Latest / The Jacksonville Jaguars Official Podcast Network / Fred Taylor: Preparation Must Translate to Execution in Week 16 | Countdown to Kickoff

Transcript

Fred Taylor: Preparation Must Translate to Execution in Week 16 | Countdown to Kickoff · The Jacksonville Jaguars Official Podcast Network

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Countdown to kickoff continues. The Jaguars and the Tampa Bay
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Buccaneers coming up Christmas Eve, Week sixteen, battle of first
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: place teams, whether they're tied for first place in the
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: respective divisions, and it's time for our weekly conversation with
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: Pride of the Jaguars running back Fred Taylor. Playoff football
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: in December doesn't get much tighter than this. I mean,
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: three way tie for first in the AFC South, two
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: way tie in the NFC South, and they're playing each
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: other this week.
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: Fred, JP, you said it, man, playoff football in December.
• 0:31
  Speaker 3: Before that goes over a lot of people's head, all
• 0:34
  Speaker 3: that means is you gotta win every game. You cannot
• 0:37
  Speaker 3: lose under any circumstances. There has to be an extreme
• 0:42
  Speaker 3: sense of urgency in these games. As the season is
• 0:46
  Speaker 3: winding down now, the mindset is we can't lose. But
• 0:51
  Speaker 3: unlike the playoffs, if you happen to lose, you have
• 0:55
  Speaker 3: two more weeks for other things to kind of sort
• 0:58
  Speaker 3: itself out. But again, if you don't lose, you control
• 1:02
  Speaker 3: your own destiny. That's just the most simplest way. Even
• 1:06
  Speaker 3: if that the most simplest, most you can't use most
• 1:09
  Speaker 3: with ESD. So that's the simplest way I can put it.
• 1:14
  Speaker 3: Just don't lose and we can solve all those problems,
• 1:17
  Speaker 3: even the grammar miss the inappropriate grammatical or the grammatical errors.
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that that's what they taught you at Florida. I
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: suppose Fred, well, you know when they were teaching or
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: when we were in class.
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: Of course Fred Taylor with us.
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: All right, So the number one storyline this week is
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: Trevor Lawrence and his status. And you know we won't
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: find out until later in the week what his deal is.
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: It's a concussion protocol. He's got to go through five
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: different steps to get back. And you know, it has
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: happened brock Perty I think earlier this year had a
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: concussion on a Sunday and then played the next Sunday.
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: It doesn't happen often, though it's possible with Trevor. You know,
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: it's a different field though obviously if he's not out
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: there and C. J. Bethard is in, you know, you've
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: got to pare down some things and the skill sets
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: much different. So how much different would this be if,
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: for the first time ever, Trevor Lawrence isn't playing on Sunday?
• 2:14
  Speaker 3: You know, JP, just the first of all, the concussion
• 2:19
  Speaker 3: Protocol is an amazing measure that they use, and I
• 2:23
  Speaker 3: think that if they had used it more in my day,
• 2:28
  Speaker 3: you know, a lot guys, a lot of guys would
• 2:30
  Speaker 3: be better off now in their in their post careers,
• 2:35
  Speaker 3: you know. And I say that respectfully to what the
• 2:38
  Speaker 3: NFL has tried to achieve, you know, by implementing that measure.
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: So we all hope that.
• 2:43
  Speaker 3: Whatever it is, even if Trevor makes it out of
• 2:47
  Speaker 3: the concussion protocol, that he's fine, you know, and that
• 2:52
  Speaker 3: he's able to go and that he's able to with
• 2:54
  Speaker 3: full clarity go out there and focus as well as
• 2:58
  Speaker 3: he's ever focused and under standing the game and his job.
• 3:01
  Speaker 3: With that being said, I think CJ. Beth, we're back
• 3:06
  Speaker 3: to the Cleveland game, you know. But Trevor, he's a
• 3:09
  Speaker 3: He's a guy who surprised us all. We thought his
• 3:12
  Speaker 3: leg was going to be off of his body frame
• 3:16
  Speaker 3: the way he went down in a way the media
• 3:19
  Speaker 3: made it sound throughout the week. But like Trevor does
• 3:22
  Speaker 3: you know, he bounced back even before the what was
• 3:26
  Speaker 3: that the Saint's game as well, he came back and
• 3:29
  Speaker 3: those two returns he kind of outrushed everybody on the team,
• 3:32
  Speaker 3: which is another conversation in itself, but yeah, much like
• 3:36
  Speaker 3: that that preparation that week, Doug said, we're going to
• 3:40
  Speaker 3: try to create some stuff around CJ to give him
• 3:43
  Speaker 3: an opportunity to go out there and be successful.
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: And I think they're in the same position this week.
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: You know, CJ has to step up.
• 3:49
  Speaker 3: He's getting more reps this week, more than he would
• 3:51
  Speaker 3: get if Trevor was one hundred percent out going to
• 3:55
  Speaker 3: be out there. So CJ is having a few days
• 3:58
  Speaker 3: to get more reps at practice, more film study, more
• 4:02
  Speaker 3: time with the receivers away from the practice, those periods
• 4:08
  Speaker 3: that they practice, So you know, from a preparation standpoint,
• 4:13
  Speaker 3: he's going to get an overload, so he has to
• 4:15
  Speaker 3: be ready there Now it's time time to get into
• 4:18
  Speaker 3: game situation and handle that pressure that comes with it.
• 4:22
  Speaker 3: The pressure from Tampa's defense, which is going to be
• 4:25
  Speaker 3: lights out, the pressure of knowing you have to lead
• 4:28
  Speaker 3: your offense. That's a whole different type of pressure. So
• 4:31
  Speaker 3: this week in preparation, it's there. Now he has to
• 4:35
  Speaker 3: make sure that translates to game day so he can
• 4:40
  Speaker 3: try to get a win.
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: Fred Taylor with us. You know, in the passing game,
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: no matter who to throw the football, there's some changers
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: there too. In the wide receiver room. Christian Kirk still down,
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: Zay Jones came out of the game with a hamstring injury,
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: and that didn't trend the right way this week. So
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: guess what, Calvin Ridley, this is the time to step up,
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: play right.
• 5:01
  Speaker 3: Yeah, that's you know, that's why they bring you in.
• 5:04
  Speaker 3: You know, that's why they designate you a true number one,
• 5:07
  Speaker 3: which he is.
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: We all seen it he is.
• 5:11
  Speaker 3: I'd like to see more consistency out of Calvin Uh.
• 5:15
  Speaker 3: There are moments where you're like, Wow, this guy is
• 5:18
  Speaker 3: so dynamic. He is a true, true, true number one,
• 5:21
  Speaker 3: one of the top guys in the league. And then
• 5:23
  Speaker 3: there are other moments where you're like, Okay, you know
• 5:26
  Speaker 3: what's going on with Calvin Uh. But the best part
• 5:29
  Speaker 3: of the game, I think he's the best receiver in
• 5:32
  Speaker 3: my opinion, that we've had since maybe Jimmy Smith, like
• 5:36
  Speaker 3: pure natural receiver.
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: And that's just my opinion.
• 5:42
  Speaker 3: So our expectations as fans are a bit higher and
• 5:46
  Speaker 3: we put a bit more weight on this on his
• 5:49
  Speaker 3: shoulders for him to carry. So when he's not out
• 5:52
  Speaker 3: there making those spectacular you know, one handed or toe
• 5:55
  Speaker 3: tap catches. We're like, what's going on with Calvin? So
• 5:58
  Speaker 3: he has a lot on his plate. Again, you got
• 6:02
  Speaker 3: to step up to the plate man, be ready to
• 6:04
  Speaker 3: go for a swim for the fences, and hopefully whoever
• 6:06
  Speaker 3: the quarterback is, whether it's Trevor or CJ, They're able
• 6:11
  Speaker 3: to create some opportunities for him, which I'm sure he
• 6:15
  Speaker 3: wants to create for himself.
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: Brett Taylor with us. All right, you said it's another conversation,
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: but let's get to that running game conversation.
• 6:23
  Speaker 3: That's what I did not want to have. But you
• 6:25
  Speaker 3: can't run from it. You're supposed to run to it.
• 6:28
  Speaker 3: And I'll let you pose your question or I can
• 6:31
  Speaker 3: just keep on dabbling because the running game is non existence,
• 6:35
  Speaker 3: much like your question right now. J. It's non existence
• 6:38
  Speaker 3: because I won't let you ask it, but I will
• 6:42
  Speaker 3: tell you that the running game is suffering. It's a
• 6:45
  Speaker 3: combination of things. You have an offensive line that's been shuffled.
• 6:49
  Speaker 3: You have situations where there's certainly relying heavily on Trevor's arm.
• 6:54
  Speaker 3: I mean you brought him in number one pick obviously,
• 6:58
  Speaker 3: excuse me.
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: You brought him in number pick.
• 7:00
  Speaker 3: Obviously you're thinking he can bring a bit more to
• 7:04
  Speaker 3: the game for you, and just tend to forget about
• 7:07
  Speaker 3: the run even when the defense is playing lights out.
• 7:10
  Speaker 3: But when the defense isn't playing great and the offense
• 7:13
  Speaker 3: isn't running the ball great, it's spells disaster. You know,
• 7:16
  Speaker 3: there's no patience for the play caller. He wants to
• 7:19
  Speaker 3: get the ball down the field. They find themselves behind
• 7:22
  Speaker 3: these last few weeks, then they have to go away
• 7:25
  Speaker 3: from the run, and that hurts him.
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: So I think if you try and commit to the run,
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: take advantage of the short, short pass game, checkdown, check down.
• 7:36
  Speaker 3: I don't remember the last time I saw running backs
• 7:38
  Speaker 3: have more than you know, ten receptions or ten targets
• 7:42
  Speaker 3: in the game. I mean, the checkdowns are there. You know,
• 7:44
  Speaker 3: if the teams are going to drop zone coverage, that
• 7:47
  Speaker 3: means the checkdowns are open.
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: You know.
• 7:49
  Speaker 3: I've seen a few instances even last week, where you know,
• 7:52
  Speaker 3: I'm like Trevor, that's your read right there. The coverage
• 7:56
  Speaker 3: takes you here, Why go here? So he's not perfect,
• 7:59
  Speaker 3: you know, he's not perfect the run game. The guys
• 8:02
  Speaker 3: up front aren't perfect. But uh, you have to give
• 8:05
  Speaker 3: those plays an opportunity to develop.
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: Uh.
• 8:09
  Speaker 3: If I were Travis DTN, you know, I'll go up
• 8:11
  Speaker 3: to the play card and I'm like, look.
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: Be patient, give me an opportunity.
• 8:16
  Speaker 3: You sometimes you have to go back there and convince
• 8:19
  Speaker 3: them to uh that you were capable.
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: And he's capable. We've seen it last year.
• 8:25
  Speaker 3: Uh he has to breakout game games and I think
• 8:28
  Speaker 3: he's due for one here any minute.
• 8:30
  Speaker 2: I don't even have to ask a question.
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: All you do is say, run game right, just just go.
• 8:35
  Speaker 2: It's great.
• 8:36
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it's one of those clueless key list clueless you
• 8:41
  Speaker 3: don't need.
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: It's just it's it's I don't want to say it's awful.
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: It's laying heavy, it's weighing heavy on your mind. Fred
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: I can tell yes.
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: It's not good.
• 8:54
  Speaker 3: I've been in those situations where I'm like, man, we
• 8:57
  Speaker 3: cannot run the ball and we didn't have a.
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: Lot because that's what we did.
• 9:01
  Speaker 3: You know, we forced the issue and we had a
• 9:04
  Speaker 3: defense that was out and we were able to run
• 9:08
  Speaker 3: the ball.
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: That's how we were built. This team is not built
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: like we were built. They have more.
• 9:14
  Speaker 3: Receivers than myself and Maurice had the luxury of having
• 9:18
  Speaker 3: and not knocking the guys that we had. These guys
• 9:20
  Speaker 3: are just better in my opinion. And the quarterback, you know,
• 9:27
  Speaker 3: he's a natural, pure passer. You know, he's a generational talent.
• 9:33
  Speaker 3: So they're gonna lean heavy on them as opposed to
• 9:36
  Speaker 3: what we had where they leaned on myself on Maurice
• 9:39
  Speaker 3: in the legs of David Garrard, which was a nightmare
• 9:44
  Speaker 3: for a lot of teams.
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: Bred Taylor with us on the other side, Jaguars defense
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: has their hands full this week.
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: Baker Mayfield's playing better.
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: He had a perfect passer rating last week, one of
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: three quarterbacks to have that in this twenty twenty three season.
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: But God's better at wide receiver. And then of course,
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: Mike Evans is in his tenth year. He's got over
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: a thousand yards receiving in every season of his career,
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: and every time you look up on TV, he's like
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: scoring a touchdown like every highlight show you watch. So
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: how do you cover Mike Evans.
• 10:18
  Speaker 2: You don't, You can't. You just have to deal with
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: what comes of it.
• 10:23
  Speaker 3: He's the most consistent player in the tired NFL over
• 10:28
  Speaker 3: the last decade. I don't care what anyone says. You
• 10:31
  Speaker 3: talk about just a constonment pro. He comes to work
• 10:36
  Speaker 3: this offseason a little disc run through because of the
• 10:39
  Speaker 3: contract talks, but they're well deserved, you know. He just
• 10:43
  Speaker 3: puts his head down and he goes to work. And
• 10:45
  Speaker 3: that's what you love from He's one of those old
• 10:48
  Speaker 3: school blue collar guys.
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: Man. He gets it.
• 10:52
  Speaker 3: It's hard to cover big, tall, strong, fast, even in
• 10:56
  Speaker 3: ten years, and you just try to minimize it. He's
• 11:01
  Speaker 3: gonna get is you just try to minimize it. You said,
• 11:05
  Speaker 3: Baker Mayfield is playing well. He's his outlet. Baker has
• 11:09
  Speaker 3: two really good receivers. He has one that he can
• 11:11
  Speaker 3: hit underneath and let him run run after the catchup
• 11:15
  Speaker 3: Godwin is amazing. Or he can throw it deep to
• 11:19
  Speaker 3: god went in. He can get it deep to big Mic.
• 11:22
  Speaker 3: So the secondary is going to have their hands full.
• 11:27
  Speaker 3: I think this will be the best two receivers that
• 11:30
  Speaker 3: they faced in several weeks. As a combination, they're the
• 11:34
  Speaker 3: best that they probably faced all the year.
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: So we got that going for us, which is nice. Fred,
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: have a merry Christmas, you and the family, and hey,
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: here we go. It's Christmas Eve. Football Jaguars, Buccaneers, and
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: we'll talk to you a little bit later.
• 11:50
  Speaker 3: Look, whatever happens to day, JP, All I know is
• 11:52
  Speaker 3: the food tastes better when you win. This is for
• 11:56
  Speaker 3: the players, you know, if they got there, there there
• 12:00
  Speaker 3: their little Walkmen. They don't even exist no more, but
• 12:02
  Speaker 3: they got something that they can listen to the pregame show.
• 12:06
  Speaker 3: So if there are guys, if you're listening, you get
• 12:08
  Speaker 3: a win. The food tastes better, the eggnog.
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: You can go a.
• 12:11
  Speaker 3: Little heavier on the eggnog whatever you're spiking it with,
• 12:15
  Speaker 3: and you baby chill out for a couple of days,
• 12:18
  Speaker 3: not have to worry about the playoffs.
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: You just dropped a Walkman on them. I mean, like
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: what your cassette tapes? You gonna play cassettes too.
• 12:25
  Speaker 3: Listen if they are listening, I can guarantee you there
• 12:29
  Speaker 3: are probably eighty percent of the locker room have clue.
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: Doesn't have a clue what a Walkman.
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: I'll tell you what though, I miss mine every single day.
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: That great invention. Man. It was amazing product. Yeah, indeed,
• 12:45
  Speaker 2: the Walkman unbelievable. I was talking about.
• 12:48
  Speaker 3: I'm not talking about an MP three JP, I'm talking
• 12:51
  Speaker 3: about the original Walkman with the tape and you roll
• 12:55
  Speaker 3: it out that you get upset when the cassette gets
• 12:57
  Speaker 3: stuck in there.
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: Sometimes you got a flu go around.
• 13:01
  Speaker 3: Yeah, those were today, side A side B, Like how
• 13:05
  Speaker 3: you get a side A and B when it's technology
• 13:08
  Speaker 3: is amazing?
• 13:09
  Speaker 2: That's it.
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: Yeah, this is this is the guy I'm talking to
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: right now that has the ear button his ear.
• 13:14
  Speaker 2: I mean, that's that's how it's changed.
• 13:16
  Speaker 3: I got the earbud in my ear, but I'm talking
• 13:18
  Speaker 3: to you through speaker.
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: That's kind of on the internet. Amazing.
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: Imagine that, like you can talk.
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: That in itself.
• 13:27
  Speaker 3: If someone had said that thirty years ago, you'd be like, oh,
• 13:31
  Speaker 3: that's the Jetsons. That ain't happening, Like, but look here
• 13:35
  Speaker 3: we are. We're able to talk through the computer. Like
• 13:38
  Speaker 3: imagine if you had known about what what level, how
• 13:42
  Speaker 3: the progression of the Internet would have been back when
• 13:46
  Speaker 3: this guy by the name of Jeff Bezos or Steve
• 13:51
  Speaker 3: Jobs and these guys came around, when those companies were
• 13:54
  Speaker 3: like two dollars a share, you'd be like, man, I'm
• 13:57
  Speaker 3: gonna go out here and hustle up some money and
• 13:59
  Speaker 3: buy me apple Stock. I ain't trying to buy no Nikes,
• 14:03
  Speaker 3: but or no cleats. I'm buying cleats anyway.
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: JP. I had figured you were Fred.
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: It's always a pleasure.
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: We'll talk to you. I'll see you in a minute