Latest / The Jacksonville Jaguars Official Podcast Network / Jags A.M. Podcast Ep. 261 | Improving After the Bye Week: Pass Rush, Explosives & More

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Jags A.M. Podcast Ep. 261 | Improving After the Bye Week: Pass Rush, Explosives & More · The Jacksonville Jaguars Official Podcast Network

• 0:16
  Speaker 1: Welcome to Jags AM. I'm Kanani Stephens. Brian Sexton, John
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: Ogier with me today. Hope you all enjoyed your bye week.
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: But the Jaguars are back in the building and they're
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: getting ready to take on the Indianapolis Colts as they
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: had that week off.
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: But now they're right back into football.
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: Let's go over some of our big things from the
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: bye week brought to you by GEHA, Government Employees Health Association.
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: So we were last with you on Wednesday of last week.
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: And unfortunately, since then, offensive linemen have been Anton Harrison
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: has undergone surgery, and it's seen that he had a
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: torn ACL, so he will be out for the rest
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: of the season. Big thing number one is an O-line update. Brian,
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: obviously not the news we wanted. We did suspect he
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: would be out for at least some time, but where
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: does this leave the O-line for the rest of the year?
• 0:57
  Speaker 3: Well, thin, obviously.
• 0:58
  Speaker 4: I mean, we talked about the depth that this team
• 1:00
  Speaker 4: had three starting tackles, and Walker Little had played well individually.
• 1:04
  Speaker 4: in the second half of training camp, so we felt
• 1:06
  Speaker 4: good about where he was. Really, the bummer here is
• 1:09
  Speaker 4: that Anton Harrison had moved over to the left side,
• 1:12
  Speaker 4: and he wasn't perfect, John, but he was playing consistent football,
• 1:16
  Speaker 4: as consistent football as he had at any point in
• 1:19
  Speaker 4: his young career. And the Jaguars were excited about where
• 1:22
  Speaker 4: he was headed. Well, now that puts an end to
• 1:25
  Speaker 4: a guy that you were hoping this season to be
• 1:27
  Speaker 4: able to say, well, do we want to pay him?
• 1:29
  Speaker 4: Do we want to commit to him being our left tackle?
• 1:32
  Speaker 4: And now you have to go back when he's on
• 1:34
  Speaker 4: the field at some point in 2027 and say, all right,
• 1:37
  Speaker 4: prove it to us again that you can be a
• 1:38
  Speaker 4: consistent left tackle in this league. So there's that part
• 1:41
  Speaker 4: of it. The other side of it, though, is that
• 1:43
  Speaker 4: you've got Walker Little, who played well last week. He's
• 1:45
  Speaker 4: capable of playing at a high level. He was a
• 1:47
  Speaker 4: high second-round pick, highly regarded guy. He gives you something
• 1:52
  Speaker 4: in the run game because he's a really good run
• 1:53
  Speaker 4: blocker for a big guy. So you don't fall off
• 1:57
  Speaker 4: at all if he can come in and play consistent football.
• 2:01
  Speaker 5: Yes.
• 2:02
  Speaker 6: This is why, since this regime got here in January,
• 2:05
  Speaker 6: February of 25, that they focused on this area. It's
• 2:09
  Speaker 6: why they didn't trade Walker Little. Anton Harrison had been
• 2:13
  Speaker 6: playing and buying in and all that stuff in the
• 2:17
  Speaker 6: last three or four weeks as well as he ever had.
• 2:20
  Speaker 6: And the arrow was pointing way, way up. But this
• 2:25
  Speaker 6: is why they did this. This is why they didn't
• 2:27
  Speaker 6: trade Walker Little. It's why they have depth. They have
• 2:30
  Speaker 6: built where they feel like they have seven or eight
• 2:32
  Speaker 6: starting offensive linemen. So very few teams ever get to
• 2:38
  Speaker 6: the Super Bowl, which is where the Jaguars want to go,
• 2:41
  Speaker 6: with everybody intact. You're going to have a few spots
• 2:45
  Speaker 6: where you have to play your depth. And welcome to
• 2:48
  Speaker 6: this season in that sense. The season sort of starts
• 2:51
  Speaker 6: in a way when you get your first injury with
• 2:53
  Speaker 6: the guy out for the season.
• 2:54
  Speaker 5: So it starts now.
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: Let's go to our second big thing, which is buyers
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: or sellers. The trade deadline for the NFL is November
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: 10th this year. So we've got about two weeks left. Don,
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: where's this team going to be at? Buyer sellers are
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: not making a move at all, you think?
• 3:07
  Speaker 5: I think they want to buy.
• 3:08
  Speaker 6: I mean, it's usually when my wife goes shopping, she
• 3:12
  Speaker 6: wants to buy.
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: We want to spend money.
• 3:14
  Speaker 5: That's what we want.
• 3:16
  Speaker 6: Often you can't quite find, not as often as I'd like,
• 3:20
  Speaker 6: but you can't quite find the right thing to buy.
• 3:24
  Speaker 6: I think the Jaguars want, if they can, to improve
• 3:27
  Speaker 6: the pass rush. I think ideally they'd like to get
• 3:30
  Speaker 6: better on the interior and get a dynamic, game-changing defensive tackle.
• 3:38
  Speaker 5: Who you got? It can be hard, Brian.
• 3:42
  Speaker 6: You can be aggressive and not come home with what
• 3:46
  Speaker 6: you wanted to buy if there's nothing there.
• 3:48
  Speaker 4: And there may not be anything there, but there may
• 3:50
  Speaker 4: be an opportunity to sell, and obviously Brian Thomas Jr.
• 3:53
  Speaker 4: 's name has been at the top of everyone's list.
• 3:55
  Speaker 4: Just to share a story, I was in Kansas City
• 3:56
  Speaker 4: over the weekend, and Chiefs fans were asking me, well,
• 4:00
  Speaker 4: what do you think?
• 4:01
  Speaker 3: Can we get him? How about a five? What a six?
• 4:03
  Speaker 4: I said, why would you give up a five or
• 4:05
  Speaker 4: a six? And the point of this is, last night,
• 4:07
  Speaker 4: Kansas City would probably have given up a two to
• 4:09
  Speaker 4: have a guy like Brian Thomas Jr., because the Seahawks
• 4:12
  Speaker 4: just squeezed everything to stop Kenneth Walker, and they don't
• 4:15
  Speaker 4: have anything over the top. The point of this is
• 4:17
  Speaker 4: that there are some teams that are going to pick
• 4:18
  Speaker 4: up the phone and call, teams that look and see
• 4:21
  Speaker 4: where they have huge deficiencies. Kansas City can't throw the
• 4:24
  Speaker 4: ball down the field at all if you watched that
• 4:26
  Speaker 4: game last night.
• 4:26
  Speaker 3: They have no one to stretch the field.
• 4:28
  Speaker 4: So maybe, Kai, you can turn this to your advantage
• 4:32
  Speaker 4: and take a player who's fallen down your chart that
• 4:34
  Speaker 4: doesn't have a big role in your offense and grab
• 4:37
  Speaker 4: a pick that you might not have expected to get
• 4:39
  Speaker 4: for him from a team like a Kansas City.
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: James Gladstone will certainly be on the phone in the
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: coming weeks and will report when we have more.
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: News to tell.
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: Our final thing today, our final big thing today, is
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: bi-week win because Brian, the Jaguars didn't play, but everybody
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: else in the AFC South lost, so it kind of
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: feels like a win.
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: No, it did.
• 4:58
  Speaker 4: Listen, it was a winning weekend for the Jaguars, and
• 5:00
  Speaker 4: I was sitting in the airport getting ready to come
• 5:01
  Speaker 4: back and watching all three games. And, of course, the
• 5:04
  Speaker 4: Titans tied it up, and the Colts had a chance
• 5:06
  Speaker 4: late in the ballgame. They were driving, and the Texans
• 5:09
  Speaker 4: went to overtime, and all three felt their way.
• 5:12
  Speaker 3: Sometimes in a season, John, You wonder where you're at.
• 5:15
  Speaker 4: Jaguars lost in London, go to their bye week, trying
• 5:18
  Speaker 4: to figure out how things are going to lay out,
• 5:20
  Speaker 4: and then this happens. And you say, wow, we've got
• 5:22
  Speaker 4: a two-and-a-half game lead, and we didn't even play. Now
• 5:26
  Speaker 4: what are we going to do about it? You've got
• 5:27
  Speaker 4: the Colts here on Sunday. You've got an opportunity to
• 5:30
  Speaker 4: drive yourself way out in front.
• 5:33
  Speaker 3: If you just do what you do.
• 5:35
  Speaker 6: Yeah, and the Texans are off, so you've got a
• 5:37
  Speaker 6: chance to have a three-game lead. You want to be
• 5:40
  Speaker 6: at least two games up on them when you play
• 5:43
  Speaker 6: them later. uh, you'd like for that not to even
• 5:45
  Speaker 6: be a factor. So, uh, look, when the season's going on,
• 5:51
  Speaker 6: you get very week to week and rise and fall
• 5:55
  Speaker 6: and okay, boy, we lost this particular game. The Jaguars
• 5:59
  Speaker 6: have been far and away the best team in the
• 6:01
  Speaker 6: AFC South. They've been one of the best seven or eight,
• 6:04
  Speaker 6: nine teams in the league. Their place in the standing
• 6:07
  Speaker 6: reflects it. I think they deserve to be coming out
• 6:10
  Speaker 6: of this by with a lead. Uh, It starts now.
• 6:14
  Speaker 6: You put yourself in a situation to move forward, and
• 6:18
  Speaker 6: they couldn't be in a better spot. I mean, I
• 6:21
  Speaker 6: guess you could be six games up, but you couldn't
• 6:23
  Speaker 6: be in a better spot than two and a half
• 6:26
  Speaker 6: games up at this point, Brian.
• 6:27
  Speaker 4: And November, Kai, is the month where the pretenders and
• 6:30
  Speaker 4: the contenders separate themselves.
• 6:32
  Speaker 3: So here you go.
• 6:33
  Speaker 4: You've got on November 1st, the Colts in town, and
• 6:36
  Speaker 4: then you've got two games against the Titans. Right up
• 6:38
  Speaker 4: against the month of December, you have a chance to
• 6:41
  Speaker 4: really set something up going into Houston in December, that
• 6:45
  Speaker 4: game won't matter.
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: Stay with us here on Jags AM.
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: Coming up, we're going to talk about the three things
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: this team does best and three things we need to.
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: Get better at. Welcome back into Jags AM.
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: We're here in the Hyundai Studios on a Monday after
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: the bye week. So we took some time to reflect,
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: and we're going to use a... A program that the
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: Jaguars use with their coaching staff and their players called
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: Three Better, Three Best. So the three best things are
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: things they do very, very well. Three better are three
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: things they need to get better at going forward. And
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: we're going to start out with the nice things. So
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: we're going to start out with three best first.
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: So, Brian, what's your best? What do they do best
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: right now?
• 7:21
  Speaker 3: Well, they're the best in the league at stopping the run.
• 7:24
  Speaker 4: And they gave up the explosive 20-yard, 5-yard touchdown run
• 7:27
  Speaker 4: in the second half against Houston.
• 7:28
  Speaker 3: But other than that. They have not given up explosive runs.
• 7:31
  Speaker 4: They have not allowed running backs or running games to
• 7:34
  Speaker 4: dominate them. And when you look at some of the
• 7:37
  Speaker 4: better teams in the AFC, the Chiefs being one, right,
• 7:40
  Speaker 4: with Kenneth Walker, you know that you can line up
• 7:43
  Speaker 4: and play with the best running backs in the league
• 7:45
  Speaker 4: because you've got a stalwart on your defensive side of
• 7:50
  Speaker 4: the ball.
• 7:51
  Speaker 3: You stop the run.
• 7:53
  Speaker 4: And if you can't stop the run, and we've seen
• 7:55
  Speaker 4: plenty of examples of it through the years here, If
• 7:58
  Speaker 4: you can't stop the run, you can't do anything else.
• 8:00
  Speaker 4: And so for them to have that baseline, that bedrock
• 8:03
  Speaker 4: that they can count on, is something really strong going forward.
• 8:08
  Speaker 6: Yeah, I don't know if they're yet a great overall defense.
• 8:13
  Speaker 6: I think they're really, really good. But I do know that,
• 8:17
  Speaker 6: as you said, when you can stop the run the
• 8:19
  Speaker 6: way they do, out of 17 games, you give yourself
• 8:23
  Speaker 6: a chance to play really good defense that day. Now,
• 8:26
  Speaker 6: you might get in a situation where you can't quite
• 8:28
  Speaker 6: get to the passer, which this team's had a problem with.
• 8:30
  Speaker 6: But any time you can stop the run like that,
• 8:33
  Speaker 6: you can look in the mirror in the morning and think, okay,
• 8:37
  Speaker 6: we have a good chance to be really good on
• 8:39
  Speaker 6: defense today.
• 8:39
  Speaker 3: Well, if you can't stop the run, you have no
• 8:41
  Speaker 3: chance of getting better.
• 8:41
  Speaker 5: Ever.
• 8:42
  Speaker 3: Ever.
• 8:43
  Speaker 4: Because then you have no chance to lean into your
• 8:45
  Speaker 4: pass rush or your strong secondary or anything that you like.
• 8:49
  Speaker 3: So the ability to stop the run is key.
• 8:51
  Speaker 5: Yeah, they need to complement that with more turnovers.
• 8:53
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 8:54
  Speaker 5: That's been a strength.
• 8:55
  Speaker 6: Last couple weeks, that's probably why it felt a little
• 8:58
  Speaker 6: dicey in London. Didn't quite get those guys.
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: I was going to say, this feels like a Devon
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: Hamilton award, so just all the credit to D-Ham there
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: in the middle.
• 9:05
  Speaker 3: Ventral Miller has had a hell of a year, too.
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: Absolutely.
• 9:07
  Speaker 5: All those guys up front stopped.
• 9:08
  Speaker 6: I mean, Trayvon and Josh, as much as people want
• 9:11
  Speaker 6: to criticize sack numbers, I'm not sure you're a great run.
• 9:14
  Speaker 5: Defense without those two either. I mean, all of these
• 9:17
  Speaker 5: guys really play the run well.
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: John, when you're looking at this team, what do they
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: do best?
• 9:21
  Speaker 5: Well, I think they let Trevor dress.
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: Trevor Lawrence plays for the team.
• 9:26
  Speaker 5: Got it.
• 9:28
  Speaker 6: And it was easy, I think, in the first six
• 9:32
  Speaker 6: weeks to, you know, you get in the habit of
• 9:36
  Speaker 6: picking apart this and analyzing this. And you forget that
• 9:40
  Speaker 6: Trevor Lawrence, the quarterback, for what? How many years has
• 9:43
  Speaker 6: the franchise been around?
• 9:44
  Speaker 3: 30?
• 9:44
  Speaker 5: This is the 32nd season.
• 9:45
  Speaker 6: You've been waiting for this kind of level of quarterback,
• 9:49
  Speaker 6: especially in the last 15, 20 years when it's become
• 9:52
  Speaker 6: such a quarterback-centric league. They've got a quarterback who's playing
• 9:57
  Speaker 6: at an extremely high level that it would never surprise
• 10:03
  Speaker 6: you after a game with the Jaguars now if you
• 10:05
  Speaker 6: walked off and said Trevor Lawrence was the best player
• 10:08
  Speaker 6: on the field ever.
• 10:10
  Speaker 5: Now, there's matchups where you wouldn't assume that.
• 10:12
  Speaker 6: Josh Allen, I mean, there's quarterbacks that are in his league,
• 10:15
  Speaker 6: but he can carry you. And I'm not sure... That
• 10:20
  Speaker 6: there's nothing in the NFL that gives more of a
• 10:22
  Speaker 6: chance than that.
• 10:23
  Speaker 4: As I was watching games yesterday, I kept looking to
• 10:25
  Speaker 4: see quarterback play because I watched that Seattle-Denver Thursday night
• 10:29
  Speaker 4: game when we were in London and thought, well, here
• 10:31
  Speaker 4: are two teams that believe themselves to be contenders.
• 10:34
  Speaker 3: But would you take those quarterbacks as yours? Well, no.
• 10:38
  Speaker 4: And watching yesterday, I'm trying to think of quarterbacks that
• 10:41
  Speaker 4: you'd say, well, I'd rather have that guy than my guy.
• 10:43
  Speaker 4: I can't think of a single one yesterday that I watched.
• 10:46
  Speaker 4: I would rather have him than Trevor Lawrence.
• 10:48
  Speaker 3: So you're in.
• 10:49
  Speaker 4: A strong position in a quarterback-driven league to have a
• 10:53
  Speaker 4: guy who is a difference maker, a guy who can
• 10:55
  Speaker 4: push you over the top, who if you're not having
• 10:57
  Speaker 4: a good day, he can help get you to the
• 11:00
  Speaker 4: end zone. He can help get you to the finish
• 11:02
  Speaker 4: line by the strength of his talent. And Trevor is
• 11:05
  Speaker 4: absolutely one of those guys. playing at that kind of
• 11:08
  Speaker 4: a level. And you know who the other ones are, right?
• 11:10
  Speaker 4: Josh Allen, Joe Burrow did it yesterday on a day
• 11:13
  Speaker 4: where in the first half they could do nothing.
• 11:15
  Speaker 3: In the second half, he said, all right, I'm just
• 11:16
  Speaker 3: going to throw the ball around. You've got one of
• 11:18
  Speaker 3: those guys.
• 11:19
  Speaker 5: It's the consistency.
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: For so long, the knock was Trevor has these amazing talents.
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: He just can't put it together consistently.
• 11:25
  Speaker 5: It's consistent now. It's expected. Well, it's so consistent that
• 11:29
  Speaker 5: people don't even notice it anymore.
• 11:30
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 11:31
  Speaker 5: It's just what it is.
• 11:32
  Speaker 6: I mean, it's– last year it was, oh, he's coming along.
• 11:37
  Speaker 6: He's got 14 and four this year. I don't know
• 11:39
  Speaker 6: if he's still leading league in touchdown passes, but he
• 11:41
  Speaker 6: was up there at the bye. And he doesn't even
• 11:45
  Speaker 6: like make the highlights on the stuff because now people
• 11:50
  Speaker 6: are assuming it.
• 11:51
  Speaker 5: And that's a good thing.
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: Yeah. For mine, I was trying to kind of figure
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: out exactly what you guys give me your answers first.
• 11:58
  Speaker 2: And then I was like, all right, I got to
• 11:58
  Speaker 2: figure out what I'm going to say.
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: But resiliency for me, because it's and I compare this
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: just to other teams I've covered.
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: And things I've seen before.
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: And I'll use the Jaguars as an example, kind of
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: the end of the last regime here. They went to Miami. Travis, Travis,
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: he's an engineer fumbled in the end zone. They lost
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: that game. That was the first game of the season.
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: And it felt like that was it. It felt like
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: that broke open the dam and that nothing would come back.
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: And any time anything else went wrong after that, you
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: were just waiting for the house of cards to fall down.
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: And they don't have that anymore.
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: Ten things could go wrong in this game, and I
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: still have faith that Liam Cohen and his team are
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: going to find a way to at least be in
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: it and have a chance. Look at the Eagles game alone.
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: The way that that went down, that was not their
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: best game of football. They made a ton of mistakes,
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: coaching mistakes, player mistakes, penalties. But they put themselves in
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: a position to still have a chance at the end,
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: and they won. And that's not something that should be
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: taken lightly because there's not a lot of teams that
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: have that in them. If something goes wrong, they just
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: kind of, okay, that wasn't our day. They don't have
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: that here. It always feels like it goes down to
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: the final seconds, even the Texans. It's back and back
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: and forth all day long, whether or not you're playing your.
• 13:05
  Speaker 2: Best or not.
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: And that's a really good place to be, and that's
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: how you become a better football team is always being
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: like taking the best coming at you but finding a
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: way to bounce back.
• 13:14
  Speaker 3: You decide where the importance is, right?
• 13:16
  Speaker 4: I mean, this staff has unlocked Trevor Lawrence and gotten
• 13:19
  Speaker 4: that franchise quarterback that we just talked about. The other
• 13:21
  Speaker 4: side of it was they took a team that that
• 13:23
  Speaker 4: year that you mentioned, 2024, this team lost nine of
• 13:26
  Speaker 4: 10 games in which they.
• 13:27
  Speaker 3: Either had the lead or were tied in the fourth quarter. Oh,
• 13:30
  Speaker 3: it was an epic. It was an epic problem.
• 13:33
  Speaker 4: And in the span of months, in comes Liam Cohen.
• 13:37
  Speaker 4: And I still think that that Houston game last year
• 13:39
  Speaker 4: where they blew the 19-point lead was the turning point
• 13:41
  Speaker 4: of it all because there were guys in that locker
• 13:44
  Speaker 4: room who remembered the losing. It was muscle memory to
• 13:47
  Speaker 4: some of them. And Liam said, hell no, we're not
• 13:50
  Speaker 4: doing that. And then all of a sudden they went
• 13:52
  Speaker 4: on this eight-game run. And then how many times this
• 13:54
  Speaker 4: year has this team struggled or been stumbling? The fourth
• 13:58
  Speaker 4: quarter last week against the Texans. They go down 10.
• 14:01
  Speaker 4: They cut it to three. They go back down 10.
• 14:04
  Speaker 4: They cut it to three. I mean, it The resiliency
• 14:06
  Speaker 4: thing is huge. It's every bit as important, or maybe
• 14:08
  Speaker 4: just slightly less, than Trevor Lawrence.
• 14:10
  Speaker 5: They've become that team.
• 14:11
  Speaker 2: Trevor Haley's resilient.
• 14:12
  Speaker 3: Yeah, right.
• 14:13
  Speaker 5: They've become that team, and we've all watched them.
• 14:16
  Speaker 6: And I don't think people, again, they haven't done it
• 14:18
  Speaker 6: long enough for people nationally to realize they're this team yet.
• 14:21
  Speaker 6: But when you're watching good teams play and you're not vested,
• 14:25
  Speaker 6: teams like the Chiefs, not last night, but the great teams,
• 14:30
  Speaker 6: you're watching the third quarter and you kind of walk
• 14:31
  Speaker 6: by the TV and you think, oh, oh, that really
• 14:35
  Speaker 6: good team's down 10. And then you come back after
• 14:37
  Speaker 6: you make dinner and they've won, you're like, oh, they
• 14:40
  Speaker 6: won again.
• 14:41
  Speaker 5: Because they keep coming and keep resilient. I think the
• 14:43
  Speaker 5: Jaguars are becoming that.
• 14:45
  Speaker 6: I thought Liam Cohen's reaction after the Texans game fit
• 14:48
  Speaker 6: into that. And even Trevor Lawrence. That there wasn't going
• 14:53
  Speaker 6: to be soul search. And that Liam said, look, I
• 14:57
  Speaker 6: like this team. I have utmost confidence in this team.
• 15:00
  Speaker 6: I love this team. Whatever he said, I.
• 15:03
  Speaker 5: Unlike coming out of the Rams last year where there.
• 15:05
  Speaker 6: Was concern, what is this franchise? I think if we
• 15:08
  Speaker 6: looked at the Texans game, no, you didn't want to
• 15:12
  Speaker 6: lose it. But zero thought of anybody in the building
• 15:16
  Speaker 6: that they wouldn't bounce back from it.
• 15:18
  Speaker 5: I mean, it was a loss. It wasn't a tragedy.
• 15:20
  Speaker 2: It's a nice place to be. Yeah. Stay with us.
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: After the break, we're going to go over the three
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: things this team needs to improve upon after five weeks.
• 15:31
  Speaker 2: Welcome back into Jags Day.
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: I'm brought to you by Lowe's. We're here in the
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: Hyundai Studios. We just told you the three things that
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: this team.
• 15:36
  Speaker 2: Does best right now. But after the bye week.
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: Going into week eight and this home stretch of the season,
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: there's definitely stuff they need to improve on going forward.
• 15:43
  Speaker 2: So now we're going to give you our three better,
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: three things they've got to do better. Brian, when I
• 15:48
  Speaker 2: tell you this team needs to be better going forward,
• 15:50
  Speaker 2: what's the first thing that jumps to your mind?
• 15:51
  Speaker 4: They've got to stop the explosive plays. They've allowed far
• 15:54
  Speaker 4: too many explosive plays in the passing game. And the
• 15:57
  Speaker 4: most obvious answer there, John, and you've talked about it, is...
• 16:00
  Speaker 4: The pass rush has got to affect the quarterback. I mean,
• 16:03
  Speaker 4: not just pressures. They've got to hit the quarterback. They've
• 16:06
  Speaker 4: got to get him on the ground. They've got to
• 16:08
  Speaker 4: create turnover-worthy throws, which is a next-gen stat, I have
• 16:11
  Speaker 4: found out, which they haven't done. It's hard in this
• 16:16
  Speaker 4: league as a defensive back to hold up too long.
• 16:18
  Speaker 4: The rules favor the wide receivers and the quarterback. So
• 16:22
  Speaker 4: you've got to have a pass rush. And the Jaguars
• 16:25
  Speaker 4: right now, Listen, they have relied on a strong red
• 16:29
  Speaker 4: zone defense to negate some of those explosive plays. And takeaways,
• 16:33
  Speaker 4: which have negated some of those explosive plays. But you
• 16:36
  Speaker 4: can't keep giving up plays like that where you had
• 16:40
  Speaker 4: on that play, if you recall, you had someone on
• 16:44
  Speaker 4: the quarterback and he threw it up. And Noel came
• 16:46
  Speaker 4: underneath and Janice Gardeck was all over him on that play.
• 16:49
  Speaker 4: You've got to find a way to get home and
• 16:51
  Speaker 4: negate some of these because... If you don't, you're putting
• 16:55
  Speaker 4: yourself at a, every game has to be a shootout.
• 16:57
  Speaker 4: You don't get to lean into your offense.
• 16:59
  Speaker 6: Yeah, I think we saw in these highlights a little
• 17:01
  Speaker 6: bit of why they weren't absolutely panicked after the Texans
• 17:05
  Speaker 6: lost because there were some incredible plays that Houston made
• 17:10
  Speaker 6: when the Jaguars really played pretty good defense. You know,
• 17:14
  Speaker 6: Gardeck gets that kind of pressure most plays. That's probably
• 17:18
  Speaker 6: a fraction of an inch from a tipped ball in
• 17:20
  Speaker 6: the middle of the field that looks like a floater
• 17:23
  Speaker 6: that that you wind up intercepting. But they must get
• 17:27
  Speaker 6: more consistent up front pressure, and I believe it still
• 17:34
  Speaker 6: comes down to the internal stuff. Can they get it?
• 17:38
  Speaker 6: I don't know, but they need to.
• 17:39
  Speaker 4: Well, in talking to guys on the airplane ride home,
• 17:42
  Speaker 4: you know, there were so many opportunities for the Jaguars
• 17:48
  Speaker 4: to get there, but the Texans got rid of the
• 17:50
  Speaker 4: ball so quick. And so people want to look at
• 17:53
  Speaker 4: the number of sacks, and there's, what, five and a
• 17:55
  Speaker 4: half between or four and a half between Josh and
• 17:58
  Speaker 4: Trayvon right now. It's not all just, well, you've got
• 18:03
  Speaker 4: to rush better, right? I mean, you've got to get
• 18:07
  Speaker 4: some pressure up the middle. You've got to do something
• 18:09
  Speaker 4: to force things to the outside to take advantage of it.
• 18:12
  Speaker 6: Some of those numbers also are still a little skewed,
• 18:15
  Speaker 6: and I'm not trying to make excuses, but the Eagles
• 18:17
  Speaker 6: got the ball out, for example.
• 18:18
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 18:19
  Speaker 5: Lightning quick.
• 18:20
  Speaker 6: And in this league, if you have, if you have
• 18:22
  Speaker 6: a quarterback, if the opposing game plan is to get
• 18:24
  Speaker 6: it out quick, you're not going to get a lot
• 18:26
  Speaker 6: of sacks.
• 18:26
  Speaker 5: Eagles had 220 yards. So there are some.
• 18:29
  Speaker 6: Numbers there that, uh, you know, maybe get lost a
• 18:33
  Speaker 6: little bit in the constant criticism of the pass rush,
• 18:37
  Speaker 6: but in big situations, it hasn't been there enough.
• 18:41
  Speaker 3: So lots of pressure, but not enough sacks. They've got
• 18:43
  Speaker 3: to make those things happen.
• 18:45
  Speaker 6: Um, I went, I'm not sure this is exactly the
• 18:48
  Speaker 6: spirit of it because, again, we can talk about pass
• 18:50
  Speaker 6: rush all day.
• 18:51
  Speaker 5: I went with they need to get the more explosive runs.
• 18:56
  Speaker 6: And it's almost like I'm saying they just need the
• 19:02
  Speaker 6: possibilities to eventually.
• 19:06
  Speaker 5: Even out, right?
• 19:06
  Speaker 6: Because they've been so close. And through six games, you
• 19:10
  Speaker 6: feel like the run game's there. You feel like it's
• 19:12
  Speaker 6: getting better. But they haven't quite gotten that back-breaking run yet.
• 19:15
  Speaker 5: I think they will.
• 19:16
  Speaker 6: I think when they start getting it, you're going to
• 19:18
  Speaker 6: see this team get into the top two or three,
• 19:20
  Speaker 6: four running teams in the league because they're really consistent,
• 19:23
  Speaker 6: really good. But in this league, it's really hard to
• 19:29
  Speaker 6: have 10-play 80-yard drives. you need some of those to
• 19:33
  Speaker 6: pop to get back to the numbers I think people
• 19:36
  Speaker 6: expected scoring-wise.
• 19:37
  Speaker 5: From this offense.
• 19:38
  Speaker 4: Listen, they've had some explosive runs, but funny enough, on
• 19:41
  Speaker 4: those explosive runs, there's been holding penalties, right? There have
• 19:44
  Speaker 4: been things that have happened, whether they were.
• 19:46
  Speaker 3: Real or imagined, where good runs.
• 19:50
  Speaker 4: powerful explosive runs by Basil Tootin were called back. it
• 19:54
  Speaker 4: feels like they're very, very close. And you say, well,
• 19:57
  Speaker 4: you've got to clean up the penalties, right? And then
• 19:59
  Speaker 4: you see the Texans had 14 yesterday. I mean, the
• 20:01
  Speaker 4: flags are still coming at an epic rate. So before
• 20:08
  Speaker 4: November is over, John, I think we'll be talking about
• 20:10
  Speaker 4: how this running game really gave a boost to this offense.
• 20:16
  Speaker 5: If the category had been, and I'm not trying to
• 20:18
  Speaker 5: produce a show.
• 20:19
  Speaker 2: Please do.
• 20:20
  Speaker 5: If the category had been, give.
• 20:22
  Speaker 6: Me a breakout player for the second half of the season,
• 20:25
  Speaker 6: we all might have picked Basial. Because you feel like
• 20:29
  Speaker 6: that's so close that if you're watching, you already know
• 20:34
  Speaker 6: he's good.
• 20:36
  Speaker 5: It feels like he's about to turn into a star.
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: I cheated a little bit. I'm kind of taking off.
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: It's all about the pass rush in some way, fashion,
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: or form. But mine is affecting the QB because whether
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: that's through pressures or sacks or whatever it takes, they
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: need to get more takeaways. And I think that's where
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: this defense is going to thrive because I don't think
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: they're going to reinvent the wheel with this roster that
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: they have. Yes, you can make a deadline addition, but
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: they're not going to become what maybe the Texans were
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: last year in terms of sack numbers.
• 21:04
  Speaker 2: That's just not what this team is going to be.
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: And what they need to do is get pressure and
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: affect the quarterback so that they can get more takeaways.
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: And that's how they thrive is getting the ball back,
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: giving their offense another opportunity, taking points potentially off the board.
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: Travis Hunter's interception and end zone. They need more of that.
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: That's how I feel like this defense function is best.
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: And when I looked back at some of these defensive
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: performances the last couple of weeks, that's what was noticeably
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: missing is multiple.
• 21:30
  Speaker 2: Turnovers to me. I feel like that's kind of what
• 21:33
  Speaker 2: they need to see. Be successful.
• 21:34
  Speaker 4: Listen, I think this is a very good defense. But
• 21:37
  Speaker 4: in order to be that level that they believe they're
• 21:39
  Speaker 4: capable of, with a defensive coordinator I think that all
• 21:42
  Speaker 4: of us have confidence in, they've got to get what
• 21:45
  Speaker 4: you're saying.
• 21:45
  Speaker 3: They've got to get the takeaways.
• 21:47
  Speaker 4: They don't have Miles Garrett, who just, when he's healthy,
• 21:50
  Speaker 4: takes over a game. They have to have these takeaways
• 21:54
  Speaker 4: that give everyone else a lift, that make everyone else better.
• 21:58
  Speaker 4: And that, to me, is the difference.
• 22:00
  Speaker 5: I also wonder, and... You always hate to talk about
• 22:03
  Speaker 5: it because, oh, Ozone, you're making excuses.
• 22:05
  Speaker 6: I thought in the first four games, I thought the
• 22:09
  Speaker 6: pass rush was okay. The two in London was when
• 22:15
  Speaker 6: it's really started to ramp up. I'm not sure you
• 22:19
  Speaker 6: can overlook the fields over there on that front. And
• 22:23
  Speaker 6: was there a whole lot of pass rush in any
• 22:25
  Speaker 6: of those two games on either side of the ball?
• 22:27
  Speaker 6: So is it going to be the sack exchange?
• 22:31
  Speaker 5: Probably not.
• 22:32
  Speaker 6: Is it a better pass rush than people felt coming
• 22:35
  Speaker 6: out of England? I think it's a little better than
• 22:39
  Speaker 6: what you felt there.
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: I just don't know if the sack numbers are going
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: to be there because sacks across the league are down too.
• 22:44
  Speaker 2: So what we're thinking.
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: Is a normal number is not what's normal this season.
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: So kind of getting our heads wrapped around that and
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: what's realistic for this defense going forward. But we've got
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: a bunch of weeks to talk about that. So stay
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: with us. We'll tell you what's coming up this week
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: as the team.
• 23:00
  Speaker 2: Prepares for the Colts.
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: Jacksonville Jaguars bring our community together just like Florida Blue
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: does every day. For over 80 years, we've been here
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: committed to helping you and your family live healthier lives.
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: Proud to be the presenting sponsor of Sunday's game against
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: the Colts. Florida Blue, committed to you, committed to Jacksonville.
• 23:21
  Speaker 2: Welcome back in.
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: We have that rivalry matchup against the Colts coming up this.
• 23:26
  Speaker 3: Week, but we are wearing the rivalry uniforms.
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: We are wearing the rivalry uniforms. I'm sure people will
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: feel all types of ways about it, but they are interesting.
• 23:33
  Speaker 5: To say the very least.
• 23:35
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it'll be fun.
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: Brian, it was a bye week. What did you kind
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: of get into? What happened with you? What's going on?
• 23:41
  Speaker 4: If I could take this moment to just say something
• 23:43
  Speaker 4: about Pete Banaszak, who passed away on Saturday, and many
• 23:48
  Speaker 4: people who are watching this might not remember that he
• 23:50
  Speaker 4: was a big part of our early years in broadcasting here.
• 23:55
  Speaker 4: We use the word legend just so ubiquitously in the NFL.
• 23:57
  Speaker 4: Anyone who ever played is a legend. Pete was a
• 24:00
  Speaker 4: verifiable legend from the University of Miami, went to the
• 24:03
  Speaker 4: Raiders in the AFL in the 60s, played in AFL
• 24:06
  Speaker 4: championship games, played in Super Bowls, had two rushing touchdowns
• 24:09
  Speaker 4: when the Raiders beat the Vikings in Super Bowl XI,
• 24:13
  Speaker 4: had 16 rushing touchdowns that season. I mean, When the
• 24:18
  Speaker 4: Raiders were at their best, Pete Banaszak was a huge part.
• 24:21
  Speaker 4: In fact, there's a play you can look up called
• 24:22
  Speaker 4: the Holy Roller that changed the way that they officiate
• 24:25
  Speaker 4: the game. Banaszak came in at a moment, John, and
• 24:27
  Speaker 4: you recall this, where Jacksonville was still a college town
• 24:30
  Speaker 4: and needed to know the difference between the game they
• 24:33
  Speaker 4: play on Sunday and Saturday. He was our postgame host.
• 24:36
  Speaker 4: And he called himself the Polish Prince. He was from
• 24:38
  Speaker 4: northern Wisconsin. And he had the thick sort of 60s,
• 24:43
  Speaker 4: 70s sort of football player mentality to him. And he
• 24:48
  Speaker 4: was a gem. And he pissed players off. He made
• 24:51
  Speaker 4: coaches mad. And we were closer to his era, so
• 24:56
  Speaker 4: people appreciated that. He passed on Saturday. He was a
• 25:01
  Speaker 4: big part of it. And We were all forgotten at
• 25:04
  Speaker 4: some point in time. I just didn't want people who
• 25:06
  Speaker 4: did appreciate him on the postgame show.
• 25:08
  Speaker 3: Riling up the kicker.
• 25:09
  Speaker 4: Mike Hollis once called in to defend himself, which I
• 25:12
  Speaker 4: don't think has happened to this point. But Pete Banaszak
• 25:15
  Speaker 4: was a really valuable member of our broadcast team for
• 25:18
  Speaker 4: 10 years, and he passed on Saturday, so condolences to
• 25:21
  Speaker 4: his family.
• 25:22
  Speaker 6: Yeah, during that era, my paths never really crossed with
• 25:26
  Speaker 6: Pete because I was covering the game, he was in studio.
• 25:30
  Speaker 6: But I do remember as a kid, Pete Banaszak football cards,
• 25:34
  Speaker 6: watching him with the Raiders. And as you said, he
• 25:37
  Speaker 6: was a legendary part of the autumn wind blows. He
• 25:43
  Speaker 6: was that era and I always heard fantastic things about
• 25:46
  Speaker 6: him and absolutely mattered in the fabric of this franchise
• 25:50
  Speaker 6: early on.
• 25:52
  Speaker 3: He was a big part of it. I was sad
• 25:54
  Speaker 3: to see him pass.
• 25:55
  Speaker 2: Of course.
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: Stay with us here on Jaguars AM tomorrow or Wednesday, rather.
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: As I get back into regular week form, we will
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: be back as we look around the league and we
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: get prepared for the Colts matchup this weekend.
• 26:08
  Speaker 2: Enjoy your week.