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What Fred Taylor expects from the Jaguars season debut | Countdown to Kickoff · The Jacksonville Jaguars Official Podcast Network

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Time down for a weekly conversation with pride of the
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Jaguars running back Fred Taylor. It is kickoff weekend, Fred,
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: and that never gets old. How are you, JP? I'm
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: good man, football, football, football. You gotta love it, right,
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: you have to. I mean, this is If you don't
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: like it, now, you're dead a thousand percent. I try to, Um.
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: Remember that quote by Ed Sable, I believe, and uh,
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: I know I'm gonna butcher it, but it was along
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: along the lines of living is amazing, but football is better.
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: Something like that. I butchered it. But he did something
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: along those lines, and I have to agree with him.
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: I love playing the game, man, and nothing better than
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: Opening Day. If it wasn't his quote, you just made
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: a new one. Will attribute it to you. It happen,
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: It happening. I'm always about the pivot. That's what you are.
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: You know you you tell those lines, Fred, you are
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: about the pivot. That's sure. Hey, Um, running backs have
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: been in the conversation all off season, the question marks
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: of whether these guys will be ready to go. Travis
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: e t n answer those questions early in the offseason.
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: He's been good for the better part of it, but
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: now James Robinson has the green light to play coming
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: off the Achilles injury. That's a remarkable turn for really
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: both of these guys, but certainly Robinson will be ready
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: for Week one. I'm curious as a running back yourself,
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: lower extremity injuries kind of get in your head. At
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: what point do you get past that and move forward?
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  Speaker 1: And what do you expecting these guys today? You know what,
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: j p Um, You know, it's good that they're both back.
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: You know, that's that's a plus plus. It will be
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: even better if they can both stay healthy because I
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: see some dynamic abilities that they share, you know, Uh,
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  Speaker 1: jameson you out there, empower it and break tackles, and
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  Speaker 1: I hope to be able to see some of that,
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: especially coming off a tough Achilles injury, as well as
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: on the flip side. You know, we missed Travis e
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: t N a year ago for opening Day when he
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: was sidelined. Uh, but he's back and he looked absolutely
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: amazing in the preseason. In my opinion, I like to
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: say him build on that, and I like to be
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  Speaker 1: able to see him sustain throughout the course of the
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: season being a smaller bag. But and that runs pretty
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: powerful for a smaller guy. There's nothing worse than you know,
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: having an injury on opening day, right, something is lingering
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: in your head. You know, you're question yourself, Am I
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: ready to go? You know? Will I be able to
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: finish the game? Can I go full speed? Usually is
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: the biggest question. And hopefully, man, these questions will be answered.
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: You got two really good bags and I'm wishing both
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: of them the best to start the season. Grand of
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: the Jaguars running back Fred Taylor with us, Well, the
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: old line is where that all begins. You gotta push
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: some guys around easier said than on today against the
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: Washington Commander's front. They don't have Chase Young, but they've
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: got some big boys in the middle, and it's a
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: talented group there. And I'm interested to see Luke Fortner's
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: NFL debut at center today. That is quite a handful
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: to get a go in against the guy like Jonathan
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  Speaker 1: Allen to Ron Payne. Those guys in the interior, they
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: don't mess around. So Fortner's handsful today. Yeah, Hey, welcome
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  Speaker 1: to the NFL. Rookie. You know, he gets a chance
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: to get baptized often and early, and uh, you know
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  Speaker 1: they brought him in for a reason. He's a starter
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: in there for a reason, which means, you know, he's
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  Speaker 1: something that or someone that the coaches are depending on,
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: the players are depending on. And there's no time to
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: think about being a rookie. It's time to get out
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  Speaker 1: there and go learn to compete and just do your best.
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  Speaker 1: But he's gonna be a tall task and everything starts
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: with snapping a ball. Don't matter how great often is are,
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: how bad they are, everything begins with snapping the ball
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  Speaker 1: and for the center, communicating with the quarterback. Been on
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: the same page, you know, idea in the front that
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: will get the other calls to the other players. So
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  Speaker 1: he has a tall task and uh, he's a smart kid.
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  Speaker 1: We know that and hopefully that will translate so physicality
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: as well, which we will eventually help the team, uh
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  Speaker 1: make some success. He's the only guy that touches the
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: ball on every play. You can change guys that are
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: behind the center, but for the majority, it will be
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: Trevor Lawrence Um of course, the second year in the NFL.
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: Trevor's progress in this offense, talking to Doug Peterson a
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: few times this week, has been fantastic. He's got a
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  Speaker 1: an awareness of pretty much everything going on. He's got
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  Speaker 1: weapons around him, so it's time to make that jump
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: year two. Year one to year two of the NFL.
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: We talked about it in a lot of different positions,
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: but at quarterback. You can see that a whole lot
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  Speaker 1: around the league. And I remember the days man the
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: years when you know, the quarterback was also a guy
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: that touched it every single snap unless they were doing
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: some sort of fumble Rooski. But then they implemented the
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: wildcat and direct snap to the running back position receivers,
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: and uh, now the center is truly the only guy
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: that touches the ball every play. But back to Trevor,
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: you know, I think he's gonna do well. I am
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: definitely looking forward to, uh to see his progression. You know,
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: as a player, he's he's always an amazing leader. He's
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: been that throughout college. I thought he showed poison leadership
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: a year ago in the midst of you know that
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  Speaker 1: Debacco there. Uh, with the offensive system and the coaching staff,
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  Speaker 1: I truly believe that he has a countinmate pro and
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  Speaker 1: coach Peterson in his corner, former quarterback, someone who knows offenses,
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  Speaker 1: you know, who knows what the player likes, what he wants,
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  Speaker 1: what he's good at, and uh, we saw a good
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  Speaker 1: to that this offseason or this preseason as well, and
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: hopefully it can translate to success again. Man for the offense,
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: Trevor as weapons, going out to sign Christian Kirk. Uh,
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: they brought in Za Jones. You know, Marvin Jones is
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: the consummate pro veteran in the room. And uh, the
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: running back position I think is better, more explosive, more dynamic.
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  Speaker 1: So um, he has weapons around him. He just has
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: to get out there and leave those guys and make
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: it happen. Fred Taylor with us and they're facing a
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: Jack del Rio defense in this game, Jack d defense.
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: You know, Jack's a good coach, man. Jack wasn't ever
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: a bad coach. J P. Jack's Uh, he's a solid coach.
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: You know. He he got us to the playoffs, and
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: all honesty and fairness to Jack, you know, he wasn't
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: a great coach, but he's a good coach, and he's
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: a better coordinator, and he's gonna strategize and get some
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: things going. He's gonna try to rattle the rookie. Plus
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: he's always been a potiful guy who will certainly throw
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: his share of blitz is at a rookie center and
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: a second year quarterback who didn't perform well a year ago.
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  Speaker 1: So Jack's gonna you know, he's gonna have his screw
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: youth package for the Jaguars and uh and that's what
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: it's gonna be. But the guy's gotta be prepared for,
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: especially an open day j p They gotta be prepared for,
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: you know, the gimmicks and the surprises that the stuff
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: that you hadn't seen on tape. Just gotta go through
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: your your principles and hopefully execute those plays and eventually
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: hit a big play against the defense that you potentially
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: I hadn't seen before. Okay, Fred, final thoughts with you here.
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: This was a revamped Jaguars defense pretty much top to bottom,
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: from the coordinator all the way down to almost every
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: level of the defense. There's some new pieces actually every
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: level of the defense, certainly on the piece of line,
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: outside linebackers, inside linebackers, secondary, new pieces all over the place.
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: So can we expect out of this defense today? With
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: the two two first round picks from this year, a
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: bunch of free agent additions, and a new look you know,
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  Speaker 1: hopefully JP. I know what we saw in the preseason.
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: I think they did a great job of stopping it
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: run and I think it's truly gonna start there being
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: able to stop the run early in this matchup. Uh.
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: And then if they stopped to run, they put the
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: ball in Carson Wentz hands. And he's had his ups
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: and downs, and you know, he's been somewhat of a
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: journeyman here in the last three years, two years. Uh,
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: and they can rattle him. Uh. So they've shown signs
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: of bit to be able to get after the quarterback
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: and uh. You know, and I really think they have
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: their strength, you know, on the edges. They have some
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: solid play in the middle that can get it done.
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: They upgraded the linebacking core. I think they got leadership
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: back there and the secondary for me, would be the
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: biggest question mark at the moment. That's just my opinion.
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: But I think, um, they're gonna play well. You know
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: that by Tyson Campbell's second year pro. I think Tyson
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: is ready for the challenge, ready to step up the
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: show everyone while he was selected high there in the
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: second round. And I think overall it's a good matchup.
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: I think having the Commanders As an opening day matchup,
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: you couldn't ask for a better matchup. Coach Peterson, he
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: knows WinCE as well. He knows that offense well, uh
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: Jack del Rio. He's gonna give you coverage than man coverage.
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: But again, I think he's gonna have a Let me
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: start with a few blitz is that they haven't seen package,
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  Speaker 1: and um, the coaches have to be prepared for that,
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: the players will be prepared for that, and hopefully it'll
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: translate to a win for Jaguar's nation.