November 19, 2025 • 33 mins
We bounce back from a brutal Texans collapse with a 35–6 statement over the Chargers, powered by clean football, a surging run game and a defense that set the tone on the first snap. One penalty, zero punts and a renewed Trevor Lawrence rhythm point to a clear identity shift.
In this week's episode, James covered the following takeaways while discussing Week 11's huge win:
• One-penalty performance and why discipline unlocked the offense
• Trevor Lawrence’s second-half reset and interior timing with Jacoby Myers
• Defensive line depth sparks: Josh Allen record, Walker surge, Green and Striggow provides a shot in the arm
• Ezra Cleveland’s impact on the run game
• Etienne and Tuten punishing the second level and extending drives
• Coaching staff’s response after Houston and culture holding firm
• Why this template can carry through November and December
Use code Touchdown Jaguars for $20 off your first order on SeatGeek
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 (01:08):
All right, all right, all right, all right,
good people, Jags fans and Duvalsupporters across the globe.
We are back for yet anotherepisode of the Touchdown Jaguars
podcast.
I am your host for today, JamesJohnson, as you could tell,
(01:29):
riding this one solo.
Um, shout outs to Phil.
He had some um obligations totake care of as a father, which
you always love, man.
So yeah, I told him to enjoyhimself and enjoy uh his time
with his uh little one, and Iwill hold it down until he gets
(01:50):
back.
We'll get him back on the nextepisode.
This is episode 129, by the way.
So we'll get him back on 130 anduh we'll briefly get his takes
on this game.
If he was able to see the game,you know, I know he was in
again, he was enjoying his umhis younger ones.
So um all of that being said,man, the vibes are high here, as
(02:14):
you can tell.
And um, as you all havewitnessed, right?
Because you were there, you allsaw the game or saw it on TV or
live, whatever the case may be,as the Jacksonville Jaguars
bounced back after hitting a lowmoment, one of the lowest
moments in franchise history, atleast in recent history,
probably overall in the Jagshistory, where they had a
(02:38):
19-point lead of race by theTexans, right?
Um, and uh the vibes were low atthat time.
Uh, but they went back to thefacility, regrouped, and man,
did they show up and show out onSunday after beating the Los
Angeles Chargers.
(02:59):
I I have a hard time saying thattoo.
I'm so used to saying San Diegofor many, many years.
But beating the Los AngelesChargers in a home game.
Um I think this was our firsthome game in what, three games,
four games, something like that.
Um, but they gave the home crowdsomething to go home and be
happy about as they put abeatdown on the Los Angeles
(03:20):
Chargers by a score of 35 to 6.
So with the vibes being high,plenty to talk about.
I do want to make this one shortand sweet um because of editing
purposes, right?
Editing is kicking my behind.
But um, as you all know, itnormally doesn't go that way,
even though even with it being asolo episode, somehow I I figure
(03:42):
out a way to make it a whole50-minute episode or whatever
the case may be, an hourepisode.
But all of that said, I hope tomake it short and sweet.
But when you're talking about avictory, sometimes it's not that
easy, right?
Especially um when you talkabout the improvements they made
from the Texans loss to thiswin.
(04:03):
But before we get into all ofthat, I want to plug our handles
and where you can find us.
Of course, you can follow me atsportsgrind underscore done on
Twitter, um, the platform thatwe're most engaged with, I guess
you could say.
Um, you can find Phil at Philthe Filipino on Twitter and the
(04:23):
Touchdown Jaguars handle at TDJags Pod.
And of course, you can find ourwebsite, touchdownjads.com, on
the world wide web, wherearchived episodes are placed on,
and we put written content onthere.
Um, so that being said, that'swhere you can find us, most
(04:44):
notably in terms of where youcan find this podcast.
We are on every major platform,whether that's Apple Podcasts or
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And if we aren't on one of yourfavorite platforms, let us know
(05:04):
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of the world, and we want to beable to give you your weekly fix
of Jacksonville Jaguars News.
Any new people that arelistening to us, we welcome you.
Feel free to rate, comment,subscribe, let us know how we're
doing.
And to our listeners who havebeen here, thank you for
(05:26):
returning.
Lastly, I want to give ashout-out to SeatGeek, our
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But with all of that out of theway, without further ado, let's
(06:33):
get into the game.
Of course, we always start witha box score, and um then we'll
go to some takeaways that Iwrote down here.
I watched the game two well 1.75times.
I watched it initially live.
I rewatched it again today, andthis wasn't all 22, it was just
(06:54):
the live version again, uh,condensed version on the second
time.
And um, I got into the Jaguarsscored their uh last touchdown.
So in the second watch.
So I've seen it a decent amountof times.
Um that being said, we'll justgo through the statistics here.
Trevor Lawrence was 14 of 22.
(07:14):
We'll talk about him.
He's involved in the takeawaysuh for 153 yards, one touchdown,
he had one pick.
The stat line in that regarddoesn't look all that great.
Um, but we'll talk about thegame that he had overall, and
um, you know, just just kind oftell you how the the stats don't
tell the story with him there.
(07:34):
And I'm sure you already allknow that because you all have
seen the game.
Um, that being said, moving onto Russian, Bachel Tootin had a
heck of a game.
Again, you know, the stats don'tnecessarily show that he went
crazy, but um he had a heck of agame, 15 carries for 74 yards
and one touchdown.
We'll talk about him a littlebit probably as well.
(07:57):
Um Travis Etienne Jr., he hadtwo touchdowns, 19 carries, 73
yards.
And look, Quentin Allen even gotinvolved in the mix uh with
eight carries for 36 yards.
Uh Trevor Lawrence had a umtouchdown himself on the ground,
had five carries as well fornine yards.
(08:18):
In the receiving end, we'll justgo through the top two receivers
because it, you know, thestatistics there weren't too
crazy.
But while the statistics weren'tplentiful there, um they came at
big-time moments for the team.
But Jacoby Myers with five uhreceptions for 64 yards made an
impact for the team um in termsof possession downs and um just
(08:43):
you know being there for TrevorLawrence when he needed him the
most.
Johnny Munt was second in umterms of yards.
He had two receptions for 25yards.
So uh we'll go on to the defensehere, real quick.
Four years Aluken led the waywith tackles with five total
tackles, three of which weresolo.
(09:05):
Andrew Wingard had the sameexact statistic.
So technically they were tiedthere.
So Foyer and Wingard um thereleading the way in tackles.
Josh Hines Allen was right therebehind him.
He had uh four tackles, two uhfor solo, and one of which um he
had a sack as well and a tacklefor loss.
(09:27):
He wasn't the only one who gotto the quarterback um as Trayvon
Walker contributed a half asack.
Uh Eric Armstead contributed asack, albeit late in the game
against um the backup squad.
And Daniel Stragal uhcontributed a half a sack, and
uh BJ Green would have had onetoo, but the refs uh let's just
(09:49):
say um I almost said a bad wordthere, but the refs did him
dirty and uh penalized him for abig time hit he had on Justin
Herbert, by the way.
I hope they don't find him forthat hit because it was clean to
me, but we'll see in time.
We'll tell.
No uh major special team statsto really go through because the
Jaguars didn't really have touse their special teams in terms
(10:10):
of relying on Cam Little forkicks or relying on Logan Cook
for punts.
Logan Cook didn't have to punt asingle time.
Cam Little only had to see thefield um for you know kickoffs
and for point after attempts.
So that was a good thing.
Um and obviously the scorereflects as to why it was that
(10:33):
way.
We'll go really quickly throughthe the charger side.
Justin Herbert, who left thegame early because John Harbaugh
just weighed the white flag.
He was getting beat up backthere.
Um, he was 10 of 18 for only 81yards, so that kind of tells you
what kind of day the defense hadin terms of rushing.
They only had 42 yards rushing,and Herbert led the way for them
(10:54):
in rushing with 21 yards.
Leading the way in receiving wasKeenan Allen, who had four
receptions for 53 yards.
They had 118 total receivingyards as a whole.
And then leading the way forthem in terms of tackle was
Elijah Molden, who had seventotal tackles, five of which
were solos.
(11:14):
So I was gonna do some quick hittakeaways just for the offense,
defense, and special teams ingeneral, but I'll just do my
normal takeaways and I'll justincorporate those quick hits
into these three to fourtakeaways.
It depends on how I'm feeling orhow many I'll do.
Uh, the first one that I want tomention, and it I want to
mention this because it hasn'tbeen getting enough attention,
(11:37):
in my opinion.
I know a lot of a few people,should I say, have mentioned it,
but a lot of people haven'treally gone deep into details
about this.
But the Jacksonville Jaguarsonly had one penalty, and that
was one uh penalty on defense,none on offense at all, which is
when you look at how this teamhas struggled with penalties, is
miraculous.
But the one penalty it came fromJarian Jones on um, he had an
(12:01):
illegal contact penalty.
I think it was in the secondquarter or so.
But aside from that, man, aclean game.
And the reason I want to mentionthis is not just because it
hasn't been mentioned enough,but also because this kind of
goes back to something I wastalking about earlier in the
year, and Phil as well.
And that was if the Jaguarsplayed cleaner games, who knows
(12:23):
what their potential could be?
This game is very indicative ofthat, very indicative of that.
We've finally seen what thisteam would look like when they
play penalty-free football, andthe result is them blowing out
the chargers, who are a teamthat's a playoff seed team, a
respectable team, right?
A team that was hot coming intothis game, if I'm not mistaken.
(12:47):
But they molliwapped thesedudes, man, because a lot of
which, not just how theydominated the game in some
aspects that I'll mention in myother takeaways, but because
they played so clean that theydidn't give the Chargers a
chance to capitalize on anymishaps, basically.
You know, there were mishaps,but they weren't penalty
(13:09):
related, right?
There was the one pick fromTrevor Lawrence, which he
bounced back from.
We'll talk about that in alittle bit later.
But I said all of that to saythat see what happens when the
Jaguars play to their potentialand they play mistake-free
football and clean football,should I say?
And Liam said it a little bitafter the presser that you know,
(13:29):
a lot of why they played the waythey played, and it's not just
with the edge, but they alsoplayed the way that they played.
It's because of the loss to theTexans.
So what if that loss to theTexans is what we needed, right?
That combat from the Texans thatwe would all rather forget.
What if that is what we wesimply needed as a team to help
(13:52):
us get rid of this penalty issueand to play cleaner heading
forward?
Now, look, I don't expect us tocome out of the next few games
with just one penalty, but if wecan keep this thing at a
minimum, six or less penalties,you know, um, that would be good
for this team, right?
Because we've seen many, manytimes where they're getting into
double digits with penalties,and not only that, they're
(14:14):
having penalties at criticalmoments.
That's another thing that helpedthem here.
They didn't have any penaltiesto negate their big plays that
they made on offense or defense,right?
Again, there was only one thatwas from Jerry and Jones, and
um, of course, they you knowthey accepted it and it was good
for uh um a first down, butthere wasn't a lot of harm done
(14:35):
by it, if I can recall.
At best, maybe the Chargers gota field goal on that drive at
best, if I can recall, and theymight not have even got that
from it.
I'll have to go back and look atthe game.
But when this team isn'tshooting themselves in the foot,
this is what we should expect 35points or more.
And that makes me eager to seeif they continue to at least
(14:57):
again, I don't expect them to gothroughout the season with just
one penalty gain headingforward.
But if they can minimize thepenalties and keep it to close
to five penalties a game, man,we can see more of this and we
can see a revitalized Jaguarsteam heading forward as we have
two crucial months of Novemberand December coming up, um, in
(15:19):
which the Jacksonville Jaguarsum need to handle business and
at least win about four moregames.
The second takeaway um wasTrevor Lawrence, who I just
mentioned not too long ago, andit's worth mentioning um as a
takeaway because he was one ofthe big talking points that we
talked about last week, and heis often on this podcast uh
(15:40):
throughout the episodes, but hewas a big talking point in last
week's episode.
We spent what five minutes, sixminutes, or a good portion of
maybe even eight minutes talkingabout him and his performance in
the game against the Texans,talked about him a great deal
the game before that, if I'm notmistaken.
Um, but yeah, Trevor Lawrence,he he was off to a little bit of
a slow start, right?
(16:02):
And this was a crucial momentfor him because coming into the
game, Liam Cohen mentioned it,and he kind of mentioned this
with the whole team.
It wasn't just Trevor, but hedid say he told Trevor this
specifically too.
But he wanted Trevor to cut itloose, and it looked like Trevor
was nervous as all get out inthe first quarter, in the second
quarter, but mostly the firstquarter.
He was back there doubleclutching, and you could tell he
(16:25):
was thinking a lot, right?
And as a result, he went intothe second half with basically,
you know, the the announcer saidit like he's gonna have to make
a big play somewhere down theroad for this team to win a
game, which you know, come tofind out he they actually didn't
necessarily need that becausethey were so dominant in the
(16:46):
trenches.
But at that time, it did looklike they would need Trevor
Lawrence um to make a big playto get the team going and to get
them a win.
Because at the time, the score,if I'm not mistaken, was 14 to
6.
You know, it was within reachfor the Chargers.
And, you know, the JacksonvilleJaguars left something to be
desired in that half, if youwill.
(17:07):
And I guess you could say a lotof that, or some of it was
because of Trevor Lawrence.
But man, did he turn it on inthe third quarter?
I think he went like seven ofeight or eight of nine in the
fourth quarter at one point intime.
Um, he started to really go tothose interior patterns, and
this is kind of where theaddition of Jacoby Myers, which
(17:30):
I told you guys he would hit theground running.
I said it when we we got him infree agency or uh in the trade
deadline, excuse me.
Um, Jacoby Myers and thatconnection with Trevor Lawrence
that I mentioned that would onlyget stronger as time went on,
really showed itself.
Again, the stats weren't crazyfor Trevor or Myers, but in that
(17:51):
third quarter, they startedcooking.
He started hitting them in themiddle of the field.
And that is something that Isaid, man.
Part of why Trevor wasstruggling is because he needed
that big target in the middle ofthe field, that sure-handed
target, which he hadn't hadbecause Brenton Strange was
injured and Brian Thomas Jr.
is underperforming in thatregard.
But the light bulb went off forthose two, and not just those
(18:14):
two, Liam, the offense ingeneral, and things began to
click as he hit Myers on some uhif one of them was a post to
convert a third down.
Um, he hit him on a uh hitchroute and Parker Washington too
as well.
You know, he hit him on a fewinterior patterns as well.
And, you know, I'll I'll comeout and say it, man.
(18:35):
He started to look like thatTrevor Lawrence that we saw in
2022 when he first got thatspark to start the run that he
had that got him into the ProBowl.
And what I mean by that is itall sparked in that Ravens game,
if y'all can remember.
He looked awfully similar tothat Trevor Lawrence that
received the spark from thatRavens game.
(18:56):
And he looked almost identicalwith him, with probably even
better mechanics, becauseTrevor's mechanics weren't that
great then.
Um and he still has some work todo there now.
But he looked very similar tothat Trevor Lawrence.
And hopefully, much like in thatsituation with the Ravens, this
is the turning point for himwhere he turns it on and goes on
(19:18):
this just heater and startsturning heads, especially with
it being the month of Novemberand December.
This is when we need him themost.
If he can go on a heater andbuild momentum from this moment,
the Jacksonville Jack Wars willfind themselves in the
postseason.
And if he can replicate that inthe postseason, they will find
themselves going far in thepostseason, man.
(19:39):
So just based off of what we sawalone in that second half from
him, man, you you gotta feellike the vibes are high.
Now, look, you know, he isTrevor Lawrence and um he is
sporadic.
But I would say let's not beshocked if this is the moment
where he turns it on and doesn'tgo back, so to speak, as he's
done many, many times, and hedoesn't turn back.
(20:01):
Don't be surprised if this isthe moment where he turns it on
and gets the Jaguars offenserolling like a Chevy Silverado.
So um glad Trevor was able tobounce back from the Texans game
and um kind of cool down the fanbase off of him a little bit.
The next takeaway I want to talkabout is simply the most obvious
(20:23):
thing that went down in thisvictory, and the key reason the
Jaguars won was just thedominance in the trenches, man.
And it this was something thatthey needed after, you know, of
course, they struggled against adefense in in Texas or Houston,
should I say, who is arguablythe best defense in football, or
if not that top two, right?
(20:43):
And they also struggled to getto the quarterback against a
bunch of backups in terms of thedefensive side of the ball.
So boy, did they ever need thisperformance in the trenches.
And they were just on one fromthe beginning, man.
Like they were getting toHerbert right away from the
beginning.
And some of it was Mr.
Simons.
I know the offensive line andthe supporting cast around
(21:05):
Herbert is beat up, but that'swhat you like to see from a unit
that was coming from where theJaguars were coming from in that
Houston game against uh a groupthat was significantly less
talented than Houston's group.
Again, some of which is due toinjury and um just you know the
supporting cast isn't thatstrong right now for Justin
Herbert.
But they took advantage of thatlike you would want them to, you
(21:27):
know, like right out of thegate.
I think the first play, um, itwas actually a Mr.
Simon where Trayvon Walker umbasically went down the line
untouched, and Herbert had tothrow the ball away and it was
intentional grounded, man.
That kind of set the tone, atleast for the the Chargers side,
right?
It kind of set the tone for whatit would be and what kind of a
(21:47):
day it would be offensively forthe Chargers.
Like if there was ever a timewhere the first play kind of
told you everything that wasgonna happen for an offense,
that was it, right?
And even when Trayvon Walker wasblocked, and not just him, but
you know, everybody, uh it was alot of guys who had a good game.
But Trayvon Walker was one ofthem.
They they couldn't do too muchwith him, you know.
Even when he was blocked, he washelping in the run game, he was
(22:09):
helping in the pass rush regard.
He's getting closer to himself,and I know a lot had to do with
the cast, and you know, that'skind of hard to play with as a
defensive end or an edge rusher,but he's getting closer back to
himself, and um, I'm glad thathe was able to have this
performance against, you know,lower competition because this
is the kind of momentum that canhelp him get going against
(22:32):
higher level competition becauseas we all know, the NFL is a
game of momentum, and sometimesit takes you to get that spark
from a team that's beat up, andyou can carry that into you know
teams with better competition,and next thing you know, you got
somebody playing at a very highlevel.
I would also be remiss not tomention that Josh Hines Allen
(22:55):
was able with the sack that heacquired in the game to um get
the sack record for the all-timesack leader in Jacksonville
Jaguars history.
So, shout outs to him.
You know, people have been verycritical, and we have been two
of him.
So, congratulations to him, man,and it's very well deserved and
(23:16):
some hard work that went intothat.
And hopefully we can see himcontinue to improve and become
the player or be the player umthat we need him to be, and that
he has shown us he can be.
But one thing I want to discussin terms of those defensive
trenches, in terms of anadjustment, and it was a change
that kind of took place.
Well, it's no kind of in it, ittook place before the game, and
(23:40):
that was just the option toactivate Stragal and Green over
Agba.
Now, Green has been activatedmany times um in his rookie
campaign, so this isn't it'snothing new for him, but um
Stragal and not just that, butthe both of them also got a
decent amount of snaps.
I'll have to see their snapcount and pull that up.
(24:02):
I'll have to probably look onPFF or something like that for
it.
But um, the decision to makethem active and not just active,
just play them in a you know,give them a significant amount
of snaps, that seemed to reallyhave worked.
Now, again, like you got toconsider what kind of
competition they were goingagainst with this Chargers
offensive line.
But both of those young menlooked hungry out there and they
(24:25):
had great games.
And BJ Green was even robbed ofa sack.
I think Stragal, as I mentionedearlier, got a half of one with
Trayvon Walker as well.
And it was just one of thoseplays where um it was just a lot
of hustle that went into it,right?
He actually fell down, had toget back up, uh, made his way to
the quarterback, and bam, youknow, Justin Herbert's on the
(24:45):
ground.
But those are two guys that thereason I'm mentioning them,
those are two guys I was high onin the preseason, right?
And I think heading forward,they need to make that a
permanent part of theirrotation, having those two get
significant snaps and makingthem active.
And the forward, now look, likethey could very well hit a wall
when the competition is better.
(25:06):
But at the very least, they theyshowed that these are two
relentless, hungry players herewho, for the time being, gave us
a shot in the arm in thedefensive trenches.
And I again, I like them fromthe beginning.
You can go back and look at mytweets that I um put out there
about them in the preseason.
Glad to see them getting thereps that they need.
(25:27):
And look, man, reps will onlymake those two young players
better, man.
BJ Green has always just lookedlike he's hard to deal with,
despite being a rookie, just forthe simple fact he has a low
center of gravity and arelentless motor.
Keep those guys out there, man.
Let them take their bumps andlet them learn a little bit,
man.
And before you know it, when weget to the end of the season and
(25:49):
um throughout the months ofNovember and January or November
and December, excuse me, youhave two players who are playing
at a high level who have helpedthis defense potentially uh turn
things around and get back totheir ways of causing havoc and
getting the turnovers that wewere seeing early in the season.
And to kind of just give you allsome stats to back up the day
(26:12):
that the Jaguars had in thetrenches, especially in the
defensive trenches, the top PFFgrades, in terms of the top
five, three of the five were umdefensive linemen.
It was BJ Green, he had a 75,Josh Hines Allen, who had an 80,
and then Devon Hamilton had an89.6, which was good for the
(26:35):
highest PFF grade on defense.
Now, also in the positive wasWalker with a 71.6, and uh Danny
Stragal with a 70.7, they wereranked seventh and eighth on
defense, respectively.
Um, but yeah, when you put thosefigures together, man, like that
just kind of shows you the daythey had in the trenches.
(26:57):
And then going to the offensivetrenches real quick, the person
or the player who had the topgrade for the offensive side in
general, not just in theoffensive trenches and the team
in general, actually, was EzraCleveland.
He had a 90.5.
Man, when you pop on the film ofhim, you couldn't help but see
what kind of um impact he madein the run game, especially,
man.
And um, you know, I reflectingback on it, that might be a big
(27:20):
part of why they probablystruggle against the Houston
Texans.
I think if you have EzraCleveland based on how he played
in this game, they probably beatthe Texans too.
But man, was he a force for thatrun game and Basel Tutin and
company?
Uh, so definitely shout outs tohim and the job that he did um
and and the um upgrade that hewas, as he was a vital part, as
(27:43):
I just mentioned, to the daythat Bascial Tootin had and that
um ETN had, which is my nexttalking point.
I guess I'll just briefly getinto them.
Man, um I forgot who it was.
Somebody put out a tweet that wehave our own version of Sonic
and Knuckles, and I couldn'tagree more that we do, man.
But it was just so fun watchingthe not just the the people in
(28:04):
the trenches, not just theoffensive and defensive line
bring the physicality that wehave been wanting to see or that
we wanted to see last week.
But it was just fun to watchthem just impose their will,
both ETN and Tutin.
Impose and LaQuent Allen got inthere a few snaps at the end as
well, impose their will on aChargers defense who looked like
(28:26):
they didn't want any part ofthem.
Like it was one time that umthat Tootin boomed, I think it
was Elijah Molden.
It was a defensive back forsure.
And you know, you that was justkind of indicative and just
telling uh he bounced off ofthat tackle um and the
linebacker or somebody else hadto bring him down, but that was
just kind of telling of whatkind of day they were having in
(28:49):
terms of the Chargers defensewhen anytime that ETN or Tootin
touched the ball, man, theyweren't getting touched until
they were four yards down thefield.
And even when they were, theywere bouncing off of tackles,
and it looked like nobody wantedany parts of them, man.
So that's crazy to say whenyou're talking about a hardball
team, right?
Which their whole mantra isrunning the ball and physicality
(29:11):
for crying out loud, theiroffensive coordinator is Greg
Roman.
But to see us Greg Roman todeath, the Chargers was just a
neat thing to see, and outphysical the Chargers was a neat
thing to see.
And I hope this trend continuesheading forward because if it
does, man, we are we are boundfor a great November and
December, and we can even makesome noise in the playoffs.
(29:33):
So I guess I will leave it atthat.
Well, I'll go to one of my lasttakeaway.
I'll make it brief.
My last takeaway was kudos tothe job that the coaches did.
And by the way, this was acoaching staff that ESPN ranked
like one of the worst in theirlittle power rankers that they
did before the season, probablybecause of the newness and the
unknowns and what have you.
(29:53):
But kudos to the job that thecoaches did and the staff did.
Getting this team ready after along time.
Low moment, a very low moment inJazz history.
Liam Cohen very well could havefolded like many coaches have
done before him when we've hitthese low moments.
But they they put their headsdown, they put in the work
throughout practice.
(30:14):
They came out there, as he said,with some edge about them.
You got Tony Boselli saying allkind of crazy stuff like this is
the most important game inhistory.
They answered the call.
They're a good job on the staff.
Liam Cohen, Tony Boselli, JamesGladstone, everybody that played
a part in just um making surethe culture didn't take a
(30:34):
plummet after that loss to theHouston Texans and getting them
to come out and play like thisis a very good thing to see is
how they bounced back and howthey responded to Liam and not
getting down in the dumps as aresult of that Houston game.
But good job by Liam, justgetting them to bounce back from
(30:55):
that with the best game thatthey've had of the season and a
game that again, I keep sayingthis, but a game that all of the
positive things that came out ofit can give you a lot of
momentum heading forwardthroughout the rest of November
and December.
This could really be a turningpoint for the Jacksonville
Jaguars.
And look, man, if this if theJaguars go to the Super Bowl,
(31:20):
this is the moment thatessentially stunted their growth
to get there.
Make no mistake about it.
So if we ever get to the SuperBowl, look back at this game as
the one and the job that Liamand the staff did to get them
going in the opposite directionthan they were going in.
This was the one that startedthem on that path to the Super
(31:40):
Bowl or revitalized them orwhatever you want to say.
So all of that said, man, wewill go ahead and cut it short
there.
Um I'm not sure where I'm at ontime, but this one feels like
it's been a little bit of ashorter one, but still, a lot of
great talking points and a lotof great content came out of it.
At least I hope so.
Let me know if it didn't.
But as you all know, I am JamesJohnson, aka sports grind
(32:04):
underscore done on Twitter.
Um, you can follow my co-hostwho will be back next week, Phil
Barrera, um at Phil the Filipinoon Twitter.
You can follow the TouchdownJaguars Podcast handler on
Twitter at TD Jagspod.
And you can follow our website,um, touchdownjadwars.com.
(32:26):
Go ahead and um feel free to useour promotion code as I
mentioned earlier, as I willpush our sponsor one more time,
SeatGeek.
The promotion code that will getyou$20 off of your first order
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Feel free to download the app orgo to their website as they are
your go-to place for your ticketand needs.
(32:46):
So until next time, you all takecare of each other and look out
for each other and ride the wavethat we are coming off of.
And um, hopefully we'll comeback with some more great news
and content after anothervictory, hopefully, against the
Arizona Cardinals.
So until next time, you all takecare of each other, and I am
signing out of the way.
Welcome to the Touchdown Jaguars podcast.
Here are your hosts, JamesJohnson and Phil Smith.
SPEAKER_00 (01:08):
All right, all right, all right, all right,
good people, Jags fans and Duvalsupporters across the globe.
We are back for yet anotherepisode of the Touchdown Jaguars
podcast.
I am your host for today, JamesJohnson, as you could tell,
(01:29):
riding this one solo.
Um, shout outs to Phil.
He had some um obligations totake care of as a father, which
you always love, man.
So yeah, I told him to enjoyhimself and enjoy uh his time
with his uh little one, and Iwill hold it down until he gets
(01:50):
back.
We'll get him back on the nextepisode.
This is episode 129, by the way.
So we'll get him back on 130 anduh we'll briefly get his takes
on this game.
If he was able to see the game,you know, I know he was in
again, he was enjoying his umhis younger ones.
So um all of that being said,man, the vibes are high here, as
(02:14):
you can tell.
And um, as you all havewitnessed, right?
Because you were there, you allsaw the game or saw it on TV or
live, whatever the case may be,as the Jacksonville Jaguars
bounced back after hitting a lowmoment, one of the lowest
moments in franchise history, atleast in recent history,
probably overall in the Jagshistory, where they had a
(02:38):
19-point lead of race by theTexans, right?
Um, and uh the vibes were low atthat time.
Uh, but they went back to thefacility, regrouped, and man,
did they show up and show out onSunday after beating the Los
Angeles Chargers.
(02:59):
I I have a hard time saying thattoo.
I'm so used to saying San Diegofor many, many years.
But beating the Los AngelesChargers in a home game.
Um I think this was our firsthome game in what, three games,
four games, something like that.
Um, but they gave the home crowdsomething to go home and be
happy about as they put abeatdown on the Los Angeles
(03:20):
Chargers by a score of 35 to 6.
So with the vibes being high,plenty to talk about.
I do want to make this one shortand sweet um because of editing
purposes, right?
Editing is kicking my behind.
But um, as you all know, itnormally doesn't go that way,
even though even with it being asolo episode, somehow I I figure
(03:42):
out a way to make it a whole50-minute episode or whatever
the case may be, an hourepisode.
But all of that said, I hope tomake it short and sweet.
But when you're talking about avictory, sometimes it's not that
easy, right?
Especially um when you talkabout the improvements they made
from the Texans loss to thiswin.
(04:03):
But before we get into all ofthat, I want to plug our handles
and where you can find us.
Of course, you can follow me atsportsgrind underscore done on
Twitter, um, the platform thatwe're most engaged with, I guess
you could say.
Um, you can find Phil at Philthe Filipino on Twitter and the
(04:23):
Touchdown Jaguars handle at TDJags Pod.
And of course, you can find ourwebsite, touchdownjads.com, on
the world wide web, wherearchived episodes are placed on,
and we put written content onthere.
Um, so that being said, that'swhere you can find us, most
(04:44):
notably in terms of where youcan find this podcast.
We are on every major platform,whether that's Apple Podcasts or
iTunes, whatever you want tocall it, Spotify, um, we are on
Amazon music as well for thoseof you who have Alexa devices.
And if we aren't on one of yourfavorite platforms, let us know
(05:04):
and we'll get there because wewant to be heard on all corners
of the world, and we want to beable to give you your weekly fix
of Jacksonville Jaguars News.
Any new people that arelistening to us, we welcome you.
Feel free to rate, comment,subscribe, let us know how we're
doing.
And to our listeners who havebeen here, thank you for
(05:26):
returning.
Lastly, I want to give ashout-out to SeatGeek, our
sponsor for this podcast.
Um, your go-to place for yourticketing needs, whether it's uh
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So head on over to SeatGeek ordownload the app.
Use our promotion code again astouchdown jaguars to save
yourself$20 on your first order.
But with all of that out of theway, without further ado, let's
(06:33):
get into the game.
Of course, we always start witha box score, and um then we'll
go to some takeaways that Iwrote down here.
I watched the game two well 1.75times.
I watched it initially live.
I rewatched it again today, andthis wasn't all 22, it was just
(06:54):
the live version again, uh,condensed version on the second
time.
And um, I got into the Jaguarsscored their uh last touchdown.
So in the second watch.
So I've seen it a decent amountof times.
Um that being said, we'll justgo through the statistics here.
Trevor Lawrence was 14 of 22.
(07:14):
We'll talk about him.
He's involved in the takeawaysuh for 153 yards, one touchdown,
he had one pick.
The stat line in that regarddoesn't look all that great.
Um, but we'll talk about thegame that he had overall, and
um, you know, just just kind oftell you how the the stats don't
tell the story with him there.
(07:34):
And I'm sure you already allknow that because you all have
seen the game.
Um, that being said, moving onto Russian, Bachel Tootin had a
heck of a game.
Again, you know, the stats don'tnecessarily show that he went
crazy, but um he had a heck of agame, 15 carries for 74 yards
and one touchdown.
We'll talk about him a littlebit probably as well.
(07:57):
Um Travis Etienne Jr., he hadtwo touchdowns, 19 carries, 73
yards.
And look, Quentin Allen even gotinvolved in the mix uh with
eight carries for 36 yards.
Uh Trevor Lawrence had a umtouchdown himself on the ground,
had five carries as well fornine yards.
(08:18):
In the receiving end, we'll justgo through the top two receivers
because it, you know, thestatistics there weren't too
crazy.
But while the statistics weren'tplentiful there, um they came at
big-time moments for the team.
But Jacoby Myers with five uhreceptions for 64 yards made an
impact for the team um in termsof possession downs and um just
(08:43):
you know being there for TrevorLawrence when he needed him the
most.
Johnny Munt was second in umterms of yards.
He had two receptions for 25yards.
So uh we'll go on to the defensehere, real quick.
Four years Aluken led the waywith tackles with five total
tackles, three of which weresolo.
(09:05):
Andrew Wingard had the sameexact statistic.
So technically they were tiedthere.
So Foyer and Wingard um thereleading the way in tackles.
Josh Hines Allen was right therebehind him.
He had uh four tackles, two uhfor solo, and one of which um he
had a sack as well and a tacklefor loss.
(09:27):
He wasn't the only one who gotto the quarterback um as Trayvon
Walker contributed a half asack.
Uh Eric Armstead contributed asack, albeit late in the game
against um the backup squad.
And Daniel Stragal uhcontributed a half a sack, and
uh BJ Green would have had onetoo, but the refs uh let's just
(09:49):
say um I almost said a bad wordthere, but the refs did him
dirty and uh penalized him for abig time hit he had on Justin
Herbert, by the way.
I hope they don't find him forthat hit because it was clean to
me, but we'll see in time.
We'll tell.
No uh major special team statsto really go through because the
Jaguars didn't really have touse their special teams in terms
(10:10):
of relying on Cam Little forkicks or relying on Logan Cook
for punts.
Logan Cook didn't have to punt asingle time.
Cam Little only had to see thefield um for you know kickoffs
and for point after attempts.
So that was a good thing.
Um and obviously the scorereflects as to why it was that
(10:33):
way.
We'll go really quickly throughthe the charger side.
Justin Herbert, who left thegame early because John Harbaugh
just weighed the white flag.
He was getting beat up backthere.
Um, he was 10 of 18 for only 81yards, so that kind of tells you
what kind of day the defense hadin terms of rushing.
They only had 42 yards rushing,and Herbert led the way for them
(10:54):
in rushing with 21 yards.
Leading the way in receiving wasKeenan Allen, who had four
receptions for 53 yards.
They had 118 total receivingyards as a whole.
And then leading the way forthem in terms of tackle was
Elijah Molden, who had seventotal tackles, five of which
were solos.
(11:14):
So I was gonna do some quick hittakeaways just for the offense,
defense, and special teams ingeneral, but I'll just do my
normal takeaways and I'll justincorporate those quick hits
into these three to fourtakeaways.
It depends on how I'm feeling orhow many I'll do.
Uh, the first one that I want tomention, and it I want to
mention this because it hasn'tbeen getting enough attention,
(11:37):
in my opinion.
I know a lot of a few people,should I say, have mentioned it,
but a lot of people haven'treally gone deep into details
about this.
But the Jacksonville Jaguarsonly had one penalty, and that
was one uh penalty on defense,none on offense at all, which is
when you look at how this teamhas struggled with penalties, is
miraculous.
But the one penalty it came fromJarian Jones on um, he had an
(12:01):
illegal contact penalty.
I think it was in the secondquarter or so.
But aside from that, man, aclean game.
And the reason I want to mentionthis is not just because it
hasn't been mentioned enough,but also because this kind of
goes back to something I wastalking about earlier in the
year, and Phil as well.
And that was if the Jaguarsplayed cleaner games, who knows
(12:23):
what their potential could be?
This game is very indicative ofthat, very indicative of that.
We've finally seen what thisteam would look like when they
play penalty-free football, andthe result is them blowing out
the chargers, who are a teamthat's a playoff seed team, a
respectable team, right?
A team that was hot coming intothis game, if I'm not mistaken.
(12:47):
But they molliwapped thesedudes, man, because a lot of
which, not just how theydominated the game in some
aspects that I'll mention in myother takeaways, but because
they played so clean that theydidn't give the Chargers a
chance to capitalize on anymishaps, basically.
You know, there were mishaps,but they weren't penalty
(13:09):
related, right?
There was the one pick fromTrevor Lawrence, which he
bounced back from.
We'll talk about that in alittle bit later.
But I said all of that to saythat see what happens when the
Jaguars play to their potentialand they play mistake-free
football and clean football,should I say?
And Liam said it a little bitafter the presser that you know,
(13:29):
a lot of why they played the waythey played, and it's not just
with the edge, but they alsoplayed the way that they played.
It's because of the loss to theTexans.
So what if that loss to theTexans is what we needed, right?
That combat from the Texans thatwe would all rather forget.
What if that is what we wesimply needed as a team to help
(13:52):
us get rid of this penalty issueand to play cleaner heading
forward?
Now, look, I don't expect us tocome out of the next few games
with just one penalty, but if wecan keep this thing at a
minimum, six or less penalties,you know, um, that would be good
for this team, right?
Because we've seen many, manytimes where they're getting into
double digits with penalties,and not only that, they're
(14:14):
having penalties at criticalmoments.
That's another thing that helpedthem here.
They didn't have any penaltiesto negate their big plays that
they made on offense or defense,right?
Again, there was only one thatwas from Jerry and Jones, and
um, of course, they you knowthey accepted it and it was good
for uh um a first down, butthere wasn't a lot of harm done
(14:35):
by it, if I can recall.
At best, maybe the Chargers gota field goal on that drive at
best, if I can recall, and theymight not have even got that
from it.
I'll have to go back and look atthe game.
But when this team isn'tshooting themselves in the foot,
this is what we should expect 35points or more.
And that makes me eager to seeif they continue to at least
(14:57):
again, I don't expect them to gothroughout the season with just
one penalty gain headingforward.
But if they can minimize thepenalties and keep it to close
to five penalties a game, man,we can see more of this and we
can see a revitalized Jaguarsteam heading forward as we have
two crucial months of Novemberand December coming up, um, in
(15:19):
which the Jacksonville Jaguarsum need to handle business and
at least win about four moregames.
The second takeaway um wasTrevor Lawrence, who I just
mentioned not too long ago, andit's worth mentioning um as a
takeaway because he was one ofthe big talking points that we
talked about last week, and heis often on this podcast uh
(15:40):
throughout the episodes, but hewas a big talking point in last
week's episode.
We spent what five minutes, sixminutes, or a good portion of
maybe even eight minutes talkingabout him and his performance in
the game against the Texans,talked about him a great deal
the game before that, if I'm notmistaken.
Um, but yeah, Trevor Lawrence,he he was off to a little bit of
a slow start, right?
(16:02):
And this was a crucial momentfor him because coming into the
game, Liam Cohen mentioned it,and he kind of mentioned this
with the whole team.
It wasn't just Trevor, but hedid say he told Trevor this
specifically too.
But he wanted Trevor to cut itloose, and it looked like Trevor
was nervous as all get out inthe first quarter, in the second
quarter, but mostly the firstquarter.
He was back there doubleclutching, and you could tell he
(16:25):
was thinking a lot, right?
And as a result, he went intothe second half with basically,
you know, the the announcer saidit like he's gonna have to make
a big play somewhere down theroad for this team to win a
game, which you know, come tofind out he they actually didn't
necessarily need that becausethey were so dominant in the
(16:46):
trenches.
But at that time, it did looklike they would need Trevor
Lawrence um to make a big playto get the team going and to get
them a win.
Because at the time, the score,if I'm not mistaken, was 14 to
6.
You know, it was within reachfor the Chargers.
And, you know, the JacksonvilleJaguars left something to be
desired in that half, if youwill.
(17:07):
And I guess you could say a lotof that, or some of it was
because of Trevor Lawrence.
But man, did he turn it on inthe third quarter?
I think he went like seven ofeight or eight of nine in the
fourth quarter at one point intime.
Um, he started to really go tothose interior patterns, and
this is kind of where theaddition of Jacoby Myers, which
(17:30):
I told you guys he would hit theground running.
I said it when we we got him infree agency or uh in the trade
deadline, excuse me.
Um, Jacoby Myers and thatconnection with Trevor Lawrence
that I mentioned that would onlyget stronger as time went on,
really showed itself.
Again, the stats weren't crazyfor Trevor or Myers, but in that
(17:51):
third quarter, they startedcooking.
He started hitting them in themiddle of the field.
And that is something that Isaid, man.
Part of why Trevor wasstruggling is because he needed
that big target in the middle ofthe field, that sure-handed
target, which he hadn't hadbecause Brenton Strange was
injured and Brian Thomas Jr.
is underperforming in thatregard.
But the light bulb went off forthose two, and not just those
(18:14):
two, Liam, the offense ingeneral, and things began to
click as he hit Myers on some uhif one of them was a post to
convert a third down.
Um, he hit him on a uh hitchroute and Parker Washington too
as well.
You know, he hit him on a fewinterior patterns as well.
And, you know, I'll I'll comeout and say it, man.
(18:35):
He started to look like thatTrevor Lawrence that we saw in
2022 when he first got thatspark to start the run that he
had that got him into the ProBowl.
And what I mean by that is itall sparked in that Ravens game,
if y'all can remember.
He looked awfully similar tothat Trevor Lawrence that
received the spark from thatRavens game.
(18:56):
And he looked almost identicalwith him, with probably even
better mechanics, becauseTrevor's mechanics weren't that
great then.
Um and he still has some work todo there now.
But he looked very similar tothat Trevor Lawrence.
And hopefully, much like in thatsituation with the Ravens, this
is the turning point for himwhere he turns it on and goes on
(19:18):
this just heater and startsturning heads, especially with
it being the month of Novemberand December.
This is when we need him themost.
If he can go on a heater andbuild momentum from this moment,
the Jacksonville Jack Wars willfind themselves in the
postseason.
And if he can replicate that inthe postseason, they will find
themselves going far in thepostseason, man.
(19:39):
So just based off of what we sawalone in that second half from
him, man, you you gotta feellike the vibes are high.
Now, look, you know, he isTrevor Lawrence and um he is
sporadic.
But I would say let's not beshocked if this is the moment
where he turns it on and doesn'tgo back, so to speak, as he's
done many, many times, and hedoesn't turn back.
(20:01):
Don't be surprised if this isthe moment where he turns it on
and gets the Jaguars offenserolling like a Chevy Silverado.
So um glad Trevor was able tobounce back from the Texans game
and um kind of cool down the fanbase off of him a little bit.
The next takeaway I want to talkabout is simply the most obvious
(20:23):
thing that went down in thisvictory, and the key reason the
Jaguars won was just thedominance in the trenches, man.
And it this was something thatthey needed after, you know, of
course, they struggled against adefense in in Texas or Houston,
should I say, who is arguablythe best defense in football, or
if not that top two, right?
(20:43):
And they also struggled to getto the quarterback against a
bunch of backups in terms of thedefensive side of the ball.
So boy, did they ever need thisperformance in the trenches.
And they were just on one fromthe beginning, man.
Like they were getting toHerbert right away from the
beginning.
And some of it was Mr.
Simons.
I know the offensive line andthe supporting cast around
(21:05):
Herbert is beat up, but that'swhat you like to see from a unit
that was coming from where theJaguars were coming from in that
Houston game against uh a groupthat was significantly less
talented than Houston's group.
Again, some of which is due toinjury and um just you know the
supporting cast isn't thatstrong right now for Justin
Herbert.
But they took advantage of thatlike you would want them to, you
(21:27):
know, like right out of thegate.
I think the first play, um, itwas actually a Mr.
Simon where Trayvon Walker umbasically went down the line
untouched, and Herbert had tothrow the ball away and it was
intentional grounded, man.
That kind of set the tone, atleast for the the Chargers side,
right?
It kind of set the tone for whatit would be and what kind of a
(21:47):
day it would be offensively forthe Chargers.
Like if there was ever a timewhere the first play kind of
told you everything that wasgonna happen for an offense,
that was it, right?
And even when Trayvon Walker wasblocked, and not just him, but
you know, everybody, uh it was alot of guys who had a good game.
But Trayvon Walker was one ofthem.
They they couldn't do too muchwith him, you know.
Even when he was blocked, he washelping in the run game, he was
(22:09):
helping in the pass rush regard.
He's getting closer to himself,and I know a lot had to do with
the cast, and you know, that'skind of hard to play with as a
defensive end or an edge rusher,but he's getting closer back to
himself, and um, I'm glad thathe was able to have this
performance against, you know,lower competition because this
is the kind of momentum that canhelp him get going against
(22:32):
higher level competition becauseas we all know, the NFL is a
game of momentum, and sometimesit takes you to get that spark
from a team that's beat up, andyou can carry that into you know
teams with better competition,and next thing you know, you got
somebody playing at a very highlevel.
I would also be remiss not tomention that Josh Hines Allen
(22:55):
was able with the sack that heacquired in the game to um get
the sack record for the all-timesack leader in Jacksonville
Jaguars history.
So, shout outs to him.
You know, people have been verycritical, and we have been two
of him.
So, congratulations to him, man,and it's very well deserved and
(23:16):
some hard work that went intothat.
And hopefully we can see himcontinue to improve and become
the player or be the player umthat we need him to be, and that
he has shown us he can be.
But one thing I want to discussin terms of those defensive
trenches, in terms of anadjustment, and it was a change
that kind of took place.
Well, it's no kind of in it, ittook place before the game, and
(23:40):
that was just the option toactivate Stragal and Green over
Agba.
Now, Green has been activatedmany times um in his rookie
campaign, so this isn't it'snothing new for him, but um
Stragal and not just that, butthe both of them also got a
decent amount of snaps.
I'll have to see their snapcount and pull that up.
(24:02):
I'll have to probably look onPFF or something like that for
it.
But um, the decision to makethem active and not just active,
just play them in a you know,give them a significant amount
of snaps, that seemed to reallyhave worked.
Now, again, like you got toconsider what kind of
competition they were goingagainst with this Chargers
offensive line.
But both of those young menlooked hungry out there and they
(24:25):
had great games.
And BJ Green was even robbed ofa sack.
I think Stragal, as I mentionedearlier, got a half of one with
Trayvon Walker as well.
And it was just one of thoseplays where um it was just a lot
of hustle that went into it,right?
He actually fell down, had toget back up, uh, made his way to
the quarterback, and bam, youknow, Justin Herbert's on the
(24:45):
ground.
But those are two guys that thereason I'm mentioning them,
those are two guys I was high onin the preseason, right?
And I think heading forward,they need to make that a
permanent part of theirrotation, having those two get
significant snaps and makingthem active.
And the forward, now look, likethey could very well hit a wall
when the competition is better.
(25:06):
But at the very least, they theyshowed that these are two
relentless, hungry players herewho, for the time being, gave us
a shot in the arm in thedefensive trenches.
And I again, I like them fromthe beginning.
You can go back and look at mytweets that I um put out there
about them in the preseason.
Glad to see them getting thereps that they need.
(25:27):
And look, man, reps will onlymake those two young players
better, man.
BJ Green has always just lookedlike he's hard to deal with,
despite being a rookie, just forthe simple fact he has a low
center of gravity and arelentless motor.
Keep those guys out there, man.
Let them take their bumps andlet them learn a little bit,
man.
And before you know it, when weget to the end of the season and
(25:49):
um throughout the months ofNovember and January or November
and December, excuse me, youhave two players who are playing
at a high level who have helpedthis defense potentially uh turn
things around and get back totheir ways of causing havoc and
getting the turnovers that wewere seeing early in the season.
And to kind of just give you allsome stats to back up the day
(26:12):
that the Jaguars had in thetrenches, especially in the
defensive trenches, the top PFFgrades, in terms of the top
five, three of the five were umdefensive linemen.
It was BJ Green, he had a 75,Josh Hines Allen, who had an 80,
and then Devon Hamilton had an89.6, which was good for the
(26:35):
highest PFF grade on defense.
Now, also in the positive wasWalker with a 71.6, and uh Danny
Stragal with a 70.7, they wereranked seventh and eighth on
defense, respectively.
Um, but yeah, when you put thosefigures together, man, like that
just kind of shows you the daythey had in the trenches.
(26:57):
And then going to the offensivetrenches real quick, the person
or the player who had the topgrade for the offensive side in
general, not just in theoffensive trenches and the team
in general, actually, was EzraCleveland.
He had a 90.5.
Man, when you pop on the film ofhim, you couldn't help but see
what kind of um impact he madein the run game, especially,
man.
And um, you know, I reflectingback on it, that might be a big
(27:20):
part of why they probablystruggle against the Houston
Texans.
I think if you have EzraCleveland based on how he played
in this game, they probably beatthe Texans too.
But man, was he a force for thatrun game and Basel Tutin and
company?
Uh, so definitely shout outs tohim and the job that he did um
and and the um upgrade that hewas, as he was a vital part, as
(27:43):
I just mentioned, to the daythat Bascial Tootin had and that
um ETN had, which is my nexttalking point.
I guess I'll just briefly getinto them.
Man, um I forgot who it was.
Somebody put out a tweet that wehave our own version of Sonic
and Knuckles, and I couldn'tagree more that we do, man.
But it was just so fun watchingthe not just the the people in
(28:04):
the trenches, not just theoffensive and defensive line
bring the physicality that wehave been wanting to see or that
we wanted to see last week.
But it was just fun to watchthem just impose their will,
both ETN and Tutin.
Impose and LaQuent Allen got inthere a few snaps at the end as
well, impose their will on aChargers defense who looked like
(28:26):
they didn't want any part ofthem.
Like it was one time that umthat Tootin boomed, I think it
was Elijah Molden.
It was a defensive back forsure.
And you know, you that was justkind of indicative and just
telling uh he bounced off ofthat tackle um and the
linebacker or somebody else hadto bring him down, but that was
just kind of telling of whatkind of day they were having in
(28:49):
terms of the Chargers defensewhen anytime that ETN or Tootin
touched the ball, man, theyweren't getting touched until
they were four yards down thefield.
And even when they were, theywere bouncing off of tackles,
and it looked like nobody wantedany parts of them, man.
So that's crazy to say whenyou're talking about a hardball
team, right?
Which their whole mantra isrunning the ball and physicality
(29:11):
for crying out loud, theiroffensive coordinator is Greg
Roman.
But to see us Greg Roman todeath, the Chargers was just a
neat thing to see, and outphysical the Chargers was a neat
thing to see.
And I hope this trend continuesheading forward because if it
does, man, we are we are boundfor a great November and
December, and we can even makesome noise in the playoffs.
(29:33):
So I guess I will leave it atthat.
Well, I'll go to one of my lasttakeaway.
I'll make it brief.
My last takeaway was kudos tothe job that the coaches did.
And by the way, this was acoaching staff that ESPN ranked
like one of the worst in theirlittle power rankers that they
did before the season, probablybecause of the newness and the
unknowns and what have you.
(29:53):
But kudos to the job that thecoaches did and the staff did.
Getting this team ready after along time.
Low moment, a very low moment inJazz history.
Liam Cohen very well could havefolded like many coaches have
done before him when we've hitthese low moments.
But they they put their headsdown, they put in the work
throughout practice.
(30:14):
They came out there, as he said,with some edge about them.
You got Tony Boselli saying allkind of crazy stuff like this is
the most important game inhistory.
They answered the call.
They're a good job on the staff.
Liam Cohen, Tony Boselli, JamesGladstone, everybody that played
a part in just um making surethe culture didn't take a
(30:34):
plummet after that loss to theHouston Texans and getting them
to come out and play like thisis a very good thing to see is
how they bounced back and howthey responded to Liam and not
getting down in the dumps as aresult of that Houston game.
But good job by Liam, justgetting them to bounce back from
(30:55):
that with the best game thatthey've had of the season and a
game that again, I keep sayingthis, but a game that all of the
positive things that came out ofit can give you a lot of
momentum heading forwardthroughout the rest of November
and December.
This could really be a turningpoint for the Jacksonville
Jaguars.
And look, man, if this if theJaguars go to the Super Bowl,
(31:20):
this is the moment thatessentially stunted their growth
to get there.
Make no mistake about it.
So if we ever get to the SuperBowl, look back at this game as
the one and the job that Liamand the staff did to get them
going in the opposite directionthan they were going in.
This was the one that startedthem on that path to the Super
(31:40):
Bowl or revitalized them orwhatever you want to say.
So all of that said, man, wewill go ahead and cut it short
there.
Um I'm not sure where I'm at ontime, but this one feels like
it's been a little bit of ashorter one, but still, a lot of
great talking points and a lotof great content came out of it.
At least I hope so.
Let me know if it didn't.
But as you all know, I am JamesJohnson, aka sports grind
(32:04):
underscore done on Twitter.
Um, you can follow my co-hostwho will be back next week, Phil
Barrera, um at Phil the Filipinoon Twitter.
You can follow the TouchdownJaguars Podcast handler on
Twitter at TD Jagspod.
And you can follow our website,um, touchdownjadwars.com.
(32:26):
Go ahead and um feel free to useour promotion code as I
mentioned earlier, as I willpush our sponsor one more time,
SeatGeek.
The promotion code that will getyou$20 off of your first order
is Touchdown Jaguars.
Feel free to download the app orgo to their website as they are
your go-to place for your ticketand needs.
(32:46):
So until next time, you all takecare of each other and look out
for each other and ride the wavethat we are coming off of.
And um, hopefully we'll comeback with some more great news
and content after anothervictory, hopefully, against the
Arizona Cardinals.
So until next time, you all takecare of each other, and I am
signing out of the way.
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