Latest / The Jacksonville Jaguars Official Podcast Network / Larry Fitzgerald Jr.'s impact on Christian Kirk & team mentality in week 7 | O-Zone Podcast

Transcript

Larry Fitzgerald Jr.'s impact on Christian Kirk & team mentality in week 7 | O-Zone Podcast · The Jacksonville Jaguars Official Podcast Network

• 0:08
  Speaker 1: Welcome to the Ozone Podcast, presented by by Star Credit
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: with Jaguars senior writer John Osan. All Right, welcome to
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: this week's Ozone podcast. The guests today. I always say
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: I'm excited about it, but I have been hoping to
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: have Christian Kirk on the podcast for a while. Uh.
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: He's very good in this situation off slide insight. I
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: think this is a good week to talk to Christian Kirk. Christian,
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: first of all, thanks for doing this, Thanks for having
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: UH and obviously UH a three game losing streak. I'll
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: start off with that, because you're a veteran guy who
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: knows how to handle things. Um, what is the tone
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: in the locker room and what are you saying to
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: younger teammates? Well, you know, first to kind of start off,
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: what I'm saying to younger teammates is it's a long season.
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: You know, there's seventeen games now, and you know when
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: you hear are seventeen games like, that's pretty long. But
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: you know when you're doing it and you're preparing weekend
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: and week out, it's a long season. You've got guys
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: that come from college, you know, it's almost two college
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: football seasons if you count in preseason as well, so
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: there's still a lot of opportunity and still this early
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: into the season, you can make your season however you
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: want to make it. Um. You know, I came from
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: a team where you know, we started eight no and
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: we were scratching and crawling to you know, clinch at
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: the playoffs at the end, and so it can flip
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: that quickly. You can go on win streaks and you know,
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: you can kind of dictate your future. And so I think,
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: you know, with the leadership that we have in our room,
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: in our in our locker room is you know, there's
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: no panicking there, there's no time to hit the panic button.
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: There's no here we go again. You know, there's there's
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: none of that. And you know, we all know we
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: have a clean slate, and you know, this is a
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: different team and a different culture, and so right now
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: we're just looking to get back on track. And we
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: know we've been in every single game that we've lost,
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: we've had the ball, you know, and in each time
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: to you know, go down to score and give ourselves
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: a chance to win. So it's just executing and being
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: the best that we can be. What is it that
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: you like about this team that you think will make
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: it different in past Jack teams. And now you haven't
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: been around him, but you guys have talked this is
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: not what it was moving forward. What is it about
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: this team that you like? I think it's the belief obviously,
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: and you know Doug and what he has in store
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: for us and his plan and you know his beliefs
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: and everybody's bought into what we're trying to do here.
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: It's the belief in one another. And you know the
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: way that guys practice, whether it's practice squad guys or
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: you know guys that take you know, multiple reps um
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: each and every period that are really you know, busting
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: their butts trying to make it as close as they
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: can on Sunday. The way the the amount of you know,
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: time and effort that goes into preparation to make so
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: that we're at our best, you know, from the coaching
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: staff and the players, I think is what's going to
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: help us now and you know, for the future. And
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: those are all things and you know when you see
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: it on Sunday you turn on the tape. I mean,
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: there's not like we're lacking toughness or effort or you know,
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: pride and what we do. You know, guys are battling,
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: playing and play out and so when you see that,
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: that is you know, that's that's good, that's you know,
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: you you want to see that immediately because then all
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: the other stuff you just got to clean that up.
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: You know, that's just coaching and just attention to detail.
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: But you know you can't coach all the other intangibles.
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: And we have all that And Doug and Trevor and
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: other teammates have talked about that was the thing that
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: they noticed and that first struck them about you and
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: you came in, we necessarily what you said. It was
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: how you went about things, Um, how you approach practice.
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: Was that A. I know, it's the way you are.
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: But when you came in trying to stab yourself as
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: a leader, did you tell yourself that's the way to
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: do it in terms of I'm just gonna be who
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: I am. I'm gonna show what I'm about, uh or
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: is that just what you're about? I guess both. Yeah, No,
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: I think it kind of goes hand in hand. You know,
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: that's that's who I am. Um, that's what I'm about.
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: Whenever I step in the building, it's all business, and
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: especially when we get on the field. UM, I'm working
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: as hard as I can. And uh, you know, I
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: know there's no such thing as perfect, but I always
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: say I'm always chasing perfection, you know, especially in practice. Um,
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: And so you know I'm I'm upset when you know
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: there's a bad play. Um, you know, ball gets tipped,
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: you know, if it's it's on me. And my route
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: depth came out too early. You know, those are all
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: things that I try to make perfect. So then on Sunday, Um,
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: you know, I don't even have to think about it.
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: And you know I'm not a raw, raw guy anyways. UM.
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: You know I will lead by you know, going to
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: guys and you know, speaking with them individually and just
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: you know, going about you know how I how I
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: like to prepare and you know, you know my thing
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: is always you know, I'm I'm always gonna do what
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: the other guy isn't doing. And so I'm always gonna
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: try to be you know, one step ahead and you know,
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: doing more. I feel like, you know, always separates myself.
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: So I just you know, kind of go about my
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: my business and you know, try to you know, teach guy,
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: especially in our room, just how to be true pros.
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: Is that a thing that Christian Kirk was born with
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: or did you have to learn that? Has that been
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: developed over time in the NFL, etcetera. Um, you know
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: my dad's military. Um come from a military family. Uh
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: So attention to detail is you know something that not
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: born with driven into Yeah. I don't think there was
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: any other way I was going to operate. My life
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: was um, you know, not being you know, I had
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: a high level of attention to detail. And so, you know,
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: my parents always taught me that, you know, if you
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: wanted anything, you had to work for and you had
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: to work harder than the other person that wants the
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: same thing that you have. And so, you know, learning
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: that at an early age and then obviously with some
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: of the you know, past teams that I've had, you know,
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: within the NFL and throughout college and you know, just
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: seeing how to operate as a professional but also being smart.
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: You know that goes hand in hand because you can't
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: go out there and run yourself into the ground and
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: you know you're you're hurting on Sunday. You know, you
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: gotta be smart and keep yourself fresh. So I would
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: say you know it's it's definitely been instilled from an
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: early age. You kind of led me to and I
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: know you've talked a lot about it, but it's fascinating.
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: You played with so many great players in Arizona, but
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: maybe Fitzgerald his approach may have had the biggest influence
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: on you. Is that fair or not? No, Um, Larry
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: was you know, my idol growing up. You know in Arizona,
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: every young Arizona kid that played football had a Larry
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: Fitzgerald jersey. You know, I was a fan of Larry Fitzgerald.
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: I got pictures of me at his football camp when
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: I was five six years old, and so, um, you know,
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: becoming his teammate and really just sitting back and you know,
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: just um being able to analyze everything that he did
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: on and off the field, you know definitely helped. And
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: because he was talent, but his approach is what made
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: him him, right, Yeah, I mean you're seventeen, his last
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: year US together. He didn't you practice Wednesday, practice Thursday,
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: practice Friday. You know, and when you're thirty seven, thirty
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: eight years old and you're still doing that, Um, that's
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: impressive and so will you be as the question I hope. So,
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: you know, I hope so that's you know, that's my plan.
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: I hope to be that guy being able to pass
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: down knowledge and just all the things that he did
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: for you know, me and you know all the other
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: young guys that were in that room as well, just
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: you know, kind of put us under his wing and
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: taught us how to work, you know, in the off season,
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: on the bye week, you know, after a game, getting
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: in the cold tub, just little things like that. So definitely, um,
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: you know, really helped me a lot. Is that what
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: you're trying to sort of? I think it's hard to
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: force feed that. I mean, you know that you know
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: what it takes. You're on a young team with guys
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: trying to learn the league. Is it tough to sort
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: of fast track everybody into approach and that if you
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: follow me? Or do you just have to sort of
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: lead by example and just gradually bring these guys along. Yeah,
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: you can't fast track it because it also, um you
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: have to take an account not everybody wants the same
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: thing out of playing, you know, in the NFL. Um
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: some guys just enjoy you know, being in the NFL,
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: being a guy being able to put on a Jersey
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: on Sunday and going out there and playing a couple
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: of snaps. Um, And that's not the case for me. Um.
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: I don't play football to be average. I play football
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: to be a great and to be great at what
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: I do. That's what drives me. Um. You know, there's
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: so much passion and so much hunger to be great,
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: and so you know, you can't want that for somebody else. Now,
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: if somebody comes to you and says that, and they
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: show it to you, then it's easier to be able
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: to help fast track that process because you can kind
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: of give them those two is. But if somebody's just
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: interested in being another guy, then you know, you look
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: that that's more than fine. You know, there's there's plenty
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: of guys that do that, and you just let them
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: do their thing. And you know, I said that they'd
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: be good teammates and just be you know, the best
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: that they can be, Um, that they have in their minds.
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: But you know, I don't think you can force somebody
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: to to you know, you can't want it for them.
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: I assume that's part of the click with Trevor is
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: that he's another one of those guys. And like I said,
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: it kind of goes back to you're talking about the
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: time and effort that goes into preparation week and a
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: week out. You know, he's here late, Um, you know,
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: every single day, watching film, you know, cut ups, you know,
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: previous games of you know, what we've done, what we
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: haven't done, what they've done, and so um, you know,
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: he just has such a mature approach and you know
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: personality that you know, it all makes sense of why
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: he's had so much success. Was it an immediate click
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: with him for you? And uh, I guess tell me
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: about y'all's relationship on and off the field, because it
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: seems to be developing pretty quickly. Yeah, it is pretty immediate.
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: You know we're both kind of laid back, Um, you know, calmer,
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: cooler guys and uh, kind of the same you know personality,
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: and so uh he was here the day that I
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: came and signed. Um we were able to you know,
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: kind of chop it up a little bit then. And
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: then um, once I got here for O, T, A
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: S and whatnot, spend a lot of time you know,
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: at the golf course and you know, hanging out and
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: you know, texting back and forth. You know, my fiance
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: and his wife are really good friends now. So you know,
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: whether it's going out to dinner and just doing stuff
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: in social settings to be able to grow that relationship.
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: And there's a lot of you know, common similarities there
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: and so it's it's been able to grow super fast.
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: And you know, then we get on the field and
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: you know, just being able to talk you know, football stuff.
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: You know that that line of communication, it just makes it,
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: you know, that much easier. Tell me about um. Doug
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: always talks about this a lot. With a young quarterback
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: learning a new offense. You've been around long enough to
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: know how difficult all that is, and he seems to
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: be learning it at a very high rate, fast level.
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: I How difficult is that and how is that going
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: for the first year? Maybe him in the entire offense
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: getting used to a new scheme. Yeah, you know, and
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: it's you know, with what he went through last year
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: is a little bit of anomaly and you know the
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: amount of I guess coaching and you know knowledge that
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: he was able to pick up is you kind of
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: have to flush it and then start over this year,
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: and so um, you can almost say that he's like
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: halfway into it, you know, a second rookie year. And
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: you know, this scheme is they've made it very easy
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: for us to learn, but also has a lot of
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: intricacies and you know, they do put a lot on him,
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: you know, mentally, and so for him to be able
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: to digest that. And you know, the more we go up,
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: you know, throughout the year and see more defenses, then
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: you know, as time grows and you know we all age,
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: you know, within this system, it'll be easier to kind
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: of transition and know, you know what we're looking for
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: on each and every play. And so I thought, I
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: think he's done a great job so far, and I
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: think he's just gonna only keep on getting better. I
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: have two final things in this section, close games. How
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: do you start winning? Finish? Um? You finished in the
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: fourth quarter, um, and you have to start playing complimentary football.
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: Can't be you know, defense has a great game, offense
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: has a bad game, Special teams has a good game.
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: You know, it has to be all three together. And
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: so that's the key for us is playing complimentary football
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: and finishing You even a tune four. You like where
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: this team's at, don't you. I Mean, like I said,
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: all of our games that we've lost, we've had the ball,
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: um with the chance to go put ourselves either in
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: the lead or to win the game. And so that's
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: all you can really ask for Um, whether you convert
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: or not, at least we're giving our social an opportunity.
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: Haven't been blown out, haven't been out of any any
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: game this year, and you know we've played some good teams.
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: But you know, we always say at the end of
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: the day, it's it's about us, and it's always gonna
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: be on us. And so you know, most of those
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: games you can see we're d of shooting ourselves in
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: the foot. And then all the two wins that we have,
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: we show the type of football that we can be.
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: We can play and that's dominant football. So I'm just
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: looking to find that. I get back to it. The
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: final thing we do on this and we'll get you
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: out of here quickly. It's called the ozone five. It's
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: very quick. Questions. I have some fun with you, Christian Kirk.
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: What was your last binge watch? Oh? Um, well, I
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: guess I haven't finished it, so right now it's House
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: some Dragons. Okay, best binge watch ever, so stranger things.
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: You're a modern stranger things are a Game of Thrones
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: or since you said modern, I could go like Entourage. Okay,
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: I'll go with Entourage. Game of Thrones I never could do.
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: My wife allived it and I just couldn't. I can't
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: get my head around. Um. The last song you heard
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: this morning on your way, well, I was listening to
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: Drake this morning. Um the Remorse by Drake. Okay. The
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: best round of golf you ever played? Oh my career
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: low right now is eight one Camelback Golf Club in Arizona.
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: Big moment, I mean, you get huge, huge. I mean
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: I picked up golf of you. It would be two
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: years now. He went good for two years. Bad. I
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: could be better, but I was just not consistent. Not
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: I what sport would you have played? A badmint? Football?
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: I would have been a Formula one driver. I love
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: Formula One. Come from a car family too, So you
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: ever got driven anything? I mean yeah, you know, Um,
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: you know my grandfather does some d S and stuff
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: like that and grand tour and stuff. So um, you know,
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: I get on the track sometimes. You know, down at Wilcox, Arizona,
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: we have a garage down there, so I'll get out
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: there with a Porsche family. So you know, RiPP around
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: a little nine fourteen or g T four and get going.
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: So if some guys do that post career, is that
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: is that you canna seek your goal. I'm definitely gonna
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: be on the track somewhere. Okay, that's outstanding. Anybody gets
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: to do. I cover a lot of NASCAR and uh
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: auto racing in my previous career. That's not for me,
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: and that I'm gonna journal in junkie. That's why I
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: play football. The person or people most responsible for you
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: being here, I would say my parents, Um, you know,
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: just everything that it instilled, you know, and me and um,
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: you know, I've just been you know, calling my cheek
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: coats to life. Uh you know they've done a great
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: job and help facilitating you know, my dreams and you know,
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: chasing you know, Um you know the person and type
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: of player I want to be, christ and I knew
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: this would be great. I appreciate you doing the Other
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: Zone podcast. Thank you very much. Thank you appreciate