Latest / Jags A.M. / Jags A.M. Podcast Ep. 210 | Home Underdogs, Focus on Containing Josh Allen and James Cook
Transcript
- 0:16Speaker 1: Welcome to the jag Xam. I'm kind Hona Stephens, Brian Sexton,
- 0:18Speaker 1: John Ozer with me today as the Jaguars are playoff bound.
- 0:21Speaker 1: We're preparing for the wild card matchup against the Buffalo
- 0:24Speaker 1: Bills this week. As we look ahead to that opponent
- 0:27Speaker 1: and also look a little bit about where this team
- 0:29Speaker 1: came from about a year ago, let's go over our
- 0:31Speaker 1: big Things for you today, brought to you by g
- 0:33Speaker 1: EHA Government Employees Health Association.
- 0:36Speaker 2: Three hundred and sixty.
- 0:36Speaker 1: Five days ago, the Jaguars didn't have a head coach
- 0:39Speaker 1: because they had just released Doug Peterson and there were
- 0:41Speaker 1: so many question marks.
- 0:43Speaker 2: About three or four weeks after.
- 0:45Speaker 1: That, Liam Cohen became the new head coach of these Jags. John,
- 0:48Speaker 1: we've kind of talked about this and how far this
- 0:50Speaker 1: team has come in a year, but to see what
- 0:53Speaker 1: Liam Cohen has been able to do with this team,
- 0:55Speaker 1: it becomes even more impressive when you look at it
- 0:57Speaker 1: in terms of what he's done in such a short
- 0:59Speaker 1: amount of time.
- 1:00Speaker 3: Well, it's remarkable. And you know, as you do this,
- 1:04Speaker 3: you be around the NFL for a long long time,
- 1:07Speaker 3: you get an appreciation as time goes by of how
- 1:10Speaker 3: much structure and belief matter around an organization, and I
- 1:15Speaker 3: think that, you know, everything else, Trevor's development, all the
- 1:18Speaker 3: stuff on the field has stemmed from the fact that
- 1:21Speaker 3: very quickly you realize that between Tony Basselli and James
- 1:25Speaker 3: Gladstone and Liam Cohen in no particular order there that
- 1:30Speaker 3: there was going to be structure, there was going to
- 1:32Speaker 3: be doing things the right way, and above all, Brian,
- 1:36Speaker 3: the players were going to over time believe strongly in
- 1:41Speaker 3: the direction. And I think that's why you have the
- 1:44Speaker 3: feeling that you have all the other stuff. But I
- 1:46Speaker 3: think it started there well.
- 1:47Speaker 4: I mean, what bears that out is the fact that
- 1:50Speaker 4: Antonio Johnson, you know, MONTERK.
- 1:52Speaker 5: Brown, look at all the players who are.
- 1:54Speaker 4: Playing at a really high level who we doubted. Devin
- 1:58Speaker 4: Lloyd is another name that comes to mind. You look
- 2:00Speaker 4: at the players who were here who didn't play like
- 2:04Speaker 4: they are right now, and you can understand the depth
- 2:07Speaker 4: and the breadth of what these men have done. They
- 2:10Speaker 4: took what was here and made it better. They brought
- 2:13Speaker 4: in some guys and added But the biggest story to
- 2:16Speaker 4: the season is the way that guys who were here
- 2:19Speaker 4: that didn't play very well are all of a sudden
- 2:21Speaker 4: playing their best football, and I think that speaks loudly
- 2:24Speaker 4: about the coach, about the general manager, and about what
- 2:27Speaker 4: Tony Bisseli has done. They have created a system that
- 2:29Speaker 4: took what was here and made it better, and of
- 2:31Speaker 4: course thinking forward about what they're going to do, you
- 2:34Speaker 4: can see that they could be successful there.
- 2:36Speaker 1: Also, Biam Cohen certainly our coach of the year. I
- 2:38Speaker 1: think he'll be considered nationally for that as well. As
- 2:41Speaker 1: we go into our second big thing today, we're going
- 2:43Speaker 1: to look ahead to the Bills game.
- 2:45Speaker 2: Wild History.
- 2:45Speaker 1: We talk about the two wild card playoff matchups against
- 2:49Speaker 1: the Bills in the past. Brian, I know you love
- 2:51Speaker 1: to be our history buff here, but they've played the
- 2:52Speaker 1: Bills two times in the playoffs and the Jags have
- 2:54Speaker 1: gotten two wins out of it, and they were pretty
- 2:56Speaker 1: notable games.
- 2:56Speaker 4: Yeah, Listen, a lot of people will remember the twenty
- 2:58Speaker 4: seventeen games, so I'll leave that suffice to say it
- 3:01Speaker 4: was one touchdown pass that beat the Bills, and it
- 3:03Speaker 4: was Blake Bortles to Ben Koyak. But if you go
- 3:06Speaker 4: back to nineteen ninety six and the Jaguars first ever
- 3:08Speaker 4: playoff appearance, they went into Orchard Park and it was
- 3:12Speaker 4: Rich Stadium back then, and that particular Buffalo Bills team
- 3:16Speaker 4: still had all the Hall of famers playing, Jim Kelly, Thurman, Thomas,
- 3:20Speaker 4: Bruce Smith, Andre Reid.
- 3:22Speaker 5: The list is long and distinguished.
- 3:24Speaker 4: And the Jaguars did something that nobody thought they could do,
- 3:27Speaker 4: be the first team to win a game on the
- 3:30Speaker 4: road at Ridge Stadium. This play, to me, signifies as
- 3:33Speaker 4: much as anything what the Jaguars did. They got big plays.
- 3:37Speaker 4: That's playing above the x as and o's. That's Clyde
- 3:40Speaker 4: Simmons who snatched that ball out of the air and
- 3:43Speaker 4: tied the game at seven.
- 3:45Speaker 5: Kyle.
- 3:45Speaker 4: The context here is is that the Jaguars were down
- 3:48Speaker 4: seven to nothing already at that point, had gone three
- 3:51Speaker 4: and out on the ensuing possession, and it just felt
- 3:53Speaker 4: like the momentum was building. And then there's Natron Means. Listen,
- 3:59Speaker 4: he had a brilliant run through the playoffs that year.
- 4:03Speaker 5: He was amazing in this Bowl game.
- 4:05Speaker 4: And they got big plays from Keenan McCart allen, from
- 4:07Speaker 4: Jimmy Smith and Chris Hudson, big players. There's Pete Mitchell
- 4:11Speaker 4: to set up what would be a Natron Means thirty
- 4:13Speaker 4: yard touchdown run.
- 4:14Speaker 5: John, I know you remember the game. You were there
- 4:16Speaker 5: as well.
- 4:17Speaker 4: It was a day in which the Jaguars played their
- 4:20Speaker 4: best football of the year. Here's that touchdown run where
- 4:22Speaker 4: he just bounces off of Phil Hanson and Bruce Smith.
- 4:25Speaker 4: And that's Chris Fielman, by the way in there as well.
- 4:27Speaker 4: Great players, the Jaguars, big players, made big plays that day,
- 4:31Speaker 4: played above the ex's nose.
- 4:33Speaker 5: That's what has to happen this year.
- 4:34Speaker 3: And by the way, it introduced the football world to
- 4:37Speaker 3: Tony and Sally. Yeah, but you're right, if we're going
- 4:43Speaker 3: back to memory lane, the Clyde Simmons play for people
- 4:46Speaker 3: who weren't alive or following them back then. The Jaguars
- 4:49Speaker 3: had his perception, I think even those who followed us
- 4:52Speaker 3: of having sort of be the cute little team that
- 4:55Speaker 3: got into the playoffs because Morten Anderson missed. But you
- 4:59Speaker 3: really didn't know that they could go and beat the Bills.
- 5:02Speaker 3: Everybody talks about the Denver game the Buffalo game. Obviously,
- 5:05Speaker 3: you don't get to the Denver game without that. It
- 5:08Speaker 3: was almost as big, I mean, and when they had
- 5:12Speaker 3: scored and I'm said, they're taking notes going Okay, well
- 5:14Speaker 3: I'm writing a loss, and all of a sudden, Clyde
- 5:16Speaker 3: picks it and goes all the way and it's never
- 5:19Speaker 3: it's never a one sided game. From that point, Clyde
- 5:23Speaker 3: Simmons sort of made the nation know that the Jaguars
- 5:27Speaker 3: could do something special. And Clyde a great guy, great
- 5:31Speaker 3: locker room guy. Always enjoyed him. But fond memories guy.
- 5:35Speaker 1: Fun Absolutely hopefully another fond memory from this week's playoff game.
- 5:38Speaker 2: We're gonna look ahead. Our final big thing is Josh Allen.
- 5:41Speaker 1: Of course, he's the X factor in many games that
- 5:44Speaker 1: he's a part of, and Liam Cohen talked a little
- 5:46Speaker 1: bit about what he.
- 5:47Speaker 2: Does so well.
- 5:49Speaker 6: He's extremely impressive. I remember, you know, twenty we played
- 5:53Speaker 6: him in twenty twenty and we played him again in
- 5:55Speaker 6: twenty twenty two, and he did some really good things
- 5:59Speaker 6: against us, like stiff arming defenders, throwing the ball down
- 6:03Speaker 6: the field a million miles. And I've got a lot
- 6:06Speaker 6: of respect for their their coaching staff, I know some
- 6:09Speaker 6: of the guys on the offensive staff specifically, and to
- 6:13Speaker 6: watch him play the competitor so many playoff games, division
- 6:19Speaker 6: whatever it is, big games, you know, he typically shows
- 6:22Speaker 6: up and makes critical plays at critical moments and that's
- 6:26Speaker 6: why he's been an MVP candidate for a long time.
- 6:30Speaker 1: John, we talk about this is it's a team game,
- 6:32Speaker 1: but Josh Allen is one of those players that you
- 6:34Speaker 1: can never count out and he can take over a game.
- 6:37Speaker 2: What are the Jags needs to do to prepare this week?
- 6:39Speaker 3: Well, I think you alluded to what I was gonna say. Guy.
- 6:42Speaker 3: You know, the phrase a quarterback lifting a team is
- 6:47Speaker 3: really overused because only a few guys can do it.
- 6:51Speaker 3: This kid can do it, and you know, if you
- 6:56Speaker 3: the most scary thing is how you can completely defend
- 6:59Speaker 3: the play and then he can break two tackles and
- 7:03Speaker 3: man his way into the end zone on a forty
- 7:06Speaker 3: yard run.
- 7:06Speaker 7: We've all seen the play.
- 7:07Speaker 3: Against against the Chiefs a couple of years back, but
- 7:09Speaker 3: he does that all the time. That to me, Brian
- 7:12Speaker 3: is the X factor. He's so strong and can run
- 7:15Speaker 3: over defensive lineman. Again, I go back to I said
- 7:18Speaker 3: at the beginning. Everybody talks about players who can lift
- 7:21Speaker 3: a team. Only if you can do it, he may
- 7:23Speaker 3: be the best in the.
- 7:24Speaker 5: NFL at doing you. Yeah, that's why they call him Superman.
- 7:26Speaker 4: He puts the team on his shoulders and carries them.
- 7:28Speaker 4: When it seems like nothing is working or the situation
- 7:31Speaker 4: is so against the Bills, he finds a way to
- 7:34Speaker 4: make a play. You realize, no quarterback in NFL history
- 7:37Speaker 4: has as many rushing touchdowns as Josh Allen.
- 7:39Speaker 5: He has his seventy ninth this season.
- 7:41Speaker 7: That's incredible.
- 7:43Speaker 4: This is not a guy that you look at and go, well,
- 7:44Speaker 4: there's a running uarterback right there.
- 7:45Speaker 5: He's six foot six.
- 7:46Speaker 4: You think that's a pocket passer, not him, and he
- 7:49Speaker 4: relishes it. If you can stop James Cook, you have
- 7:53Speaker 4: a chance against Josh Allen.
- 7:55Speaker 5: But if you can't stop.
- 7:58Speaker 4: James Cook, then Josh Allen and has some freedom, right
- 8:01Speaker 4: because you've got to pay attention to both, and all
- 8:03Speaker 4: of a sudden, then Josh Allen runs you silly. He
- 8:06Speaker 4: is as good a quarterback as there has been. I
- 8:09Speaker 4: like the big strong guys like that. I like Philip Rivers,
- 8:12Speaker 4: I like John Elway. This guy is as good as
- 8:13Speaker 4: it gets.
- 8:15Speaker 2: Stay with us here in jack ZAM.
- 8:16Speaker 1: Coming up after the break, we'll do a little this
- 8:17Speaker 1: or that as we look ahead to the wildcard matchup
- 8:19Speaker 1: against Buffalo EGXAM brought to you by Field dotto groups,
- 8:30Speaker 1: he Field's First, Jacksonville's premier luxury auto group. Head over
- 8:33Speaker 1: to Fields Auto dot com. This o, this over, Welcome
- 8:42Speaker 1: back into jagxam on this Wednesday. We're gonna play a
- 8:44Speaker 1: little dis or that we're looking ahead to the wildcard matchup,
- 8:47Speaker 1: and of course Liam Cohen got himself some more bulletin
- 8:49Speaker 1: board material because the Jaguars are home underdogs. They got
- 8:54Speaker 1: the three seed. They're hosting the Bills, but dogs at
- 8:57Speaker 1: home love it, hate it.
- 8:59Speaker 4: Love it because it reminds me of that ninety six
- 9:01Speaker 4: bunch where nobody believed in them in ninety nine, it
- 9:05Speaker 4: wasn't as much fun because they were the best team
- 9:07Speaker 4: in the AFC that year, or they have the best
- 9:09Speaker 4: record in the AFC, they didn't beat the Titans.
- 9:12Speaker 5: So I love it.
- 9:12Speaker 4: And plus jin, I don't think they're gonna be able
- 9:14Speaker 4: to play this very long. I mean, this team will
- 9:16Speaker 4: not be under logs in twenty twenty six.
- 9:18Speaker 5: People know what's here.
- 9:19Speaker 4: They understand what Tony and James and Linham are capable of.
- 9:23Speaker 5: And with the quarterback in place now and.
- 9:25Speaker 4: Looks like he's ready to go, this team will only
- 9:28Speaker 4: get better and no one's gonna write them off as
- 9:30Speaker 4: they have this year.
- 9:32Speaker 3: Yeah, they'll be a favorite most of the year next year. Look,
- 9:36Speaker 3: it's fine, it's probably good for this team. They're underdogs.
- 9:39Speaker 3: As I wrote in the ozon a couple of times,
- 9:40Speaker 3: I've never seen a point spread score a touchdown I've
- 9:43Speaker 3: never seen. I've never seen it win a game once
- 9:45Speaker 3: the game's over. Do you ever really remember maybe the
- 9:48Speaker 3: Denver game when they were thirteen point hunderdogs back in
- 9:50Speaker 3: ninety six. I can't remember what the spread was in
- 9:54Speaker 3: any game this year, but leading.
- 9:56Speaker 7: Up to it. Sure, it's fine.
- 9:59Speaker 1: Let's talk a little bit more about what this matchup
- 10:01Speaker 1: is going to look like. We're talking about Trevor Lawrence
- 10:03Speaker 1: for weeks now, what he's been doing the past couple
- 10:06Speaker 1: of months.
- 10:06Speaker 2: But then when you look at Josh Allen and.
- 10:08Speaker 1: Some of his playoff experience, would you rather have the
- 10:11Speaker 1: hot hand heading in or do you appreciate having a
- 10:13Speaker 1: quarterback that's kind of been.
- 10:15Speaker 2: There, done that?
- 10:15Speaker 5: Well?
- 10:16Speaker 3: I think what happens a lot of times in this situation,
- 10:19Speaker 3: the playoff experience becomes a really crucial early week storyline,
- 10:24Speaker 3: and then a lot of times you get to the
- 10:26Speaker 3: game and realize, oh, this is the playoffs, and whoever's
- 10:29Speaker 3: better is going to play better. Having a ninety six
- 10:32Speaker 3: couple times right, And look, you talk so much about
- 10:37Speaker 3: playoff games as sometimes you forget you actually.
- 10:39Speaker 7: Got to play them.
- 10:41Speaker 3: And the point I'm getting to is in this game,
- 10:45Speaker 3: the Jaguars, if you took the uniforms in the history off,
- 10:50Speaker 3: you would look at the Jaguars and say, well, they're
- 10:51Speaker 3: clearly their favorites. I mean, they're coming in there, the
- 10:54Speaker 3: number one run defense, second in takeaways, maybe the best
- 10:58Speaker 3: quarterback in the NFL two months team that's scored in
- 11:02Speaker 3: this guy. If it wasn't for the fact that Bills
- 11:04Speaker 3: had been there so often, the Jaguars would be an
- 11:07Speaker 3: overwhelming favorite, I think based on how they're playing.
- 11:09Speaker 7: But because Josh Allen plays in this.
- 11:11Speaker 3: Game, they deserve to be in that. You know, it
- 11:16Speaker 3: deserves to be a tight spread.
- 11:17Speaker 4: Listen, when you look at this Bills team, especially compared
- 11:19Speaker 4: to the one that we saw last year, the one
- 11:20Speaker 4: that just took the Jaguars apart forty seven to ten
- 11:23Speaker 4: on Monday Night Football, this Bills team is not that
- 11:27Speaker 4: Bills team, but this quarterback absolutely is. They have scored
- 11:30Speaker 4: more than thirty points eleven times, and that's without having
- 11:33Speaker 4: the big down the field threat receiver that they've had
- 11:36Speaker 4: in years past. That's a testament to what Josh Allen
- 11:41Speaker 4: can do. Because the defense isn't nearly as good as
- 11:44Speaker 4: the one that the Bills had last year. They give
- 11:46Speaker 4: up one hundred and thirty six yards per game on
- 11:48Speaker 4: the ground. That's not a Buffalo defense. But Josh Allen
- 11:52Speaker 4: is still Josh Allen, and they went eleven and five
- 11:54Speaker 4: and found a way to overcome deficiencies because he is
- 11:58Speaker 4: so good. I respect the hot hand and I believe
- 12:02Speaker 4: in it, but the playoff experience here tells me that
- 12:05Speaker 4: Josh Allen is going to make this game win or
- 12:08Speaker 4: lose for the Bills based on the fact that he's
- 12:10Speaker 4: done it all season long for them.
- 12:13Speaker 7: I think too.
- 12:14Speaker 5: You know.
- 12:16Speaker 7: The key to me in the first half of this game.
- 12:19Speaker 3: Can the Jaguars limit Cook without having eleven guys on Cook,
- 12:25Speaker 3: meaning within the scope of how they usually pay defense.
- 12:29Speaker 3: Can they stop Cook because they're a good run defense
- 12:31Speaker 3: without overemphasizing stopping him. If you over emphasize stopping him,
- 12:34Speaker 3: the Josh Allen's running all over the place. So how
- 12:38Speaker 3: I don't say easy but how comfortably they can defend
- 12:41Speaker 3: the run is really important in the first half.
- 12:45Speaker 4: Well, we're gonna find out how good they are, right
- 12:46Speaker 4: And to me, they look like a team that was
- 12:48Speaker 4: good against the run, but maybe not that dominant Seattle
- 12:51Speaker 4: Texans front. I wasn't quite sure if they were really
- 12:55Speaker 4: that good. And then last week I watched Devon Hamilton
- 12:58Speaker 4: just wreck the inside of the Titans and the linebackers
- 13:00Speaker 4: spilling over the top, and so I think they're ready
- 13:02Speaker 4: for Yeah, I think they're ready to prove that they
- 13:06Speaker 4: are that number one run defense that the numbers have said,
- 13:09Speaker 4: kay that they are all year long. Here's the thing
- 13:11Speaker 4: that I have in confidence with them. Jonathan Taylor was
- 13:15Speaker 4: running at the same pace that James Cook is. Cook
- 13:18Speaker 4: finishes at five point two per carry, sixteen hundred and
- 13:21Speaker 4: six yards.
- 13:21Speaker 5: Twelve touchdowns.
- 13:24Speaker 4: Jonathan Dale absolutely is the equal of this guy, except
- 13:26Speaker 4: that all of a sudden, Daniel Jones is out and
- 13:28Speaker 4: everybody can stack the box and stop him. So the
- 13:31Speaker 4: Jaguars held Jonathan Taylor and the Colts to seventy four
- 13:35Speaker 4: yards rushing in the first game and.
- 13:37Speaker 5: Seventy in the second game.
- 13:39Speaker 4: And I think that the Jaguars can do that to
- 13:41Speaker 4: James Cook paid better because if you don't and he's
- 13:44Speaker 4: running wild, then you got two fronts in your war
- 13:49Speaker 4: against the Bills offense, and two maybe too many.
- 13:51Speaker 3: I think the interesting factor is the Jayguars team really
- 13:56Speaker 3: tackles well and they really really hit you hard. I
- 14:00Speaker 3: think it sometimes gets overlook is it's hard to see
- 14:03Speaker 3: that and we all pay attention to Trevor, we all
- 14:06Speaker 3: pay attention to the receivers, and you sort of overlook
- 14:09Speaker 3: run defense because it's not a sack. Sacks are sexy.
- 14:12Speaker 7: Hey I got a sack.
- 14:13Speaker 3: But this team trips you up at the line of scrimmage.
- 14:17Speaker 3: They have a lot of two yard runs that in
- 14:19Speaker 3: the past would have been four yard runs. They keep
- 14:21Speaker 3: you in bad down and distance, but they really hit
- 14:24Speaker 3: you by the time you're in the third.
- 14:25Speaker 7: Or fourth quarter.
- 14:26Speaker 3: About against the Jaguars, there's a lot of teams that
- 14:29Speaker 3: are tired of play in the Jaguars. We don't talk
- 14:32Speaker 3: about that quite that much, but there's some guys in
- 14:37Speaker 3: the secondary and guys linebackers who are sort of nuts.
- 14:41Speaker 7: Who you know, really.
- 14:45Speaker 5: Yeah, but it's not a game for well adjusted men.
- 14:47Speaker 3: You really hit one of you and other teams don't
- 14:50Speaker 3: like playing us.
- 14:52Speaker 1: We talk so much about how good the run defense
- 14:54Speaker 1: is and they are. Is there a little bit of
- 14:56Speaker 1: concern though, just because Josh Allen runs so well other
- 14:59Speaker 1: than Josh Taylor. A lot of the rush yards they've
- 15:01Speaker 1: given up have been to quarterbacks. Yeah, yeah, so focus
- 15:06Speaker 1: the time on James Cook is their concern They're about
- 15:08Speaker 1: containing Josh Allen on the ground.
- 15:10Speaker 4: Well, yeah, I was gonna say Anthony campan Eli was
- 15:12Speaker 4: sitting here right now, he could extol all of the
- 15:14Speaker 4: concern and the sleepless nights that he has had and
- 15:17Speaker 4: will have this week trying to get ready for the
- 15:20Speaker 4: quarterback running. But you know the thing about the quarterback
- 15:22Speaker 4: is is he hits his backstep and he could just
- 15:24Speaker 4: take off. I mean, and he's so big and so strong.
- 15:27Speaker 4: You've got to hit him low and high. You've got
- 15:29Speaker 4: to have your tackling plan, has to have two bodies
- 15:32Speaker 4: to him.
- 15:33Speaker 3: And look, it's a game going into it. Deven Scorings.
- 15:37Speaker 3: Don't think this way publicly. They're going to score and
- 15:42Speaker 3: eight points again, Yeah, what.
- 15:43Speaker 7: You need to do.
- 15:45Speaker 3: The reason the Jaguars can win this game is because
- 15:47Speaker 3: the Jaguars can score more and I'm I'm saying they will,
- 15:50Speaker 3: but they're very capable of scoring more. They can keep
- 15:53Speaker 3: up with a team like this in years past you wondered.
- 15:55Speaker 7: If they could. But I always use it forraid.
- 15:58Speaker 3: You know, you have to break serve against a player
- 16:02Speaker 3: like Josh Allen me sometime. Oh they got the sack
- 16:05Speaker 3: this time, you're third and seventeen. Don't let him pick
- 16:07Speaker 3: that up because they're going to pick up the more
- 16:10Speaker 3: manageable situations on other drives.
- 16:11Speaker 4: We talked about them being the number one running offense,
- 16:13Speaker 4: and that's true, but there's two other categories that they're
- 16:16Speaker 4: number one in that are pivotal in the way that
- 16:18Speaker 4: they play. The first is third down. They lead the
- 16:20Speaker 4: NFL at forty five percent on the third down, which
- 16:22Speaker 4: means they stay on the field, and so they're also
- 16:25Speaker 4: first in time of possession at more than thirty three minutes.
- 16:28Speaker 5: Well, why is that a problem because it.
- 16:30Speaker 4: Shrinks the number of possessions you get, so you can't
- 16:32Speaker 4: have a red zone turnover? What do the Jaguars have
- 16:34Speaker 4: six or seven this year?
- 16:35Speaker 5: Right?
- 16:35Speaker 4: I mean you can't have back to back three and outs.
- 16:39Speaker 4: You've got this, as John mentioned, keep pace with this
- 16:42Speaker 4: team You've got to make the most of every possession
- 16:44Speaker 4: you get, because when you play the Bills, if their
- 16:46Speaker 4: running game is working, you don't get as.
- 16:48Speaker 2: Many Stay with us here on jag Zam.
- 16:51Speaker 1: We're going to look ahead at a little bit at
- 16:53Speaker 1: the playoff picks and see what else is.
- 16:54Speaker 2: Going on going on in the AFC t Exam Brought
- 17:01Speaker 2: to you by Dreamfinders Homes.
- 17:02Speaker 1: For twelve years, Dreamfinders Homes have been proud to call
- 17:04Speaker 1: themselves the official home builder of the Jacksonville Jaguars. Visit
- 17:07Speaker 1: dreamfinders dot com for all of the available inventory and.
- 17:10Speaker 2: Go Jags, Welcome back in.
- 17:13Speaker 1: We're gonna look around a little bit, not get ahead
- 17:15Speaker 1: of ourselves, but kind of be aware of what's going on,
- 17:17Speaker 1: especially in the AFC playoffs. So, uh, the Broncos were
- 17:20Speaker 1: able to secure the number one.
- 17:21Speaker 2: Seeds, so they have a bye this week.
- 17:23Speaker 1: They're gonna get that first round by and potentially the AFC.
- 17:27Speaker 2: Will run through Denver at this point, obviously the Jags
- 17:30Speaker 2: went there and gotta win.
- 17:33Speaker 1: It's kind of cool to at least have that measuring
- 17:36Speaker 1: bar game, measuring stick game, to know that that's a
- 17:39Speaker 1: place you can go and win.
- 17:40Speaker 2: If that's where they end up going. If they continue
- 17:42Speaker 2: the playoffs.
- 17:43Speaker 5: They can cause they've done it before.
- 17:44Speaker 4: Uh, it will be much more difficult this time around.
- 17:46Speaker 4: That you're not gonna get a sixty degree day in
- 17:48Speaker 4: in January, and they know you're coming this time and
- 17:53Speaker 4: they didn't the last time. They didn't believe the last time,
- 17:57Speaker 4: but this time they do and they know what's coming.
- 17:59Speaker 5: That's a place to play.
- 18:00Speaker 4: It's a tremendous advantage to play at that altitude.
- 18:03Speaker 5: And the Jaguars are not gonna sneak up on them.
- 18:07Speaker 5: But they had a fourteen point lead the entire fourth quarter.
- 18:10Speaker 5: They might not need to.
- 18:11Speaker 3: Yeah, look, there's some years where home field feels like
- 18:17Speaker 3: it really matters in the postseason and that you know,
- 18:19Speaker 3: the number one seed is that goliath. You're not gonna
- 18:22Speaker 3: go beat him. To me, Denver deserves to be the
- 18:27Speaker 3: number one seed. But there's no team this year outside
- 18:34Speaker 3: maybe the one that jagus were playing this week, with
- 18:36Speaker 3: a quarterback who's been there and been through all of that. Really,
- 18:43Speaker 3: Trevor is the other guy outside Josh Allen who has
- 18:46Speaker 3: been there and done that. Bo Nick was there last year.
- 18:49Speaker 3: But the only behemoth quarterback is Josh Allen. So the
- 18:56Speaker 3: interesting thing to me is Trevor in this game on
- 19:00Speaker 3: I don't have about other stuff. Trevor has a chance
- 19:02Speaker 3: to prove he's that quarterback now, and that's a storyline
- 19:05Speaker 3: to me on Saturday, on Sunday and Saturday Saturday.
- 19:09Speaker 1: Exactly we should fair to mention because I kind of
- 19:13Speaker 1: think of this too. Aaron Rodgers obviously is a part
- 19:15Speaker 1: of this mix after that, after that mix Cake against.
- 19:19Speaker 7: The Ravens, he's the quarterback.
- 19:20Speaker 2: He might be the one, but he does look a
- 19:22Speaker 2: little bit different now.
- 19:23Speaker 1: And he's going up against that Texans defense that we
- 19:25Speaker 1: know loves to hit people. So that's a matchup I'm
- 19:27Speaker 1: watching as well. The Texans the only team that's won
- 19:30Speaker 1: more games in a row right now. They're on a
- 19:32Speaker 1: nine game win streak as they head up to take
- 19:36Speaker 1: on the Steelers in Pittsburgh.
- 19:38Speaker 2: This week as well. That's a matchup we're gonna see
- 19:40Speaker 2: on Monday night.
- 19:41Speaker 4: I don't know what to make of the Steelers. They
- 19:43Speaker 4: don't they don't look like a Pittsburgh team. You know,
- 19:45Speaker 4: you could always put your finger on who they are
- 19:47Speaker 4: and what they do offensively, But defensively, boy, they look
- 19:53Speaker 4: like a team that can knock you out.
- 19:54Speaker 5: I mean they I think they're very good. With t J.
- 19:57Speaker 4: Watt back there, Derek Harmon the first round pick, heck
- 20:01Speaker 4: of a game the other night.
- 20:04Speaker 5: The Texans offense isn't.
- 20:06Speaker 4: Scary at all, and I think the Steelers defense can
- 20:09Speaker 4: handle them.
- 20:10Speaker 3: Yeah, I think the Texans win this day. The Texans
- 20:15Speaker 3: to me, are the one team in the postseason that
- 20:18Speaker 3: has the defense that can take you all the way
- 20:22Speaker 3: and it can overcun their offensive deficiencies. Anything can happen
- 20:27Speaker 3: in the playoffs. Maybe Aaron Rodgers gets hot. To me,
- 20:29Speaker 3: this feels like a game where the ten and seven
- 20:32Speaker 3: record of the Steelers against the twelve and five record
- 20:35Speaker 3: of the Texans. By the end of the game, I think, Okay,
- 20:37Speaker 3: that really was the better team. Because the Texans they're super.
- 20:40Speaker 7: Power to use that word I hate.
- 20:43Speaker 3: They can rush the passer on any offensive line, and
- 20:47Speaker 3: they can beat double teams, and they can out physically.
- 20:50Speaker 7: They're scary in the postseason.
- 20:51Speaker 2: Scary. I think they can force turnovers to get you
- 20:53Speaker 2: some points.
- 20:54Speaker 1: So that Texans defense is definitely gonna be a tough matchup.
- 20:57Speaker 1: And then the other ASC matchup is going to be
- 21:00Speaker 1: the Patriots hosting the Chargers.
- 21:03Speaker 2: There's a little movement.
- 21:04Speaker 1: We didn't know who was gonna be where, kind of
- 21:06Speaker 1: the top were set, but just who's gonna be playing where.
- 21:09Speaker 1: So now we know the Chargers are gonna head out
- 21:11Speaker 1: to New England, and it's hard to tell what that's
- 21:13Speaker 1: gonna look like because the Patriots haven't played a super.
- 21:16Speaker 2: Tough schedule as of way.
- 21:17Speaker 1: Obviously they play the Bills, but otherwise in opponents, they
- 21:21Speaker 1: haven't played a really high caliber team, and where they
- 21:24Speaker 1: match up against the Chargers will.
- 21:26Speaker 5: Make it interesting.
- 21:26Speaker 7: Yeah, this is real a really interesting game.
- 21:29Speaker 3: The Chargers have not been great in the postseason in
- 21:33Speaker 3: recent years. Herbert's got that thing on a playoff Herbert,
- 21:38Speaker 3: whatever that is. I don't buy that. I think Herbert's
- 21:40Speaker 3: really really good in this Patriots team. Kai you follow
- 21:44Speaker 3: the Patriots when you're growing up, they have to kind
- 21:48Speaker 3: of prove, probably even to their fans and themselves, where
- 21:51Speaker 3: this we deserve this number.
- 21:53Speaker 7: Two seed.
- 21:55Speaker 3: Because they are in a situation and I'm sure they
- 21:57Speaker 3: know it. They lose this game, everybody nationally is going, yeah,
- 22:02Speaker 3: they played bad schedule.
- 22:03Speaker 7: Aren't that good? I mean.
- 22:06Speaker 3: On that kind of a team that is kind of
- 22:07Speaker 3: a season. Everything you've done gets sort of thrown away
- 22:11Speaker 3: if you don't win this game. Somehaw it's not fair,
- 22:14Speaker 3: but that'll be somebody's narrative about the Patriots if they
- 22:16Speaker 3: lose this.
- 22:18Speaker 4: Justin Herbert got some rest, right they sat him in
- 22:20Speaker 4: the season finale.
- 22:21Speaker 5: Now can he get some help?
- 22:22Speaker 4: Watching him try to beat the Texans, it seemed like
- 22:26Speaker 4: he was trying to do it all by himself, and
- 22:28Speaker 4: Johnny you just extolled the virtues of what the Texans
- 22:31Speaker 4: can do the offensive line for the Chargers missing five
- 22:35Speaker 4: or six offensive tackles, including their two starters for most
- 22:38Speaker 4: of this season. But the one thing the Patriots don't
- 22:40Speaker 4: do well, they don't rush the pastor role that well.
- 22:43Speaker 4: So it would seem to me that Justin Herbert, who
- 22:45Speaker 4: has a big boy arm, if he can get some
- 22:47Speaker 4: help down the field, whether.
- 22:48Speaker 5: We're talking about Keenan Allen, or whether we're talking.
- 22:50Speaker 4: About the young Gadsden, the tight end, the rookie from
- 22:53Speaker 4: Syracuse or Quinton Johnston, if he can get some help,
- 22:57Speaker 4: I think the Chargers can pull the upset. And if
- 22:59Speaker 4: the Chargers pull the upset, Jaguars could be hosting a
- 23:01Speaker 4: divisional game.
- 23:02Speaker 3: And I think there is a little bit too. Remember
- 23:05Speaker 3: the Titans were top seed with Rabel as the head
- 23:07Speaker 3: coach few years back, lost that game, So there's definitely
- 23:11Speaker 3: going to be a storyline for him. He will I
- 23:13Speaker 3: don't think he'll feel it, but about him. Okay, you've
- 23:16Speaker 3: got what many people think of the best team. Can
- 23:20Speaker 3: you go back that up? Or did you pretend your
- 23:23Speaker 3: way into this fourteen and three record? I don't buy that.
- 23:26Speaker 3: Nobody pretends they're way to fourteen and three, but that'll
- 23:29Speaker 3: be the narrative if they lose.
- 23:31Speaker 1: You play the schedule in front of you, so you
- 23:32Speaker 1: don't want to knock anybody for who they're playing. I
- 23:34Speaker 1: think it's more the Jaguars will speak from experience with them.
- 23:37Speaker 2: It feels like they're.
- 23:38Speaker 1: Battle tested, feels like they know what a playoff game
- 23:40Speaker 1: is going to feel like. And I'm just saying, in
- 23:42Speaker 1: terms of who the Patriots have played as of late.
- 23:45Speaker 2: If the Chargers can come out ready.
- 23:47Speaker 1: To go at the beginning of that game, that might
- 23:49Speaker 1: be a little bit of a surprise battle test.
- 23:50Speaker 4: Sued is the right phrase, kai, because even though they
- 23:54Speaker 4: weren't necessarily looking at the standings every week or at
- 23:57Speaker 4: least they said they weren't.
- 23:58Speaker 5: They had the Texans nipping at their head.
- 24:00Speaker 4: The Jaguars won their last eight games, and they had
- 24:02Speaker 4: to win every single one of them, Otherwise they would
- 24:04Speaker 4: be on the road this week, playing in Pittsburgh on
- 24:06Speaker 4: Monday Night football. Instead, they're getting ready to play here
- 24:09Speaker 4: in front of their crowd with a standing room only
- 24:12Speaker 4: audience in attendance because they won each one of those games. Listen,
- 24:17Speaker 4: we found out in nineteen ninety six to go back
- 24:19Speaker 4: there for a moment that that hardened you for the playoffs,
- 24:23Speaker 4: when it feels like you're playing for your life every
- 24:26Speaker 4: single week. The Jaguars will not this will not seem
- 24:29Speaker 4: too big to them. They've already been doing this.
- 24:31Speaker 3: Yeah, this Jaguars team, you know, I put it there
- 24:35Speaker 3: with ninety nine in terms of going into the postseason
- 24:38Speaker 3: as ready and as capable of winning it as any
- 24:43Speaker 3: I've seen, just mainly because of what you just said.
- 24:46Speaker 7: Eight straight games, Remember how it started.
- 24:48Speaker 3: Every looks back on that thirty five to six over
- 24:50Speaker 3: the Chargers and things, Oh why they beat the chart.
- 24:52Speaker 3: They were five and four at that point and playing
- 24:54Speaker 3: the Chargers, who I thought, you know, could really I
- 24:58Speaker 3: was not thinking that was a w I had to
- 25:01Speaker 3: win that one. And you know, every game has been
- 25:03Speaker 3: a test of some sort.
- 25:05Speaker 7: Uh.
- 25:06Speaker 3: They're ready, they're relatively healthy, they're playing well, and they
- 25:09Speaker 3: have an elite quarterback.
- 25:10Speaker 7: This team has a chance.
- 25:11Speaker 2: Sure do stay with us here on jag Zam. I'll
- 25:13Speaker 2: tell you what's coming up the rest of the week.
- 25:18Speaker 7: Jagsvans.
- 25:18Speaker 1: If you want customized Jaguars furniture for your home, checkout
- 25:20Speaker 1: zipchaar dot com to browse all the customizable options. Zip
- 25:23Speaker 1: Chaar is furniture for fans. And this weekend's Wildcard playoff
- 25:26Speaker 1: GA against the Bills brought to you by Dailies.
- 25:28Speaker 2: It's nicer here.
- 25:31Speaker 6: All my high school buddies text me and they all
- 25:35Speaker 6: reach out to him too and stuff, And you know,
- 25:37Speaker 6: I think it's kind of cool that we have the
- 25:39Speaker 6: same you know, I that I kind of took that on.
- 25:42Speaker 6: It was the same exact you.
- 25:45Speaker 5: Know deal he did.
- 25:45Speaker 6: We were pretty good when I was when I was playing,
- 25:47Speaker 6: so we said it a lot. But he's been doing that.
- 25:51Speaker 6: He was doing that, I think since since college and
- 25:54Speaker 6: when he came to coach me in high school he
- 25:55Speaker 6: did the same thing. So kind of took that one on.
- 25:59Speaker 1: In Koon taking a little bit about his how's that
- 26:01Speaker 1: feel post game? Came from his dad coaching in high
- 26:03Speaker 1: school and Salan Province. They did win all the games,
- 26:07Speaker 1: so that makes sense. But it's a pretty cool tradition
- 26:09Speaker 1: for him to take on. And his dad's here all
- 26:11Speaker 1: the time. You see him out of praxfield.
- 26:13Speaker 4: It's interesting because he said that his dad always came
- 26:15Speaker 4: in swinging up and he comes in swinging down.
- 26:18Speaker 5: So he's put his own spin on it.
- 26:20Speaker 2: Absolutely. Hopefully no one gets injured and we'll be all set.
- 26:22Speaker 5: So far, so good.
- 26:23Speaker 2: Here are you guys talking to this week?
- 26:25Speaker 1: What are you looking forward to or kind of figuring
- 26:26Speaker 1: out as they get ready for the playoffs.
- 26:27Speaker 5: I've talked to most of the assistant coaches this year.
- 26:29Speaker 4: I'm hoping to connect with Shane Waldron, longtime associate, an
- 26:33Speaker 4: ally confidant of the head coach, and.
- 26:36Speaker 5: Talk to him.
- 26:37Speaker 4: He's one of those guys that also does a lot
- 26:38Speaker 4: with time management and strategy and the Jaguars have he's
- 26:42Speaker 4: the guy and Lamb's ear, Yeah, they have been.
- 26:43Speaker 5: He has been excellent. They have been excellent at that
- 26:46Speaker 5: this year.
- 26:47Speaker 4: So just he's not going to give me any of
- 26:49Speaker 4: the insight, but the insight about how you prepare for
- 26:51Speaker 4: an opponent.
- 26:52Speaker 3: I think it'd be fascinating. Hoping to connect with him.
- 26:55Speaker 3: I'm talking to Jian Jones. I'm fun know on the
- 27:01Speaker 3: ozone podcast. I probably should have done it multiple times
- 27:04Speaker 3: this season, but he's a terrific story. Was out of
- 27:08Speaker 3: the lineup early and has had to persevere and he's
- 27:11Speaker 3: now come back and he's playing about as high level
- 27:14Speaker 3: as they have in the secondary. He's one of those
- 27:16Speaker 3: stories we talked about of guys who there's five or
- 27:19Speaker 3: six guys in this team he didn't think anything about
- 27:21Speaker 3: in week two.
- 27:23Speaker 7: They wouldn't be.
- 27:23Speaker 3: Here without guys like this, and uh plus he's a
- 27:26Speaker 3: lot of fun.
- 27:27Speaker 2: Is he gonna bring you a grill? Though?
- 27:29Speaker 7: I'm sure that'll be part of it.
- 27:30Speaker 2: I mean, I hope.
- 27:31Speaker 5: So I want that story behind what it took to
- 27:34Speaker 5: get that done.
- 27:36Speaker 1: I think I think Marissa was involved in that a
- 27:38Speaker 1: little bit for Trevor's So.
- 27:39Speaker 5: That's my favorite piece of video for the whole year.
- 27:41Speaker 4: I just love the way that those players react to
- 27:44Speaker 4: Trevor and you can just see the love in that room.
- 27:47Speaker 4: And this time of year, you've got to have that
- 27:49Speaker 4: level of connectedness and not everyone does.
- 27:51Speaker 2: That's the most relaxed.
- 27:52Speaker 1: I mean, not that Trevor is ever uptight, but he's
- 27:55Speaker 1: never been more chill and relaxed than he is right
- 27:57Speaker 1: now playing go football.
- 27:58Speaker 2: It's the perfect time on JACKXAM.
- 28:01Speaker 1: We will be back here tomorrow to dive into that
- 28:03Speaker 1: Bills matchup even more as we get ready for wildcard weekend.
- 28:06Speaker 2: We'll see you then,