Episode 117: Steelers / Jaguars Preseason Week 1 Analysis

Send us a text

The Touchdown Jaguars podcast returns with co-hosts Phil Barrera and James Johnson breaking down the Jaguars' preseason opener against the Pittsburgh Steelers, highlighting early signs of a new team identity under offensive coordinator Liam Coen.

• Trevor Lawrence looks comfortable in new offense,
• Liam Coen's system showing creativity with screens, end-arounds, and manageable down-and-distance situations
• Travis Hunter impresses primarily on defense, displaying natural cornerback skills while also getting limited offensive snaps
• Cam Little steals the show with NFL preseason record 70-yard field goal that changes strategic calculations
• Defensive concerns remain but many issues appear fixable with several key players missing from action
• Quarterback Seth Hennigan showing impressive arm talent in late-game action
• Potential roster battles emerging at receiver between Joshua Cephas, Trenton Irwin and Austin Trammell
• Questions surfacing about Tyson Campbell's development and health status as a cornerstone defensive player

Touchdown Jaguars Linktree

James Johnson and Phil Barrera bring you the best and most up to date Jacksonville Jaguars news. "Touchdown Jaguars!" is a tribute to the prospective ownership group "Touchdown Jacksonville!" In 1991, the NFL announced plans to add two expansion teams and "Touchdown Jacksonville!" announced its bid for a team, and Jacksonville was ultimately chosen as one of five finalists. In November 1993, the NFL owners voted 26–2 in favor of awarding the 30th franchise to Jacksonville. James and Phil have been fans of the franchise ever since and have had the honor (and sometimes dishonor) of covering the team professionally since 2017. The rest as they say, is history.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:24):
Still ready.
Oh no, that's the second.
Oh no.
Touchdown Jacksonville.
A hundred and nine yardsIncredible Play action.
Portals Upstairs Wide open.
Tommy Bohannon TouchalsUpstairs Wide open, tommy

(00:45):
Bohannon.
Touchdown Jacksonville.
Looking for Jimmy in the endzone.
Touchdown Jaguars.
Touchdown Jaguars.
Touchdown Jaguars.
Welcome to the Touchdown Jaguarspodcast.
Here are your hosts, jamesJohnson and Phil Smith.

(01:06):
Hey everybody, welcome back toa brand new episode of the
Touchdown Jaguars podcast.
I am your co-host, phil Barrera, and joining me, I would say as
always, but it's usually it'sme that's been missing for a
little bit.
But joining us, as usual, isyour other co-host, james

(01:27):
Johnson.
Jay, man, it has been a while,obviously a long summer, but
football is here, man, so Iappreciate you holding it down
and allowing me to step away,while I've been doing a bunch of
other projects which I'llupdate you guys on a little bit
later.
But, jay, good to see you, man,and we made it.
Football is here, jaguarfootball is here, and I am

(01:48):
excited to get back to work inwhat will hopefully be at least
an easier season to get throughthan last year.
Remember, last year around thistime, we were pretty full of
hope and optimism and by, like Ithink, the end of September.
All that was gone.
So hopefully this year will bea different, a different story
yeah, I agree.

Speaker 2 (02:07):
Um, I mean, it's already been a stress-free off
season, like for me, like, and Ireally want to like say that I
appreciate that for a change.
It's always been stressfulbecause you always had that
cloud over your head right oflike, well, it could work out,
but balky's here, so it's not,you know.
And now it's like a new found,as you have new people in the

(02:30):
building where you don't knowwhere it's going to go.
But it was a guarantee of weknew what was going to come when
trent was here.
You know there was going to beinternal conflict, right, we
were going to draft a lot ofpeople that look like the
Monstars from Space Jam withlong arms and long legs, and it
wasn't going to work out.
And like 50 percent of thedraft class wasn't going to work

(02:53):
out, and we end up with egg onour face at the end of the
season.
You can always predict that withTrent.
Now it's a little bit ofnewfound hope, which and we'll
talk about this too little bitof newfound hope which and we'll
talk about this too Now you cansee not just the culture change
and camaraderie, but anidentity start to establish, and

(03:13):
we talked about this in one ofthe podcasts that we were in
together with one of our lastpodcasts that we were in
together with, where we saw acultural identity and tangibly
rich players right, but nowwe're starting to see an
on-the-field identity.
We'll get to that in a littlebit, but I'm glad to be back and
, as you could tell, I am happythat football is here.

Speaker 1 (03:36):
Yeah, and you kind of get a sense of that and we'll
touch on that here.
Obviously, throughout theepisode You've mentioned this
you know, just kind of off tothe side in our personal
conversations, obviously,throughout the episode you've
mentioned this you know, justkind of off to the side in our
personal conversations, there islike a tangible sense of
identity for this 2025-2026Jacksonville Jaguars and that
feels good, man.
So it's really to see that kindof come to fruition.

(03:59):
But, yeah, we're going to talkabout preseason week one.
If you want a little bit morein depth about the upcoming
season, as well as how trainingcamp went, make sure you check
out last week's episode, episode116, where Jay got to speak
with Jamal St Cyr.
That was a really greatconversation, so make sure you
go check that out.

(04:20):
And yeah, as I mentioned, Ianticipate being back here for
the preseason regular season anddespite everything else that's
been going on.
To kind of explain a little bitof my absence, I've been doing
a lot of projects.
Of course, I still have my WaitFor it podcast project, which
has been keeping me very busy.
We still do a whole lot withthe local and in-state

(04:44):
convention scene, but I've alsostarted voice acting and
voiceover, which I think I'vementioned here before.
Hence the name change to PhilBarrera, which is a stage name,
kind of an homage to a familytype of thing.
But yeah, I plan on being herethroughout the entire season, as
well as the rest of thepreseason, and we're going to do
our very best to give youepisodes each and every single

(05:06):
week.
As you all know, and we havementioned, before, life happens
and it gets in the way.
But you guys have always been areally, really patient audience
with us and we appreciate thatfor sure.
So make sure you click theLinktree link in the show notes
of the episode and continue touse that promo code.
Touchdown Jaguars with SeatGeek.

(05:26):
That is still active.
Somebody used it.
A couple people used it overthe summer.
So we appreciate y'all for that.
But, Jay, let's get into ithere.
The Steelers and the Jaguars.
Week one of the preseason.
The Jaguars did fall 31 to 25.
However, we saw a lot and wedid see the first team for a
drive as far as offensively,Trevor Lawrence went 6-7, 43

(05:51):
yards and a little bit of acontroversial throw on that
incompletion to Brian Thomas Jr.
But we also got to see someDeami Brown, Travis Etienne,
some concepts we haven't seenever, maybe in Jacksonville.
So that was also very nice.
And of course, Jay, the star ofthe show.
We got to see a little bit ofTravis Hunter.

(06:11):
So what were your takeawayswhen you saw the offense stroll
out there?
And then we'll talk about thedefense in a little bit.

Speaker 2 (06:18):
Yeah, I mean I just the first thing that's going to
stand out is the cohesion andthe willingness to help Trevor
Lawrence and keep him out of badsituations right off the rip
right like.
If you just reflect on lastyear and what we dealt with with
Press and Doug, it was a lot ofsituations where they be in a

(06:40):
situation they would go intosecond down with over 10 yards
to gain.
So, like a lot of times itwould be like a first down where
they would lose yardage,whether it was trying to run the
ball, whether it's taking asack or something stupid
happening.
We always went into second down, like you know, with some kind

(07:02):
of uphill battle to climb.
Now, look, we saw a glimpse ofthat actually return in the
first play of the game becauseAnton Harrison got up a penalty.
But what I will say is a lot ofthe game didn't feel that way.
A lot of games that werecoached by Doug and Press did
not feel that way.
And you know, at least we wereable to go into second down with
three yards that we gained,right, at least four yards that

(07:24):
we gained and it's manageable.
And even when it got a littlebit slippery and sticky, as they
say, then at that point Liamwould dial up something pretty
easy, a pretty easy concept forTrevor to make the situations
heading forward manageable.
What I mean?
Screens, right, which you know,doug, didn't really do screens

(07:47):
like that, but there was plentyof times where we saw the screen
games show up and that's goingto be a trend.
You know, just looking at howTampa Bay ran things when Liam
was over there, we're going tosee more screens, right, we're
going to see Travis Etienne morein those situations and you
know, they might even try outsome of the other running backs
there.
So a lot of screens.
We saw the third and one or itwas a fourth and one field where

(08:10):
they did the end around toDe'Ami Brown getting creative,
which Liam has actually kind ofhinted at before.
They've asked him, you know, ina press conference, like how do
you handle these situationswhere the Jaguars have struggled
to just get one yard on fourthdown?
And he said you know, hey, youdon't always have to run between
the tackles to get it done,there's other creative ways to

(08:32):
do it.
And I know I wasn't expectingDe'Ami Brown to be getting the
ball at that point.
So like that's refreshing tosee.
And, all of that said, youcould see somewhat of an
identity.
Of course we'll see more of anidentity during the regular
season.
They only want to show so much,right, but you can see an
identity Easy concepts to getTrevor Lawrence out of not so

(08:57):
great situations that we seenhim have to come out of
previously.
And then the other thing that Iwant to mention too is Trevor
said this himself earlier in theoffseason and I can tell it's
registering and you can see itlike coming to fruition on the
field.
But he mentioned that thisoffense has all the answers.

(09:18):
You know, and whereas last yearwe couldn't say that you even
said it, phil Our identity underDoug Peterson was hoping and
praying that Trevor Lawrencecould get us out of a very bad
situation, which isn't anidentity at all.
But Trevor has said it thisoffense provides all the answers
.
And I can tell, like he reallybelieves that and here's how I

(09:39):
can tell he believes that thaton the quote unquote hospital
ball that everybody's talkingabout, the brian thomas jr what
happened on the exact next play?
He went right back to themiddle of the field to brenton,
strange, once again, withouthesitation, didn't even think
about it, hit him in stride andhit him for a first down.

(10:01):
To me that shows a quarterbackthat has belief in the system,
believes that the quarterback,you know that the system is
providing all the answers.
And it also just showed hisconfidence after going to the
middle of the field and seeingwhat unfolded with Brian Thomas
Jr.
He went right back and got afirst down through Britton
Strange, which I'm excited tosee more of him too.

(10:23):
We'll get into him down theroad.
But yeah, I mean like I sawmostly good things and you know,
while you would like to get atouchdown, I was certainly happy
with the showing from the firstteam offense.
For the most part I would liketo see the run game in terms of
the run blocking, a little bitmore aggressive and them to get

(10:44):
a little bit more push, and Ithink Liam mentioned that.
But in pass pro they were finetoo.
So a lot of the things we wereseeing last year were kind of
like eradicated in that onedrive.

Speaker 1 (10:55):
Now we're not to say that that'll continue to be the
trend, but a lot of concerns wehad last year Liam kind of
erased those, at least in thatfirst drive that we saw the
first team in yeah, one thing,like what happened with when
doug was here and you alreadytouched on it, is like things

(11:16):
actually developing downfieldand you can like see that
happening, even with these verybasic concepts early on in liam
co offense.
So it's just a nice change ofpace.
Now, again, we're not going toget too ahead of ourselves.
Remember, like a couple ofyears ago they lit up the
Cowboys and you know the Cowboyslike third team heading into
the regular season.
Everyone's like this offense isgoing to be elite and you know

(11:37):
everything.
You know everything kind ofturned out the way that it did.
I mean, that was the year thatwe did start off.
Eight and three was it.
Was that last year that theylit up the cowboys in the
preseason.
I can't remember if that waslast year or two years ago, but
but yeah, you know you alwayshave to take everything you see
here in the preseason with agrain of salt.
But you also want to see the.
You know the kind of the fruitsof the labor starting to pay

(11:59):
off from training camp rightaway.
So yeah, like you said, youdefinitely want to see the
touchdown but like, like yousaid, the, the fact that he goes
immediately right over themiddle to brett and, strange,
gets it into that little openingand then gets that first down,
um, and then just a lot of quickpasses, like you said, to get
the second and six, to get tosecond and five, second and four
.
Even the like the little run,you know, like that he did, that

(12:20):
he gets four yards.
We've heard that liam cohen hasencouraged him to hey, you're
an athlete like use your legs,like you're, you can run the
football effectively.
So even that is just going toreally really help in terms of
keeping drives alive and makingsure they don't make things too
difficult on themselves.
So, yeah, I'm not going totouch on this nonsense trevor
lawrence hospital ball thing, asif he has some sort of

(12:43):
reputation for doing this, whichis just simply not true.
Trevor Lawrence is a reallyeasy punching bag right now for
NFL fans.
So you know we're not going totouch on that any more than we
have to.

Speaker 2 (12:57):
The curators.
They got to get their money,man.
You know we live in abot-driven era.
You know that's true.

Speaker 1 (13:04):
The dead internet theory.
So, yeah, you know they got topay for these blue checks.
You know that they're payingfor so.
But yeah, jay, so we got a verysmall dose of Travis Hunter on
offense.
We'll touch on the defense herein just a moment, but in you
know two catches.
I think what nine yards is whatit was.
Had a very like briefopportunity to think what nine

(13:25):
yards is what it was.
Had a very brief opportunity tomaybe spin around and turn it
upfield, but he was caught.
But yeah, anything there ofnote, or you can't really get
anything too much out of thosetwo catches.
What did you see?

Speaker 2 (13:37):
No, I mean you kind of touched on it, like you know,
maybe if it hadn't rainedearlier that day he could spin
out of that one play and getmore yards after the catch.
That's kind of a theme for theoffense.
If you look at the secondstring guys, especially who
we'll talk on some of them laterbut yeah, no, like you can't
really make too much out of it.
I mean, you know, liam gave hisassessment, said that he ran a

(14:00):
lot of it.
I think at least two of theroutes that he ran were choice
routes, so he made the rightdecision there, according to
Liam.
So that's only what we can goby there.
But you know this is a gamethat we can't really like make a
big time assessment on Travisthrough Now, I will say, and
we'll get to the defensive sideit was some good things we saw

(14:22):
on defense that really excitedme.
The defensive side it was somegood things we saw on defense
that really excited me, and Imean it holds up my theory of
Travis being a better cornerbackthan receiver.
So that kind of makes me lookgood.
But in any case, yeah, man, Ijust can't wait to see more from
him on the offensive side inthese next few preseason games,
because of course the reps willramp up, but, yeah, not really

(14:46):
games, because of course thereps will ramp up but, um, yeah,
not really there, like not alot there to take from in terms
of, um, how he looked on theoffensive end.
I'm just glad he was able toget that first catch out of the
way, get that first hit out ofthe way, get it all out of his
system and now he could be theTravis Hunter that we saw at
Colorado and at Jackson Statefor a very long time yeah,
excited to see what they kind ofdial up for him to kind, of,

(15:07):
you know, get his feet wet onobviously both sides of the
football.

Speaker 1 (15:10):
So I mean then, yeah, you are you talked about it as
well Really love the Deami Brownand around.
You know just a little taste ofwhat I think we'll get when the
you know, the act of the gamestart counting and a little bit
more of the dynamic play callinggames start counting and a
little bit more of the dynamicplay calling.
So Travis Etienne, I thoughtlooked relatively solid as well.
I mean, two carries, six yards,but I think he had.

(15:32):
Did he have a couple of catches?
Yeah, oh, he had one catch for10 yards.
So you know, you see him outthere, and whether that is to
get him more comfortable in theoffense or get some more tape on
them so they can flip them in atrade, you know there's all
those rumors talking.
I think it was the espn morningshow, I think it's called on
sportsman like they did, like atop five players they thought

(15:53):
could be traded before thebeginning of the season and
travis etn was on that list.
I don't know where they had it.
I think maybe they had himgoing to buffalo because of
what's going on there with uh,with cook.
But I don't know, man, I guesswe'll see what they end up doing
.
When it comes to uh, you knowthe jaguars are certainly no
stranger to making trades beforethe season or right before the

(16:14):
season starts, but I don't doyou have any any uh input, jay
on the travis, etn trade rumors,or you know people wanting him
to be shipped out so tank bigsbycan be the lead back.

Speaker 2 (16:24):
Yeah, me and Jamal actually talked about it and me
and him kind of agree on this,like I think they keep him for
the year and I don't think likeit's like real genuine interest
in trading him.
I think with and this issomething me and Jamal talked
about too with this offense,that there is a place for him

(16:45):
and Bigsby and the young guyswho we'll talk about, tootin and
Allen.
It's literally a place for allof them on this team in this
offense, especially when youlook at the two running backs,
especially their top two runningbacks that they use in Tampa.
I don't think neither one ofthose were complaining about the
amount of reps they got in theproduction that they were able

(17:07):
to get together as a pair, and Ithink like a similar situation
could be set up for Tank and forTravis Etienne.
Now, what I will say now is,with Travis, I'm starting to
veer towards like the casualopinion in this sense that I do

(17:27):
think if you are looking forsomebody to get the tough
yardage for you and like you'regoing to be in a lot of tough
yardage situations you probablywant to veer towards Tank.
What Travis showed on the fewsnaps that he got in terms of
run plays.
They were just like small twoyard, one yard gains and that's

(17:48):
kind of been the story of hislife, at least the last few
years, if you look at the lasttwo years.
Whereas Tank, which you know,we got to see him and I think,
yeah, after that first drive hecame in after that first drive.
Whereas Tank, you know he canget you to tough yardages so
long as he can hang on to theball.

(18:09):
That's kind of his thing.
Like you got to worry aboutfumbles with him.
But yeah, I am starting to veertowards that casual opinion of,
yeah, if we're going to like bein a lot of tough yardage
situations, then tank needs tobe the starter in that regard.
But it's still a lot of a lotof snaps for both him and travis

(18:32):
etn to distribute and share andto have significant roles and
have significant production.
Like it's plenty of room forboth of them.
Like and this is the conclusionkind of me and jamal discuss,
like does it matter who startsbetween the two?
Like they're both prettytalented we won't say elite
running backs in any regard butpretty talented enough in this

(18:54):
offense to be productive.
So like I think people aremaking too much of it, like I
mean two veteran running backswho have a ton of experience
working together will make thisoffense go as it should.
And I think that's how itshould be the two veterans
leading the way, and then nextyear you more so move towards
the two young rookies that wegot, and well, three, because

(19:17):
the young man, the undraftedfellow Jackson, you know he's
pretty decent, so you may befair towards them after this
year.
Yeah, you know, I mean like whyhe's pretty decent, so you may
be fair towards them after thisyear.

Speaker 1 (19:27):
Yeah, you know, I mean, like why he's under
contract, like why not?
You know what would really bethe point.
You're not going to getanything that's going to help
you this year either.
Right, it's probably draftcompensation.
I don't really foresee like aplayer for player trade that
could materialize.
So, yeah, I mean, why not justkeep him around and then see
what happens, and then you enterlike that contract situation

(19:47):
and kind of deal with it.
Uh, you know, however you wantit is he playing on his fifth
year option.
Is that what?
It's what's going on with himright now?

Speaker 2 (19:54):
yeah, this is his uh last year so like basically, a
lot of people were on themindset like, well, see what he
does in training camp and thengive him an extension based off
that.
But I don't think an extensionis coming, which is OK.

Speaker 1 (20:07):
Not with his front office, right Right I mean the
tea leaves are there.

Speaker 2 (20:12):
They drafted two running backs.
So you know, like that wouldtell you, while they might not
think of those two likenecessarily as the present, but
they could think of them as thefuture, and then you can make
the argument that they feel likethey have skill sets that can
help them in the present as well.
Like Allen, which me and Jamalmentioned, allen can help you on

(20:33):
third down because he's goodand phenomenal in pass
protection, facial tutoring.
You can't ignore the night thathe had, by the way, which we'll
probably get into that, can'tignore that.
And the explosiveness that hehad, by the way, which we'll
probably get into that can'tignore that and the
explosiveness that he can bring.
And you know like the runningback position is a tough
position to play, like injurieshappen there.
You, in this day and age, youprobably need four good ones,

(20:56):
maybe five.
You know like if you includeyou got on practice squad.
So like I just I don'tunderstand this national
perception about entry, with traEtienne being traded, because
we live in an era where they'replaying 17 games, phil, like
five running backs is almost anecessity and people just don't

(21:16):
realize it, especially like youcan't tell me.
You can look at a Liam Cohenoffense and say that going into
this situation with five runningbacks and one on practice squad
that'll be your fifth guy issomething that sounds crazy.
You know, in a 17 game stretchit'll be just fine.
Everybody will get their workin and I think, like we could be

(21:38):
looking at, you know, a groupthat we're very satisfied with
at the end of the season.

Speaker 1 (21:44):
Yeah, we saw Trent kind of try and put together
this kind of dynamic runningback room and it just never came
to fruition.
So I certainly see Liam Cohenand the coaching staff just
prioritizing keeping that roomwell-stocked and with guys that
have a lot of different skillsets as well.
So but yeah, jay, let's get tothe defensive side of the

(22:06):
football Once again, as wealluded to, we did see Travis
Hunter, who you know, despite amissed tackle or a broken tackle
, I guess you could say playedrelatively well, especially in
coverage, as has been notated byquite a few people within
Jaguar Twitter.
But the defense did give up atouchdown.
Mason Rudolph did take theoffense, the Steelers offense

(22:27):
down the field for a touchdown.
I believe it was a yeahtouchdown.
Pass that to Darnell Washington,just a large, large man at play
.
He tied in for the PittsburghSteelers.
Obviously you're very familiarwith him.
But yeah, what did you seedefensively?
People came away, I think,think, with some concerns,
myself included.

(22:47):
But you have had some time torewatch some of the film and
kind of reevaluate how you felt,at least a few days removed
from the game.
So where's your level of Idon't want to say concern for
the defense again.
Very first preseason game, buthow do you feel about the first
team in their limited showing onSaturday?

Speaker 2 (23:05):
Well, I mean I am concerned, but it's probably not
concerned for the same reasonseverybody else is.
Now what I will say is this thereason like after watching the
film that I'm not as concernedis because there were plays to
be made by the playersthemselves that at least would

(23:26):
have held Pittsburgh to a fieldgoal on that particular drive
right.
There was a situation Imentioned, the one where Devin
Lloyd does a drop in coverageand we kind of talked about this
in our text thread.
He does a drop in coverage andif Devin Lloyd could just simply
have a sense of coverage andjust like simply find the hook

(23:48):
route that's right there in thevicinity of him I showed you the
screenshot, I feel it's likethree yards away from him and he
could break on the ball.
They go in the third down rightthere without any game there.
So there was that situation.
Then the very next play, youknow.
Then there, there it was a um,a running play off the edge

(24:08):
where the running back uh gotpast Tyson.
You know, like, if the reactionis just a little bit quicker,
right, if Tyson Campbell can getjust a little bit more to run
it back, I'm not saying make abusiness decision on a running
back and hit them head to headbut like, get a little bit more
to run it back in that tackleinstead of the ankles, and if
Foye Aluokun can, like get offhis block just a second quicker,

(24:31):
right.
And the funny thing about it,phil, they were showing video of
the practice today.
One of the things they wereworking on and I don't know if I
should put a lot into thisMaybe they do this every Monday,
who knows but one of the thingsthey were working on is
shedding blocks, the linebackers, right.
So I don't know, is that acoincidence?
I don't know, but maybe if Foyegets off a block a little bit
sooner, they can make that playand they stop the running back a

(24:54):
yard or two short, right.
So it was just like little smallthings like that, and that's.
You know, that is beingnitpicky.
What I will say is this like Iwould like to see less of a like
a cushion approach, becausethey did play a lot like soft
zone.
But who's to say that?
That's not coach Campanile justtrying not to show a lot, right

(25:16):
, and just going straight outwith just simply basic concepts
and what have you.
So we'll see.
In time we'll tell I said it inmy tweet let's take an
observable approach with thisdefense, because there was a
point in time right where wethought oh, I'm blanking on this
name the gentleman, the firstdefensive coordinator that Doug
had that got fired.

(25:39):
Who was that?

Speaker 1 (25:40):
Hold on, I'll look it up.

Speaker 2 (25:41):
Yeah, but it was a time where those first stretch
of games he was looking decentand we were like, oh man, we
might have to worry aboutsomebody snagging our defensive
coordinator.
And then it all just plummeted,like after those first four
games or so.
So like he started off hot andWas it Joe Cullen?

Speaker 1 (25:59):
No, joe Cullen was a Urbans.
Mike Caldwell, mike Caldwell.

Speaker 2 (26:03):
That was the one.
So you know he started offpretty decent like, and you know
we thought the defense lookeddecent under him and then it
just all fell off a cliff afterthat.
So we'll see, in time, we'lltell.
Now what I was saying earlieris, you know, I do have concerns
, but probably not the sameconcerns as people that watch
the game do.
My concerns is more so.

(26:25):
What's the status of ericarmstead?
Right, because defensive tackleis a weakness for this team.
Me and jamal talked about this.
My concerns is more so.
What's the status of EricArmstead?
Right, because defensive tackleis a weakness for this team.
Me and Jamal talked about this.
What is the status of Mason andSmith?
They are needed to stop the run, especially they are badly
needed by this defense and itkind of showed there.
So what's the status of them?

(26:46):
Armstead hasn't practiced sincetraining camp, if I can recall
it, or if he has, it's only beenone or two practices.
Mason Smith started trainingcamp on IR and he's supposed to
be a big force for this team.
So I'll be monitoring that headand forth because it is a very
important part of this defensethat you would hope to have them

(27:07):
before week one of the regularseason yeah, certainly not at
full strength.

Speaker 1 (27:14):
I think, really, the what I saw and I only got to
watch through it once is justkind of how easy it was for
mason rudolph and them to movethe football down the field and
kind of.
You know the lack of pressureas well, but you know, until we
see the front seven at fullstrength, we're just not gonna
know.
So, yeah, we just we need toget those guys in there and and

(27:35):
see how it looks when it comesto them playing as a unit.
So it's just kind of wait andsee, kind of not get like a
holding pattern, uh, when itcomes to that.
But uh, yeah, what did you seeas far as defensively from
Travis Hunter Obviously the hottopic here Again, a lot of
people were pointing out him incoverage and him playing very

(27:56):
well and, as you have said allalong, you just mentioned a
moment ago what you believe ishis natural position, which is
cornerback or defensive back.
So, yeah, what did you see outof Travis Hunter in his limited
amount of time?
That guy is just itching to getout there.
It obviously has a lot ofdoubters when it comes to him
playing on both sides of thefootball.
So what did you see out of 12?

Speaker 2 (28:19):
Oh yeah, man, I love the play where the receiver ran
an outside route and Travisbasically ran the route for him
and cut him off and that's just.
You know, part of that is justplaying receiver so much and
familiarity with route concepts,so like you're going to see

(28:39):
that a lot with him because he,you know, he, no wonder he was
able to like basically run theroute for him because he was
running the routes not too longago at the start of the game
when he was on the offensiveside of the ball.
So like you know, like he'sjust gonna be wired a little bit
differently than mostcornerbacks because he has that

(29:00):
muscle memory of running routeson the offensive side of the
ball.
But it was, it was clear there.
Um, there was the deep patternthat Smoot got the sack on where
Travis had I guess it wasprobably deep third coverage.
I'll have to see the all 22 tosee what it was but stride for
stride with his guy it ended upbeing a coverage sack.

(29:21):
So yeah, man, he really flashedon the defensive side, like now
we just want to see like himhave a flash on the offensive
side before the regular season.
But yeah, I really like what Isaw from him of course.
Yeah, they kind of mentioned theplay where he missed the tackle
, and that was the one play thatpeople have mentioned where he

(29:45):
let the running back get to theoutside.
Basically and I think me andyou have kind of talked about
this field when it's not like areceiver out to the far right or
out to the far left and thecornerback is kind of closer to
the offensive line and to thealignment, their job in most
cases is to not let anybody getthe outside so they can bend the

(30:07):
corner and use the sideline astheir advantage.
And he did let them turn thecorner on him.
But you know that's somethingthat like that's easily fixable,
right, like that's something.
If he gets a step or two intocutting that off, you know that
play doesn't happen and you knowlike that won't be.
I don't think that'll be atypical thing that we see out of
Travis and look, look, it's thepreseason.

(30:28):
Right, it's a learning moment.
He has to learn the speed ofthe game too.
You know what I'm saying.
Like at Colorado, you can getaway with that, right, you can
get away with getting late tothe corner and cutting that off.
But in the NFL, as he saw, andthose were second stringers that
ran that plate in the NFL, ashe'll see, like they're a little
bit faster.

(30:49):
You know what I'm saying andyou got to get there a little
bit quicker and what have you.
But all of that will come overtime.
He is not anybody that I'mworried about in any regard and,
yeah, I really like what I sawfor the most part out of him on
the defensive side.

Speaker 1 (31:07):
Yeah, a lot of encouraging things and really
just kind of like reallyhighlighting you know how
special of a player he truly isgoing to be.
And you know everybody wants tojump to conclusions after what
10 snaps you know or howevermany he played on both sides of
the football.
But there is a lot of optimismthere and I didn't get to talk

(31:29):
to you guys about this.
It's one thing I wanted tospeak with both of you about,
both you and Jamal, last week,but obviously I couldn't make it
.
Unfortunately there was a someof the people or some of the
discourse I've been hearing outthere is Travis Hunter is not
only, of course, just reallygood for Jacksonville and for
the team and for the city, butit's also good for Trevor
Lawrence to maybe not have asmuch spotlight on him, because

(31:53):
Travis is going to take up somuch of that conversation and so
much of that attention.
What do you think about that?
Because I do agree to a certaindegree that that could be the
case.

Speaker 2 (32:05):
Yeah, I mean, I think that's a very accurate
assessment and I you know what Ilike it because and this is not
to say that Trevor does it, butI like it because Trevor Travis
, while he does have a socialmedia presence in terms of
releasing YouTube videos, likehe doesn't have a social media
presence in a regard that he'slooking at Twitter or he's

(32:27):
looking at Facebook, or he'slooking at Twitter or he's
looking at Facebook or he'slooking at like he you know, and
it was a while ago that he kindof took this approach when he
was at Colorado, like where hesaid like hey, man, like I'm
going to just take a step backfrom social, I don't even want
to look at it like that.
You know, he might stream himplaying NCAA or something here
and there and, like I said,release a YouTube video here,

(32:47):
but he has really disconnectedhimself to a great deal from
social media.
So, like all of this backlashand all of the like negativity
that is veered towards him, hedoesn't even see it you know all
of these things about and it'snot really fair to you.
You know, whatever you you feelabout his relationship with his

(33:10):
wife, like all of thisnegativity veered towards his,
his wife.
All of this stuff veered towardshim in terms of his personal
life, stuff yeah, his personallife stuff, and not only that,
but just like him always beingupbeat on the field.
I see a a lot of that too, likewhy is he always dancing and
this, that and the other?
And it's like, well, that'skind of needed in the NFL,

(33:34):
especially on these hot trainingcamp days like where nobody
wants to be there, they're tiredof hitting each other.
You need that one person that'slike, hey, y'all, let's turn
this up right, let's turn it upa notch.
So you know, he is a breath offresh air for the team in that
regard, keeping them upbeatduring these hot, tiring

(33:54):
training camp days.
And he's a.
He's a big asset in terms of,as you said, like he does take
the pressure off of Trevor andit probably won't even phase him
, it won't affect him becausehe's not on social media like
that.
He veered himself away fromthat a while ago when he was in
college.

Speaker 1 (34:13):
Yeah, I remember you talking about that during the
trip they took to the Bahamas Ibelieve it was the Bahamas and
you just need a guy with thatkind of energy in the locker
room.
I didn't ever play football,but I did play basketball and it
was just always nice to havethat guy around to keep things
light but also knew when to lockin.

(34:34):
Honestly, I don't even believethat that is specific to just
sports.
I think it's also good to havethat person just in a working
environment, in a friend group,in your family, all of that,
just in a working environment,in a friend group, in your
family, all of that.
Don't you want that kind ofperson around?
I think what is happening herejust like the similar thing

(34:56):
happened to Trevor is he endedup in Jacksonville and that's
not where people wanted him togo.
People wanted to see him forsome reason in Cleveland, I
don't know.
People wanted to see him insome of these other bigger
markets New York, obviously.
You know, maybe even with a NewEngland like with, you know to
try and bring them back to kindof prominence, but you know he
ended up here.
He ended up here inJacksonville and people are

(35:17):
always going to have a problemwith that because you know no
one wants to pay out of thefirst.
You know the first team on bothsides of the football, Jay, Now
we'll kind of just switch tojust an overall view of the game
and see what kind of stood outto you.
I do want to start off with onething, and ultimately this isn't

(35:38):
really going to matter.
I think if anything it couldmaybe affect, like the practice
squad, Jay, Seth Hennigan cansling it.
Man, that guy was again, Ithink maybe he probably, just
obviously I don't think he'sgoing to make the team.
Nick mullins is the backupquarterback, but I mean I was
just kind of blown away by howthose fastballs that seth
hennigan was throwing.

(35:59):
And a guy I've been a littleremoved from what's been going
on at training camp, so like itwas the first time I'd ever
really heard his name.
But to see that guy fling thefootball around I was like damn,
that guy's got some heat,especially after seeing, you
know, Wolford out there and NickMullins, you know, not not
necessarily throwing the ball asstrongly yeah, man, like we

(36:19):
always have that one quarterback, backup quarterback, every year
.

Speaker 2 (36:23):
Man, that's like, oh, okay, like this guy needs to
push for the second string spot,which we know won't be the case
, because Nick Mullins is comingliterally from the same offense
with the Vikings, the LiamCohen scheme of offense.
But yeah, no, like Hennigan waslike he was on one bro, like
the whole behind the back passwhere he hit Allen.

(36:47):
Like you know what I've alwayswanted to see quarterbacks do,
that more.
It's like, when you're goingdown, man, don't take the sack.
Man, nine times out of ten,your running back is out in the
flat somewhere.
Try, and you know, get it outto him.
If it's within reason, right.
If they're five, four yardsaway from you, try it, man, and
see what happens.

(37:07):
And lo and behold, the QuintAllen takes it back for what?
Like 12, 15 yards, somethingcrazy like that, maybe even 20.
But, yeah, man, like I amexcited to see him, like I
wasn't, like super impressedwith Mullins, you know, with him
, knowing this offense, and Ipersonally, and again, we don't
think this will be the case butI want to see himgan push for

(37:30):
the number two spot.
We'll see, like, if, like, theyreally go that route?
I doubt it.
And you know who knows?
Like, maybe when he's facingthe second stringers he's not as
good as Mullins is.
But I would like to see, Iwould like to give him a shot
with the second stringers andsee and make an assessment from
there.
Man, I think he earned a lookin that regard.

Speaker 1 (37:52):
But again, I doubt they go that route yeah, like
you said, there's always abackup quarterback that kind of
takes, uh, you know, the theworld by the jaguar world by
storm.
Well, who was it a couple yearsago?
air canada, yeah I was gonna saythe guy nathan rourke so yeah,
you know, seeing a little bit ofthat here, uh alex magoo with

(38:15):
the yep, seeing a little bit ofthat here with uh seth hennigan.
So yeah, ultimately, again, Ithink it's just a it'll end up
being a fun story and we won'treally even think about him once
you know the regular seasonkicks off, obviously, but you
know it was interesting to see.
But, yeah, jay, who are some ofthe guys that really popped for
you?
I have, uh, maybe one or two Iwant to mention.

(38:36):
But actually hold on pause,just kidding.
Let's talk about kicking littlebaby.
Let's talk about the bestkicker in the nfl 70 yard field
goal.
Jay, we're gonna see thatattempt in the regular season.
We're gonna see it.
It's gonna happen at the end oflike a, a half or something
along those lines.
I don't know if we'll ever seeit like to win a game, but like

(39:00):
man, to be like, hey, just getme to the 40, give me the r40
yard line and I'm in range.
Let's talk about cam little,and what a just incredible
moment that's been.
Obviously it's not the officialrecord, but it is the preseason
record, but man, that guy isgonna go for it, I think, here
at some point in the season yeah, man, cam little's a superstar

(39:20):
man.

Speaker 2 (39:21):
Not to give trent balky any credit, but trent,
that was a great six round pickman.
That dude was a star.
You know we always have saidphil when you start getting in
the sixth round, why not?

Speaker 1 (39:33):
just start.
You've been wanting them totake a kicker for years.

Speaker 2 (39:35):
So exactly, man start swinging at kickers on the
sixth round.
That makes you look better as agm, because they have a higher
rate of being successful thantrying to take some defensive
tackle or some freaking guard orsomething that you know you're
hoping is a gym.
Right, gm's, listen to me onthis Take kickers and running
backs in the sixth round andyou'll save yourself a lot of

(39:56):
stress.
Right, you will like, becausethose are the easy ones to hit
on.
Save yourself a lot of stress.
Right, you will like, becausethose are the easy ones to hit
on man.
But, yeah, man, like I am notshocked because when you go to
camp and I think you've been toa few camps where Cam kicks the
ball like it just soundsdifferent, man, when the ball
comes off his foot, you knowlike, you can tell like he's not
your average kicker and we'vebeen able to tell that a long,

(40:19):
long time.
Anybody who has been topractice, who has seen cam
little line up and, and you know, take a few swipes of the leg
at it, man, we knew, we knewlike, and even bucky brooks was
shocked.
He was like they're not gonnago for this at 70 yards and I
was like, uh, why not?
Like you know what I'm saying,based on the things like it's
like bucky, have you not seenthis kid in practice?

(40:41):
Like, why not?
What time?
You know what I'm saying, basedon the things like it's like
Bucky, have you not seen thiskid in practice?
Like, why not?
What time is a better time thannow to go for the 70 yarder in
a preseason game where therepercussions isn't like all
that bad they didn't even theSteelers didn't even put a
returner back there, right, likethat's how serious they took it
, right, so like we didn't haveto worry about them returning it
.
The best time to try that wasthen.

(41:02):
And uh, you know, like for LiamCohen, that'd be his first game
as a head coach.
Like that'll always stick outin his career, you know,
regardless of where his careergo is just seeing that 70 yard
kick.
But yeah, man Cam is an absolutestar.
You could tell that thefranchise believes he's a star
too.
He's in all of the promotions,right, the Prowler cereal, all

(41:25):
of that they already knewbecause they've been watching
him at practice.
They know what he offers.
But I actually had faith thathe was going to make it because
of watching him at practice.
And you know like I was likethis is not out of the realm of
possibilities.
He might barely make it.
And he it was, bro, he, he hadfour more yards to give it looks

(41:51):
like.
So now, like you have to like,with that happening right now,
it's always the thought of wejust need to get to like the 40.
You know what I'm saying likethat's always going to be in the
back of our head, like and, tobe honest, what you feel.
That's a good feeling to have,especially when you're in a
game-winning situation, when yougot to tell your offense, all
y'all need to do is possibly,you know, we, you know whether

(42:11):
they try it or not, that's up tothem.
Just get us to the 40 or 50,close to it, and this kid can do
it.
And and Cam and the I think thebest part about that field is
when they were in the positionto do it right.
It was obvious they were goingto do it because they threw a
dump off to a running back inthe middle of the field and the

(42:32):
running back just fell immediate.
I'm like, oh, they are settingthis up for a crazy kick and
we'll see if they make it, butthe the crazy part about it, ph
Phil is.
Liam said he looked at Cam andCam was like, yeah, like no
hesitation, yeah, let's do itLike I want to try this.
So, when you have a kicker thatis that confident in their leg

(42:53):
to try a 70-yard field goal,that gives your offense comfort
as well.
Like, man, if we get this tothe 50, cam is more than fine
with taking this kick and hewon't be fazed by it.
So, like, think about how muchof a boost of confidence that is
for Trevor Lawrence and company.
If they're in a situation.
It's a game-winning situation.

(43:14):
That's a little bit of pressureoff of them.
It's like, hey, we just got toget it right there and this kid
can make it from 70.
And it also, you know, givesopposing coaches something to
think about too as well.
So, yeah, man, I love seeingthat.
Wish it would have been in aregular season, but I think he
will be the record breaker forlongest kick in NFL history one

(43:36):
day.

Speaker 1 (43:36):
Nfl history one day.
Yeah, man, between Cam Littleand Logan Cook.
Boy, that is a crazy duo datingback to the Mike Hollis.
And who was the 90s punter?
Didn't it start with a B?
Am I tripping?
Who was the name of the punterJaguars, punter 1990s?

(43:58):
I feel like they had a goodpunter in the 90s as well brian
barker I think so yeah, brianbarker like scoby.
I don't think ever had that likeuh counterpart as a punter.
You know brian anger who becamea pro bowler later.
Third round pick, uh.
But yeah, between those twoguys, uh, yeah, that is um a

(44:20):
really solid duo.

Speaker 2 (44:21):
But yeah, j Don't forget Phil, Don't forget a
solid trio, because Ross Matysik, that's true, a pro bowler
72-74 overall in Madden, baby,let's go.
He will knock your block offand we've seen it OK.
So yeah, I mean he's a probowler for a reason.

Speaker 1 (44:41):
Yeah, there were some things on the special teams on
the return side as far as, uh,the return defense side that I
hope get ironed out before theregular season.
But uh, overall, you knowspecial teams is going to be
another strong point for thejacksonville jaguars.
But yeah, jay, who were someother standouts?
I know you highlighted somepeople over on twitter.
You've also, you, we've alsohad conversations about some
other guys that stood out.

(45:01):
So who would you like tohighlight here in the first game
?
You know, because we did see alot of extended playing time for
quite a few guys.

Speaker 2 (45:09):
Well, first I'll start with what I want to
highlight.
Eight penalties, I think it was.
We got to clean that up.
You know, like that's that oldDoug Peterson stench which you
know it's normally not easy toremove that stench from the
previous regime when you're apenalty-heavy team.
So that's something that'llcome in time, I hope.

(45:30):
And I do think they arepracticing cleaner football.
Just looking at the practicesand getting stuff like that
cleaned up.
I don't think this is going tobe a like a ongoing issue, but
you hate to see it.
After coming off of the run wecame off with with Doug Like
it's like that stench is stillthere.
So they'll work on that.

(45:50):
For me, man, the standout to mewas BJ Green from Colorado
defensive tackle Bro, that thatdude is as strong as all get out
.
And I didn't, you know, likejust kind of looking at his
measurables, I didn't think hepacked that much power, but, man
, he had a bull rush.
It was two back-to-back playsthat I highlighted.

(46:11):
He had a bull rush where he,you know, like you just tell the
guard was just having a bad daywith that dude every time he
was on the field and then hecame screaming off of the edge
on the very next play.
The tackle didn't even have achance.
Like he was like, oh, like it'sone of those plays where the
end zooms past you and you knowit's no hope to catch him, like

(46:33):
you just hope your quarterbackis like smart enough to either
get down or get the ball out ofhis hand or run in the other
direction, type of thing.
So he'll be a guy worthwatching because, again, of just
how this defensive line is interms of depth, they are down
their top two defensive tacklesand you know, like the defensive

(46:53):
line in general kind of didn'tstand out.
Um, the other one, uh, dannystrugow, who me and Jamal well,
jamal mentioned him.
He's the kid that went to theSuper Bowl late.
He got the forced fumble thatwe couldn't recover.
Like it was right there for usto recover but he caused a
forced fumble.

(47:13):
So that's another guy worthwatching, see if he can make the
team on the back end with Greenand Basial Tootin.
I got him highlighted as wellBecause, like I've been saying
it, like I'm a big LaQuint Allenfan when it comes to like him
and Basial Tootin and I probablyshouldn't like put those two
against each other right,because they are going to really

(47:35):
benefit from having each other.
Like just imagine when you go tocollege, right, and you're a
freshman, you're a new guy andliterally your roommate is, you
know, a guy that can absolutelyrelate to you Play the same
position.
You know, been through somesimilar things.
Like they.
Really I think they're reallybuilding fit from having each

(47:57):
other in that running back room.
But Basial, tootin man,explosive, explosive as all get
out man, and Allen too.
Like we saw Allen kind of shinein the past game.
But it makes you excited aboutthat running back room.
We were just talking about ETNand Bixby but look what they
have waiting in the wings withTootin and Allen.

(48:18):
Like one thing we can say is inall likelihood the future is
bright at running back for theJacksonville Jaguars.
So I do like that and I likewhat I saw out of him.
But those were some of the guys.
One more Dorian Singler, whohad some yards after the catch
type of plays that he kind offlashed on.

(48:39):
He'll be a guy or Dorian Singer, should I say to watch.
He actually beat Travis Etienneon a play in Utah, utah, so
like that always kind of stoodout to me.
But yeah, he's a guy that, like, offered something after the
catch that I'll be watchingheaded for.
It was some real easy conceptsthat he took advantage of, but

(49:00):
still nonetheless, you knowanybody that can do.
What we saw from him after thecatch is worth highlighting and
worth watching head and forward.

Speaker 1 (49:10):
Yeah, I love seeing the offensive line and the
offense in general just pushingBasial Tootin' into the end zone
.
You love seeing that kind ofphysicality down there to get
the touchdown.
So that was great.
A guy that I certainly want tohighlight, jay he had some ups
and downs but did have quite afew opportunities which is
Trenton Irwin.

(49:30):
I forgot that.
Trenton Irwin, jay, is the guythat Tony Khan mentioned.
Looked like Adam Cole, I forgotthat was him and just kind of
doing like a quick look into, aquick dive into him.
Very popular guy amongstBengals fans as well, so I would
like to see him make his wayonto the team.
It seems like he's a prettysure handed guy when it comes to
special teams.

(49:50):
He was a big contributor overthere and, yeah, he had, you
know, the drop in a couple ofmissed opportunities, but he did
end up getting that touchdown,I believe from I believe it was
from Wolfe, no, it was fromMullins, and so you know it was
nice to see him popping up quitea bit along with those players
that you mentioned there.
Jay, yeah, you know, as we'vealready talked about, you know,

(50:12):
we might be seeing a little bitinto the future when it comes to
those two running backs andseeing what they're able to
bring to the table and, as youalso mentioned, you know we're
talking about a very long seasonOne of those guys is certainly
going to have some veryimportant snaps at some point
during the regular season.
So keeping all those guys, Idon't think there's anything
wrong with that.
What was your overall continuedevaluation of Joshua Cephas A

(50:37):
name, of course, that's going tocontinue to come up for the
remainder of the preseason?
He had three catches, 25 yards.
We're talking about, you know,the fifth or sixth guy on the
roster when it comes to eitherIrwin or Cephas.
So what do you see there andhow is this going to be
different than you know, some ofthese other camp names that get
very popular here, you know,during the preseason, is he
going to be able to make animpact, do you think?

Speaker 2 (50:59):
Yeah, I forgot all about Cephas.
That's my guy, like I'm gladyou mentioned him.
It's like how could you forgetabout like all this talk?
I've been talking about Cephaslike since last year and you
give me the opportunity and Imiss out on him.
But yeah, he had the one Ithink it was a hook route where

(51:20):
he just kind of sat in the zone.
But yeah, no, he's been havinga great camp man.
Like it's going to be hard tocut that kid.
The only thing that stands inhis way is how much he helps as
a special teamer.
Right, that's what could getTrenton Irwin excuse me, adam
Cole on the team over him.

(51:42):
Is that baby?
Yeah?
And shout outs to Adam Cole,man, I hope he um that's my guy
he gets.
Yeah, man, I hope you gethealthy.
Man shout outs to you you'reone of the one of the better
wrestlers we've seen in a while.
Man shout outs to him but yeah,with Trent, like that's with
Trenton Irwin.
That's kind of what gives himthe edge over Cephas.

(52:03):
But I think still, like withwhat Cephas is shown in practice
and what he's also shown interms of like, what stands out
to me with him is the, thedevelopment from year one to
year two and if I can recall hedidn't really he didn't get to
play on the main roster at anypoint in time, he was mostly on

(52:23):
practice squad and for him to beable to develop while on
practice squad and get a littlebit better like he looks miles
different than he did last year,in my opinion.
I mean, we all work.
We already said Phil we had thisdiscussion on the podcast
Cephas was draftable.
I think the kid should havebeen draftable and he's really

(52:44):
proving that right now.
There's no way that man shouldhave been an undrafted free
agent, especially what we'reseeing out of him at training
camp, and even last year intraining camp there were
glimpses of it, but I think hetold Jamal this.
I think, if I'm not mistaken.
I don't want to misquote themedia here, but I think he told

(53:04):
Jamal this.
His big thing was he didn'ttake advantage of the preseason
last year.
This year we're starting to seehim do that a little bit.
So I can envision a place whereboth him and Trittner both are
on his team and that's five andsix at receiver, behind Parker
Washington, because I reallywould have a hard time cutting

(53:27):
him, like if he gets cut, he's.
I think he's getting snatchedup, you know, but that's me.

Speaker 1 (53:34):
Yeah, the other guy that has like a lot of special
teams reps is Austin Trammell.
You know he's been around for alittle bit but yeah, cephas is
listed, you know, right behindBrian Thomas Jr, at least on
last week's unofficial depthchart.
We'll see what happens as thepreseason unfolds, but yeah, I
can certainly see a case wherethey keep both of those guys and

(53:57):
it would just be, I I think, ahuge mistake for him to get away
.
I don't know if it's an alanlazard situation when it comes
to cevis, but I do think thathe'd be able to be utilized, uh
for sure, by somebody else, youknow, especially with, uh, with
a competent scouting departmentfor sure.
But, jay, anything else youwant to mention, as we approach

(54:17):
kind of the hour mark here ofthis episode, you know saw a lot
of things I think, to build on.
For sure, I did like how theywere kind of moving the ball
down the field with Henniganthere at the end, unfortunately,
they fall a little bit short,not able to get out of bounds on
that final drive.
But you know there wascertainly signs of life and a

(54:38):
lot of encouraging things you'dlike you want to see in the
first game.
You know how many of thesepreseason games have we seen
where the Jaguars come out flat.
Then there's just nothing tolook forward to.
But they put up 25 points.
They got some good film on someof the guys that are going to
be contributing to give youdepth.
Now I think we just want to seeit out of the offense.
Get a first team offense, get atouchdown right on one of your

(55:04):
first drives and then, as far asthe first team defense, get
some pressure, maybe force aturnover or you know, just look
really good and like a solidthree and out.
You know what do you?
Uh, what other takeaways do youhave for this game?
If any, um, or if you're ready,we can kind of talk about what
you want to see this upcomingweekend against new orleans.

Speaker 2 (55:17):
yeah, well, I'll talk about what I want to see this
upcoming weekend against NewOrleans.
Yeah well, I'll talk about whatI want to see, because I've
kind of talked about all thetakeaways.
As I mentioned, penalties needto go down.
I want to see less drops too,which I'm actually not shocked
about when it comes to drops,because even like that was one
of the not that he had any dropsin this game.

(55:39):
Well, I guess you can't callthe throw with him and Trevor a
drop, cause he was just put in abad situation there.
But one thing that I did mentionin my scouting report is that
and they they've kind of seenthis from him in practice drops
with Brian Thomas Jr.
You know like it's notsomething that's overly
concerning, but I put it in myscouting report.

(56:01):
He had some drops for LSU thatit was like oh bro, you got to
catch that.
You know what I'm saying.
So I want to see drops getcleared up from that group as a
whole, and I'm not just singlinghim out, but that group as a
whole the you know the one Ithink it was the one Irwin drop
where he's literally it lookedlike Irwin was fighting the ball
, bro.

(56:21):
It's like come on like wideopen pass, or if it wasn't him,
it might've been Trammell, orthey both might've had a drop in
the game.
I have to go back and look, butI want to see drops and
penalties get cleaned up, as yousaid.
Yeah, you do want to see ascore.
You know when the first team isout there and, most importantly

(56:42):
, you know, I want to seeeverybody come out healthy.
And then, lastly, you know, Iwant to see, in that standpoint
of the defensive tackles, I wantto see if we, you know, get
some movement on our top twodefensive tackles getting back
on the field.
You know, or know, or you knowat least some kind of news on if

(57:02):
they're returning or close toreturning.
So those are some things I wantto see.

Speaker 1 (57:08):
I want to take this opportunity, jay, to ask you, as
we kind of wrap up here, what'syour level of concern with what
we're seeing out of TysonCampbell, or like, what we're
not seeing out of?
Tyson Campbell gets paid lastyear, obviously not a current
regime guy.
What's your read on him?
Because you know, coming out ofthe draft obviously people were
kind of like a little confusedabout the pick.

(57:28):
Starts to play well, then hegets his money.
Um, where are we at on that,when, of course, you want to see
a dynamic duo, of course,between Campbell and then, if
he's going to be playing a lotof defensive snaps, of course,
travis Hunter.
So where are we at on that?

Speaker 2 (57:43):
uh, mid-tier concern because when Tyson has always
been about putting him in zonecoverage where he can see the
ball right, which they did a lotof that um, if I can recall now
I have to go back to look atthe film, but they did a lot of
that on saturday right, and hestill didn't look all that great

(58:04):
.
Now, look now he.
He was on the um.
Well it's I guess it'stechnically not an injury report
now because it's training count, but he was held out of
practice for undisclosed injury.
We'll have to get more on that.
So maybe he's not 100 percent,but yeah, I have mid-level
concern about him because, asmuch as I love my Georgia guys,

(58:26):
you know, like when we pickedhim, you know I always felt then
that you know that pick couldhave been spent elsewhere, high
for him and just also too man.
Like what's concerning is hehad such a great training camp
but when you're on the fieldwith players and concepts that

(58:49):
um you aren't as familiar with,it all goes downhill, like this
man was going toe-to-toe withbtj right, I'm probably seeing
reps against travis hunter andthen he gets out there and that
happens.
So you know, I I hope again,like I'll never not root for
georgia bulldog.
I hope he can get it all puttogether.

(59:09):
But look, man, we are in whatyear?
Six for Tyson, five yeah 2021draft.
So yeah, it's concerning he'sgotten his money.
He's gotten his money.
And not only that, but areoccurring issue keeps coming

(59:30):
up with him and you know it'sinjuries that's concerning.
Chances are, if you and I don'tlike to be a pessimist about
this kind of thing and I wishhim a great bill of health, but
if we saw a lot of injuriesthroughout the start of your
career, what's to say that'sgoing to change for the second

(59:52):
half of your career, right?
So there's that.
You know, maybe it's justsomething minor that he's
dealing with and they just wantyou know they'll take a
precaution because it's thepreseason.
It's not worth him furtherinjuring himself, uh, but yeah,
I, I'm pretty concerned abouttyson man and, um, you know
another thing.

(01:00:12):
One last thing, phil, is nowthat I'm looking back at it,
right, this team wants TravisHunter to play a significant
amount of cornerback snaps.
He spent a number what twooverall pick on Travis Hunter.
Not just like to be a receiverbut to be a cornerback.
Is that because they hadconcerns about Tyson too?

(01:00:34):
Because that's a big, heavyinvestment to put into a team
when you trade up to the numbertwo overall spot and give up
what we gave up.
So there's that too yeah,listen.

Speaker 1 (01:00:46):
And gladstone has not been afraid to jettison those
trent bulky guys out of here.
Right, we've seen it already.
So whether it be via trade, youknow I don't think because of
depth reasons.
You know I don't think tyson'sgoing anywhere or anything like
that.
I can't foresee that happening.
But there's no reason tobelieve that they're not keeping
an eye on that just likeeverybody else is and have a

(01:01:07):
better pulse on it than we do.
So the thing about the tysoncampbell pick jay, I will say is
like just looking back at thatdraft, which we love to do, it
doesn't seem like there'snecessarily another defensive
back in that.
You know, post Tyson Campbellthat has really like elevated
himself or like man we couldhave had this.
You know that that happens somany times when you look at the
Jacksonville Jaguar drafthistory.

(01:01:28):
So we've kind of avoided thatfor the most part.
I know a lot of people at thetime were like throwing around
Asante Samuel Jr, which hedoesn't even have a team right
now.
So like if you really wanted togo get asante samuel, you could
go do that.
But there isn't necessarily aguy on here that you know as far
as defensive back.
But there are names out there,like landon dickerson and jok

(01:01:49):
from cleveland.
You know names like that thatare out there that you would
have.
You know you maybe could havegone to creed humphrey, you know
.
So, nico collins'm going to stopscrolling here, it's going to
make me sad, but it's.
You know, that's the, at leastas far as defensive back.
You know, obviously, the prizeposition, as far as that
position in that draft wasPatrick Sertain and JC Horn, and

(01:02:10):
you know we weren't really inthe position to get those guys
because we took Trevor Lawrence.
So, but yeah, it's something wecertainly need to keep an eye
on and, like you said, as far ashis health, you know, we
obviously wish him the very bestand hope he can return to the
form that we have seen himcompete at.
But I don't know, we will see.
So, yeah, I would very muchlike them to come out against

(01:02:32):
New Orleans, a team that is likeboy.
When you talk about a team thatI really could not tell you
what their direction is, it'sdefinitely the New Orleans
Saints.
Obviously, they drafted, youknow, the quarterback that's as
old as you and me in the draft,but outside of that, kellen
Moore.
I'm not sure what they're doingout there, but I would like to

(01:02:53):
have them come out and put onlike a really solid performance
against New Orleans this weekend.
But yeah, anything else youwant to mention before we wrap
up this episode, and I lookforward to this weekend's game.

Speaker 2 (01:03:05):
I don't know, man.
You just made me reflect onsomething, man.
You remember when the Saintsused to be feared, right?
You know what I'm saying?
Like what happened.

Speaker 1 (01:03:14):
There's an aura about the Caesardome too, because
it's not the most flashybuilding, it's not, it doesn't
have all these bells andwhistles of all these other new
stadiums, but like there's justabout it.
Yeah, there's just somethingabout it and obviously, what new
orleans has gone through as acity and as a community and
that's just like gone.
Now, like I mean, maybe kellenmoore is a good coach, but he

(01:03:35):
looks like a rugrats character.
Uh, tyler shuck, like we said,is you know he's collecting
benefits since from louisville.
He's got his, he's got his 401kwithdrawal from louisville and
they got like the remnants of.
You know they're holding outalvin kamara hostage and you

(01:03:57):
know the the ghost of Drew Breesis haunting that and Sean
Payton is haunting that stadium.
So I don't know, maybe they, um, you know, I think the NFL is a
better place when the Saintsare a team worth rooting for,
and I don't know what they areright now, so sorry, Saints fans
no one's.
None of them are gonna listen tothis, but I feel terrible for
my favorite rapper currency, man.

Speaker 2 (01:04:17):
Hey, I hope y'all get it together, man and hey, come
on the show currency, talk aboutit.
If you ever want to vent aboutwhere the saints are, talk about
it with us.
All right, we'll gladly haveyou on.
But yeah, no man.
I'm just happy to be back, man,and it was a great episode.
But go ahead, you got somethingto add?

Speaker 1 (01:04:36):
I was gonna say we're facing two teams in a row here
to end up the preseason thathave like a, a lack of identity,
like new orleans, and thenmiami whatever's going on with
tua and tyree kill and, uh, youknow, their coach is on the
heights hot seat, a guy that,like a couple seasons ago,
everybody wanted mike mcdaniel.
So, uh, you know, I will say,like, in terms of where we are

(01:04:56):
at currently, I, I certainly youknow we're in a much better
position than New Orleans and Ieven I think even you'd say
Miami I don't, I don't expectMiami to be competitive this
year, do you?

Speaker 2 (01:05:08):
No, man, I got too much turmoil.
And you mentioned something,man, I'll put it out.
I'll word it this way Right, ifthat turmoil gets to be too
much for Miami and they have tomake some changes, I would love
to have Mike McDaniel andJackson.

Speaker 1 (01:05:24):
Right, man, I'll put it that way.
Offensive coordinator,offensive assistant, something
like that.
Let's bring that energy.
I really believe that, like himand him, Liam Cohen, we get
along very well.
So yeah, Miami, by all means.

Speaker 2 (01:05:39):
Yeah, by all means.
But yeah, man, I'm just glad tobe back and glad to be talking
football, as you can see.
And yeah, man, we'll keepupdating people with tweets and
I'll keep up the TikTok page.
I've done a little decent jobof that, surprisingly.
So, yeah, we'll have a TikTokcoming out soon and we'll get
this podcast up as soon aspossible too yeah, everybody,

(01:06:02):
thank you so much for joining us.

Speaker 1 (01:06:03):
Episode 117, pre-season week one, is in the
books.
We will be back next week to goover the game against the new
orleans saints, but once again,make sure you check out the link
tree link in the show notes ofthis and every single episode.
Follow myself and Jay and thepodcast over on social media and

(01:06:25):
continue to use that promo codeTouchdown Jaguars over on
SeatGeek $20 off your firstpurchase, and that helps us
immensely.
And head on over to ApplePodcasts, spotify, wherever
you're listening, give us thatfive-star review.
It is very much appreciated.
But, folks, that is my co-host,james Johnson.
I am Phil Barrera and firsttime in a long time it's been a

(01:06:47):
while since I've said this don'tforget to tune in to Touchdown
Jaguars.
We're each and every Jaguartouchdown and we will see you
next week, folks.