November 6, 2025 • 54 mins
We gut out a 30–29 overtime win in Las Vegas, then break down why the Jakobi Myers trade fits our offense and our moment. A record 68-yard field goal lifts the locker room, the run game returns, and Trevor Lawrence settles in after a brutal mistake.
The specific talking points that were discussed included:
• Why a fourth and sixth for Jacoby Myers solves several issues
• The plan for Meyers this season
• Trevor Lawrence's reset after the interception and red-zone runs
• The return of a run-first identity to steady tempo
• Cam Little’s 68-yard record and confidence swing
• Injuries across WR, OL, TE, and defense and how depth responded
• Playoff math after a must-win West Coast game
• What the GM’s aggression signals at the deadline
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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.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_01 (00:59):
Welcome to the Touchdown Jaguars Podcast.
Here are your hosts, JamesJohnson and Phil Smith.
SPEAKER_00 (01:09):
What's good, good people, what's good.
It is your boy James Johnsonhere, one half of your host and
panel of the Touchdown Jaguarspodcast for episode 128, if I'm
not mistaken.
Let me check the list here.
Yeah, 128 here.
Um, as we are coming off avictory here.
(01:33):
The Jacksonville Jaguars wereable to handle business against
the Las Vegas Raiders.
It's so hard to get thatinstilled in my brain saying Las
Vegas Raiders.
I want to say Oakland everytime, but we were able to go
over down the West Coast, getanother West Coast win, y'all.
Um, by a score of 30 to 29.
(01:54):
A gritty battle.
Um, but nonetheless, we got itdone in overtime.
And, you know, we went into thatgame understanding that it was a
must-win.
And um, granted, thecircumstances, it don't really
matter how we won it.
I think the key is that we justknew that we needed to win it.
And if we could win that gameheading forward, that would open
(02:19):
up a realm of opportunities interms of um you know making it
to the playoffs in thepostseason.
Um, so we'll talk about that injust a little bit here.
Um, but yeah, I will be ridingthis one solo dolo, as Phil had
some obligations to take care ofwith his other project, the Wait
for It podcast.
Shoutouts to Phil Barrera andthe Wait For It Podcast.
(02:43):
Shoutouts to his co-host, umEric Cerna as well.
That's their 50-50 operation,much like this operation is a
50-50 operation over here withme and Phil.
But shout outs to them.
They stream every Wednesday, Ithink it is, Wednesday night on
Twitch, some kind of video gamecontent.
They just choose random games inwhich they um they stream.
(03:05):
So feel free to check that out.
And I might be getting in thestreaming game myself soon.
You know, I know you all seenthe tech and clips I post.
I'm I'm kind of okay at thegame, if you will.
Ranked within the top 2,000 inin score, uh, in ranked scores.
So, you know, I'm kind of okayin it.
Uh, don't want don't mean totoot my own horn, but um, I
digress from my point.
(03:26):
Just stay tuned for that newsdown the road in terms of me
getting in the streaming gametoo.
I'll put it on Twitter.
Um, but this nonetheless is afootball podcast, so we won't
even go down that road too much.
But do feel free to follow theWait Forward podcast on Twitch,
on Twitter, so on and so forth,and show Phil and Eric some
love, all right?
(03:46):
But reeling it back all in,getting back to the gridiron
here.
Not only are the JacksonvilleJaguars coming off of a um big
time win, um, in which they hadto go into overtime with the
Raiders um four, and it's it'sjust so hard to say the Las
Vegas Raiders.
(04:07):
I want to say Oakland each time,but um the Las Vegas Raiders,
um, you know, they fought hard.
Uh, they are a team that, youknow, only two wins.
So, you know, the desperationwas going to be there, and you
know, it really showed.
And uh, they fought tooth andnail with the Jacksonville
Jaguars, but the JacksonvilleJaguars were able to make just
(04:28):
one more play thanks to DevonHamilton at the end of the game,
who we'll talk about a littlebit as well, probably down the
road in this podcast.
But um, the Jaguars were able tomake that one play more than
them at the end of the game, andthe rest is history.
But even with the victory, thetrade deadline followed.
(04:51):
So, of course, there was thepotential for some more exciting
news past the win as well, andJames Gladstone did not
disappoint us in that regardeither.
Well, you know what, he may havedisappointed some people because
maybe he wasn't as active assome people think he should have
been, and we'll talk about thatin the details on that as well.
(05:14):
Um, on the surface, at least, itlooked that way, but it looks
like they had interest in morethan they acquired.
We'll talk about that as well.
But they were able to acquire avery popular name within the
Jaguars community and JacobyMyers, a wide receiver.
So we'll talk about that tradeand what it means for the
(05:37):
Jacksonville Jaguars.
But one of the bigger trades ofnot just Jaguars history, but
one of the bigger trades of umthis past deadline of the 2025
deadline.
Um, I mean, they weren't asactive as like the Jets and the
Cowboys and didn't make as big amoves as them and the Colts as
(05:59):
well.
We I guess we got to kind oftalk about that too.
But still a big trade becausethe Jacksonville Jaguars are not
only getting a player thatpeople were high on in the
Jacksonville community, um, butalso they are getting somebody
who helps them in a lot of areaswhere they are weak at, not just
because of injury, but in termsof the technical aspect that
(06:21):
he'll bring into that widereceiver room and the leadership
he'll bring in the experience.
So we'll talk about that todayas we have an action-packed
episode.
And I I say this all the time.
I I hope to not make this one along one, which is kind of good
that Phil is not here becauseit's more than enough to talk
(06:41):
about for my uh just for me as asolo podcaster.
But just imagine if he was here,we'd really be rambling and
going off.
But I hope to keep this one asclose to 30 minutes as I can.
That never works out.
We'll see if I can.
And um, all of that said, let'sget right into it.
But before we get into it,actually, of course, we got to
(07:04):
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You can find our podcast interms of platforms on any of the
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(07:25):
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(07:47):
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day and age of uh overly pricedthings, right?
Okay, so getting right into thethick of things here.
The Jacksonville Jaguars, uh,we'll get into the game last in
(08:55):
this uh two-part segment.
Uh, we'll start with the tradebecause that's the most recent
news.
But the Jacksonville Jaguars andJames Gladstone and and what a
difference a change in GM makes,right?
Because around this time, youknow, we'd be dealing with a
stingy Trent Balkey who wouldn'twant to give up a fourth-round
pick for something that couldturn the team around, right?
(09:17):
But that's not the case anymore.
Um, not to dance on TrentBalkey's grave.
We have a GM here who is alwaysnot just on the trade deadline,
not just, you know, after the52-man roster was first
constructed, but is alwayslooking, and he has said this
himself, always looking for away to improve the roster.
(09:42):
And he did that in a big way interms of landing.
Jacoby Myers, who they just sawliterally on Sunday playing
across the field from them andgot a up-close and personal look
at, and probably even got anup-close and personal look at um
in terms of the pregame processwhen all of the executives are
on the field and whatnot andwhat have you.
(10:03):
But I have the Jaguars PRrelease pulled up here as they
agreed to terms to um receiveLas Vegas Raiders or former Las
Vegas Raiders receiver JacobyMyers, who entered the league in
what was it, 2019 as anundrafted player with the New
(10:23):
England Patriots.
And they will be sending afourth and a sixth round pick to
the Las Vegas Raiders inexchange for him.
So first we'll start there withthe compensation.
Um, while Myers is on the lastyear of his deal, um, to me, a
fourth and a six isn't too muchto give up, um, especially when
(10:46):
considering how many draft picksthe Jaguars had and just how bad
off they were at receiver.
Um, not just because of justunderperforming there, but
injuries as well.
Um, and also to we'll talk aboutthis in a little bit, but um,
they're also getting uh, whichis kind of rare for a wide
(11:06):
receiver, they're getting a aplayer in Myers who uh could
probably hit the ground runninghere with the Jacksonville
Jaguars, despite how difficultit is to do that at the wide
receiver position after justbeing traded to a team.
Now, Liam Cohen um talked abouthim, I think it was today, on
Wednesday, in the pressconference, um, saying that, you
(11:28):
know, in this scheme, in hisscheme specifically, the outside
the boundary receivers um it'spretty clear-cut and dry what
they have to do in theirassignments, or it's a little
bit easier to understand theirassignments as opposed to you
know your slot receiver.
Um, so while Myers is a verygood slot receiver, it sounds
(11:53):
like the plan is to use him onthe perimeter because you know,
he's just getting here and it'sa lot to learn.
And um, you know, you you kindof want to hit the ground
running with him.
So it sounds like that's gonnabe the plan first and foremost
with him.
And he said that ParkerWashington will handle things in
the interior.
And and by the way, ParkerWashington, we'll talk about
this, had a great game, man.
He looked phenomenal out there,just holding it down while, you
(12:16):
know, we were dealing withinjuries, and we were just kind
of undermanned, if you will, um,at the wide receiver position.
So there's that in terms of howthey'll use him.
But Jacoby Myers entered theleague 2019 with the New England
Patriots as an undrafted player.
He went to the University ofNorth Carolina State.
So he was with the Wolfpack uhfrom Lithonia, Georgia, um, at
(12:41):
the Atlanta area.
So he'll be close to home.
He he's got to be excited aboutthat.
Uh and left his collegiatecareer with the Wolf Pack with a
total of 168 receptions for 100for excuse me, 1,932 yards and
nine touchdowns.
After entering the draft in2019, he remained with the
(13:03):
Patriots as an undrafted playerfrom 2019 to 2022.
He joined the Raiders in freeagency in 2023 and totaled a
career total of 426 receptionsfor 4,944 yards and 20
touchdowns in 98 games at 76starts.
(13:27):
His career highs came at uh theor during the 2024 season, where
he had 87 receptions with theRaiders for 1,027 yards.
That is the only time he'sregistered 1,000 yards, if I'm
not mistaken, and four touchdownreceptions.
Now, in terms of what he bringsto the table, he had his first
(13:48):
practice with the team.
So he's getting acclimated withthe team that he was quote
unquote just talking crazy to onthe opposite side with the
Raiders on Sunday.
Now he has to get acclimatedwith the guys he was talking
crazy with.
But that's the league, you know,and you know, they can all put
that past him.
Of course, it's it's easy to dothat when you're you're fighting
(14:09):
for the same cause, right?
And of course, mo emotions arehigh, especially in a game of
that magnitude.
So, you know, I doubt it's anylove lost.
But he had his first practicewith the team.
And in terms of my thoughts onthe trade and what he brings to
the equation, as I alreadymentioned, uh, the compensation
don't really bother me.
Um, even though the Jaguars havescored, not necessarily in the
(14:34):
fourth round, to myrecollection, but they have
scored some um or picked up somesome notable players in the
sixth round.
Um, I think what Cam Little wasone of them.
We'll talk about him later.
And Parker Washington, I think,was one, um, if I'm not
mistaken.
Um, but still, nonetheless, it'snot a big deal to give up a late
(14:55):
round pick when considering howbanged up they were, and you
know, what other options therewould have been right out there
to get, right?
You got practice squad guys, ofcourse, who who stepped up big
for us, by the way.
We'll talk about that too.
Uh, a lot to talk about here.
Um, you know, you got practicesquad guys, and then you got the
guys you could have gotten offthe street.
How many of those guys arebetter than Jacoby Myers?
(15:17):
Although he does have to learnthe system, right?
Who brings this physical skillset that he has and the ability
and the experience that he hasand the stats and the statistics
and the accomplishments, right,that he brings to the table?
Not many.
You sure aren't gonna get thatout of a rookie that you would
have, you know, used yoursixth-round pick on or your
(15:38):
fourth round pick on.
You know, chances are he isgonna be way better than
anything you could have gottenin those two rounds.
So there's that which I alreadydiscussed.
From a talent standpoint, I lovethe trade for many reasons, and
I I even watched a full game ofhim.
I think it was against theBroncos or the Chiefs last year,
(16:00):
and I watched a lot ofhighlights from him as well.
But Myers, even though, youknow, they already said they
won't probably use him in theslot as much as people are
hoping for out of the gate, atleast.
Um, you know, he's a guy thatreally will help this team in
terms of those interior patternsand those interior routes that
(16:20):
um can help get Trevor Lawrencegoing.
If y'all can remember whenBrenton Strange was healthy and
he was, you know, hopefully weget him back, but when he was a
part of this offense, Trevorwent to him in the middle of the
offense a lot, you know, forthese interior patterns and
stuff like that.
But the injury came and, youknow, that sidelined him for a
little bit.
(16:40):
But that's kind of one of thethings that I believe will help
get Trevor going and you knowwould have helped him to have a
better season than he's havingif he had strange is that big
target um to hit for shortroutes in the middle of the
field.
So Myers does help with that,whether it's now or later down
the road, if they re-sign himand bring him back, whatever the
(17:02):
case may be, he does give TrevorLawrence that type of target um
in the interior of the field.
And we've seen how Brian Thomaslooks when he has to go across
the middle, right?
So there's that, and it, youknow, it hasn't been pretty,
right?
You know, and here we are havingsecond thoughts.
I've even said it as go as faras you know, trading the young
man.
They didn't, and um, it'sprobably for the better that
(17:25):
they didn't when you look at thecondition of their uh wide
receiver room in the firstplace.
And you know, the talent isthere, but at the same time,
some of the things that youcan't coach kind of scare me
with him.
But you know, you never know,man.
Like we might get the old BrianThomas uh back, and I'll just
have to eat my words, and Iwould love to, right?
(17:47):
Because I love what I saw fromhim last year.
I would love to eat my words onTrade Brian Thomas Jr.
And I'm hoping he proves mewrong and a bunch of other
people wrong.
But in terms of helping his teamin the middle of the field, he
hasn't done that very much.
Um, of course, there was the thebig catch against the Texans,
right?
But aside from that, you know,it's been shaky.
(18:09):
It's been shaky.
Um, but all of that said, Myersreally helps in that regard.
Um, and he also just givesTrevor Lawrence not just an easy
target to hit in the middle ofthe field, but in general.
Because Myers, one thing abouthim that I notice is he adjusts
to balls well.
Um, pause, by the way, but headjusts to um the quarterback's
(18:33):
throws well, regardless as to ifit's a little off or not.
And we're talking about a guywho also has kind of seen
success with just like a kind ofa revolving doorhead
quarterback, right?
It was one game, I think, yeah,that I watched where Minshew
was, you know, the quarterback,and then they had to bring in
(18:54):
Minshew's backup um becauseMinshew, I think, was replacing
O'Connell, who was hurt, andthen Minshew's backup had to
come in who was um I'm the nameis escaping me right now.
It was the kid that the theFalcons drafted, uh Desmond
Ritter.
That's it.
Desmond Ritter had to come in.
And um, I think he got a fewpasses out there that Jacoby
(19:17):
caught.
So um he in that regard, he kindof reminds me, not saying
they're the same receiver, butof a DeAndre Hopkins, of like
regardless of who thequarterback was for the Texans.
It was one time where the Texanswent through like three
quarterbacks, right?
It was like Watson, Yates, andsomebody else, and and Nook
Hopkins was going off withwhoever was back there, right?
(19:38):
He kind of reminds me of Nook inthat regard, and I think he
won't have a hard time adjustingto Trevor Lawrence after just
adjusting to all of the thequarterbacks that he dealt with
with the Raiders, and evenbefore that in New England,
right?
Cam Newton was one of them.
Then it went from him to MacJones.
So this guy's not somebody whohasn't seen his share of
(19:58):
different quarterbacks and anddifferent types of uh passes
thrown to him and differentpassing speeds and so on and so
forth.
So I think that's one of thereasons he'll hit the ground
running is because he just hasshown his ability to adjust to
you know whoever is back thereuh pulling the trigger.
And yeah, he makes all of theadjustments you like to see.
Um it was one time where headjusted well to a Minshew back
(20:21):
shoulder throw, right?
Then he went from that toadjusting later in the year when
I was watching some morehighlights, adjusting to
O'Connell's throws.
Who it looks like he throws alittle bit of uh a stronger pass
than Minshew.
Um, it was one where I forgotthe the Chiefs corner that uh
(20:42):
that was guarding him or thatwas covering him, but um
O'Connell had to throw the ballbehind the the cornerback on an
outbreaking route, and Myers hadto adapt to it because normally,
you know, those passes go closerto the sideline as opposed to
the opposite.
And Myers adapted to it, caughtthe ball, and it was, you know,
(21:03):
one of the um more impressivecatches that he had that year,
right?
But that just kind of just goesto show you that you know, if if
it's a day where Trevor's off,he has the ability to adapt to
you know whatever kind of passesare thrown his way.
And um also his hands, man,which Gladstone mentioned,
right?
He has um pretty good hands, anduh, I think Daniel Griffiths
(21:26):
even put out a tweet about umhis drop percentage, which was
lower than everybody.
Uh maybe aside from TravisHunter, I'll pull that up.
Give me one second here.
Yeah, so um shout outs to DanielD.
Griffiths.
He has um the catch percentagesfor the Jaguars top receivers,
um, or excuse me, the droppercentage.
(21:48):
Brian Thomas Jr., 18.9.
That's putrid, but you know, um,we we don't want to kick the man
while he's down, but you know,that just kind of is the story
of his 2025 season.
Deami Brown, 17.4% drop rate,which isn't great at all.
Parker Washington, uh 13.8, whoseems to be getting better with
(22:11):
his hands as the seasonprogresses, but that's you know,
double figures there.
Travis Hunter, 6.7% drop rate,and Jacoby Myers actually has a
lower one than Travis Hunter,5.7.
So reliable hands, JamesGladstone, as I mentioned,
pointed that out as well.
So it helps in that regardbecause the Jaguars have led the
league in drops for the last twoyears or so, and we're just
(22:33):
tired of seeing drop passes, anduh, you know, he uh could be a
shot in the arm and fixing thator getting better results there
and putting us in a positionwhere we're not leading the
league there or are you knowmaking a good bit of improvement
on that number, which you don'tlike to be atop the league in.
All right, and also to the size,um, which I kind of already
(22:56):
mentioned.
I said he's a big target, but uhyeah, we got a young man here
who is 6'2, 193 pounds.
So, you know, um he should beable to um take all of the
contact that you would take as aum a guy that might catch some
interior passes.
(23:16):
Um the height is where you wouldlike, especially for a guy that
plays a lot in the slot, youknow.
Um that's that's pretty tall fora slot guy.
He's kind of a little biggerthan um your prototypical slot
guy.
Uh, maybe that's why he's had somuch success there.
But all around, man, just lovethe trade.
I love the Jaguars thoughtprocess, right, of understanding
(23:38):
that they needed to make a movethere.
Trent Balkey, you know, he wouldhave had some half, you know
what, attempt at maybe fixing abig need that the team would
have right now.
But he wouldn't have the stomachor he wouldn't have the
wherewithal to package the pickstogether and and pull the
trigger, right?
He'd be trying to basicallylowball whoever it was um that
(24:02):
he was trying to trade with.
And um, yeah, shoutouts toGladstone for that.
That's just a breath of freshair, as I mentioned earlier.
Um, them just understanding thatthey need somebody that's a
reliable target with betterhands and just knowing the
gravity of how beat up the thewide receiving core was.
Trent Balkey would have probablybeen trying to just make the
(24:23):
make up the difference witheverybody in practice squad,
right?
Which a lot of times they don'tgo according to plan, even
though our guys on practicesquad did step up.
But um, you know, Balkey wouldhave been trying to send four
practice squad guys out there toget through a game.
Like, no.
But in addition to that, um, itwas also reported by David
Schultz or um Jordan Schultz,I'm sorry, from Bleacher Report
(24:47):
that the Jacksonville Jaguarswere one of those teams who were
like heavy in pursuit of QuentinWilliams, right?
And um, that didn't go throughultimately because the Dallas
Cowboys gave up a first roundpick for him.
They had two.
Um, so they got in the way ofthat.
Thanks a lot.
Dallas Fields second team, bythe way.
Great job on their part, right?
(25:08):
But um just the mindset ofGladstone trying to make a trade
that big, right?
Understanding, you know, how badoff they are um in the interior
in terms of not necessarilyinjuries, but they're just not
getting any push there, right?
They they need that guy to getsome push there.
And Williams is one of thoseguys that I mentioned, like that
I would like to land, but I justdidn't want to give up what it
(25:31):
may take.
Because we, you know, we'realready we've already given up
our first round pick for forHunter.
And then if you, you know, if itcame to it, I would have been
okay now with giving up thesecond round pick that we have
uh to acquire Williams.
Because, like, who are you gonnaget in the second round that has
the skill set that he does?
And I think he has more than oneyear left on this deal.
(25:53):
But in this scenario, thatwouldn't have been enough
because again, the Cowboys camein and they had a better deal.
They offered a first round pick,and I think more.
So you can only give Gladstoneprops for trying, like, he can't
give them a first-round pickthat we don't have, right?
Like, and Dallas certainlyprobably didn't want the 2026
(26:13):
for first round pick.
That's too far out, right?
Like, they probably wantedsomething immediately, uh, but
or immediate, but nonetheless,um, shout outs to James
Gladstone as he he continues toum you know make moves and veer
away from what we're accustomedto seeing and what we saw at the
GM position for four years.
(26:35):
All right, so now for the gameitself, which was a nail biter,
um, it got off to a real slowstart.
So the uh second quarter and theend result um look nothing like
the first two quarters.
But as I mentioned, theJacksonville Jaguars acquired
(26:55):
their fifth win of the season,surpassing their 2024 win total
of four, um, putting them at arecord of five and three.
Acquired win number five.
Um going against or after a gameagainst the Las Vegas Raiders in
Las Vegas, another West Coastwin under Liam Cohen by a score
(27:15):
of 30 to 29.
And we'll go through the statsreal quick here.
Don't want to spend too muchtime on them, but I mean, then
again, they are an importantpart of the game.
Um, Trevor Lawrence um was 23 of34 for 220 yards, and he had a
pick, a very, very, veryquestionable and bone-headed
(27:37):
pick that uh I don't have thewords to get into, but we'll
we'll talk about Trevor a littlebit later.
Um, because at the end of theday, he cleaned that up, did
what had to be done.
So um, yeah, shoutouts to TrevorLawrence getting past that
mistake.
Um, we have here also Travis ETNled the way.
(27:59):
We'll talk about the run game ingeneral, but he led the way for
the run game.
22 carries for 84 yards, had a3.8 um average in terms of yards
per carry.
His stats probably don't speakabout or or say enough about how
much of an impact he was, butwe'll talk about that a little
bit.
Beshall Tootin was right behindhim, nine carries for 29 yards,
(28:22):
had a 3.2 average, had onetouchdown.
Trevor Lawrence had nine carriesfor 24 yards for two touchdowns.
So he helped the team a lot inthat regard, in terms of making
up for his pick.
Parker Washington led the way orfor the receiver's core, eight
(28:42):
receptions for 80 yards, orexcuse me, 90.
I need glasses.
Um, but yeah, he led the way forthat group as um Brian Thomas uh
was dealing with a little bit ofan injury towards the end.
He had three receptions, andthat was good for 55 yards.
He was second on the team inreceiving, but they leaned on
(29:02):
the run game here in this game.
Um, shout outs to Cam Little,who um was three for three on
field goals, and he hit one ofthose for the league record,
ladies and gentlemen.
We got um Cam Little will beprobably um enshrined or
(29:23):
acknowledged in some way, shape,or form at Canton for his
68-yard kick lead high.
Um, got the NFL record.
They're probably gonna ask himto send his jersey that way or
whatever the case may be.
I think they did that for theone that he kicked in the
preseason, which was actuallylonger.
So, Cam Little, you know,getting the Jaguars name and the
Jaguars logo and Jaguarsmemorabilia into Canton, at
(29:48):
least temporarily.
He might send some morememorabilia there down the road
in terms of surpassing his ownrecord.
We'll see and time will tell.
But um, he, you know, got over arocky season, you Know with this
game or through this game, andhopefully that consent
continues.
But he was three of three, 100%on his kicks.
So, yep, that's um the biggestcontribution on special teams on
(30:11):
defense.
Um, Foyer Lewickin led the wayin tackles, had 11 total
tackles, had one for loss andhad one pass breakup.
Jarian Jones was um right behindhim with 10 tackles.
In regards to sacks, um EmmanuelOgba had a half a sack.
Josh Hines Allen had a sack anda half, which he got late in the
(30:33):
game in the fourth quarter andthen in overtime.
Um so yeah, he what I believe hetied the record in terms of um
Jacksonville players in terms ofsacks.
So um I think in the next gamehe should be able to surpass
that.
Let's hope he can get to thequarterback better than he has
been.
And then on the Raiders side,we'll go through that briefly.
(30:55):
Um Geno Smith, 29 of 39, had 284passing yards uh through four
touchdowns and one pick in termsof the run game.
Um, they didn't get much goingthere, but Ashton Genty, uh
Jacksonville Native, uh had 13carries for 42 yards, a good for
a 3.2 yard average.
(31:17):
Um, they didn't get anytouchdowns through the run game.
Um, Brock Bowers, man, what atask he was to cover in this
game.
And I would know personally, godogs, by the way.
Big Brock Bowers fan.
Watched that kid since he was afreshman at Georgia, man, and
even seen some of his highschool stuff.
(31:37):
Not the slightest bit surprisedthat he's becoming what he has
become.
But he had 12 receptions led theway for them receiving with 127
yards and three touchdowns.
So three of Gino's fourtouchdown passes went to him.
The other one went to AshtonGenty, um, who had five
receptions.
He was second on the team inthat regard with 47 yards.
(32:01):
I think that's a good place tostart with the statistics for
the game, and uh, we'll actuallyget into my takeaways here.
And again, I want to make theseum quick because I think I have
hit the 30-minute mark.
So um let's see if I couldactually achieve that here.
But um, I got four here.
I might not speak on all ofthem, but I got four.
(32:24):
The first one that I'll startwith, and I have it in my notes
here that this was simply agritty win, as I mentioned
earlier.
It was a must-win because therest of the division lost their
games and it gave theJacksonville Jaguars an
opportunity to gain ground.
And then even in regards to thatwildcard race, I think the
Chiefs got bumped down becauseof their loss to the Bills, if
(32:47):
I'm not mistaken.
And um that bumped them even outof the last wild card spot, at
least for now.
And the Jaguars hold that spot,but it was a must-win and it was
a gritty win in regards to theJacksonville Jaguars.
They were already beat up cominginto the game a little bit.
They were without Devin Lloyd,right?
Big time player form.
(33:08):
They were without Travis Hunter.
We didn't even talk about TravisHunter.
So much going on here.
Travis Hunter has been placed onIR.
Um, now the good news is as wegot closer um to today, it was
revealed that the injury mightnot hold him out as long as
projected.
(33:28):
So, you know, he could belooking at maybe, of course,
four weeks because he's on IR.
Um, but if more than four weeks,it it won't be much more than
four weeks.
At least it's sounded like rightnow.
We'll monitor that as time goeson.
But that was one of the talkingpoints I didn't even get into.
But Travis Hunter on IR put theJaguars in a predicament where
(33:49):
they were gonna be without theguy who they planned on being
their number one coming out ofthe bye week.
But of course, that's the game,right?
Injuries happen, and you justhave to adapt, right?
And um, that is exactly whatthey did.
They were able to etch out agritty win here without him,
without Devin Lloyd, withoutBrenton Strange coming into the
(34:13):
game.
And then when we got into thegame, it felt like the the team
just started dropping like fliesat that point, man.
And that's just kind of thenature of a physical game like
that.
You know, you kind of you'replaying a Pete Carroll team,
even though their record is, youknow, one that just shows them
having what, two wins, two andsix.
Um, but still, you know, PeteCarroll teams are gritty.
(34:35):
They were coming off of bye-weektwo, right?
Um, and you know, they're ahard-nosed team.
They um they embody Pete Carrolland who he is.
And I know a lot of people willargue that he needs to retire,
but at the very least, you'regonna be facing the physical
team anytime you face a teamwith Pete Carroll's name tied to
it.
But it felt like the Jaguarswere dropping like flies, and
they could have easily foldedand lost this game like they
(35:00):
would have in the past,especially granted the
circumstances, it would havebeen easy to just tuck your tail
and say, like, yeah, this one isnot one we're gonna win, right?
And that might be why the scorewas so close.
A lot of people keep saying,like, yeah, we won, but we beat
a bad team.
But when looking at thecircumstances of the condition
that Jaguars roster was goinginto this game and even the
(35:24):
condition they came out of thegame where they lost even more
people during the game, a 30 to29 win looks a little bit more
impressive than people want togive them credit for.
And seeing all of these peoplewere saying they beat a bad
team.
Yeah, they beat a bad team, andthey were tremendously
understaffed, if you will,right?
They get into the game and theylose some more additions in
(35:47):
addition to Brent Strange, inaddition to Devin Lloyd, in
addition to Travis Hunter.
Um at some point, I think thirdquarter, Deomi Brown is out for
a concussion.
They lose Ezra Cleveland at somepoint in the game.
So they they have to startputting Cole Van Lannon in, who
(36:07):
was playing anyway, because theywere rolling out jumbo packages.
But now he has to step in atguard.
Brian Thomas Jr.
acquires a high ankle sprain.
I think it was a high anklesprain, but a low grade high
ankle sprain.
He acquires a high ankle sprainon his last reception, even
though I think he did come infor a little bit, come back in
for a little bit, but anklesprains, especially high ones,
(36:29):
even if it's a low grade one,isn't anything to play with,
right?
So they lost two of their threetop receivers, really just
leaving Parker Washington interms of your most notable
receivers.
You lose one of your startingoffensive linemen in Cleveland.
Hunter Long also got hurt in thefirst or second quarter, too.
Now he came back in, but uh helooked like he was in a world of
(36:50):
pain when he got hurt.
So you were kind of thin a lotof the game or a good portion of
the game.
You were thin at tight end,right?
Which that's no easy task to getover.
They also lost Jordan Lewis, ateam captain, you know, probably
arguably their best defensiveplayer because Josh Hines Allen
(37:11):
just kind of hasn't been whatwe've been accustomed to.
And in his defense, you know,they need more interior push to
help him.
But they they lost Jordan Lewis,they lost a team captain, so
they came out of this gamebanged up.
And, you know, for them to evenget to a point where they can
send this game into overtime andthen have the wherewithal to go
(37:33):
into overtime without many ofthese players I mentioned, they
were hurt at that point, if notall of them, and still find a
way to win.
That that shows the kind ofcharacter that this team has
under Liam Cohen.
Because again, as I mentioned,they would have folded.
Um, had this been a Trent Balkeyor a Doug Peterson team, they
would have folded, they wouldhave let the injuries get the
(37:53):
best of them.
It would have got to theirheads, and they would have found
a way to lose this game.
But instead, they found a way towin it.
That used to be the theme,right?
They'll find a way to lose it.
Well, they found a way to winthis one.
And uh, you got to give themprops where props are due
because they needed this one.
They needed this one,absolutely, to gain ground on
(38:14):
the division and um, you know,also stay um within reach of the
wild card as well.
And now we have a situationwhere the Colts have just one
win or one loss more than theJacksonville Jaguars.
So um it helped them in thatregard.
Now, the second takeaway is withall of those injuries, and a lot
(38:35):
of which I mentioned on theoffensive side, some on the
defensive side.
Um, shoutouts to TrevorLawrence, man, who threw a a
pick that we all would ratherforget, right?
One of the worst picks we everseen in a long time.
And in his defense, he had beentaking at the very least,
despite his struggles throughoutthese last few weeks, he had at
least been taking care of theball.
(38:56):
And then that happened, right?
And it's like, oh my God.
And, you know, I put out a tweetat halftime that it was time to
step up, man.
Right?
It's it's basic concepts of thegame that he's not getting.
This is basically what I said inthe tweet.
And um, you know, they weren'tgonna win the game without him,
obviously.
You know, he it was time for himto step up and lead this team,
(39:20):
which was kind of flat.
Thanks to Cam Little, you know,we went in the halftime with a
with a shot in the arm.
So they were kind of flatotherwise.
And when you're making the moneythat he's making, and when
you're the number one overallpick, um, that's when the eyes
start to turn to you, especiallywhen you're losing your like
some of your best player or roleplayers one by one by one.
(39:42):
It's like, okay, well, this oneis really gonna have to fall on
you, Trevor Lawrence.
And man, did he answer it, man?
Because, you know, it's it'scrazy because last week, right?
I think it was last week or weekbefore last, before we went into
Dubai, you know, everybody uhrightfully was highly upset with
Trevor.
And um, I can remember even theuh the tweet that Wig put out
(40:03):
for lockdown, Jack Wars.
Shout out to Wig and thewonderful work that he does
there, where he said, you know,he finds himself often saying,
Show me something, Trevor, showme something.
And I agree, like, not just him,like I do and other fans do, and
Phil does, my co-host, and youknow, all of my friends that are
Jack Wars fans.
We always find ourselves in thissituation where, you know, we're
(40:26):
we're looking for him to show ussomething.
And this is coming from me, aTrevor Lawrence defender.
And he answered that call, Wig.
And ladies and gentlemen, noweverybody that has been asking
him to show us something, hedid.
You know, in that second half,he got going, he led this team
like a leader should help to uhhelp them to acquire what.
(40:49):
Um, and and you know, a lot ofit you you could say was was
helped by Tramble as well andhis big time kick return, too.
But in terms of the second, orexcuse me, the third and fourth
quarter, the JacksonvilleJaguars were able to put up 20
points, right?
And you don't do that withoutyour quarterback, obviously.
And another key factor to thatwas Trav's Etienne.
We'll talk about him in a littlebit later.
(41:11):
But Trevor, in terms of thepassing game and connecting with
especially Parker Washington,um, were also keys to the
Jacksonville Jaguars, um,getting those 19 or um 20 points
that they got in the second halfwhen they really got going.
Keep in mind they only hadthree, which was the Cam Little
(41:32):
kick you know in the first twoquarters.
So um they really ignited fromthat kick and Trevor Lawrence um
linking up with ParkerWashington is a key reason that
they were able to get going inthat second half and even in
halftime.
So shout outs to him becausethat's what you like to see out
of your quarterback.
Again, a lot of people willthrow out there, oh, well, it
(41:54):
was against the Raiders andthis, that, and the other.
But again, keep in mind he'sdoing this while understaffed on
the offensive side, losingHunter Long, you know, a key
part of the blocking game, andlosing Ezra Cleveland
eventually, and losing BrianThomas eventually, and you
losing Deomi Brown eventually.
(42:15):
For him to be able to do thatdespite all of that, and remain
focused and keep his head in thegame, even it also, you know, he
could have let that pick get tohim too, in addition to all of
these injuries.
But remaining focused and havingtunnel vision, focusing on the
vision, making sure he could getthe team through this all and
through this rocky start, andyou know, through this two-game
(42:37):
stretch in which, you know, theylost the previous two games.
For him to remain focused andcome out at halftime and come
out firing how he was was veryimpressive on his part.
And, you know, it could be thestart, especially with the
addition of Jacoby Myers, now itcould be the start of him
trending upwards, right, andgetting going and starting to
(42:57):
look like you know, TrevorLawrence looked in that um 20,
what was it, 2022 season, uhDoug Peterson's first season,
where he um caught fire afterthose first five, six games or
so.
So I'm excited about what heshowed us against the Raiders.
And going to my third takeaway,another key, which this helped
(43:19):
Trevor as well.
And um, they probably, you know,part of it was probably
injuries, right?
You know, you kind of had to gothis way.
But Liam, even before theinjuries, though, in this game,
Liam got back to his roots,running the ball, which I had
said needed to be done.
Um, like in that Rams game.
A lot of people keep saying,like, they got away from the run
(43:39):
in the Rams game because thegame got out of hand.
But you I could make theargument that in the third
quarter that they could have ranthe ball a little bit more in
the third quarter of that Ramsgame.
Like, they got away from itquicker than they should have,
in my opinion.
Like, I think they should havegotten to the run game at least
to slow things down at the ratethat the Rams were going, slow
(44:00):
things down in that thirdquarter with the run game, and
also give you your defense abreather instead of just going
past happy at that point.
Because I think it was, youknow, the Rams were up 21 to zip
or 21 to whatever the Jaguarshad at that point.
You need to slow the game down alittle bit and limit those
possessions the Rams would havehad.
And uh he got back to his rootsto his credit.
(44:21):
I digress from one point, andum, he was led by Travis Hunter
in that run game, who had animpressive game, and then you
got to be happy for TravisHunter, man, who, or excuse me,
Travis ETN, who um, you rememberagain, I I talk about this all
the time.
After the first game last year,he was kind of down and
deflated, right?
(44:41):
And here he is, man.
Um, after that that Miami gamethat I'm talking about last
year, man, being a leader forthis team and leading the way,
man.
He looked like he had MauriceJones drew in his body, the way
he was running out therephysically, right?
And Leah mentioned this too.
The physicality that he broughtto the table really is something
(45:03):
that ignited this team as well.
And it's crazy because, youknow, this is the first year
we're kind of seeing that out ofhim, right?
Uh, he was a little bit more ofa finesse guy and a guy you see,
you know, running routes andwhat have you, but he's lowering
his shoulder.
And you know, these times, youknow, the times where he was,
excuse me, having physical runsum under the Doug Peterson
(45:24):
regime, it looks like he wasjust getting straight blasted
out there.
He would, you know, fall twoyards back and what have you.
Now he's the one running overpeople, right?
It's the total opposite.
And he's running well in betweenthe tackles.
And it looks like, you know,linebackers and and safeties and
defensive backs, you know, theymight want to strap their chin
(45:44):
straps up a little bit tighterwhen when running up on Travis
Etienne and trying to bring himdown because he is a way more
physical or much more physicalrunner than he was last year.
And he's looking to hurt peoplethis year, you know, and he
still has those flashy elementsto his game, too, as well.
So he he hasn't lost that aswell, but he's added a physical
(46:08):
element to his game.
And then, you know, there weresome good runs again.
Like, you know, nobody averagedover four yards a carry, but
Basil Tootin has some good runsin there.
He had the touchdown as well.
Um, he had the one in inovertime as well for like 12
yards, and I think the Jaguarsran the ball like seven times in
(46:31):
that overtime.
Like, I think all of theirplays, or many most of their
plays were run plays inovertime, right?
So they just flat out leaned onthe physicality at that point,
and they chewed up a good bit ofclock in the process, too, as
well.
So, man, shout outs to gettingback to the run game, man.
Like, that's gonna be the key togetting us to the playoffs,
(46:52):
especially in December.
You got to run the ball well inDecember.
And I'm glad, you know, that inthe bye week they took the time
to assess themselves and realizewhat they needed to do.
You know, they they had to do itin a unique way, they had to
bring out some jumbo packagesand all of that.
But, you know, the run gamecould come a little bit easier
when we get Brenton Strangeback.
Um, hopefully we get some moreguys back in terms of Hunter
(47:15):
Long.
He's on the injury report now,as I mentioned, got injured in
the game, even though hereturned.
Uh Jacoby Myers, you know, givesyou a good stall blocker, a nice
size stall blocker.
So there's that too.
But yeah, man, just glad to seethat element brought back to
this offense and the physicalitybrought back to the offense.
And lastly, um certainly notleast, shout outs to Cam Little.
(47:38):
That's my last takeaway.
Um, overcoming just a roughpatch that he had previously
coming to this game.
You know, you get the bye week,you get to rest your mind a
little bit, get your mind right.
And, you know, his umwherewithal was tested in a big
way coming out of that bye week.
Liam Cohen sends him on thefield to kick a record high, a
(48:00):
lead high, 68-yard kick.
He nailed it.
Of course, he had to have somelow trajectory, but he nailed it
and um had some some room tospare too.
He could have hit that from 70.
But um, as as Mark Slarent saidin the the telecast, and you
know what, while we're on it,man, I couldn't help but laugh
at a lot of the um things MarkSlarenth was saying in the
(48:25):
broadcast, and you know, thethoughts of the fans um in terms
of what he was saying.
He's never been a well-likedbroadcaster anyway, right?
Or um commentator.
Um, but it was just funny towatch that unfold, man.
And you know what?
I I had a funny thought, man.
And I want to know y'all'sthoughts on this.
Let us know in the comments oron Twitter or whatever the case
(48:46):
may be.
But I had a thought because I Isaw how how unliked Slarent's
commentating was during thegame, but um I had this random
thought of just asking you allas fans.
It's it's kind of one of thosejoking things.
But um, if you had to listen toMark Slarenth and Chris
(49:08):
Collinsworth for the rest of theseason in a booth together, just
so the Jaguars would make thepostseason.
And I'm sure all Jaguars fanswill say, Yeah, I could do it.
I could do it.
But I want to know how hard of atask that would be just to see
our beloved Jaguars in thepostseason.
Let me know how hard of a taskthat would be to hear both Mark
(49:31):
Slayer and Chris Collinsworth ina booth together from this point
to the end of the season.
Jaguars are guaranteed a playoffspot if you can do it.
Just let me know how difficultof a time you would have doing
it for your beloved Jaguars.
Real curious on that.
But going back to Cam Little,who was three of three on his um
(49:51):
field goals and made all of hisextra points.
Shout outs to him getting overthat rough patch and you know,
just answering the call andbeing tested to kick the
league's longest field goalafter that rough patch that he
had come through or that he hadbeen through, going out there
with ice in his veins andnailing it, man.
And I really love this for himand his relationship with Liam
(50:13):
Cohen.
Because when Liam mentioned inthe bye week that we're not
bringing in any competition,there were some people who said,
I don't like that.
You know, I don't like that, andit actually put a smile on my
face.
I totally agree with what Liamwas thinking, even though I was
one of the people saying I, youknow, hit the panic button on
him, but at the same time, Iwasn't necessarily saying
(50:35):
bringing in, bring incompetition for Cam Little,
right?
I was saying I hit the panicbutton in regards to he needs to
turn it on quickly beforebringing in some competition.
I wasn't at the point ofbringing in competition, but you
know, I you know, I was sayingthat I was getting there, but
quite not there yet because ofjust how he's wired mentally.
(50:57):
And I figured the kid would getover it because he he's kicked
in these high-pressureatmospheres in the SEC.
And he has the right mindset.
He really does.
And Liam even said it, the kiddidn't he hadn't missed a kick
in practice for three weeks.
So, you know, I didn't know thatat the time, but I did know that
he probably wasn't having anyissues in practice, and that,
(51:20):
you know, it's just one of thosethings he was just gonna have to
mentally get himself through.
And that is absolutely the wayto do it, right?
Is hitting a record kick um forthe league and you know, for
your team.
And also just at the moment thatit that the kick arrived, right?
The team was flat, they neededit, man.
He ignited them, and they again,they you know, scored 20 points
(51:44):
in regulation and then anotherseven in in overtime as a result
of him igniting them and gettingthem going, and they went into
the locker room on a high.
So shout outs to him because hechanged the outcome of the game.
He was the the X factor of thegame, and I'm glad that he's
back, and um, you know,hopefully this continues head
and forward, and um that youknow we can continue to um make
(52:08):
him the poster guy for theJacksonville Jaguars, right?
He's on all of their little umprowler ads for the prowler
jerseys and what have you, man.
But shout outs to him, man.
And uh, yeah, I appreciate himproving me right in terms of
just kind of my belief in him.
And I mean, look, man, for himto kick the, you know, make the
kick that he made, you know, andit being a record kick, that
(52:30):
kind of proves that theyabsolutely should have, you
know, that that's the reason, Iguess I would say, when you look
at his his kicking ability andhis leg strength, that's
absolutely the reason why Liamsaid we're not giving up on this
kid, right?
Is like he has the ability to bein the record books, right?
You don't give up on that,right?
And Liam, kudos to him for beinga good coach and recognizing
(52:52):
that.
You don't give up on somebodywith the leg strength and the
leg talent and the accuracy thathe has just because he went
through a rough patch.
And you know, this could be thenot just the thing that ignited
the Jaguar season, but thismight be what ignites Cam
Little's career to new heights.
And you know, who knows?
Later down the road, we'relooking at a Pro Bowl kicker,
(53:13):
maybe a Hall of Fame kicker, anall-pro kicker, who knows?
But this will be the point wherehe looks back at and says, Hey,
that was the turning point in mycareer.
Shout out to Liam Cohen forgetting me through it.
So, all of that said, man, wewill go ahead and wrap this one
up.
As I mentioned, you know whereto find the podcast and our
website, touchdownjads.com.
(53:35):
Podcast is on all the majorplatforms.
iTunes, SoundCloud, uh, notSoundCloud.
Oh my god, I sound like I soundlike the early 2000s here.
Um, iTunes, Apple Music,Spotify, you name it, Amazon
Music, we're there.
And if we aren't there, let usknow.
We'll get there.
Of course, I am James Johnson.
You can follow me atsportsground underscore done on
(53:57):
Twitter.
Follow my co-host, Phil Barreraat Phil the Filipino on Twitter
as well.
He'll be back joining me nextweek.
And hopefully we'll be talkingabout our second consecutive win
and a win against the HoustonTexans.
But it was a fun one, ladies andgentlemen.
I absolutely enjoyed this one,and um, you know, hopefully uh
(54:17):
we we take some momentum intothe season heading forward, and
we have many, many more umupbeat episodes like this one.
But I am James Johnson.
Until next time, you all takecare of each other, look out for
each other, and until next time,I am signing out of the way.
Welcome to the Touchdown Jaguars Podcast.
Here are your hosts, JamesJohnson and Phil Smith.
SPEAKER_00 (01:09):
What's good, good people, what's good.
It is your boy James Johnsonhere, one half of your host and
panel of the Touchdown Jaguarspodcast for episode 128, if I'm
not mistaken.
Let me check the list here.
Yeah, 128 here.
Um, as we are coming off avictory here.
(01:33):
The Jacksonville Jaguars wereable to handle business against
the Las Vegas Raiders.
It's so hard to get thatinstilled in my brain saying Las
Vegas Raiders.
I want to say Oakland everytime, but we were able to go
over down the West Coast, getanother West Coast win, y'all.
Um, by a score of 30 to 29.
(01:54):
A gritty battle.
Um, but nonetheless, we got itdone in overtime.
And, you know, we went into thatgame understanding that it was a
must-win.
And um, granted, thecircumstances, it don't really
matter how we won it.
I think the key is that we justknew that we needed to win it.
And if we could win that gameheading forward, that would open
(02:19):
up a realm of opportunities interms of um you know making it
to the playoffs in thepostseason.
Um, so we'll talk about that injust a little bit here.
Um, but yeah, I will be ridingthis one solo dolo, as Phil had
some obligations to take care ofwith his other project, the Wait
for It podcast.
Shoutouts to Phil Barrera andthe Wait For It Podcast.
(02:43):
Shoutouts to his co-host, umEric Cerna as well.
That's their 50-50 operation,much like this operation is a
50-50 operation over here withme and Phil.
But shout outs to them.
They stream every Wednesday, Ithink it is, Wednesday night on
Twitch, some kind of video gamecontent.
They just choose random games inwhich they um they stream.
(03:05):
So feel free to check that out.
And I might be getting in thestreaming game myself soon.
You know, I know you all seenthe tech and clips I post.
I'm I'm kind of okay at thegame, if you will.
Ranked within the top 2,000 inin score, uh, in ranked scores.
So, you know, I'm kind of okayin it.
Uh, don't want don't mean totoot my own horn, but um, I
digress from my point.
(03:26):
Just stay tuned for that newsdown the road in terms of me
getting in the streaming gametoo.
I'll put it on Twitter.
Um, but this nonetheless is afootball podcast, so we won't
even go down that road too much.
But do feel free to follow theWait Forward podcast on Twitch,
on Twitter, so on and so forth,and show Phil and Eric some
love, all right?
(03:46):
But reeling it back all in,getting back to the gridiron
here.
Not only are the JacksonvilleJaguars coming off of a um big
time win, um, in which they hadto go into overtime with the
Raiders um four, and it's it'sjust so hard to say the Las
Vegas Raiders.
(04:07):
I want to say Oakland each time,but um the Las Vegas Raiders,
um, you know, they fought hard.
Uh, they are a team that, youknow, only two wins.
So, you know, the desperationwas going to be there, and you
know, it really showed.
And uh, they fought tooth andnail with the Jacksonville
Jaguars, but the JacksonvilleJaguars were able to make just
(04:28):
one more play thanks to DevonHamilton at the end of the game,
who we'll talk about a littlebit as well, probably down the
road in this podcast.
But um, the Jaguars were able tomake that one play more than
them at the end of the game, andthe rest is history.
But even with the victory, thetrade deadline followed.
(04:51):
So, of course, there was thepotential for some more exciting
news past the win as well, andJames Gladstone did not
disappoint us in that regardeither.
Well, you know what, he may havedisappointed some people because
maybe he wasn't as active assome people think he should have
been, and we'll talk about thatin the details on that as well.
(05:14):
Um, on the surface, at least, itlooked that way, but it looks
like they had interest in morethan they acquired.
We'll talk about that as well.
But they were able to acquire avery popular name within the
Jaguars community and JacobyMyers, a wide receiver.
So we'll talk about that tradeand what it means for the
(05:37):
Jacksonville Jaguars.
But one of the bigger trades ofnot just Jaguars history, but
one of the bigger trades of umthis past deadline of the 2025
deadline.
Um, I mean, they weren't asactive as like the Jets and the
Cowboys and didn't make as big amoves as them and the Colts as
(05:59):
well.
We I guess we got to kind oftalk about that too.
But still a big trade becausethe Jacksonville Jaguars are not
only getting a player thatpeople were high on in the
Jacksonville community, um, butalso they are getting somebody
who helps them in a lot of areaswhere they are weak at, not just
because of injury, but in termsof the technical aspect that
(06:21):
he'll bring into that widereceiver room and the leadership
he'll bring in the experience.
So we'll talk about that todayas we have an action-packed
episode.
And I I say this all the time.
I I hope to not make this one along one, which is kind of good
that Phil is not here becauseit's more than enough to talk
(06:41):
about for my uh just for me as asolo podcaster.
But just imagine if he was here,we'd really be rambling and
going off.
But I hope to keep this one asclose to 30 minutes as I can.
That never works out.
We'll see if I can.
And um, all of that said, let'sget right into it.
But before we get into it,actually, of course, we got to
(07:04):
plug all our handles and all ofthe information that you all
need to stay connected with theTouchdown Jaguars podcast, your
go-to podcast for the latest inJacksonville Jaguars news.
You can find our podcast interms of platforms on any of the
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(07:25):
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(07:47):
Um, when we are able to writecontent, it's been a while since
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Use our code to save yourselfsome money and uh put that
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day and age of uh overly pricedthings, right?
Okay, so getting right into thethick of things here.
The Jacksonville Jaguars, uh,we'll get into the game last in
(08:55):
this uh two-part segment.
Uh, we'll start with the tradebecause that's the most recent
news.
But the Jacksonville Jaguars andJames Gladstone and and what a
difference a change in GM makes,right?
Because around this time, youknow, we'd be dealing with a
stingy Trent Balkey who wouldn'twant to give up a fourth-round
pick for something that couldturn the team around, right?
(09:17):
But that's not the case anymore.
Um, not to dance on TrentBalkey's grave.
We have a GM here who is alwaysnot just on the trade deadline,
not just, you know, after the52-man roster was first
constructed, but is alwayslooking, and he has said this
himself, always looking for away to improve the roster.
(09:42):
And he did that in a big way interms of landing.
Jacoby Myers, who they just sawliterally on Sunday playing
across the field from them andgot a up-close and personal look
at, and probably even got anup-close and personal look at um
in terms of the pregame processwhen all of the executives are
on the field and whatnot andwhat have you.
(10:03):
But I have the Jaguars PRrelease pulled up here as they
agreed to terms to um receiveLas Vegas Raiders or former Las
Vegas Raiders receiver JacobyMyers, who entered the league in
what was it, 2019 as anundrafted player with the New
(10:23):
England Patriots.
And they will be sending afourth and a sixth round pick to
the Las Vegas Raiders inexchange for him.
So first we'll start there withthe compensation.
Um, while Myers is on the lastyear of his deal, um, to me, a
fourth and a six isn't too muchto give up, um, especially when
(10:46):
considering how many draft picksthe Jaguars had and just how bad
off they were at receiver.
Um, not just because of justunderperforming there, but
injuries as well.
Um, and also to we'll talk aboutthis in a little bit, but um,
they're also getting uh, whichis kind of rare for a wide
(11:06):
receiver, they're getting a aplayer in Myers who uh could
probably hit the ground runninghere with the Jacksonville
Jaguars, despite how difficultit is to do that at the wide
receiver position after justbeing traded to a team.
Now, Liam Cohen um talked abouthim, I think it was today, on
Wednesday, in the pressconference, um, saying that, you
(11:28):
know, in this scheme, in hisscheme specifically, the outside
the boundary receivers um it'spretty clear-cut and dry what
they have to do in theirassignments, or it's a little
bit easier to understand theirassignments as opposed to you
know your slot receiver.
Um, so while Myers is a verygood slot receiver, it sounds
(11:53):
like the plan is to use him onthe perimeter because you know,
he's just getting here and it'sa lot to learn.
And um, you know, you you kindof want to hit the ground
running with him.
So it sounds like that's gonnabe the plan first and foremost
with him.
And he said that ParkerWashington will handle things in
the interior.
And and by the way, ParkerWashington, we'll talk about
this, had a great game, man.
He looked phenomenal out there,just holding it down while, you
(12:16):
know, we were dealing withinjuries, and we were just kind
of undermanned, if you will, um,at the wide receiver position.
So there's that in terms of howthey'll use him.
But Jacoby Myers entered theleague 2019 with the New England
Patriots as an undrafted player.
He went to the University ofNorth Carolina State.
So he was with the Wolfpack uhfrom Lithonia, Georgia, um, at
(12:41):
the Atlanta area.
So he'll be close to home.
He he's got to be excited aboutthat.
Uh and left his collegiatecareer with the Wolf Pack with a
total of 168 receptions for 100for excuse me, 1,932 yards and
nine touchdowns.
After entering the draft in2019, he remained with the
(13:03):
Patriots as an undrafted playerfrom 2019 to 2022.
He joined the Raiders in freeagency in 2023 and totaled a
career total of 426 receptionsfor 4,944 yards and 20
touchdowns in 98 games at 76starts.
(13:27):
His career highs came at uh theor during the 2024 season, where
he had 87 receptions with theRaiders for 1,027 yards.
That is the only time he'sregistered 1,000 yards, if I'm
not mistaken, and four touchdownreceptions.
Now, in terms of what he bringsto the table, he had his first
(13:48):
practice with the team.
So he's getting acclimated withthe team that he was quote
unquote just talking crazy to onthe opposite side with the
Raiders on Sunday.
Now he has to get acclimatedwith the guys he was talking
crazy with.
But that's the league, you know,and you know, they can all put
that past him.
Of course, it's it's easy to dothat when you're you're fighting
(14:09):
for the same cause, right?
And of course, mo emotions arehigh, especially in a game of
that magnitude.
So, you know, I doubt it's anylove lost.
But he had his first practicewith the team.
And in terms of my thoughts onthe trade and what he brings to
the equation, as I alreadymentioned, uh, the compensation
don't really bother me.
Um, even though the Jaguars havescored, not necessarily in the
(14:34):
fourth round, to myrecollection, but they have
scored some um or picked up somesome notable players in the
sixth round.
Um, I think what Cam Little wasone of them.
We'll talk about him later.
And Parker Washington, I think,was one, um, if I'm not
mistaken.
Um, but still, nonetheless, it'snot a big deal to give up a late
(14:55):
round pick when considering howbanged up they were, and you
know, what other options therewould have been right out there
to get, right?
You got practice squad guys, ofcourse, who who stepped up big
for us, by the way.
We'll talk about that too.
Uh, a lot to talk about here.
Um, you know, you got practicesquad guys, and then you got the
guys you could have gotten offthe street.
How many of those guys arebetter than Jacoby Myers?
(15:17):
Although he does have to learnthe system, right?
Who brings this physical skillset that he has and the ability
and the experience that he hasand the stats and the statistics
and the accomplishments, right,that he brings to the table?
Not many.
You sure aren't gonna get thatout of a rookie that you would
have, you know, used yoursixth-round pick on or your
(15:38):
fourth round pick on.
You know, chances are he isgonna be way better than
anything you could have gottenin those two rounds.
So there's that which I alreadydiscussed.
From a talent standpoint, I lovethe trade for many reasons, and
I I even watched a full game ofhim.
I think it was against theBroncos or the Chiefs last year,
(16:00):
and I watched a lot ofhighlights from him as well.
But Myers, even though, youknow, they already said they
won't probably use him in theslot as much as people are
hoping for out of the gate, atleast.
Um, you know, he's a guy thatreally will help this team in
terms of those interior patternsand those interior routes that
(16:20):
um can help get Trevor Lawrencegoing.
If y'all can remember whenBrenton Strange was healthy and
he was, you know, hopefully weget him back, but when he was a
part of this offense, Trevorwent to him in the middle of the
offense a lot, you know, forthese interior patterns and
stuff like that.
But the injury came and, youknow, that sidelined him for a
little bit.
(16:40):
But that's kind of one of thethings that I believe will help
get Trevor going and you knowwould have helped him to have a
better season than he's havingif he had strange is that big
target um to hit for shortroutes in the middle of the
field.
So Myers does help with that,whether it's now or later down
the road, if they re-sign himand bring him back, whatever the
(17:02):
case may be, he does give TrevorLawrence that type of target um
in the interior of the field.
And we've seen how Brian Thomaslooks when he has to go across
the middle, right?
So there's that, and it, youknow, it hasn't been pretty,
right?
You know, and here we are havingsecond thoughts.
I've even said it as go as faras you know, trading the young
man.
They didn't, and um, it'sprobably for the better that
(17:25):
they didn't when you look at thecondition of their uh wide
receiver room in the firstplace.
And you know, the talent isthere, but at the same time,
some of the things that youcan't coach kind of scare me
with him.
But you know, you never know,man.
Like we might get the old BrianThomas uh back, and I'll just
have to eat my words, and Iwould love to, right?
(17:47):
Because I love what I saw fromhim last year.
I would love to eat my words onTrade Brian Thomas Jr.
And I'm hoping he proves mewrong and a bunch of other
people wrong.
But in terms of helping his teamin the middle of the field, he
hasn't done that very much.
Um, of course, there was the thebig catch against the Texans,
right?
But aside from that, you know,it's been shaky.
(18:09):
It's been shaky.
Um, but all of that said, Myersreally helps in that regard.
Um, and he also just givesTrevor Lawrence not just an easy
target to hit in the middle ofthe field, but in general.
Because Myers, one thing abouthim that I notice is he adjusts
to balls well.
Um, pause, by the way, but headjusts to um the quarterback's
(18:33):
throws well, regardless as to ifit's a little off or not.
And we're talking about a guywho also has kind of seen
success with just like a kind ofa revolving doorhead
quarterback, right?
It was one game, I think, yeah,that I watched where Minshew
was, you know, the quarterback,and then they had to bring in
(18:54):
Minshew's backup um becauseMinshew, I think, was replacing
O'Connell, who was hurt, andthen Minshew's backup had to
come in who was um I'm the nameis escaping me right now.
It was the kid that the theFalcons drafted, uh Desmond
Ritter.
That's it.
Desmond Ritter had to come in.
And um, I think he got a fewpasses out there that Jacoby
(19:17):
caught.
So um he in that regard, he kindof reminds me, not saying
they're the same receiver, butof a DeAndre Hopkins, of like
regardless of who thequarterback was for the Texans.
It was one time where the Texanswent through like three
quarterbacks, right?
It was like Watson, Yates, andsomebody else, and and Nook
Hopkins was going off withwhoever was back there, right?
(19:38):
He kind of reminds me of Nook inthat regard, and I think he
won't have a hard time adjustingto Trevor Lawrence after just
adjusting to all of the thequarterbacks that he dealt with
with the Raiders, and evenbefore that in New England,
right?
Cam Newton was one of them.
Then it went from him to MacJones.
So this guy's not somebody whohasn't seen his share of
(19:58):
different quarterbacks and anddifferent types of uh passes
thrown to him and differentpassing speeds and so on and so
forth.
So I think that's one of thereasons he'll hit the ground
running is because he just hasshown his ability to adjust to
you know whoever is back thereuh pulling the trigger.
And yeah, he makes all of theadjustments you like to see.
Um it was one time where headjusted well to a Minshew back
(20:21):
shoulder throw, right?
Then he went from that toadjusting later in the year when
I was watching some morehighlights, adjusting to
O'Connell's throws.
Who it looks like he throws alittle bit of uh a stronger pass
than Minshew.
Um, it was one where I forgotthe the Chiefs corner that uh
(20:42):
that was guarding him or thatwas covering him, but um
O'Connell had to throw the ballbehind the the cornerback on an
outbreaking route, and Myers hadto adapt to it because normally,
you know, those passes go closerto the sideline as opposed to
the opposite.
And Myers adapted to it, caughtthe ball, and it was, you know,
(21:03):
one of the um more impressivecatches that he had that year,
right?
But that just kind of just goesto show you that you know, if if
it's a day where Trevor's off,he has the ability to adapt to
you know whatever kind of passesare thrown his way.
And um also his hands, man,which Gladstone mentioned,
right?
He has um pretty good hands, anduh, I think Daniel Griffiths
(21:26):
even put out a tweet about umhis drop percentage, which was
lower than everybody.
Uh maybe aside from TravisHunter, I'll pull that up.
Give me one second here.
Yeah, so um shout outs to DanielD.
Griffiths.
He has um the catch percentagesfor the Jaguars top receivers,
um, or excuse me, the droppercentage.
(21:48):
Brian Thomas Jr., 18.9.
That's putrid, but you know, um,we we don't want to kick the man
while he's down, but you know,that just kind of is the story
of his 2025 season.
Deami Brown, 17.4% drop rate,which isn't great at all.
Parker Washington, uh 13.8, whoseems to be getting better with
(22:11):
his hands as the seasonprogresses, but that's you know,
double figures there.
Travis Hunter, 6.7% drop rate,and Jacoby Myers actually has a
lower one than Travis Hunter,5.7.
So reliable hands, JamesGladstone, as I mentioned,
pointed that out as well.
So it helps in that regardbecause the Jaguars have led the
league in drops for the last twoyears or so, and we're just
(22:33):
tired of seeing drop passes, anduh, you know, he uh could be a
shot in the arm and fixing thator getting better results there
and putting us in a positionwhere we're not leading the
league there or are you knowmaking a good bit of improvement
on that number, which you don'tlike to be atop the league in.
All right, and also to the size,um, which I kind of already
(22:56):
mentioned.
I said he's a big target, but uhyeah, we got a young man here
who is 6'2, 193 pounds.
So, you know, um he should beable to um take all of the
contact that you would take as aum a guy that might catch some
interior passes.
(23:16):
Um the height is where you wouldlike, especially for a guy that
plays a lot in the slot, youknow.
Um that's that's pretty tall fora slot guy.
He's kind of a little biggerthan um your prototypical slot
guy.
Uh, maybe that's why he's had somuch success there.
But all around, man, just lovethe trade.
I love the Jaguars thoughtprocess, right, of understanding
(23:38):
that they needed to make a movethere.
Trent Balkey, you know, he wouldhave had some half, you know
what, attempt at maybe fixing abig need that the team would
have right now.
But he wouldn't have the stomachor he wouldn't have the
wherewithal to package the pickstogether and and pull the
trigger, right?
He'd be trying to basicallylowball whoever it was um that
(24:02):
he was trying to trade with.
And um, yeah, shoutouts toGladstone for that.
That's just a breath of freshair, as I mentioned earlier.
Um, them just understanding thatthey need somebody that's a
reliable target with betterhands and just knowing the
gravity of how beat up the thewide receiving core was.
Trent Balkey would have probablybeen trying to just make the
(24:23):
make up the difference witheverybody in practice squad,
right?
Which a lot of times they don'tgo according to plan, even
though our guys on practicesquad did step up.
But um, you know, Balkey wouldhave been trying to send four
practice squad guys out there toget through a game.
Like, no.
But in addition to that, um, itwas also reported by David
Schultz or um Jordan Schultz,I'm sorry, from Bleacher Report
(24:47):
that the Jacksonville Jaguarswere one of those teams who were
like heavy in pursuit of QuentinWilliams, right?
And um, that didn't go throughultimately because the Dallas
Cowboys gave up a first roundpick for him.
They had two.
Um, so they got in the way ofthat.
Thanks a lot.
Dallas Fields second team, bythe way.
Great job on their part, right?
(25:08):
But um just the mindset ofGladstone trying to make a trade
that big, right?
Understanding, you know, how badoff they are um in the interior
in terms of not necessarilyinjuries, but they're just not
getting any push there, right?
They they need that guy to getsome push there.
And Williams is one of thoseguys that I mentioned, like that
I would like to land, but I justdidn't want to give up what it
(25:31):
may take.
Because we, you know, we'realready we've already given up
our first round pick for forHunter.
And then if you, you know, if itcame to it, I would have been
okay now with giving up thesecond round pick that we have
uh to acquire Williams.
Because, like, who are you gonnaget in the second round that has
the skill set that he does?
And I think he has more than oneyear left on this deal.
(25:53):
But in this scenario, thatwouldn't have been enough
because again, the Cowboys camein and they had a better deal.
They offered a first round pick,and I think more.
So you can only give Gladstoneprops for trying, like, he can't
give them a first-round pickthat we don't have, right?
Like, and Dallas certainlyprobably didn't want the 2026
(26:13):
for first round pick.
That's too far out, right?
Like, they probably wantedsomething immediately, uh, but
or immediate, but nonetheless,um, shout outs to James
Gladstone as he he continues toum you know make moves and veer
away from what we're accustomedto seeing and what we saw at the
GM position for four years.
(26:35):
All right, so now for the gameitself, which was a nail biter,
um, it got off to a real slowstart.
So the uh second quarter and theend result um look nothing like
the first two quarters.
But as I mentioned, theJacksonville Jaguars acquired
(26:55):
their fifth win of the season,surpassing their 2024 win total
of four, um, putting them at arecord of five and three.
Acquired win number five.
Um going against or after a gameagainst the Las Vegas Raiders in
Las Vegas, another West Coastwin under Liam Cohen by a score
(27:15):
of 30 to 29.
And we'll go through the statsreal quick here.
Don't want to spend too muchtime on them, but I mean, then
again, they are an importantpart of the game.
Um, Trevor Lawrence um was 23 of34 for 220 yards, and he had a
pick, a very, very, veryquestionable and bone-headed
(27:37):
pick that uh I don't have thewords to get into, but we'll
we'll talk about Trevor a littlebit later.
Um, because at the end of theday, he cleaned that up, did
what had to be done.
So um, yeah, shoutouts to TrevorLawrence getting past that
mistake.
Um, we have here also Travis ETNled the way.
(27:59):
We'll talk about the run game ingeneral, but he led the way for
the run game.
22 carries for 84 yards, had a3.8 um average in terms of yards
per carry.
His stats probably don't speakabout or or say enough about how
much of an impact he was, butwe'll talk about that a little
bit.
Beshall Tootin was right behindhim, nine carries for 29 yards,
(28:22):
had a 3.2 average, had onetouchdown.
Trevor Lawrence had nine carriesfor 24 yards for two touchdowns.
So he helped the team a lot inthat regard, in terms of making
up for his pick.
Parker Washington led the way orfor the receiver's core, eight
(28:42):
receptions for 80 yards, orexcuse me, 90.
I need glasses.
Um, but yeah, he led the way forthat group as um Brian Thomas uh
was dealing with a little bit ofan injury towards the end.
He had three receptions, andthat was good for 55 yards.
He was second on the team inreceiving, but they leaned on
(29:02):
the run game here in this game.
Um, shout outs to Cam Little,who um was three for three on
field goals, and he hit one ofthose for the league record,
ladies and gentlemen.
We got um Cam Little will beprobably um enshrined or
(29:23):
acknowledged in some way, shape,or form at Canton for his
68-yard kick lead high.
Um, got the NFL record.
They're probably gonna ask himto send his jersey that way or
whatever the case may be.
I think they did that for theone that he kicked in the
preseason, which was actuallylonger.
So, Cam Little, you know,getting the Jaguars name and the
Jaguars logo and Jaguarsmemorabilia into Canton, at
(29:48):
least temporarily.
He might send some morememorabilia there down the road
in terms of surpassing his ownrecord.
We'll see and time will tell.
But um, he, you know, got over arocky season, you Know with this
game or through this game, andhopefully that consent
continues.
But he was three of three, 100%on his kicks.
So, yep, that's um the biggestcontribution on special teams on
(30:11):
defense.
Um, Foyer Lewickin led the wayin tackles, had 11 total
tackles, had one for loss andhad one pass breakup.
Jarian Jones was um right behindhim with 10 tackles.
In regards to sacks, um EmmanuelOgba had a half a sack.
Josh Hines Allen had a sack anda half, which he got late in the
(30:33):
game in the fourth quarter andthen in overtime.
Um so yeah, he what I believe hetied the record in terms of um
Jacksonville players in terms ofsacks.
So um I think in the next gamehe should be able to surpass
that.
Let's hope he can get to thequarterback better than he has
been.
And then on the Raiders side,we'll go through that briefly.
(30:55):
Um Geno Smith, 29 of 39, had 284passing yards uh through four
touchdowns and one pick in termsof the run game.
Um, they didn't get much goingthere, but Ashton Genty, uh
Jacksonville Native, uh had 13carries for 42 yards, a good for
a 3.2 yard average.
(31:17):
Um, they didn't get anytouchdowns through the run game.
Um, Brock Bowers, man, what atask he was to cover in this
game.
And I would know personally, godogs, by the way.
Big Brock Bowers fan.
Watched that kid since he was afreshman at Georgia, man, and
even seen some of his highschool stuff.
(31:37):
Not the slightest bit surprisedthat he's becoming what he has
become.
But he had 12 receptions led theway for them receiving with 127
yards and three touchdowns.
So three of Gino's fourtouchdown passes went to him.
The other one went to AshtonGenty, um, who had five
receptions.
He was second on the team inthat regard with 47 yards.
(32:01):
I think that's a good place tostart with the statistics for
the game, and uh, we'll actuallyget into my takeaways here.
And again, I want to make theseum quick because I think I have
hit the 30-minute mark.
So um let's see if I couldactually achieve that here.
But um, I got four here.
I might not speak on all ofthem, but I got four.
(32:24):
The first one that I'll startwith, and I have it in my notes
here that this was simply agritty win, as I mentioned
earlier.
It was a must-win because therest of the division lost their
games and it gave theJacksonville Jaguars an
opportunity to gain ground.
And then even in regards to thatwildcard race, I think the
Chiefs got bumped down becauseof their loss to the Bills, if
(32:47):
I'm not mistaken.
And um that bumped them even outof the last wild card spot, at
least for now.
And the Jaguars hold that spot,but it was a must-win and it was
a gritty win in regards to theJacksonville Jaguars.
They were already beat up cominginto the game a little bit.
They were without Devin Lloyd,right?
Big time player form.
(33:08):
They were without Travis Hunter.
We didn't even talk about TravisHunter.
So much going on here.
Travis Hunter has been placed onIR.
Um, now the good news is as wegot closer um to today, it was
revealed that the injury mightnot hold him out as long as
projected.
(33:28):
So, you know, he could belooking at maybe, of course,
four weeks because he's on IR.
Um, but if more than four weeks,it it won't be much more than
four weeks.
At least it's sounded like rightnow.
We'll monitor that as time goeson.
But that was one of the talkingpoints I didn't even get into.
But Travis Hunter on IR put theJaguars in a predicament where
(33:49):
they were gonna be without theguy who they planned on being
their number one coming out ofthe bye week.
But of course, that's the game,right?
Injuries happen, and you justhave to adapt, right?
And um, that is exactly whatthey did.
They were able to etch out agritty win here without him,
without Devin Lloyd, withoutBrenton Strange coming into the
(34:13):
game.
And then when we got into thegame, it felt like the the team
just started dropping like fliesat that point, man.
And that's just kind of thenature of a physical game like
that.
You know, you kind of you'replaying a Pete Carroll team,
even though their record is, youknow, one that just shows them
having what, two wins, two andsix.
Um, but still, you know, PeteCarroll teams are gritty.
(34:35):
They were coming off of bye-weektwo, right?
Um, and you know, they're ahard-nosed team.
They um they embody Pete Carrolland who he is.
And I know a lot of people willargue that he needs to retire,
but at the very least, you'regonna be facing the physical
team anytime you face a teamwith Pete Carroll's name tied to
it.
But it felt like the Jaguarswere dropping like flies, and
they could have easily foldedand lost this game like they
(35:00):
would have in the past,especially granted the
circumstances, it would havebeen easy to just tuck your tail
and say, like, yeah, this one isnot one we're gonna win, right?
And that might be why the scorewas so close.
A lot of people keep saying,like, yeah, we won, but we beat
a bad team.
But when looking at thecircumstances of the condition
that Jaguars roster was goinginto this game and even the
(35:24):
condition they came out of thegame where they lost even more
people during the game, a 30 to29 win looks a little bit more
impressive than people want togive them credit for.
And seeing all of these peoplewere saying they beat a bad
team.
Yeah, they beat a bad team, andthey were tremendously
understaffed, if you will,right?
They get into the game and theylose some more additions in
(35:47):
addition to Brent Strange, inaddition to Devin Lloyd, in
addition to Travis Hunter.
Um at some point, I think thirdquarter, Deomi Brown is out for
a concussion.
They lose Ezra Cleveland at somepoint in the game.
So they they have to startputting Cole Van Lannon in, who
(36:07):
was playing anyway, because theywere rolling out jumbo packages.
But now he has to step in atguard.
Brian Thomas Jr.
acquires a high ankle sprain.
I think it was a high anklesprain, but a low grade high
ankle sprain.
He acquires a high ankle sprainon his last reception, even
though I think he did come infor a little bit, come back in
for a little bit, but anklesprains, especially high ones,
(36:29):
even if it's a low grade one,isn't anything to play with,
right?
So they lost two of their threetop receivers, really just
leaving Parker Washington interms of your most notable
receivers.
You lose one of your startingoffensive linemen in Cleveland.
Hunter Long also got hurt in thefirst or second quarter, too.
Now he came back in, but uh helooked like he was in a world of
(36:50):
pain when he got hurt.
So you were kind of thin a lotof the game or a good portion of
the game.
You were thin at tight end,right?
Which that's no easy task to getover.
They also lost Jordan Lewis, ateam captain, you know, probably
arguably their best defensiveplayer because Josh Hines Allen
(37:11):
just kind of hasn't been whatwe've been accustomed to.
And in his defense, you know,they need more interior push to
help him.
But they they lost Jordan Lewis,they lost a team captain, so
they came out of this gamebanged up.
And, you know, for them to evenget to a point where they can
send this game into overtime andthen have the wherewithal to go
(37:33):
into overtime without many ofthese players I mentioned, they
were hurt at that point, if notall of them, and still find a
way to win.
That that shows the kind ofcharacter that this team has
under Liam Cohen.
Because again, as I mentioned,they would have folded.
Um, had this been a Trent Balkeyor a Doug Peterson team, they
would have folded, they wouldhave let the injuries get the
(37:53):
best of them.
It would have got to theirheads, and they would have found
a way to lose this game.
But instead, they found a way towin it.
That used to be the theme,right?
They'll find a way to lose it.
Well, they found a way to winthis one.
And uh, you got to give themprops where props are due
because they needed this one.
They needed this one,absolutely, to gain ground on
(38:14):
the division and um, you know,also stay um within reach of the
wild card as well.
And now we have a situationwhere the Colts have just one
win or one loss more than theJacksonville Jaguars.
So um it helped them in thatregard.
Now, the second takeaway is withall of those injuries, and a lot
(38:35):
of which I mentioned on theoffensive side, some on the
defensive side.
Um, shoutouts to TrevorLawrence, man, who threw a a
pick that we all would ratherforget, right?
One of the worst picks we everseen in a long time.
And in his defense, he had beentaking at the very least,
despite his struggles throughoutthese last few weeks, he had at
least been taking care of theball.
(38:56):
And then that happened, right?
And it's like, oh my God.
And, you know, I put out a tweetat halftime that it was time to
step up, man.
Right?
It's it's basic concepts of thegame that he's not getting.
This is basically what I said inthe tweet.
And um, you know, they weren'tgonna win the game without him,
obviously.
You know, he it was time for himto step up and lead this team,
(39:20):
which was kind of flat.
Thanks to Cam Little, you know,we went in the halftime with a
with a shot in the arm.
So they were kind of flatotherwise.
And when you're making the moneythat he's making, and when
you're the number one overallpick, um, that's when the eyes
start to turn to you, especiallywhen you're losing your like
some of your best player or roleplayers one by one by one.
(39:42):
It's like, okay, well, this oneis really gonna have to fall on
you, Trevor Lawrence.
And man, did he answer it, man?
Because, you know, it's it'scrazy because last week, right?
I think it was last week or weekbefore last, before we went into
Dubai, you know, everybody uhrightfully was highly upset with
Trevor.
And um, I can remember even theuh the tweet that Wig put out
(40:03):
for lockdown, Jack Wars.
Shout out to Wig and thewonderful work that he does
there, where he said, you know,he finds himself often saying,
Show me something, Trevor, showme something.
And I agree, like, not just him,like I do and other fans do, and
Phil does, my co-host, and youknow, all of my friends that are
Jack Wars fans.
We always find ourselves in thissituation where, you know, we're
(40:26):
we're looking for him to show ussomething.
And this is coming from me, aTrevor Lawrence defender.
And he answered that call, Wig.
And ladies and gentlemen, noweverybody that has been asking
him to show us something, hedid.
You know, in that second half,he got going, he led this team
like a leader should help to uhhelp them to acquire what.
(40:49):
Um, and and you know, a lot ofit you you could say was was
helped by Tramble as well andhis big time kick return, too.
But in terms of the second, orexcuse me, the third and fourth
quarter, the JacksonvilleJaguars were able to put up 20
points, right?
And you don't do that withoutyour quarterback, obviously.
And another key factor to thatwas Trav's Etienne.
We'll talk about him in a littlebit later.
(41:11):
But Trevor, in terms of thepassing game and connecting with
especially Parker Washington,um, were also keys to the
Jacksonville Jaguars, um,getting those 19 or um 20 points
that they got in the second halfwhen they really got going.
Keep in mind they only hadthree, which was the Cam Little
(41:32):
kick you know in the first twoquarters.
So um they really ignited fromthat kick and Trevor Lawrence um
linking up with ParkerWashington is a key reason that
they were able to get going inthat second half and even in
halftime.
So shout outs to him becausethat's what you like to see out
of your quarterback.
Again, a lot of people willthrow out there, oh, well, it
(41:54):
was against the Raiders andthis, that, and the other.
But again, keep in mind he'sdoing this while understaffed on
the offensive side, losingHunter Long, you know, a key
part of the blocking game, andlosing Ezra Cleveland
eventually, and losing BrianThomas eventually, and you
losing Deomi Brown eventually.
(42:15):
For him to be able to do thatdespite all of that, and remain
focused and keep his head in thegame, even it also, you know, he
could have let that pick get tohim too, in addition to all of
these injuries.
But remaining focused and havingtunnel vision, focusing on the
vision, making sure he could getthe team through this all and
through this rocky start, andyou know, through this two-game
(42:37):
stretch in which, you know, theylost the previous two games.
For him to remain focused andcome out at halftime and come
out firing how he was was veryimpressive on his part.
And, you know, it could be thestart, especially with the
addition of Jacoby Myers, now itcould be the start of him
trending upwards, right, andgetting going and starting to
(42:57):
look like you know, TrevorLawrence looked in that um 20,
what was it, 2022 season, uhDoug Peterson's first season,
where he um caught fire afterthose first five, six games or
so.
So I'm excited about what heshowed us against the Raiders.
And going to my third takeaway,another key, which this helped
(43:19):
Trevor as well.
And um, they probably, you know,part of it was probably
injuries, right?
You know, you kind of had to gothis way.
But Liam, even before theinjuries, though, in this game,
Liam got back to his roots,running the ball, which I had
said needed to be done.
Um, like in that Rams game.
A lot of people keep saying,like, they got away from the run
(43:39):
in the Rams game because thegame got out of hand.
But you I could make theargument that in the third
quarter that they could have ranthe ball a little bit more in
the third quarter of that Ramsgame.
Like, they got away from itquicker than they should have,
in my opinion.
Like, I think they should havegotten to the run game at least
to slow things down at the ratethat the Rams were going, slow
(44:00):
things down in that thirdquarter with the run game, and
also give you your defense abreather instead of just going
past happy at that point.
Because I think it was, youknow, the Rams were up 21 to zip
or 21 to whatever the Jaguarshad at that point.
You need to slow the game down alittle bit and limit those
possessions the Rams would havehad.
And uh he got back to his rootsto his credit.
(44:21):
I digress from one point, andum, he was led by Travis Hunter
in that run game, who had animpressive game, and then you
got to be happy for TravisHunter, man, who, or excuse me,
Travis ETN, who um, you rememberagain, I I talk about this all
the time.
After the first game last year,he was kind of down and
deflated, right?
(44:41):
And here he is, man.
Um, after that that Miami gamethat I'm talking about last
year, man, being a leader forthis team and leading the way,
man.
He looked like he had MauriceJones drew in his body, the way
he was running out therephysically, right?
And Leah mentioned this too.
The physicality that he broughtto the table really is something
(45:03):
that ignited this team as well.
And it's crazy because, youknow, this is the first year
we're kind of seeing that out ofhim, right?
Uh, he was a little bit more ofa finesse guy and a guy you see,
you know, running routes andwhat have you, but he's lowering
his shoulder.
And you know, these times, youknow, the times where he was,
excuse me, having physical runsum under the Doug Peterson
(45:24):
regime, it looks like he wasjust getting straight blasted
out there.
He would, you know, fall twoyards back and what have you.
Now he's the one running overpeople, right?
It's the total opposite.
And he's running well in betweenthe tackles.
And it looks like, you know,linebackers and and safeties and
defensive backs, you know, theymight want to strap their chin
(45:44):
straps up a little bit tighterwhen when running up on Travis
Etienne and trying to bring himdown because he is a way more
physical or much more physicalrunner than he was last year.
And he's looking to hurt peoplethis year, you know, and he
still has those flashy elementsto his game, too, as well.
So he he hasn't lost that aswell, but he's added a physical
(46:08):
element to his game.
And then, you know, there weresome good runs again.
Like, you know, nobody averagedover four yards a carry, but
Basil Tootin has some good runsin there.
He had the touchdown as well.
Um, he had the one in inovertime as well for like 12
yards, and I think the Jaguarsran the ball like seven times in
(46:31):
that overtime.
Like, I think all of theirplays, or many most of their
plays were run plays inovertime, right?
So they just flat out leaned onthe physicality at that point,
and they chewed up a good bit ofclock in the process, too, as
well.
So, man, shout outs to gettingback to the run game, man.
Like, that's gonna be the key togetting us to the playoffs,
(46:52):
especially in December.
You got to run the ball well inDecember.
And I'm glad, you know, that inthe bye week they took the time
to assess themselves and realizewhat they needed to do.
You know, they they had to do itin a unique way, they had to
bring out some jumbo packagesand all of that.
But, you know, the run gamecould come a little bit easier
when we get Brenton Strangeback.
Um, hopefully we get some moreguys back in terms of Hunter
(47:15):
Long.
He's on the injury report now,as I mentioned, got injured in
the game, even though hereturned.
Uh Jacoby Myers, you know, givesyou a good stall blocker, a nice
size stall blocker.
So there's that too.
But yeah, man, just glad to seethat element brought back to
this offense and the physicalitybrought back to the offense.
And lastly, um certainly notleast, shout outs to Cam Little.
(47:38):
That's my last takeaway.
Um, overcoming just a roughpatch that he had previously
coming to this game.
You know, you get the bye week,you get to rest your mind a
little bit, get your mind right.
And, you know, his umwherewithal was tested in a big
way coming out of that bye week.
Liam Cohen sends him on thefield to kick a record high, a
(48:00):
lead high, 68-yard kick.
He nailed it.
Of course, he had to have somelow trajectory, but he nailed it
and um had some some room tospare too.
He could have hit that from 70.
But um, as as Mark Slarent saidin the the telecast, and you
know what, while we're on it,man, I couldn't help but laugh
at a lot of the um things MarkSlarenth was saying in the
(48:25):
broadcast, and you know, thethoughts of the fans um in terms
of what he was saying.
He's never been a well-likedbroadcaster anyway, right?
Or um commentator.
Um, but it was just funny towatch that unfold, man.
And you know what?
I I had a funny thought, man.
And I want to know y'all'sthoughts on this.
Let us know in the comments oron Twitter or whatever the case
(48:46):
may be.
But I had a thought because I Isaw how how unliked Slarent's
commentating was during thegame, but um I had this random
thought of just asking you allas fans.
It's it's kind of one of thosejoking things.
But um, if you had to listen toMark Slarenth and Chris
(49:08):
Collinsworth for the rest of theseason in a booth together, just
so the Jaguars would make thepostseason.
And I'm sure all Jaguars fanswill say, Yeah, I could do it.
I could do it.
But I want to know how hard of atask that would be just to see
our beloved Jaguars in thepostseason.
Let me know how hard of a taskthat would be to hear both Mark
(49:31):
Slayer and Chris Collinsworth ina booth together from this point
to the end of the season.
Jaguars are guaranteed a playoffspot if you can do it.
Just let me know how difficultof a time you would have doing
it for your beloved Jaguars.
Real curious on that.
But going back to Cam Little,who was three of three on his um
(49:51):
field goals and made all of hisextra points.
Shout outs to him getting overthat rough patch and you know,
just answering the call andbeing tested to kick the
league's longest field goalafter that rough patch that he
had come through or that he hadbeen through, going out there
with ice in his veins andnailing it, man.
And I really love this for himand his relationship with Liam
(50:13):
Cohen.
Because when Liam mentioned inthe bye week that we're not
bringing in any competition,there were some people who said,
I don't like that.
You know, I don't like that, andit actually put a smile on my
face.
I totally agree with what Liamwas thinking, even though I was
one of the people saying I, youknow, hit the panic button on
him, but at the same time, Iwasn't necessarily saying
(50:35):
bringing in, bring incompetition for Cam Little,
right?
I was saying I hit the panicbutton in regards to he needs to
turn it on quickly beforebringing in some competition.
I wasn't at the point ofbringing in competition, but you
know, I you know, I was sayingthat I was getting there, but
quite not there yet because ofjust how he's wired mentally.
(50:57):
And I figured the kid would getover it because he he's kicked
in these high-pressureatmospheres in the SEC.
And he has the right mindset.
He really does.
And Liam even said it, the kiddidn't he hadn't missed a kick
in practice for three weeks.
So, you know, I didn't know thatat the time, but I did know that
he probably wasn't having anyissues in practice, and that,
(51:20):
you know, it's just one of thosethings he was just gonna have to
mentally get himself through.
And that is absolutely the wayto do it, right?
Is hitting a record kick um forthe league and you know, for
your team.
And also just at the moment thatit that the kick arrived, right?
The team was flat, they neededit, man.
He ignited them, and they again,they you know, scored 20 points
(51:44):
in regulation and then anotherseven in in overtime as a result
of him igniting them and gettingthem going, and they went into
the locker room on a high.
So shout outs to him because hechanged the outcome of the game.
He was the the X factor of thegame, and I'm glad that he's
back, and um, you know,hopefully this continues head
and forward, and um that youknow we can continue to um make
(52:08):
him the poster guy for theJacksonville Jaguars, right?
He's on all of their little umprowler ads for the prowler
jerseys and what have you, man.
But shout outs to him, man.
And uh, yeah, I appreciate himproving me right in terms of
just kind of my belief in him.
And I mean, look, man, for himto kick the, you know, make the
kick that he made, you know, andit being a record kick, that
(52:30):
kind of proves that theyabsolutely should have, you
know, that that's the reason, Iguess I would say, when you look
at his his kicking ability andhis leg strength, that's
absolutely the reason why Liamsaid we're not giving up on this
kid, right?
Is like he has the ability to bein the record books, right?
You don't give up on that,right?
And Liam, kudos to him for beinga good coach and recognizing
(52:52):
that.
You don't give up on somebodywith the leg strength and the
leg talent and the accuracy thathe has just because he went
through a rough patch.
And you know, this could be thenot just the thing that ignited
the Jaguar season, but thismight be what ignites Cam
Little's career to new heights.
And you know, who knows?
Later down the road, we'relooking at a Pro Bowl kicker,
(53:13):
maybe a Hall of Fame kicker, anall-pro kicker, who knows?
But this will be the point wherehe looks back at and says, Hey,
that was the turning point in mycareer.
Shout out to Liam Cohen forgetting me through it.
So, all of that said, man, wewill go ahead and wrap this one
up.
As I mentioned, you know whereto find the podcast and our
website, touchdownjads.com.
(53:35):
Podcast is on all the majorplatforms.
iTunes, SoundCloud, uh, notSoundCloud.
Oh my god, I sound like I soundlike the early 2000s here.
Um, iTunes, Apple Music,Spotify, you name it, Amazon
Music, we're there.
And if we aren't there, let usknow.
We'll get there.
Of course, I am James Johnson.
You can follow me atsportsground underscore done on
(53:57):
Twitter.
Follow my co-host, Phil Barreraat Phil the Filipino on Twitter
as well.
He'll be back joining me nextweek.
And hopefully we'll be talkingabout our second consecutive win
and a win against the HoustonTexans.
But it was a fun one, ladies andgentlemen.
I absolutely enjoyed this one,and um, you know, hopefully uh
(54:17):
we we take some momentum intothe season heading forward, and
we have many, many more umupbeat episodes like this one.
But I am James Johnson.
Until next time, you all takecare of each other, look out for
each other, and until next time,I am signing out of the way.
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