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The O-Zone Podcast | 2026 Jaguars Outlook w/ Mark Duffner · The Jacksonville Jaguars Official Podcast Network

• 0:07
  Speaker 1: Welcome to the ozone podcast with Jaguars senior writer, John Osher.
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: All right.
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: Welcome into this week's ozone podcast. It's a week one
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: ozone podcast. I'm senior writer, uh, John Osher. And, I'm
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: here in the Hyundai studios along with this week's guest
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: analyst extraordinaire. I'm going to call you Mark Duffner and I,
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: I Jaguars fans by now are familiar with Duff. And
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: I thank you for doing this. And, uh, Look forward
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: today to talking a little week one NFL football, right?
• 0:36
  Speaker 3: Shoot, I'm honored to be with you. Being the Ozone,
• 0:39
  Speaker 3: are you kidding me? This is awesome. I mean, really,
• 0:41
  Speaker 3: I've been waiting to be able to do this, so
• 0:43
  Speaker 3: thank you.
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: Yeah, many people have waited, and most people still want
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: to be waiting. Before we start off, I want to
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: inform the listeners and the longtime listeners.
• 0:54
  Speaker 4: He knows who he is, Duff.
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: The one guy who's been listening to me for 10
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: years does know who he is. We're changing format a
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: little bit this year. Before the Ozone podcast has been
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: a Thursday show with a player that we run on Fridays.
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: It's been purely a player interview. This year, we're trying
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: to get more into this episode, which will drop on Tuesdays.
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: During the season, we'll look back at the previous game
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: and forward a little bit to the next game. In
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: the Thursday episode, we'll have Jeff Lagerman on for four
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: or five minutes at the start to talk about the
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: next week's game. And then we'll have what the loyal
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: listener will remember as the player interview segment. So it
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: will evolve over the course of the season. We're looking
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: forward to trying something new here.
• 1:45
  Speaker 3: That's awesome.
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: It's not just because J.P. Shatterick left Duff, but it's
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: a little bit of vengeance toward J.P. We're trying to
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: get back at him at this point.
• 1:54
  Speaker 5: Well, we're sorry we lost him right now, I can
• 1:56
  Speaker 5: tell you that.
• 1:57
  Speaker 3: But I can see there's a little competition.
• 1:58
  Speaker 4: Yeah, no doubt.
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: All good. As we get into this, we're going to
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: get into the Browns a little later and not go
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: through the roster a little bit with you. Tell me
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: just overall how you feel about this team. You've been
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: at this point on a Tuesday, week one, getting ready
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: to go. If you were inside this team, how would
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: you feel about it?
• 2:23
  Speaker 3: I feel good right now. I do. And really, the
• 2:25
  Speaker 3: first game is generally all about us, the current team.
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 2:29
  Speaker 5: Especially this week in Cleveland, a new head coach, a
• 2:32
  Speaker 5: new defensive coordinator, a new offensive coordinator, as in the
• 2:35
  Speaker 5: head coach. So it's going to be more about us.
• 2:38
  Speaker 5: But I just like the team's attitude. I like the
• 2:41
  Speaker 5: energy I've seen. I like the execution I've seen. I
• 2:43
  Speaker 5: like the fight and the attack. Coach Cohen's mantra, if
• 2:48
  Speaker 5: you will, was attack the offseason. They've done that. They
• 2:51
  Speaker 5: did it in the spring. They had excellent training camp,
• 2:53
  Speaker 5: the joint practices. When I look at all the positives
• 2:56
  Speaker 5: right now, I feel good. And so, again, you want
• 2:59
  Speaker 5: to trust. You want to trust your technique, your fundamentals.
• 3:03
  Speaker 5: Trust your instincts. I think they've got a lot of
• 3:05
  Speaker 5: things in place.
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: Did you ever, and again, you were in a lot
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: of situations building up, and there's a special feeling that
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: week one because.
• 3:14
  Speaker 4: You just don't know. Did you ever not feel great
• 3:18
  Speaker 4: going in? Or do you always sort of build up?
• 3:22
  Speaker 5: Well, no, I had some. Some anxiety at times, you know,
• 3:26
  Speaker 5: because there's some unknowns. This team doesn't have many unknowns,
• 3:29
  Speaker 5: at least as I look at it. When you've had
• 3:32
  Speaker 5: new players, whether they be veterans or draft picks playing
• 3:35
  Speaker 5: for you, you're not sure how they're going to respond
• 3:37
  Speaker 5: to the true game, which is what's going to happen
• 3:39
  Speaker 5: this Sunday in the stadium. So, oh, yeah, I've had
• 3:43
  Speaker 5: some anxious moments, if you will. And sometimes if you
• 3:46
  Speaker 5: were at the first time, a new staff, which they're
• 3:48
  Speaker 5: not here, all those things kind of creep in. 19
• 3:50
  Speaker 5: to 22 starters back. all the coaching staff back here.
• 3:55
  Speaker 5: A lot of things not to get too secure about,
• 3:58
  Speaker 5: but I think a lot of things are in place
• 4:01
  Speaker 5: for this to be a good thing.
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: We're going to preview the offense in our first segment,
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: but first let's hear from Liam Cohen talking to the
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: media on Monday. Definitely does.
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: We had a team meeting this morning and it seemed
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: like everybody was kind of chomping at the bit, ready
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: to go.
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: So much of.
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: Training camp is going against yourselves, mix it in with
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: the joints, which is great.
• 4:29
  Speaker 4: Um, and that.
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: Simulated work that we got at the joints gives you some,
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: some glimpse and obviously competing against other teams and, uh,
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: quality opponents. And so it just becomes more real.
• 4:41
  Speaker 4: Absolutely.
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: The, the message this morning was, um, you know, using
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: all of this week, like using this bonus week for
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: our advantage.
• 4:52
  Speaker 4: You, uh, We're in.
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: The situation where you didn't have a week between seasons.
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: I mean, between preseason and regular season. Right.
• 5:01
  Speaker 4: And then you got a couple years where you did.
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: Talking to Pacelli last week, he's like, I just don't
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: love this week between it because you're sort of ready
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: to go. And I'm sure a lot of people who
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: were around the league forever when, hey, that preseason game's
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: over with, now we're ready. Yeah.
• 5:21
  Speaker 4: The body clock shifts.
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 5:22
  Speaker 4: At the same time, he said.
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: it does give you a chance to get healthy and it's,
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: it's probably the best thing. Yeah.
• 5:28
  Speaker 4: But, uh, he didn't love it because you're ready to go.
• 5:33
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 5:33
  Speaker 5: No, I mean, you came out of a great joint
• 5:36
  Speaker 5: practice to really, uh, two weeks in a row, Carolina
• 5:39
  Speaker 5: and Tampa Bay. You finished the preseason game the way
• 5:42
  Speaker 5: they did with a shutout granted backup players. But I mean,
• 5:47
  Speaker 5: there was momentum, there was ascending play, ascending attitude. And for,
• 5:51
  Speaker 5: you know, then you'd stop that a little bit with, uh,
• 5:54
  Speaker 5: you know, kind of a healthy week and a fundamental week,
• 5:57
  Speaker 5: so to speak, that's what I think coaches sometimes get
• 6:00
  Speaker 5: a little bit nervous about. But I think utilizing it properly,
• 6:03
  Speaker 5: which I believe this staff did, you know, I think
• 6:06
  Speaker 5: it's going to be a bonus as they prepare for Cleveland.
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: I want to ask you about week one because I
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: remember feeling at full force last year when they came
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: out against Carolina and it was a new regime and
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: you felt good about it. But then I remember it
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: going the opposite way some years. Is there a time
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: as a coach when you're on the sidelines where during
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: week one you're like, okay, we're going.
• 6:31
  Speaker 4: To be okay. This is a good team.
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: Or you see it and you're like, oh, there's some
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: stuff here that is a little dicey.
• 6:39
  Speaker 4: I guess what I'm getting at is.
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: As much as you talk about it, It's so much
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: more real in the third quarter of.
• 6:49
  Speaker 4: Week one than you could ever get to in preseason.
• 6:52
  Speaker 3: Oh, there's no question.
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: It's just a different– it's all of a sudden, oh,
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: this is professional football. And I guess it probably comes
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: from the veterans know how to prepare. They know how
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: to play preseason. They know how to protect themselves. In
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: week one, it's not just a cliche. That stuff is different,
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: and you can see an entirely different team week one
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: than you saw at any point before that.
• 7:16
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I think you've got to almost expect the unexpected.
• 7:19
  Speaker 5: I mean, you know, and especially when you're playing against
• 7:23
  Speaker 5: a team like Cleveland coming in with a new head coach,
• 7:25
  Speaker 5: new coordinators, et cetera. So, again, it's critical that you
• 7:30
  Speaker 5: trust your preparation as coaches, as players, the rules that
• 7:34
  Speaker 5: you've got, your techniques, your eyes, all those things. Coaches
• 7:38
  Speaker 5: got to trust their teaching all the way up to
• 7:42
  Speaker 5: game time and then let these guys go play. But
• 7:44
  Speaker 5: a key component, too, is going to be how good
• 7:46
  Speaker 5: we adjust at halftime because it's less predictable what the
• 7:52
  Speaker 5: opponent's going to do in the first game, especially in
• 7:55
  Speaker 5: the scenario we're facing this week. So, again, adjustments at
• 7:58
  Speaker 5: halftime will be key. But this game will be faster
• 8:02
  Speaker 5: than anything they've seen so far starting off. And the
• 8:05
  Speaker 5: games get faster as the season goes on. I'm talking
• 8:07
  Speaker 5: about the speed of play. So all that factors in.
• 8:10
  Speaker 5: But I like, as I said, I like the leadership
• 8:12
  Speaker 5: that these players– have right now in terms of their
• 8:15
  Speaker 5: captains and and the veterans i like the attitude i've
• 8:18
  Speaker 5: seen so i think we're going to be good we're.
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: Going to get in a little bit of the difference
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: in how to prepare for week one because it it's
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: such a different week than any other week of the
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: regular season and it's a cliche and yet when you
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: look at the numbers it truly plays out why is
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: this team going to be good offensively give me your
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: overview offensively.
• 8:38
  Speaker 5: Well the first thing is trevor lawrence right i mean
• 8:41
  Speaker 5: i just have seen a progression of confidence of comfort
• 8:44
  Speaker 5: of physical you know aggressive play i mean i like
• 8:48
  Speaker 5: he's not afraid to throw it down he gets it
• 8:51
  Speaker 5: out quick he's using his legs so i see a
• 8:54
  Speaker 5: maturity growth and maturity playing maturity and mental maturity as
• 8:59
  Speaker 5: a player from him that's where it starts and then
• 9:01
  Speaker 5: i you know i think when you look at the
• 9:03
  Speaker 5: weapons that he's got whether it be the receivers whether
• 9:05
  Speaker 5: it be the tight ends uh the running backs i
• 9:08
  Speaker 5: just feel like we've got a you know a bunch
• 9:10
  Speaker 5: of weapons that are there for him and We've got
• 9:12
  Speaker 5: to protect him, and I like the way the line's
• 9:15
  Speaker 5: starting to assimilate. I think the moves they did by
• 9:18
  Speaker 5: getting Anton over at left tackle, Pregnon as a player,
• 9:22
  Speaker 5: bookended by Hainsey and Anton I think is a plus.
• 9:25
  Speaker 5: So I feel good about a lot of the moves personnel-wise.
• 9:30
  Speaker 5: I feel good about the explosion of this offense and
• 9:34
  Speaker 5: the fact that they're going to also commit to the
• 9:37
  Speaker 5: running game.
• 9:37
  Speaker 3: A lot of things in place.
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: That gets into the topic I want to cover here,
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: the running game, because It was such an offense last
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: year that at times was a terrific offense, but had
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: to convert a lot of third and longs to get there.
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: It was fantastic at doing that. But you know that
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: they want to get into the running game a little
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: bit more this year and there's a true belief within
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: the organization that that's I don't want to call it
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: a superpower but that's going to be something they can
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: lean on that maybe outside because they lost Travis Etienne
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: is a little bit of a misconception to me Duff
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: Chris Rodriguez, Bashell Tootin, if this running game is marginally
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: better on first down, meaning fewer second and eights, just
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: get to second and six. Just be in more second
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: and manageable. And I think that analytics-wise, however you say it,
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: inside football, their belief is they're going to be better
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: in that situation, which is going to open things up
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: more offensively for the year overall. That's where they think
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: they're going to be better than they were last year.
• 10:54
  Speaker 5: Oh, John, I think you're dead on it. I mean,
• 10:56
  Speaker 5: that's true in terms of scheme. That's the best thing
• 10:59
  Speaker 5: you can do. When you win first down, now the
• 11:02
  Speaker 5: other downs are all reachable. They're all playable. They're on
• 11:05
  Speaker 5: your side of the fence. In other words, we want
• 11:07
  Speaker 5: those things. And I think the commitment that's been talked about,
• 11:11
  Speaker 5: where we're going to fix a run game, that was
• 11:13
  Speaker 5: the quote stink or whatever the case may be. I think,
• 11:16
  Speaker 5: as you mentioned, the players– The running backs, the offensive line,
• 11:19
  Speaker 5: everybody's wide receivers blocking. I mean, they've committed to doing
• 11:23
  Speaker 5: that more than I've ever seen. The use of different
• 11:25
  Speaker 5: personnel groupings, 13 personnel, three tight ends in a game, 12,
• 11:29
  Speaker 5: two tight ends, all these things. They've put together a
• 11:32
  Speaker 5: package that's going to favor that to be done, and
• 11:35
  Speaker 5: they've committed to that.
• 11:36
  Speaker 3: When you do that, when we can.
• 11:37
  Speaker 5: Get ahead on the sticks, like you said, second and eights,
• 11:41
  Speaker 5: love that. No, we don't want second and eights. When
• 11:43
  Speaker 5: we can have on offense second and three, winnable downs,
• 11:47
  Speaker 5: That's what you want, and I know that's their goal,
• 11:50
  Speaker 5: and the commitment to the running game, as far as
• 11:52
  Speaker 5: that's concerned, is going to make that more approachable.
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: Has that become, it's a little off topic, but the
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: emphasis on what you can get into on second and six,
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: second and five, the situational ahead of the sticks, is
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: there more of an emphasis now than there was 25,
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: 30 years ago on that, just getting into situations, what
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: you can call what defenses are going to expect. Is
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: there more of a chess game on that front, or
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: am I imagining that?
• 12:23
  Speaker 3: No, no, no, there is.
• 12:24
  Speaker 5: And I think the whole topic called situational masters, understanding
• 12:30
  Speaker 5: those down in distances, the field position game, red zone,
• 12:34
  Speaker 5: all these things have been delved into and peeled back
• 12:37
  Speaker 5: a lot of layers in that. So it's absolutely more
• 12:41
  Speaker 5: of a focus as we speak.
• 12:43
  Speaker 3: Gotcha.
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: I remember being an Indian, Peyton would always talk about
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: being in, X down and manageable.
• 12:49
  Speaker 4: And he would say it doesn't matter.
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: It didn't matter exactly what it was, but you had
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: to have the threat of the run and the pass
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: on it down in order to be effective. And that
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: was in the, what, the 2000s decade. And it seemed
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: like that's when it was sort of coming along and
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: now everybody's just honing it. And it is, you have
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: plays for second and two, you have plays for second
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: and three. I'm exaggerating that, but it's much more of
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: a situational game than it used to be.
• 13:15
  Speaker 5: Without a doubt. And again, by the way, you mentioned
• 13:18
  Speaker 5: Peyton Manning. He was the best at that time for sure.
• 13:21
  Speaker 5: And you felt that from that offense and from him
• 13:24
  Speaker 5: at that time. And that's just morphed into today where
• 13:27
  Speaker 5: now it's routinely done and complexly studied.
• 13:31
  Speaker 3: So it's all right there.
• 13:32
  Speaker 4: Yeah, now it's every team. We're going to go to
• 13:34
  Speaker 4: a second segment.
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: We're going to call it this year, and I expect
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: this to be part of the show as we move forward,
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: called Liam Said What, and we're going to talk about
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: his presser from the previous day.
• 13:46
  Speaker 4: So we'll go to this from Liam Cohen.
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: It's definitely a game that we have to be ready
• 13:50
  Speaker 2: to adjust to some certain things and have some patience with,
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: but also have an attacking mindset. And a lot of
• 13:58
  Speaker 2: this game, especially in week one, it's so much about
• 14:02
  Speaker 2: our execution, about our guys, our team, like You want
• 14:06
  Speaker 2: to be aware of their players, aware of their game records,
• 14:11
  Speaker 2: and some of the things that they do.
• 14:13
  Speaker 4: But it's so much more.
• 14:15
  Speaker 2: About our team, our execution, our effort, and our ability
• 14:19
  Speaker 2: to respond.
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: We talked about this a little bit earlier, but as
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: I've covered the league more and more, I've kind of
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: realized that coaches don't necessarily love week one. They're excited
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: about it. But there's that element that Liam sort of
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: talked about. You guys love getting into film, figuring out
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: what's going to be, having a strategy, seeing strengths and weaknesses.
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: And in week one, I'm sure you do that as
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: much as you do before. But I'm sure there's also
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: conversations after you get done looking at it where you go, well,
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: we'll just.
• 14:57
  Speaker 3: See what happens. You're 100% correct.
• 14:59
  Speaker 5: And you can chase a lot of ghosts.
• 15:01
  Speaker 3: And you're.
• 15:04
  Speaker 5: You know, you want to be so thorough, so prepared
• 15:07
  Speaker 5: that you can do that and waste a lot of
• 15:08
  Speaker 5: time with it. That's why, as I got older in
• 15:11
  Speaker 5: this business a little bit, I kept coming back, hey,
• 15:14
  Speaker 5: it's about us. You know, when we go through the spring,
• 15:18
  Speaker 5: we don't study our opponent, meaning ourselves, when we would
• 15:22
  Speaker 5: go in OTAs and everything else. And even in training camp,
• 15:24
  Speaker 5: when we practice against each other, you don't go through
• 15:27
  Speaker 5: scattering important, oh, what they're putting in, all that stuff,
• 15:30
  Speaker 5: prepare for that. So, you're really working against unscouted looks
• 15:34
  Speaker 5: in the spring and early in training camp. Well, this
• 15:37
  Speaker 5: first game is going to be a lot of unscouted looks.
• 15:40
  Speaker 5: So again, you try to instill confidence in your players. Look,
• 15:44
  Speaker 5: trust your preparation, trust your technique, trust the training that
• 15:48
  Speaker 5: you've gone through right now.
• 15:49
  Speaker 3: And, and your rules will take over for us. You know, we,
• 15:53
  Speaker 3: you did it for all the spring you did for
• 15:55
  Speaker 3: a lot of training camps.
• 15:55
  Speaker 5: So, uh, Coaches want to have, oh, boy, I know
• 15:59
  Speaker 5: what these tendencies are, and we can dial in on that. Well,
• 16:02
  Speaker 5: this game, that's what kind of makes you anxiety-ridden.
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: Sure.
• 16:05
  Speaker 5: But you've got to push that away and say, okay, again,
• 16:08
  Speaker 5: let's trust our preparation. We faced unscouted looks all through
• 16:12
  Speaker 5: the spring and early in training camp.
• 16:14
  Speaker 3: Let that take over.
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: Yeah, there's more weird results and weird plays in week
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: one than anything else. So next segment, we're just going
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: to generally look at the defense. Give me– A couple
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: of reasons why you think this defense will be good.
• 16:30
  Speaker 5: Well, it starts with the coaching staff. I've been very, very, John,
• 16:34
  Speaker 5: very impressed with the coaching staff and how they teach,
• 16:37
  Speaker 5: the drills they have, how they mesh together.
• 16:39
  Speaker 3: I love their energy.
• 16:41
  Speaker 5: Their focus on fundamentals was so prevalent throughout training camp, tackling,
• 16:47
  Speaker 5: ball disruption, block destruction, little things. They work the corners
• 16:53
  Speaker 5: and the safeties. When at the top of rush, I mean,
• 16:56
  Speaker 5: a lot of teams, A lot of teams ignore that. Well,
• 16:58
  Speaker 5: you've got to give everybody the tools to win the one-on-one.
• 17:01
  Speaker 5: They've done that. So that starts right with that. And
• 17:04
  Speaker 5: I just like the way this team practices and responded.
• 17:08
  Speaker 5: I mean, in the joint practice against Tampa Bay, and
• 17:12
  Speaker 5: that's kind of the last heavy practice I saw, five
• 17:15
  Speaker 5: passes broken up, three takeaways, numerous shots on the ball,
• 17:20
  Speaker 5: meaning people are actively trying to punch, pull, or rip,
• 17:22
  Speaker 5: the peanut punch, whatever the case may be, get the
• 17:25
  Speaker 5: ball off of them. And so they bought into pursuit.
• 17:29
  Speaker 5: They bought into physicality. They bought into getting the ball
• 17:31
  Speaker 5: off of people. And I just think that they represent
• 17:35
  Speaker 5: a lot of what that defensive staff, led by Coach Gapinelli,
• 17:38
  Speaker 5: is teaching.
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think some people that overlook this team, and
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: we'll get into the overlooking this team in the final segment,
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: which will be my.
• 17:47
  Speaker 4: Rant segment.
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: But I think the fact that they're a really good
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: run defense– And I feel like that's something you can
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: trust to be good again. I would be surprised if
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: they're not a really good run defense. Now maybe, oh,
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: the egg in my face, I'll be wrong. But that
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: gets overlooked a little bit in this league these days
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: because it's such a pass-centric league. But if you can't
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: do it, you're in a lot of trouble. If you
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: can't stop the run, then people will only run on
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: you and you're in bad shape.
• 18:20
  Speaker 4: So I'm going to trust that the run defense is good.
• 18:25
  Speaker 2: And.
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: assume that the moves they made in the secondary, I think, Duff,
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: that the most obvious area that they could be really,
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: really improved is in the defensive backfield.
• 18:36
  Speaker 3: Oh, my gosh. I'm with you, John.
• 18:38
  Speaker 5: And watching again, watching almost every training camp practice, I mean,
• 18:43
  Speaker 5: they were sticking coverage, I mean, all the way through consistently.
• 18:48
  Speaker 5: You know, there was contested. Every pass was contested. I
• 18:51
  Speaker 5: admit I can't count on one hand. where I thought
• 18:55
  Speaker 5: somebody had a bust or a mental error in terms
• 18:58
  Speaker 5: of coverage responsibility. So the competitiveness, the confidence, and that's
• 19:03
  Speaker 5: what that's reflective of. When you see a secondary or
• 19:06
  Speaker 5: a defense that plays fast and plays sticky in coverage
• 19:09
  Speaker 5: and can test plays, they're confident.
• 19:11
  Speaker 3: They know what they're doing. They've been well taught.
• 19:13
  Speaker 5: And that's the objective all coaches have, to get your
• 19:16
  Speaker 5: players to play fast, no hesitation. Well, I think they've
• 19:20
  Speaker 5: done a great job of– move in that direction with
• 19:24
  Speaker 5: this defense.
• 19:24
  Speaker 4: You have a graphic for this season.
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: To me, the key is they had 31 takeaways last year.
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: That can be a hard number to get back to
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: because there's some circumstantial stuff with takeaways.
• 19:40
  Speaker 4: There's a little.
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: Bit of luck involved, a little bit of game circumstance involved.
• 19:44
  Speaker 4: Um they're also uh.
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: They may be playing a little more man not quite
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: as much zone that can affect your interception totals a
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: little bit uh does it feel to you like this
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: team as a defensive coach is in a situation to
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: at least still be a good takeaway defense understanding that
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: that can vary a little bit year to year i.
• 20:09
  Speaker 3: Think they are definitely in position to be a good takeaway.
• 20:11
  Speaker 4: Because of what you said, they hit the ball a lot,
• 20:13
  Speaker 4: they go after it.
• 20:14
  Speaker 5: Well, and again, you can't get it unless you try.
• 20:17
  Speaker 5: It's got to be a winning habit that you develop.
• 20:19
  Speaker 5: It's done in practice and it carries over to the game.
• 20:21
  Speaker 5: And I see their commitment to it. I see their
• 20:24
  Speaker 5: commitment in the drills. I see their commitment.
• 20:26
  Speaker 3: You can drill it, but if you don't do it
• 20:27
  Speaker 3: in practice, it's not going to happen.
• 20:29
  Speaker 5: These guys go after the ball. They have understood. They've
• 20:32
  Speaker 5: been dipped in the baptismal well, if you will, of takeaways,
• 20:36
  Speaker 5: equal wins. When you win a takeaway battle, you win games. So,
• 20:40
  Speaker 5: They're on that right now. I see that.
• 20:43
  Speaker 3: I think they'll approach that again.
• 20:45
  Speaker 5: I really do because of their commitment and understanding how
• 20:48
  Speaker 5: it affects games.
• 20:49
  Speaker 4: And it's amazing.
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: I would say they gave up some plays in the
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: secondary last year. In the playoffs, it bit them a
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: little bit. But if you can stop the run and
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: take the ball away, if you're giving up big plays,
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: you're still going to lose a couple because of that.
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: But over the course of a season, if you're stopping
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: the run and taking the ball away, We saw it
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: last year. Oh yeah. You're going to get, that formula
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: is usually going to get you to the post season.
• 21:17
  Speaker 4: If you're doing that well, defensively. No question about it.
• 21:20
  Speaker 5: When, when, when Moses brought down the tablet, 11 was
• 21:23
  Speaker 5: stopped the run and 12 was when the takeaway battle
• 21:26
  Speaker 5: and they're doing it.
• 21:27
  Speaker 4: That I, I would close the podcast with that.
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: If we didn't already have a segment, uh, that I'm
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: going to refer to is really, really rank. And, uh,
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: it is sort of rank this week. And, uh, By rank,
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: I mean a really bad smell. But we're going to
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: go over the rankings. Our power rankings, Jaguars.com, which mean
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: absolutely nothing. I do them because we've done them for years.
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: I have Seattle number one because, to me, you're the
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: champs and the champs until they're not.
• 21:57
  Speaker 4: I have L.A.
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: Number two because they made the moves, and I feel
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: like they're a good organization going for it. I feel
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: like it's sort of their– I don't want to say
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: it's their last hurrah, but– it's a chips in year
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: and you know how long their quarterback's going to keep playing.
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: I think I have Buffalo, uh, number three in the AFC, uh,
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: because I believe in Josh Allen, but I have the
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: Jags number four and I kind of always take the
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: approach with the Jags. I, I put them in a
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: spot and then see where they go.
• 22:26
  Speaker 4: Uh, but, um.
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: That may be as high as anybody anywhere has the Jags.
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: And that's more what I want to talk about in
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: this segment is, this weird idea I get nationally that
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: people aren't even really looking at this team. And anybody
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: who reads me knows I don't care.
• 22:45
  Speaker 4: About power rankings.
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: This is not college football. The nice thing about the
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: NFL is you control what you can control and nobody
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: cares where you're ranked. But Duff, I think if you're
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: looking at this team and not talking about it as
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: one of the, you know me, it's the Texans, the Broncos,
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: the Patriots in this team. And then, Let's see if
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: the Ravens can get back there. Let's see if the Chiefs,
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: you know, there was stuff going wrong with the Chiefs
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: before Mahomes got hurt last year. Let's see if they
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: get back. But you can't have a conversation to me
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: without including the Jaguars in this thing.
• 23:18
  Speaker 3: That's my opinion.
• 23:19
  Speaker 5: But, hey, I'm fine right now with people still not
• 23:23
  Speaker 5: recognizing what's going on down here.
• 23:25
  Speaker 3: I know this much.
• 23:26
  Speaker 5: When I was watching this team's ascension last season, this
• 23:29
  Speaker 5: is what was going on. If I was a coach
• 23:31
  Speaker 5: in this league, which I am not currently, but I
• 23:34
  Speaker 5: would have been studying everything that's going on in Jacksonville.
• 23:38
  Speaker 5: My God, the turnaround, everything that they did, the development
• 23:40
  Speaker 5: of the quarterbacks, the offense, leading the league the last
• 23:44
  Speaker 5: half of the year at 30 points a game. Having
• 23:46
  Speaker 5: an offense and a defense ranked in the top ten
• 23:49
  Speaker 5: in scoring, scoring defense and offense, special teams like that.
• 23:52
  Speaker 5: My God, everything you want is right here. If you're
• 23:55
  Speaker 5: not studying this team and you're not trying to learn
• 23:58
  Speaker 5: and get something from them, you're crazy.
• 24:00
  Speaker 4: What do you think the key was there?
• 24:01
  Speaker 3: Of what?
• 24:03
  Speaker 4: Of just all those things being, like.
• 24:06
  Speaker 5: Well, I think they already had good special teams for sure,
• 24:09
  Speaker 5: but I think that the coaching staffs focused in on
• 24:12
  Speaker 5: developing those players. I think the attitude set by James Gladstone, Tony,
• 24:16
  Speaker 5: the three wise men, as I call them, and the
• 24:18
  Speaker 5: head coach, Liam Cohn, I mean, they did bring gold, frankincense,
• 24:22
  Speaker 5: and myrrh here. So, I mean, my point to you
• 24:24
  Speaker 5: is this building, I felt it when I came into
• 24:27
  Speaker 5: this building to do shows like this.
• 24:29
  Speaker 3: I could just feel it.
• 24:30
  Speaker 5: Uh, an energy and, and kind of a confidence and
• 24:33
  Speaker 5: a determination. So their attitude was let's go. And, and,
• 24:37
  Speaker 5: and if people overlooked that, hallelujah, because we're going to
• 24:41
  Speaker 5: be going strong again.
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: Yeah. It's a striking thing. I, uh, we've both been around,
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: you've been far more inside than I ever have, but
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: there is a, uh, there has been a feeling, uh,
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: since these guys took over and, uh, um, it would
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: just really surprise me.
• 24:57
  Speaker 4: I don't know what the record will be this year.
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: Uh, 13 is a hard number to get to even
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: when you're really, really good because it's the NFL.
• 25:06
  Speaker 4: Yes, it is.
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: One thing in the first quarter goes wrong, and it's
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: hard to overcome that one week. But I feel like
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: what this team, I don't think there's a particular weak position.
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: I think the quarterback is ascending, and I think the
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: head coach is one of these guys who is meant
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: to do what he does.
• 25:28
  Speaker 4: And I think there's only a handful.
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: I think there are head coaches who get that job
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: who have ascended beyond where they should be. I think
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: Liam Cohn was born to be a head coach. Everything
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: leading up to what he has done, playing quarterback, being
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: the son of a coach, et cetera, et cetera, has
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: conspired to have him be exactly where he should be
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: in life, right, on the sidelines of the NFL team.
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: But I think the thing that we talked about a
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: little bit before the show, and then we'll close, The fact.
• 25:59
  Speaker 4: That they're so good.
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: At not letting a little bad spell turn into a
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: long bad spell, I think is what gives me confidence
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: that they will contend for a long time.
• 26:12
  Speaker 5: No question about it. And that's the leadership. People refer
• 26:17
  Speaker 5: to it a lot today as culture. But they've established
• 26:20
  Speaker 5: an attitude in this building of confidence, of attacking, of Unity,
• 26:28
  Speaker 5: it's about us, it's.
• 26:29
  Speaker 3: Team first, and it's not words. I see it everywhere.
• 26:33
  Speaker 5: I mean, I see it the way that the communication
• 26:35
  Speaker 5: of whether it's equipment guys, whether it's the grounds crew,
• 26:38
  Speaker 5: whether it's the food service. I mean, everybody's bought in.
• 26:42
  Speaker 5: There's not, well, we're kind of a week over here.
• 26:44
  Speaker 5: This group's talking about that group. And that's not phony.
• 26:48
  Speaker 3: There's real. I feel it. I see it. And that's
• 26:50
  Speaker 3: what's carrying them through. I mean, they're on a mission,
• 26:54
  Speaker 3: and everybody's pulling together. Going in the same direction here.
• 26:57
  Speaker 3: When you have that going, geez, Pete, you've got a
• 26:59
  Speaker 3: great shot.
• 27:00
  Speaker 4: Duff, I could talk football with you all day. I
• 27:04
  Speaker 4: appreciate you doing this today.
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: That has been the first Ozone podcast, non-player interview Ozone podcast.
• 27:14
  Speaker 4: I'm looking forward to.
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: This as we go forward because, again, we'll be talking
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: about the previous week's game, looking ahead a little bit.
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: For Mark Duffner, for Brent Reber. For Joe Fortunato, I'm
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: John Osier. Thank you for listening to the Ozone Podcast
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: Week 1.