Latest / The Jacksonville Jaguars Official Podcast Network / Jags A.M. Podcast Ep. 129 | Jaguars Placement in the AFC South, Highlights From a Win & Top Players

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Jags A.M. Podcast Ep. 129 | Jaguars Placement in the AFC South, Highlights From a Win & Top Players · The Jacksonville Jaguars Official Podcast Network

0:17
Speaker 1: Welcome to jag Zam. I'm Pedani Stephens, Frian Text, and
0:19
Speaker 1: John Osier with me today on Victory Monday, as a
0:22
Speaker 1: Jaguars sweep the Titans in their series this season and
0:26
Speaker 1: they now get their fourth win of the year the
0:28
Speaker 1: Jaguars too. So let's talk about our big things today
0:30
Speaker 1: after game day on Sunday.
0:32
Speaker 2: So who cares this big thing?
0:33
Speaker 1: Number one, this is a lost season, there's no postseason potential,
0:36
Speaker 1: but it still means a lot of the player and
0:38
Speaker 1: Trayvon Walker talked about that after the game.
0:40
Speaker 3: All it just goes to show you that the guys
0:42
Speaker 3: in this locker room we play. We played a game
0:44
Speaker 3: of football for the right reason, obviously, because we love
0:46
Speaker 3: game of football, and then.
0:47
Speaker 4: We love playing for each other.
0:48
Speaker 3: We don't go to work every day just to come
0:51
Speaker 3: out on Sundays and half fast names. We can calm
0:53
Speaker 3: to win, you know, that's what we're doing. We just
0:55
Speaker 3: stand together at the connectic unit and continuously going no
0:58
Speaker 3: matter no matter the second plan.
1:01
Speaker 1: Ran I'm sure at this points easy to say, oh,
1:03
Speaker 1: it doesn't matter, is this lost season whatever it's affecting
1:05
Speaker 1: draft position, But it does matter a little bit to
1:07
Speaker 1: still see this team, fIF team engaged and wanting to win.
1:11
Speaker 5: You know, guy, a third of the roster maybe forty percent. No,
1:14
Speaker 5: they'll be here next year, for sure. Those are guys
1:17
Speaker 5: that you're building around. But for the rest of them,
1:19
Speaker 5: and a lot of those guys happen to be on
1:20
Speaker 5: the field now because of injuries and late in the season,
1:23
Speaker 5: every play matters, every game matters, and you can't expect
1:27
Speaker 5: a team not to go out and fight hard and win.
1:29
Speaker 5: I get that there are some people, and I don't
1:31
Speaker 5: think it's the majority of Jaguars fans, but there are
1:33
Speaker 5: some people who just want the draft position. But the
1:36
Speaker 5: reality of it is is that this team needs to win.
1:39
Speaker 5: Young players need to know what it takes to win
1:42
Speaker 5: Sunday to Sunday, and Johnny, you have a culture that says,
1:45
Speaker 5: I want to win everything. You know Tom Coughlin famously
1:47
Speaker 5: in twenty seventeens, and I want to win lunch. Well,
1:50
Speaker 5: the truth of it is is that you want a
1:51
Speaker 5: locker room full of guys that want to win everything
1:53
Speaker 5: they do. They want to do the best they can
1:55
Speaker 5: on the practice field, in the meeting room, and on Sunday.
1:58
Speaker 5: That's what I want to see and That's what I
1:59
Speaker 5: heard from Trayvon Walker. Made me feel good to win.
2:02
Speaker 5: Plus I hate the Titans.
2:03
Speaker 6: Yeah, we've reached a point with this draft pick end
2:07
Speaker 6: of season, when you have a team with struggling discussion
2:11
Speaker 6: that we've almost as a sporting of observation, people talked
2:17
Speaker 6: something into existence that doesn't exist. Meaning we can all
2:23
Speaker 6: talk about draft positioning, but we saw it all weekend teams,
2:27
Speaker 6: the Giants yesterday playing they ruin their draft position, they
2:32
Speaker 6: don't care. And there's been a couple of cases Jaguars
2:35
Speaker 6: in twenty with Trevor Lawrence, where maybe the draft pick
2:38
Speaker 6: matter to that degree nine times out of ten players
2:41
Speaker 6: and coach. What you're watching on TV does not fit
2:45
Speaker 6: what you're talking about if you're talking about draft positioning.
2:48
Speaker 4: These guys want to win. They're going to try to win.
2:50
Speaker 6: You saw yesterday two teams at the very end where
2:53
Speaker 6: the Titans trying to lose. I mean they were throwing
2:55
Speaker 6: the ball trying to get into the end zone. So
2:57
Speaker 6: we won't stop talking about it, but we may we'll
3:00
Speaker 6: stop talking about it. And yes, Brian, I do believe it.
3:03
Speaker 6: For the guys who are here this winning and not
3:07
Speaker 6: always losing, matters very much.
3:09
Speaker 5: And you know, kai people want to argue about you
3:11
Speaker 5: can't carry momentum over I'm not saying that there is momentum,
3:14
Speaker 5: but you learn something, not necessarily even as a team,
3:17
Speaker 5: but as an individual. You don't think Mason Smith has
3:19
Speaker 5: learned something the last couple of weeks with the way
3:21
Speaker 5: that he has played. You can point to a lot
3:23
Speaker 5: of different positions. Brian Thomas Jr. As great as this
3:26
Speaker 5: rookie season has been for him, listen, he's learning something
3:29
Speaker 5: every single week. More winning equals greater potential in the
3:35
Speaker 5: offseason for these guys to be ready for a better
3:37
Speaker 5: season next year.
3:39
Speaker 1: All right, Our big thing Number two today is going
3:40
Speaker 1: to be down division. Obviously, the Titans and the Jaguars
3:43
Speaker 1: representatives of the AFC South, but we didn't see a
3:45
Speaker 1: lot of great representation across the league. Nonetheless, they now
3:48
Speaker 1: have an opportunity, the Daguars do, to go four and
3:50
Speaker 1: two in the division. Doug Peterson talked about being important for.
3:53
Speaker 7: That these are close games.
3:57
Speaker 8: The plays we made today, we're the ones we weren't
4:00
Speaker 8: making in those close games.
4:01
Speaker 7: And if it goes the other way, then maybe we
4:03
Speaker 7: win a few more of those games. And it's a
4:05
Speaker 7: different story.
4:06
Speaker 8: But you know, I just think that that you know,
4:12
Speaker 8: to finish that way, to finish strong.
4:14
Speaker 7: You know, it sends a good message to the.
4:17
Speaker 8: Team that that you can still have a hold I
4:22
Speaker 8: think on your division, right if you get it, If
4:25
Speaker 8: you do that next week, you gotta win the game, obviously,
4:28
Speaker 8: but it just shows you that you can, you can,
4:30
Speaker 8: you can kind of control it. You control your own destiny,
4:33
Speaker 8: right you're in and year out, and and it would
4:36
Speaker 8: be it'd be a good.
4:36
Speaker 7: Message to the guys if if you know, if we
4:38
Speaker 7: can accomplish that, John.
4:41
Speaker 1: Things are not great right now with this team, but
4:43
Speaker 1: when you look around the division, it seems that this
4:46
Speaker 1: could turn around quickly. And I feel like this is
4:48
Speaker 1: something that we need to focus on and not think, oh.
4:50
Speaker 2: Woe is me.
4:51
Speaker 1: It's a little bit more like we can figure this
4:53
Speaker 1: out at some point.
4:54
Speaker 6: Yeah, it's a really down division. I mean, when you
4:56
Speaker 6: have two teams three and twelve going in and you
5:00
Speaker 6: have the division champion, looks like I could finish nine
5:03
Speaker 6: and eight, ten and seven whatever. The Texans feel like
5:07
Speaker 6: a nine and eight team, and nine and eight has
5:09
Speaker 6: won in that range last couple of years. It's it's down,
5:14
Speaker 6: and there is what we're talking about, which is a
5:17
Speaker 6: lot of fans are saying, well, if you can just
5:18
Speaker 6: get a little better and get to that nine and
5:21
Speaker 6: eight point, I'm all for that, but I think as
5:25
Speaker 6: a franchise, I hope that whatever is, whatever decisions are
5:31
Speaker 6: made this off season is not about just getting.
5:35
Speaker 4: To the Texans at nine and eight.
5:37
Speaker 6: And getting the Texans is fine, but there are some
5:40
Speaker 6: things in terms of offensive defensive line. Don't patch this.
5:44
Speaker 6: Get to where you can be the Bills, not to
5:47
Speaker 6: where you can win. The AFC SA agree.
5:50
Speaker 5: However, that being said, when you look at the division,
5:53
Speaker 5: that's your way to the playoffs, right, you win your
5:56
Speaker 5: division and you have a playoff spot. And so when
5:59
Speaker 5: you look at this division, the Jaguars have a chance.
6:01
Speaker 5: They've already swept the Titans, they have a chance on
6:03
Speaker 5: Sunday to sweep the Colts, who are a reeling team,
6:06
Speaker 5: and then all of a sudden, you measure yourself against
6:08
Speaker 5: where the Texans are, and John, I'm with you, don't
6:10
Speaker 5: just try to get to the Texans, but you know
6:12
Speaker 5: they get their doors blown off on Christmas thirty one
6:15
Speaker 5: to two. To me, that was just as bad as
6:17
Speaker 5: the Jaguars against the Lions or against the Bills this year.
6:20
Speaker 5: It was a pitiful performance on a primetime stage for
6:24
Speaker 5: a team at the end of the year that wants
6:25
Speaker 5: to surge. It's not a good division. Jaguars aren't a
6:28
Speaker 5: good team, But I don't think the Texans are that
6:30
Speaker 5: much ahead of the rest of the division. So when
6:32
Speaker 5: you look at going with the winning record four and
6:34
Speaker 5: two in the division, people will scoff and say, what
6:36
Speaker 5: does that really mean. It means that you've swept two
6:39
Speaker 5: of the teams and there's one team that you lost
6:41
Speaker 5: twenty four to twenty and one team you lost twenty
6:44
Speaker 5: three to twenty on the final play of each game.
6:46
Speaker 5: You have an opportunity to get closer to them. So
6:50
Speaker 5: winning in the division, I think again into the psyche
6:53
Speaker 5: of some of these young players who are going to
6:54
Speaker 5: be here, into the culture that you're trying to build here.
6:57
Speaker 5: I think that's really important.
6:58
Speaker 1: Our final big thing today is going to be players
7:00
Speaker 1: who made plays. We've talked a ton about just getting
7:03
Speaker 1: more playing time for the younger players and giving them
7:05
Speaker 1: the opportunity to be in these crucial points of the game,
7:08
Speaker 1: and Doug Peterson talked about some of them coming up big.
7:10
Speaker 7: At the end, I found a way to win.
7:14
Speaker 8: Proud of the guys, just so happy for them and
7:17
Speaker 8: coaching staff. The way these guys hang together, they stick together,
7:21
Speaker 8: there's no quit they keep fighting, you know. I keep
7:25
Speaker 8: telling them, you know, you never know when the plays
7:26
Speaker 8: come in your way, and when it does, just just
7:28
Speaker 8: make it. And you saw at the end there Antonio
7:31
Speaker 8: Johnson made the play and and you win the game.
7:34
Speaker 7: So there's a lot of good efforts in this game.
7:36
Speaker 8: Defense created a takeaway, you know, offense was was was
7:39
Speaker 8: effective and good in the red zone today.
7:43
Speaker 7: Just a good team, good team win.
7:46
Speaker 1: Friend Doug chouted out Antonio Johnson on that last play.
7:49
Speaker 1: But there were several young players that had big days yesterday,
7:51
Speaker 1: at least flashes where we hadn't seen a ton of
7:53
Speaker 1: them earlier in the year, but now they're coming on
7:55
Speaker 1: a little bit late.
7:56
Speaker 5: There were and I'm going to talk about this in
7:57
Speaker 5: my hot take, but I do want to go forward
7:59
Speaker 5: with the thought on Antonio Johnson, who john has had
8:02
Speaker 5: a really tough year. The general manager, Trent Balki told
8:06
Speaker 5: me in the preseason when I asked him, what is
8:09
Speaker 5: Antonio Johnson? I was expecting to hear he's a strong safety,
8:12
Speaker 5: he's a free safety, he's a nickel corner, whatever they
8:15
Speaker 5: had intended for him as his role, And what I
8:17
Speaker 5: heard was he's a damn good football player. Okay, well,
8:20
Speaker 5: when you look at him, you can see the traits
8:22
Speaker 5: of a damn good football player, but we haven't seen
8:24
Speaker 5: it on the field until yesterday. When Mason Rudolph dropped
8:28
Speaker 5: back to throw, I instantly saw the receiver running past
8:31
Speaker 5: Foyer Lucon into the end zone and thought, uh oh,
8:34
Speaker 5: here we go again. Here's another opportunity for a team
8:38
Speaker 5: to beat the Jaguars late. And then here comes Antonio Johnson.
8:42
Speaker 5: He learned. He learned something along the way. You'd choose
8:44
Speaker 5: what game it was. Maybe it was the Eagles game
8:46
Speaker 5: with his most recent mental miscue, but he stepped in
8:49
Speaker 5: and he made a huge play. Listen, at some point
8:52
Speaker 5: this thing had to start turning. I don't care if
8:54
Speaker 5: the Titans as opposed to the Eagles or the Packers
8:57
Speaker 5: or the Vikings. At some point somebody needed to do something,
9:01
Speaker 5: and that it was him who hadn't done anything all
9:04
Speaker 5: year long.
9:05
Speaker 4: I like that.
9:05
Speaker 2: Yeah.
9:06
Speaker 6: If you ask why these last games matter, it's Jaron
9:09
Speaker 6: Jones continuing.
9:11
Speaker 4: To work through rookie stuff.
9:13
Speaker 6: Still see some rookie stuff, but you all of a
9:15
Speaker 6: sudden see a lot of playmaking stuff, and people probably
9:19
Speaker 6: know where I'm going with it in the end. Mason Smith,
9:24
Speaker 6: it's no coincident the Jaguars had three sacks and that
9:27
Speaker 6: the pass rush feels better now that he's getting interior pressure.
9:33
Speaker 6: If he's what he could be, which is a mid
9:36
Speaker 6: first round kind of player, meaning that he fell because
9:40
Speaker 6: of injuries. He hadn't been on the field at LSU
9:42
Speaker 6: very much, but he's a first round, top ten type talent.
9:45
Speaker 6: If he's that, then you've got three of them up front,
9:49
Speaker 6: and when you've got three of them up front, you've
9:51
Speaker 6: got a chance to apply pressure. And Mason Smith's really
9:54
Speaker 6: really important for this franchise.
9:56
Speaker 2: All right, stay with here on Jack Zam.
9:57
Speaker 1: We're gonna come back and look at some of the
9:59
Speaker 1: tape in the highlight to me yesterday's winning.
10:04
Speaker 4: Jags.
10:05
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10:07
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10:09
Speaker 1: About Animal Hospital. Your pet will receive access to exclusive merchandise,
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Speaker 1: events and sweepstakes. You can head over to Jaguars dot
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Speaker 1: com Slash Promotions Slash four Legged Fan Club to sign
10:17
Speaker 1: up today.
10:19
Speaker 3: Yeah for sure, I wouldn't say I don't care about
10:21
Speaker 3: blah blah, but yeah, it's definitely a great thrilling to be.
10:24
Speaker 6: Able to do some of the things that I did.
10:26
Speaker 3: I mean, I don't even know all of them, but
10:28
Speaker 3: some of them iout hers at great accomplishment.
10:32
Speaker 1: Brian Thomas very humble, but he doesn't not care about
10:35
Speaker 1: the personal records.
10:35
Speaker 2: He's not a selfish guy.
10:37
Speaker 1: But you know, it is nice to break some of
10:38
Speaker 1: these records and you hear your name and alongside Randy
10:41
Speaker 1: Moss and some of these other guys, it's getting that
10:43
Speaker 1: very special category. We know he's special, but to hear
10:45
Speaker 1: some of those names around him are pretty cool.
10:47
Speaker 5: He said it a couple of times that if they
10:49
Speaker 5: were winning, he'd enjoy it more. Sure. Yeah, I mean
10:51
Speaker 5: he is all about winning first.
10:53
Speaker 2: Which is great because he's still very talented.
10:55
Speaker 6: Nonetheless, well, what's impressive is Randy Moss set those records
10:58
Speaker 6: for a fifteen and one team.
10:59
Speaker 4: Yeah, it was going and that.
11:01
Speaker 5: Had Chris Carter and Jake Reid and Robert Smith was
11:04
Speaker 5: the NFL's leading rusher.
11:05
Speaker 6: And this team is not going and he's still doing it.
11:07
Speaker 6: So it's it's uh really very well for the future.
11:10
Speaker 2: Absolutely. All right, let's give some credit where credits due.
11:12
Speaker 1: Yesterday we got another win, so let's talk things out.
11:15
Speaker 2: How about a turnover from the defense? We see this?
11:18
Speaker 5: It was very nice.
11:19
Speaker 4: It was very nice, and I didn't know what it
11:20
Speaker 4: was at first.
11:21
Speaker 2: I needed some clarifica well.
11:24
Speaker 5: And it was caused by a guy that we've been
11:25
Speaker 5: asking about, Jordan Jefferson, who got in there and tipped
11:28
Speaker 5: the ball up and made it difficult for the running
11:30
Speaker 5: back to pull in, which left it there for Devin Lloyd.
11:33
Speaker 2: You see it just floating there. And we've seen a
11:34
Speaker 2: couple out there this year.
11:35
Speaker 1: I know Devin Lloyd missed one, I think it was
11:36
Speaker 1: last week, and some other ones floating for he missed
11:39
Speaker 1: one a couple of weeks ago, and you're just like, oh,
11:41
Speaker 1: grab it please, And then what did they do?
11:43
Speaker 5: They went down the field and sport a touchdown, which
11:45
Speaker 5: we haven't seen from this team.
11:47
Speaker 6: And Devon has always been a guy where when the
11:51
Speaker 6: ball is around him, he usually makes a play on it.
11:55
Speaker 6: Sometimes he has trouble getting to where.
11:57
Speaker 4: The ball is going to be.
11:59
Speaker 6: But he athletically and instinctively, he is a playmaker and
12:05
Speaker 6: he made it on Sunday.
12:06
Speaker 2: Absolutely, Let's talk.
12:07
Speaker 1: A little bit about Brian Thomas Junior, as we always
12:09
Speaker 1: do because it's a pretty talented guy. But how about
12:12
Speaker 1: him in the run game a little bit on Sunday,
12:14
Speaker 1: which was pretty cool. I mean, I know they've tried
12:16
Speaker 1: to use him in that role a little bit before,
12:18
Speaker 1: but he's just so talented in so many ways.
12:20
Speaker 5: Well, the one thing that you noticed when he's running
12:22
Speaker 5: with the ball is his vision. Right. You wonder whether
12:25
Speaker 5: a guy who normally runs down the field and turns
12:28
Speaker 5: to the ball can see the field and to devolved
12:30
Speaker 5: in front of him.
12:31
Speaker 4: Well, clearly he can.
12:32
Speaker 5: I mean, and then he's so nimble for a tall guy,
12:35
Speaker 5: he can change direction pretty effortlessly. That's how you saw
12:38
Speaker 5: him fight for extra yards.
12:40
Speaker 6: Yeah, he's rare in that. He's unbelievably fast. Obviously, at
12:45
Speaker 6: some point this year he had like the fastest time, so.
12:48
Speaker 4: He's got that.
12:50
Speaker 6: But he is an instinctive player. And I forget who
12:53
Speaker 6: was talking about this is either Press or Doug early in.
12:55
Speaker 4: The season, but.
12:58
Speaker 6: He's why sometimes it's tough to scout even the best
13:03
Speaker 6: colleges because there was a lot of things at LSU
13:05
Speaker 6: that he wasn't asked to do that when he got here,
13:10
Speaker 6: they say can you do this, He's like, yeah, those
13:12
Speaker 6: never had any So that's why it's sometimes tough because
13:17
Speaker 6: the college game, as much as people think the SEC
13:20
Speaker 6: translates to the NFL, the college game is not the NFL.
13:24
Speaker 6: So he's an example of a guy that a lot
13:27
Speaker 6: more in the tank than he could show in college
13:30
Speaker 6: because the differences in the game.
13:31
Speaker 5: And by the way, not every receiver likes to get
13:33
Speaker 5: hit like he got hit on the sideline. I know
13:35
Speaker 5: we've moved on to Parker Washington in his touchdown and
13:37
Speaker 5: I want to touch on him, but Thomas is a
13:39
Speaker 5: tough guy who's willing to take the hit. I spent
13:41
Speaker 5: time with Chad Hall last week, who talked about Parker
13:44
Speaker 5: Washington and Parker's development. Because when you look at a
13:47
Speaker 5: five 'ot nine receiver, generally you think, well, it's Christian
13:50
Speaker 5: Kirk type. He belongs in the slot inside. They think
13:53
Speaker 5: he's a better outside receiver. He shows you his ability
13:57
Speaker 5: to go up and get the ball. His hands are
14:00
Speaker 5: excellent and he's got more pure speed according to Chad
14:03
Speaker 5: Hole than people know because he's still learning the offense.
14:08
Speaker 5: We talk about finding other receivers to help space things
14:10
Speaker 5: out to make Brian Thomas Junior even more explosive and efficient.
14:15
Speaker 5: Don't discount that Parker Washington can evolve into.
14:17
Speaker 1: That guy, and we have to give him some credit
14:19
Speaker 1: for the footwork on that one to get to come
14:20
Speaker 1: down by come down to the back band zone like
14:23
Speaker 1: that and get both feed in. He said he didn't
14:25
Speaker 1: know if he got it in, so he wasn't sure
14:26
Speaker 1: if he should celebrate or not.
14:27
Speaker 6: I'm not sure if he got it in, but they
14:28
Speaker 6: called it a touchdown. It was a great play to
14:31
Speaker 6: do it, and I think it was one. It was
14:33
Speaker 6: called on the field the touchdown and there was nothing
14:37
Speaker 6: to return it. But it was an incredible job handing
14:39
Speaker 6: to get the foot down.
14:40
Speaker 5: It was close, but he did get that towed down.
14:42
Speaker 1: Let's talk a little bit more about Brian tom Shchunior
14:44
Speaker 1: because why not one of his ridiculous catches on the
14:46
Speaker 1: sideline where we seen him do so many different things
14:49
Speaker 1: and just kind of over the shoulder, running out of
14:52
Speaker 1: bounds and just it's getting to the point now where
14:55
Speaker 1: we've been talking for weeks, Please just throw it his way,
14:57
Speaker 1: no matter what. And it's like, I don't feel like
14:59
Speaker 1: there's many times where I'm like, oh, they shouldn't have
15:00
Speaker 1: gone to Brian, because even if it doesn't work out,
15:02
Speaker 1: there's another chance of this play later where it doesn't
15:05
Speaker 1: work out. It's like, I still feel like, sometimes that's
15:06
Speaker 1: the right play.
15:07
Speaker 6: Well, here's what he's doing that's interesting to me and
15:10
Speaker 6: maybe only interesting to me. When I was covering the Colts,
15:13
Speaker 6: I covered Marvin Harrison, Reggie Wayne, who I think Marv's
15:16
Speaker 6: in the Hall of Fame, like Reggie eventually get there.
15:19
Speaker 6: You got to the point when you were covering it
15:20
Speaker 6: that you got numbed to what they were doing because
15:23
Speaker 6: they did it so often that when they did the spectacular,
15:26
Speaker 6: you just sort of wrote it down and moved on.
15:29
Speaker 6: Brian Thomas Junior is getting to that point where that's
15:32
Speaker 6: an incredible catch.
15:35
Speaker 4: I wasn't surprised.
15:37
Speaker 6: I just wrote it down and moved on, barely mentioned
15:39
Speaker 6: it in my story. There's been years where that would
15:42
Speaker 6: have been like on the season highlight. So yeah, you
15:46
Speaker 6: can't say I disgression about him because he brings everything
15:49
Speaker 6: to the table, and unlike some receivers in the past,
15:53
Speaker 6: you feel like it's going to ascend and you're not
15:55
Speaker 6: worried about.
15:56
Speaker 4: It ending well.
15:57
Speaker 5: And so there was a very similar throw later in
15:59
Speaker 5: this second quarter and Mac missed him, right, I mean,
16:01
Speaker 5: and Mack's not the most accurate deep ball passer. He
16:04
Speaker 5: put it behind him because you can see that if
16:05
Speaker 5: he just puts it two feet further up the field,
16:08
Speaker 5: Brian pulls it in again. So to your point, I
16:11
Speaker 5: was expecting Brian to make that catch and was disappointed
16:13
Speaker 5: that it sailed on him. We're going to very quickly
16:16
Speaker 5: become numb to a guy. He just runs away from people.
16:19
Speaker 5: I mean, he ran away from the corner in the
16:21
Speaker 5: slot on his touchdown and the ball that was a
16:23
Speaker 5: perfectly placed ball by Mack, but he just reached out
16:26
Speaker 5: and made it, I mean made simple.
16:28
Speaker 6: Yeah, even the end arounds a lesser athlete, those ends
16:33
Speaker 6: around a probably aren't called. But b end up with
16:37
Speaker 6: a two yard game. He's got instincts the speed to
16:41
Speaker 6: do it. He makes hard things look easy. Most players
16:46
Speaker 6: in the NFL make easy things look hard.
16:48
Speaker 1: So the Titans came out second half or after a
16:52
Speaker 1: little bit and kind of tried to make this a
16:53
Speaker 1: little bit of a game, kind of doing what the
16:55
Speaker 1: Jaguars do where they don't try to get into it
16:56
Speaker 1: until a little too late into this game. But they
16:58
Speaker 1: didn't get a touchdown, make things close towards the end.
17:01
Speaker 1: And the defense we talked about some of the flashes
17:04
Speaker 1: from the younger players, but obviously still something they need
17:07
Speaker 1: to work on. And still with the secondary. I felt
17:09
Speaker 1: like that still has to be a focus in so offseason, right.
17:13
Speaker 4: Yea, perhaps it's a big focus.
17:15
Speaker 1: And just this like it feels like every time there's
17:18
Speaker 1: a tight end, it doesn't even need to be like
17:19
Speaker 1: a Marquee tight end.
17:20
Speaker 2: They just they always score some sort of ridiculous touchdown
17:23
Speaker 2: on a blown play.
17:24
Speaker 6: I haven't talked to anybody, and clearly that's a bust.
17:27
Speaker 6: Clearly they were all identifying people to cover before the
17:31
Speaker 6: play and somebody didn't identify that guy and that guy scored.
17:35
Speaker 6: So that's happened way too often, you know. Can you
17:40
Speaker 6: fix that with them knowing the defense better? Probably, But
17:43
Speaker 6: it's been every it's been every week.
17:45
Speaker 5: Just guessing that foy Lucon was right there in the
17:48
Speaker 5: area and he jumped into a gap and the linebacker
17:51
Speaker 5: jumped out on him. So that wasn't necessarily a corner
17:55
Speaker 5: or a safety that was making that miscue. But your
17:57
Speaker 5: point is well taken, Kay, It's just been mental mistakes
17:59
Speaker 5: all see and long on the back end of the
18:01
Speaker 5: defense and it's little plays like that that don't have
18:04
Speaker 5: to happen.
18:05
Speaker 1: All right, more BTJ because why not his touchdown on
18:08
Speaker 1: the day. Obviously it gets tons of receptions, catches and everything,
18:11
Speaker 1: but it's always nice to see him in the end zone.
18:13
Speaker 2: That's the I think that was what got him.
18:16
Speaker 1: Into kind of the record books and the sense with
18:18
Speaker 1: Randy Moss with so many games where it was sixty
18:20
Speaker 1: plus yards and a touchdown in eight.
18:22
Speaker 2: Games this season. I mean him and Randy Moss, only
18:26
Speaker 2: where could ever do that.
18:27
Speaker 6: So well, it's again a play that you know, he
18:31
Speaker 6: made it look really easy and it's not really easy.
18:35
Speaker 5: So there's only four receivers in history that have had
18:42
Speaker 5: eleven hundred yards and ten touchdowns that. Jamar Chase is one,
18:45
Speaker 5: Randy Moss is another. Yeah, as a rookie, there's one other.
18:48
Speaker 5: I think there's still a lot of back right, So
18:51
Speaker 5: there's four players that have done that by the way
18:53
Speaker 5: it's in sixteen games. He hasn't done it in seventeen
18:56
Speaker 5: because they haven't played the seventeenth game yet, So he's
18:58
Speaker 5: on par It is a jitimate comparison to great receivers.
19:03
Speaker 5: He's fantastic.
19:04
Speaker 1: He sure is. All right, let's give a little credit
19:06
Speaker 1: to as much as we do talk about the safety play,
19:08
Speaker 1: Antonio Johnson made the game winning say at the end
19:12
Speaker 1: there on fourth down, so Doug Peterson gave him a
19:14
Speaker 1: shot out, will give him a shout out to. I
19:15
Speaker 1: don't know what this means for him next year. I
19:17
Speaker 1: haven't seen it consistent consistently enough and for me to
19:20
Speaker 1: say he's gotten better, because I feel like there was
19:23
Speaker 1: a bunch of other stuff in this game. Maybe he
19:24
Speaker 1: didn't do as well, but in the end we remember
19:28
Speaker 1: the final.
19:28
Speaker 6: Yeah, where's the point he's going to There are guys
19:33
Speaker 6: on this roster who, if they're in their final year,
19:36
Speaker 6: might not be back. But there are a lot of
19:38
Speaker 6: guys in this roster who aren't their final you're taking
19:40
Speaker 6: me back, Antonio Johnson is going to have a chance
19:43
Speaker 6: to be a big part of this next year. So
19:45
Speaker 6: he's got to get better at some of the mental stuff.
19:47
Speaker 6: That he hasn't done. But that's a play, as you
19:50
Speaker 6: allude to early Brian, when you make a play like that,
19:53
Speaker 6: you deserve to be in the mix and now whatever
19:56
Speaker 6: happens next year. He's a perfect example of a guy who, hey,
20:00
Speaker 6: if development happens, they're in good shape at a lot
20:04
Speaker 6: of spots because there's ability here.
20:06
Speaker 4: But development has to happen for him.
20:08
Speaker 5: You remember the Jets game, the forty one yard completion
20:10
Speaker 5: to Devonte Adams who was out on the sideline all
20:12
Speaker 5: by himself. It's set up the game when he touch him.
20:14
Speaker 5: That was Antonio Johnson, right. Well, so when the ball
20:18
Speaker 5: is going in the direction of the receiver and I
20:20
Speaker 5: see Antonio Johnson him and then he goes and he
20:23
Speaker 5: makes the play, so maybe the light wents on and
20:25
Speaker 5: that can happen. We aren't patient in this game anymore.
20:28
Speaker 5: We want instant results from young players. Even though he
20:31
Speaker 5: was a sixth round pick, probably for a reason. He's
20:33
Speaker 5: got all the physical traits you could want. He's tall,
20:35
Speaker 5: he's long, he's fast, he's strong, you can rush the passer, right,
20:40
Speaker 5: But it was all mental mistakes for him this year. Okay, well,
20:42
Speaker 5: part of that's on him, but part of it's on
20:44
Speaker 5: the defensive coordinator and the staff as well. How could
20:46
Speaker 5: they not find a better role for him in some way,
20:49
Speaker 5: shape or form. Get those two pieces together and at
20:52
Speaker 5: the lights which has gone on, then maybe you've got something.
20:55
Speaker 1: See what the changes are in the offseason, how they
20:56
Speaker 1: utilize him next year. Stay with Us're gonna have hot
20:59
Speaker 1: takes come before you a right, move the frame, Move
21:08
Speaker 1: the frame, Magellan Transport, what did the coolest office face
21:10
Speaker 1: in Jacksonville?
21:11
Speaker 2: And why?
21:11
Speaker 1: You can apply online at Magellanlogistics dot com. And also
21:15
Speaker 1: these hot takes are brought to you by Firehouse Subs.
21:18
Speaker 1: Today are hot takes for the day.
21:23
Speaker 9: Yeah, it's been awesome. I mean I've definitely found a
21:25
Speaker 9: little bit more joined football and that's a big credit
21:28
Speaker 9: to the coaches and they just keep it loose no
21:30
Speaker 9: matter what, regardless of the results. Is going each week
21:33
Speaker 9: and have fun at practice, which is important for me
21:35
Speaker 9: and obviously you want to translate that into wins and
21:39
Speaker 9: that will come. So I've been really impressed with their
21:41
Speaker 9: not only their football IQ and knowledge, but just how
21:44
Speaker 9: they run the team and all the coaches really on
21:46
Speaker 9: the offensive side have done a great job.
21:49
Speaker 1: It's quarterback Mac Jones talking a little bit about the
21:51
Speaker 1: success he's had here and just his time coming from
21:54
Speaker 1: New England and working with the staff here in Jacksonville.
21:56
Speaker 2: I'm gonna kick us off with our hot takes. I
21:58
Speaker 2: think we should.
21:59
Speaker 1: Bring Mac back. I know he's going to want to
22:00
Speaker 1: try to find a starting job. I'm sure that will
22:02
Speaker 1: be his goal, but as a backup quarterback and his
22:05
Speaker 1: role on this team, I think he's been great. I
22:07
Speaker 1: think it's great for the offense that you don't have
22:08
Speaker 1: to change a ton of stuff. You can still run
22:10
Speaker 1: your playbook as it is. And I think he's a
22:12
Speaker 1: personality they need in that room and he brings something
22:14
Speaker 1: out of the team. I know Brian Thomas Junior loves
22:16
Speaker 1: his dad jokes, and I think we all think he's
22:19
Speaker 1: funny in different ways on and off the field, but
22:21
Speaker 1: sometimes you need that energy.
22:22
Speaker 2: He loves football. He may not be.
22:24
Speaker 1: Able to make all the plays all the time, but
22:26
Speaker 1: he played probably his cleanest game, two touchdowns, no interceptions,
22:29
Speaker 1: great passer rating I think is one twenty two. So
22:31
Speaker 1: for me, that's someone I would want in my locker room.
22:34
Speaker 1: I don't know if that'll come to be because I'm sure,
22:35
Speaker 1: he'll try to find something else, maybe a chance to
22:38
Speaker 1: start somewhere else, But if given me option, I would
22:40
Speaker 1: like him here as a backup.
22:42
Speaker 4: Yeah.
22:42
Speaker 6: I don't know that Mac lifts the play of all
22:46
Speaker 6: around him the way an elite guy does, but I
22:49
Speaker 6: don't think he's an elite guy.
22:50
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think he's a backup.
22:54
Speaker 6: I like him very much. I wish him well. I
22:57
Speaker 6: think he can be a very good backup. If Mac
23:01
Speaker 6: Jones is on an eleven and six type team, he
23:06
Speaker 6: can win you a couple of games while your starter's out,
23:08
Speaker 6: and that's, to me, is what you want from a backup.
23:11
Speaker 6: He's not going to bring you down, So I'd be
23:14
Speaker 6: fine with that. I don't know what. There's so much
23:17
Speaker 6: going on with what the decision making process will be
23:19
Speaker 6: that I have no way to know if people making
23:22
Speaker 6: a decision will want mac Jones, cause I don't know
23:24
Speaker 6: who the people making the decisions will be.
23:26
Speaker 4: But I'd be fine with that.
23:29
Speaker 5: Well, I would too, And I think it's going to
23:31
Speaker 5: depend on how obviously people around the league see them.
23:33
Speaker 5: All you need is one opportunity. But I don't look
23:35
Speaker 5: at him and see Sam Darnald, right, I mean, Donald
23:38
Speaker 5: had bounced around to a couple of teams before he
23:40
Speaker 5: finally Did you see the celebration in Minnesota? Yeah? Yeah,
23:44
Speaker 5: And they've got a young quarterback, they probably can't commit
23:46
Speaker 5: to him. There's this new trend and John, you've talked
23:49
Speaker 5: about it first about, you know, finding these veteran quarterbacks
23:52
Speaker 5: who have an opportunity to reinvent themselves. Well, Mac hasn't
23:56
Speaker 5: done that. He just hasn't done that this year. So
23:58
Speaker 5: I think if I had a choice, would absolutely love
24:00
Speaker 5: to have him back because I like the energy he brings.
24:02
Speaker 5: I think he gets along with a lot of the
24:03
Speaker 5: guys in the locker room. Part of it is what's
24:06
Speaker 5: the quarterback room like with him in it? Right? Do
24:07
Speaker 5: he and Trevor get along? Do they work well together?
24:10
Speaker 5: Because you've got to have some of that. But I'd
24:13
Speaker 5: really like having back.
24:14
Speaker 7: Yeah.
24:14
Speaker 6: That said, I would like nothing more than to be
24:16
Speaker 6: sitting here in the season in the future and watch
24:19
Speaker 6: Mac Jones have the kind of moment that Sam Donald
24:21
Speaker 6: di shar good kid, works hard. Hope he does well
24:25
Speaker 6: wherever he is.
24:26
Speaker 5: Well, it took Donald what the Panthers, the Niners, and
24:30
Speaker 5: then the Viking, So it took him his fourth team,
24:31
Speaker 5: so maybe maybe he has to go somewhere and marking.
24:34
Speaker 4: That a little bit more.
24:35
Speaker 2: Absolutely, John, what is your hot take for us today?
24:38
Speaker 6: My hot take is don't look back. And what I
24:40
Speaker 6: mean by that is there's a lot of there's a
24:44
Speaker 6: lot of people talking people inside the building outside of
24:46
Speaker 6: the building. Well, they were close. You went three and
24:49
Speaker 6: nine in with these one score games. What could have been?
24:54
Speaker 6: I get that they lost one score games. At the
24:58
Speaker 6: end of this season, I don't necessarily feel like this
25:02
Speaker 6: team was close to being a great team. So what
25:06
Speaker 6: I hope is that who's making the decision, be it Doug, Trent, whatever,
25:10
Speaker 6: don't look at this as, oh boy, we were so close.
25:13
Speaker 6: Let's do a few things and get over that hump.
25:17
Speaker 6: Let's look at what we need to do to get
25:20
Speaker 6: to a level of excellence where you're not worrying as
25:24
Speaker 6: much about the one score games.
25:25
Speaker 4: I get there these one score games.
25:26
Speaker 6: But there's one score games that created different ways in
25:29
Speaker 6: this league. I don't want this franchise at the end
25:33
Speaker 6: of the year to be making personnel decisions based on, yeah,
25:37
Speaker 6: we were that close to being pretty good. I think
25:41
Speaker 6: they need to look long term and get over that hump.
25:45
Speaker 6: And that's just sort of how I see it.
25:47
Speaker 2: Listen.
25:47
Speaker 5: I don't think you can look John at the secondary
25:49
Speaker 5: and think we can fix this, right. I mean, there
25:51
Speaker 5: are some pieces that you may be able to play with,
25:54
Speaker 5: and maybe it's a schematic thing. But I also I
25:56
Speaker 5: look and I see some deficiencies there too. You can't
26:01
Speaker 5: go forward with the defense in the way that it is.
26:03
Speaker 5: I mean, it's the worst defense in the league. It's
26:05
Speaker 5: given up big plays on an epic scale. You can't
26:09
Speaker 5: you can't say, well, we can fix it by just
26:11
Speaker 5: bringing in a linebacker or another pass rusher. I just
26:15
Speaker 5: don't see that as a possibility either.
26:17
Speaker 2: Certainly not a quick fix. I think it's any part.
26:19
Speaker 5: But it's not a rebuild either, right, No, it's a retooling,
26:24
Speaker 5: and it's not just a simple little fix. You've really
26:27
Speaker 5: got to be honest with yourself and say where did
26:29
Speaker 5: we get this thing wrong? And how do we take
26:31
Speaker 5: the good pieces that we have. But it's not a
26:33
Speaker 5: complete rebuild.
26:34
Speaker 2: Talk a lot.
26:35
Speaker 1: Don't try to patch it necessarily, Just take what is
26:37
Speaker 1: working and then fix the other stuff.
26:39
Speaker 2: Whatever that's going to take, all right, Brian.
26:42
Speaker 5: Mine involves a little bit of looking back in that
26:43
Speaker 5: it's just forget free agency, right. I mean it worked
26:46
Speaker 5: in twenty twenty two when you brought in Evan Ingram
26:49
Speaker 5: and Christian Kirk and you did some really good things.
26:52
Speaker 5: But last year's free agency class, I mean what Eric
26:56
Speaker 5: Armstead Ronald Darby gave Davis, I mean it just it
26:59
Speaker 5: hasn't worked. Mitch Morse has given you an upgrade in
27:02
Speaker 5: that category. When I watched Jordan Jefferson yesterday, I just
27:06
Speaker 5: why have we not seen him on the field. I'm
27:08
Speaker 5: not saying that he played this epic game, but he
27:11
Speaker 5: took the pass that gave you your first takeaway in
27:15
Speaker 5: five weeks. He was disruptive in the middle. He and
27:18
Speaker 5: Mason Smith are two young players that need to be
27:21
Speaker 5: on the field this Sunday against the Colts, and they
27:23
Speaker 5: need to be on the field throughout the offseason. You
27:26
Speaker 5: drafted these guys because you know what it looks like.
27:30
Speaker 5: Now you need to get them there. I want to
27:32
Speaker 5: see some of these young players on the field as
27:36
Speaker 5: much as possible, and I don't want to think the
27:39
Speaker 5: free agency is how you build a team, and the
27:41
Speaker 5: Jaguars have done that. John forty years, the owner has
27:44
Speaker 5: spent more money in free agency than any other team,
27:47
Speaker 5: epic amounts of money, and at times it has worked,
27:50
Speaker 5: but it is not a way to build a team.
27:52
Speaker 5: And when I watched Jordan Jefferson on the field just today,
27:54
Speaker 5: all I can think of is why hasn't he been active?
27:57
Speaker 2: Why?
27:58
Speaker 5: Because Jeremiah Ledbetter, who's a fine player, right, but he's
28:01
Speaker 5: a free agent. He's gonna go somewhere else at some point.
28:04
Speaker 5: I want to build on some blocks, some pieces of
28:07
Speaker 5: granite that I can call my foundation. And I would
28:10
Speaker 5: rather have that be Jordan Jefferson and Mason Smith than
28:12
Speaker 5: Jeremiah Ledbetter or someone else that you're gonna pull in.
28:15
Speaker 5: Is a mid level guy, draft develop, trust your evaluations,
28:20
Speaker 5: and let him play.
28:20
Speaker 4: I want to be bored in March. Yeah, me too,
28:23
Speaker 4: be nice.
28:24
Speaker 2: Here's hoping?
28:25
Speaker 1: Yeah, all right, stay with let's we'll tell you what
28:27
Speaker 1: we've got coming up the final week of the regular season.
28:32
Speaker 2: Jag chance.
28:33
Speaker 1: If you want customized Jaguars furniture for your home, check
28:35
Speaker 1: out zip her dot com to browse all the customizable options.
28:37
Speaker 1: Zip Chair is furniture for fans.
28:40
Speaker 7: Hey, congratulations, man. We talked about it before the game.
28:43
Speaker 10: We said, hey, guys in uniform guys not in uniform,
28:46
Speaker 10: guys that are injured, everybody in this locker room. We're
28:48
Speaker 10: gonna take that field as one. We did, we'd come
28:50
Speaker 10: off the field as one victorious.
28:51
Speaker 7: Great job. Congratulations to everybody.
28:53
Speaker 2: Man.
28:54
Speaker 7: Raft Winning games games.
29:00
Speaker 10: In the NFL, you find out doesn't take a whole lot,
29:02
Speaker 10: just takes a couple of plays.
29:03
Speaker 4: We talked about it this week.
29:05
Speaker 5: We were the ones that made plays at the end.
29:07
Speaker 10: Ajay, right, you just keep battling your tails off, everybody,
29:13
Speaker 10: all three phases. Congrats man, congrats, so hats off, all right,
29:17
Speaker 10: hats off to that.
29:18
Speaker 4: Before we get out of here.
29:19
Speaker 10: We gotta get one man, we gotta get it ready.
29:21
Speaker 2: One two three, kind of victory locker room speech and everything.
29:28
Speaker 1: We're going into the final week of the season. We'll
29:30
Speaker 1: head to Indianapolis. Nothing to play for for them. They're
29:32
Speaker 1: out of officially out of the playoff running as well,
29:34
Speaker 1: and we will be playing on Sunday at one that
29:36
Speaker 1: was confirmed.
29:37
Speaker 2: We'll be on Fox as well.
29:40
Speaker 6: And it's five straight games for the Jags between two
29:43
Speaker 6: teams out of the playoffs at the end of the season,
29:45
Speaker 6: which I'm.
29:46
Speaker 4: Not trying to pour a damper on anything, but.
29:48
Speaker 1: It'd have been nice to come in with a better
29:49
Speaker 1: record and have those five games.
29:51
Speaker 6: Yeah, that's well, that's where it is so great win
29:56
Speaker 6: on Sunday. But big picture, a lot of stuff has
30:00
Speaker 6: get fixed just credit.
30:02
Speaker 5: I mean, Doug talked in there about keeping everybody focused
30:04
Speaker 5: and keeping them on track through this five game stretch
30:07
Speaker 5: where it would have been easy just to sort of
30:08
Speaker 5: shut it down. You heard Sauce Gardner perhaps last night
30:12
Speaker 5: in the Jets locker room talking about how guys had
30:13
Speaker 5: shut it down, and you haven't heard that in this
30:15
Speaker 5: locker room.
30:16
Speaker 4: I don't.
30:16
Speaker 5: It's no consolation. I'm not offering it as that, other
30:19
Speaker 5: than to say that you had a lot of young
30:20
Speaker 5: guys out there who were fighting and playing hard in
30:22
Speaker 5: that matters.
30:23
Speaker 6: And to sort of pull back on what I said,
30:27
Speaker 6: that absolutely matters very much as impressive because you see
30:29
Speaker 6: teams mail it in and you cannot interpret this season
30:35
Speaker 6: as these players mailed it in.
30:36
Speaker 5: And Doug stood in front of the media week after
30:38
Speaker 5: week and said it's on me. When he was asked
30:41
Speaker 5: about how do you get this done? He said, that's
30:43
Speaker 5: my job. And so when I watched that video last night,
30:46
Speaker 5: I thought, congratulations. I mean You've done your job in
30:49
Speaker 5: keeping this team playing. Won all the games that you
30:51
Speaker 5: wanted to win, but you kept them playing and that
30:53
Speaker 5: speaks well of him.
30:54
Speaker 1: Wait till then, we've seen a lot of teams that
30:56
Speaker 1: have not been doing that. So we hope you guys
30:58
Speaker 1: enjoy your new year. We will be back on Thursday
31:00
Speaker 1: to talk a little bit about the final game of
31:02
Speaker 1: the season against the Colts.