while. The Chargers have talent.
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  Speaker 1: The a f C has loaded with good young quarterbacks.
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  Speaker 1: These are kind of the next wave Herbert and Lawrence. Yeah,
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  Speaker 1: without a doubt, man, the a f C is a
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  Speaker 1: beautiful Ain't gonna sit back and watch these young quarterbacks
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  Speaker 1: and you watch them grow and they're just young guns
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  Speaker 1: and man, and they're they're all you know, they're all
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  Speaker 1: you know, passionate in their approach, you know, and and
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  Speaker 1: but they also are humble, you know, you don't see
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  Speaker 1: them just kind of braggadocios, are just moving around certain
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  Speaker 1: types of ways. They are all stout. It's gonna be
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  Speaker 1: amazing to watch, you know, a f C playoff football
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  Speaker 1: for the years to come. But more specifically, uh, you
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  Speaker 1: know this match up with Herbert and m and Trevor
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  Speaker 1: Lawrence and I was looking at their stats sometime ago.
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  Speaker 1: And Trevor, you know as the and QB are obviously
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  Speaker 1: Justin has uh more yard on the season, but not
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  Speaker 1: by much six under yards. Trevor kind of came into
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  Speaker 1: his own later, you know, as the season progressed. But
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  Speaker 1: both of those guys are amazing talents, and these matchups
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  Speaker 1: are gonna be a thing of beauty in the future.
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  Speaker 1: And and and I hope that both of them understand
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  Speaker 1: that this is a new season. The playoffs is a
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  Speaker 1: new season. You throw all of those stats out because
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  Speaker 1: you only get one shot, and uh, you gotta go
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  Speaker 1: out there for the confidence, and you gotta just stick
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  Speaker 1: to the script and make sure you're doing everything that
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  Speaker 1: you know you uh scripted up throughout the course of
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  Speaker 1: a week. And the guy who makes the less mistakes
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  Speaker 1: and the guy who sacked at least yeah, will be
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  Speaker 1: potentially the quarterback who comes out victorious. Bred Let's get
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  Speaker 1: into the running back matchup this week and two different
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  Speaker 1: styles here. Austin Ekeler is a threat in the passing game,
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  Speaker 1: a truth threat. He's out there in the flat, he
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  Speaker 1: he runs routes. I mean he's their leading target in
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  Speaker 1: fact on offense. Travis e t N a couple of
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  Speaker 1: weeks ago, was on a role in Houston before the
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  Speaker 1: game got away and they kind of pulled everybody out.
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  Speaker 1: They couldn't run last week against Tennessee. The Titans are
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  Speaker 1: a stout group up front. So the Chargers defense has
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  Speaker 1: had issues against the run this year. So at some
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  Speaker 1: point you feel like e t Is gonna get his
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  Speaker 1: How do you slow down Ekeler? And what kind of
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  Speaker 1: different style does he bring. Austin is a good back.
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  Speaker 1: You know, he's a good back. He's just outside of
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  Speaker 1: my you know, top five um, but he is a
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  Speaker 1: solid back that you know he's gonna be there. You know,
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  Speaker 1: he's he's straight downhill, you know, north and south runner. Obviously,
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  Speaker 1: he does a great job around the end zone. He's
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  Speaker 1: has a gang of touchdowns almost each and every season. Uh.
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  Speaker 1: Not a flashy back. You know, if I just looked
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  Speaker 1: at him for flash, I wouldn't say I like his style.
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  Speaker 1: At all. But I like his production, you know, I
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  Speaker 1: like that he can catch the ball really well. He's
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  Speaker 1: a high target back out of the backfield, whether it's
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  Speaker 1: outside running slants, flat routes, you know, isolation ro outside
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  Speaker 1: of the backfield checkdowns. He consistently catches the ball well. Travis,
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  Speaker 1: on the other hand, he's dynamic. He has burst, extreme burst,
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  Speaker 1: uh fast. I didn't think he was that fast until
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  Speaker 1: you know, he broke that long one a couple of
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  Speaker 1: weeks ago and he really got out of the gate.
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  Speaker 1: We don't see Actler with a lot of long runs,
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  Speaker 1: but he like he is steady and consistent. Uh. In
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  Speaker 1: the beauty about what Austin has going on over there,
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  Speaker 1: he has two really good receivers. That doesn't allow for
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  Speaker 1: the defense to put that eighth guy in the box.
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  Speaker 1: You gotta honor Keenan Allen and Mike Williams. Those guys
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  Speaker 1: are are are tremendous threats in the past game and
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  Speaker 1: that's what makes Austin you know, go, So yeah, it'll
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  Speaker 1: be good to see both of these guys get out there.
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  Speaker 1: Hopefully our guy out due and bounced back from a
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  Speaker 1: week ago. You know that. I'm sure he's uh anxious
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  Speaker 1: and ready to put up some big numbers because last
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  Speaker 1: week the Titans did a really good job against our
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  Speaker 1: run game, but as you mentioned, Apeter charges hadn't been
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  Speaker 1: good against the run, So hopefully we can take advantage
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  Speaker 1: of that. Tayler with US Jaguars defense the last three
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  Speaker 1: weeks has played well. Last month, really they've been opportunity stick.
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  Speaker 1: But the last three weeks, let's be honest, the quarterback
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  Speaker 1: situations for those three teams has been far from ideal
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  Speaker 1: for the opponent, so they've taken advantage of it and
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  Speaker 1: made big plays at big times. So how much of
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  Speaker 1: it was the opponent's situation? How much of it is
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  Speaker 1: the Jaguars defense coming together at the right time or
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: dialing it up at the right time, because they always
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  Speaker 1: seem to have a big play in their back pocket
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  Speaker 1: at the last few weeks. You know what, it's really
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  Speaker 1: what we said at the beginning. It's that persistence, you know,
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  Speaker 1: that believe in yourself bending not breaking, uh, knowing that
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  Speaker 1: everyone has to go through you. You don't, you know,
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  Speaker 1: don't just give away plays. You have a couple of plays,
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  Speaker 1: you know throughout the course of a game where uh,
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: somebody can kind of you know, fall asleep on that play.
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  Speaker 1: But they've done a great job of making up for
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  Speaker 1: that and making teams earn it. Teams really have to
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  Speaker 1: earn it playing this defense. They're not going to give
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  Speaker 1: anything away. They've been very sound and disciplined in their
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  Speaker 1: in the run game. You know, that's where it starts,
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  Speaker 1: you know, stopping the run game the other teams run game.
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  Speaker 1: I think they've done a pretty good job of minimizing
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: the big play, the bigger play in the run game. Uh,
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: the secondary is playing well, I think and this is
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: just me. Uh, Shawn Jenkins, in my opinion, should be
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  Speaker 1: the defensive m v P of the of the season.
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: He's played great this year. A little count should be
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: a pro bowler. You know, he was snub no doubt
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: a league. But they have some leaders on that team.
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  Speaker 1: I just mentioned two of them and sprinkled in with
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: some young players and some hungry players. They're just hungry,
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: that's all you need. You just need dogs to be hungry.
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: They're gonna go out there and eat, you know, and
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  Speaker 1: and take advantage of it. So they play hard and
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: they forced their opponents into certain mistakes and that's just
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: a reward alright, fred final thought whether here. The atmosphere
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: last week was huge. Obviously it's a playoff game now,
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: it's only the fifth playoff game in Jacksonville. Ever, a
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: lot of the playoff games, of course, have been away.
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  Speaker 1: So you gotta take advantage of this environment. Manage your emotions.
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: It's every mistake is magnified in the playoffs. You know,
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: you you know how it is. You've you've been in
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: these games before, FREDS, So what can we expect in
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: the atmosphere and the nerves and the jitters in this game?
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  Speaker 1: You know, the atmosphere was amazing. Uh you know, I
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: pulled up maybe two hours before kickoff and the parking
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: lot was packed and loaded. And that's football, Like that
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  Speaker 1: is football. And that's what where you know, what I
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: had grown to be accustomed to, you know earlier in
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: my career. That that's football. That's the beauty of of
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: of football in Jacksonville. That prime time atmosphere, it was
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: so good, man. Uh make me dizzy, is what I say.
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: Looking around. You get dizzy looking in the crowd. You know,
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: it's so many fans. It's like the sea of you
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: know till that was beautiful as the till out. It
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: was to see a till you got the black and
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: like it was so amazing JP. I just get excited,
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: you know, it makes my adrenaline pump. And you looked
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: up in the stands and you know they're kind of
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: going up and down and kind of waving. It's dizzy
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  Speaker 1: and as they say, and it was loud. Man, it
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  Speaker 1: was just the best atmosphere that I've seen since it's
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: been called t I a bank you know when it
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: was an ever bank Field and Alltel Stadium, the good days.
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: Uh now it's good days. Have a lot to cheer about,
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  Speaker 1: and I hope everybody shows up and make it happens again. Fred,
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: well done. Let's get a w Hopefully we're celebrating after
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: the game with a trip to a divisional playoff game.
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: Appreciate it all right, man, looking forward to a JP
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: get the dub.