September 19, 2025 • 10 mins
1010XL Jacksonville's Rick Ballou Joins Before Sundays Texan/Jag Match Up
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now Rick Blue, long time guest of the program. We
appreciate him joining us, always ready and willing to talk
some Texans and Jaggs. Rick Howard thinks.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Matt, everything's great.
Speaker 3 (00:14):
I'm wondering why though, you folks would hate Jacksonville if
you come here yearly and win.
Speaker 4 (00:20):
Okay, first and foremost, that was rass. Okay, So Matt
was getting coffee. I was getting Rick, Rick, I was
getting coffee. First of all, you are always welcome on
the show. You are an og guest of ours. You've
been one of those probably at least ten years, and
for that we thank you. I listen to you back
in the day when you're doing national radios. That's what
you respect I have for you. So and then secondly,
you're right, the Texans love coming to Jacksonville. So let
(00:41):
me ask you this. Does your audience are they grumpy
when the Texans come to town? They know that there's
such a long streak in favor of the Texans in
this series.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Well, first of all, my audience is grumpy to begin with.
Speaker 4 (00:53):
Okay, that's fair.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
This is the losing his franchise and team athletics over
the last ten years. If you look at the NFL,
major League Baseball, the NHL, in the NBA, and you know,
they go through coaching changes, they go through front office changes,
and you know, this year, notwithstanding the roster, I think
they had fifty four out.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Of their ninety was new.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
And right now I want to say unofficially they have
twenty eight new players on their fifty three man roster.
So yes, they're grumpy. They're extra grumpy the week here
of Houston. And you know, these stands are great, but
I've really described it as Houston rolls.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
In the dow ball.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
They beat the living tar out of the man, and
they steal the woman, and they drive back down to
Houston or back over to Houston. I guess I should
say it's not down from here. But you know, you
catch my drift, and you know, it's tough to separate
fandom from players and coaches, because players and coaches, when
you change that fast, they're not aware of nine of ten,
(02:02):
but certainly the fans are. So you know, it's really
somewhat of a conflict if you look at.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
It that way.
Speaker 4 (02:09):
Well, I will say this, I spent a lot of
time and on Ross and I are both big red
zone guys. And we love watching it. And for some reason,
your game was on the red zone more than perhaps others.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
Was it today?
Speaker 4 (02:19):
Brown kept throwing interceptions. I'm like, jackson was going to
win this game. You're really going to win this game.
And then the receiving corps just dropped one pass after
the other. How did the Jaguars lose that game in
the Natty last Sunday?
Speaker 3 (02:35):
Well, you know, it was really interesting being there watching
this game because you pointed it out. I mean, you
have a backup quarterback, you knock out Browning, and if
you just say your backup comes and he throws three picks,
I mean you win the football game.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
And that wasn't the case.
Speaker 3 (02:54):
I mean, there were so many things that went wrong
for Jacksonville. I thought they should have taken the three
points to go up six. They didn't. They went for
it on fourth down, Trevor Lawrence made the right pass,
Brian Thomas Junior dropped it. That's a huge issue here
in town. Brian Thomas Junior looks scared. There's something going
on with him. We don't know if it's a personal situation.
(03:16):
We don't know if he's jealous of all the attention.
Travis Hunter is getting We don't know if he does not,
just like playing with Trevor Lawrence. He had much better
numbers a year ago with Mac Jones. But you know,
Jacksonville's defense has played some pretty decent football. Then all
of a sudden, with three forty two to go, they
allow a fifteen played ninety two yard drive and you know,
(03:41):
it totally changed the outcome.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
Of the game.
Speaker 3 (03:43):
When when you needed it most, it didn't happen for Jacksonville.
And that's been a huge problem for years here complementary football.
At times the offense does its job. At times the
defense does its job. He lost ten games last year
by seven points or more, and if you looked at it,
(04:04):
when the defense would step up, the offense would fall.
When the offense would step up, the defense would fall.
So that's something that Liam Cohen's going to try to change.
But yeah, it was a very difficult loss. That that
is a game that they flat out gave away. They
outplayed Cincinnati, they should have won it, and you know,
they had a ton of penalties and made some mistakes
(04:25):
and now they're one and one on the year.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
You mentioned Liam Cohen, who was supposed to come in
and kind of nurture Trevor Lawrence and help him reach
his full potential. What was your thoughts of the higher
when it was made? And then now through training camp
and seeing a couple of games on the field on
the field of how he's doing with Trevor Lawrence and
that offense.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
It's better than I expected.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
I mean, I had heard a lot about Liam Cohen,
but I really wondered about his you know, stability, and
he never stays in one place too long. He went
back and forth to LA and KENTENTUK. He then took
over a Tampa Bay offense and you know, it was
just fantastic. They were number one in red zone, they
were last in rushing three years ago. He came in
(05:09):
there and put him in the top four in rushing.
But when they got here, they totally you know, redid
Trevor Lawrence. You give a guy two hundred and seventy
five million dollars and then all of a sudden you
hear that they're working on changing his footwork and everything
from literally you know, top the bottom changed for Trevor Lawrence. Now,
(05:32):
I really think this offense is going to benefit him,
and the key is will they be able to still
run the football. But I mean, this just feels like
they started from ground zero with everything here in Jacksonville.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
And that includes Trevor Lawrence.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
Who you know, once again, you you look at his numbers,
he's twenty eight and completion percentage, he's twenty seventh in
quarterback raiding. Granted there's been nine drop so I think
that's kind I think they're double digits into the drops.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
I still think that this is going to work.
Speaker 3 (06:08):
I believe that Liam Cohen is the right guy for
Trevor Lawrence, and it's going to take a little bit
of time, but you know, we'll be here to see
what actually does happen. But yes, I'm impressed totally with
what I've seen with Liam Cohen. But you know the
other side of it was no one else was interviewing
(06:29):
Liam Cohen. No one else was interviewing James Gladstone. You know,
they were guys that were certainly lured here and wanted here,
but they weren't wanted with those other vacancies across the NFL.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
Rick Blue, Tintin XL and Jacksonville with us here on
Sports Talk seven ninety here in Houston. Obviously, the offensive
line has been much maligned and talked about in the
pressures on CJ. Stroud, But the defensive line is one
of the best units in football. How would you assess
the trenches on both sides for the Jaguars.
Speaker 3 (07:05):
Yeah, it's gonna be a lot of fun there. I
think this game is won in the ditch. You know,
they brought in six new offensive linemen here, Tony Bacelli
taking things over with James Gladstone. They've played really well
so far. They lead the league in rushing, They've only
allowed one sack, and you know it's the passing offense
that really needs to pick up a little bit. Defensively,
(07:27):
Anthony Campanelli has come in and really changed a lot
of things. You're told you can't pitch Joe Burrow, Well
they did last week and their blitz rate has really
gone up. I think every layer certainly does have a playmaker.
The concern for Jacksonville would be the middle of the
field safety. They said goodbye to Darnell Savage, so you know,
(07:49):
Anthony campaneally's played an awful lot of three safety looks,
more than twenty plays a game, and you know he
got rid of a guy who played twenty eight plays.
Against Caroline and twenty plays against Cincinnati, and now all
of a sudden, you're gonna put it in Antonio Johnson,
who's taken one snap in two games there at safety.
So you know, I think it's gonna be intriguing. I
(08:10):
think the Jaguars will have some success against Houston's offensive
line with Walker and heinz Allen, and you know, I
really think the key to the game will be who's
able to run.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
I know Houston.
Speaker 3 (08:25):
Struggled so far this year without Joe Mixon and Jacksonville
has done very well.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
It could come down to that.
Speaker 3 (08:32):
I mean, forever I covered you know, Florida Florida State
Miami was something like thirty two out of thirty three
years and that rivalry, who ever rushed for the most yardage.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
Won the game.
Speaker 3 (08:47):
And I kind of look at this one on Sunday
as that statistic being huge. Whoever was able to rush
the football more I think's gonna win this contest.
Speaker 4 (08:57):
Last question, how much is an East the ball as
Travis Hunter playing right now? And what do you think
if we were to visit you in late December, what
do you think that the split would be?
Speaker 2 (09:07):
Forty two plays on offense? Both weeks. He only played
six plays.
Speaker 3 (09:11):
On defense against Carolina, Jarion Jones went out with a
back injury. He played forty three snaps against Cincinnati, so
he went from six to forty three on the defensive side.
Parker Washington has had an incredible camp and they did
not target him against the Panthers. They did so five
(09:31):
times on Sunday against the Bengals, five for five for
seventy six yards.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
Parker Washington has earned more snaps.
Speaker 3 (09:38):
I think this game with a Jones injury, Buster Brown
looks like he's gonna come back, but he hasn't played
at all this year. I think this is a Sunday
where we see more snaps for Travis Hunter on defense
and less snaps for Travis Hunter on offense. That would
be intriguing because they said from day one that it
(09:59):
was going to be seventy five percent offense twenty five
percent defense for Hunter. But I think it's a fluid
situation and this would be the week that I expect
him to play more on the defensive side.
Speaker 4 (10:11):
Great stuff, my friend, Thank you Rick for joining us
this year in previous years. I hope to bother you
again down the road. And uh we enjoy hit you
having on the show and have a great weekend. Thanks
for joining us, never to bother have a great weekend.
Thank you again, Rick Blue ten ten Excel in Jacksonville,
Now Rick Blue, long time guest of the program. We
appreciate him joining us, always ready and willing to talk
some Texans and Jaggs. Rick Howard thinks.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Matt, everything's great.
Speaker 3 (00:14):
I'm wondering why though, you folks would hate Jacksonville if
you come here yearly and win.
Speaker 4 (00:20):
Okay, first and foremost, that was rass. Okay, So Matt
was getting coffee. I was getting Rick, Rick, I was
getting coffee. First of all, you are always welcome on
the show. You are an og guest of ours. You've
been one of those probably at least ten years, and
for that we thank you. I listen to you back
in the day when you're doing national radios. That's what
you respect I have for you. So and then secondly,
you're right, the Texans love coming to Jacksonville. So let
(00:41):
me ask you this. Does your audience are they grumpy
when the Texans come to town? They know that there's
such a long streak in favor of the Texans in
this series.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Well, first of all, my audience is grumpy to begin with.
Speaker 4 (00:53):
Okay, that's fair.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
This is the losing his franchise and team athletics over
the last ten years. If you look at the NFL,
major League Baseball, the NHL, in the NBA, and you know,
they go through coaching changes, they go through front office changes,
and you know, this year, notwithstanding the roster, I think
they had fifty four out.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Of their ninety was new.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
And right now I want to say unofficially they have
twenty eight new players on their fifty three man roster.
So yes, they're grumpy. They're extra grumpy the week here
of Houston. And you know, these stands are great, but
I've really described it as Houston rolls.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
In the dow ball.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
They beat the living tar out of the man, and
they steal the woman, and they drive back down to
Houston or back over to Houston. I guess I should
say it's not down from here. But you know, you
catch my drift, and you know, it's tough to separate
fandom from players and coaches, because players and coaches, when
you change that fast, they're not aware of nine of ten,
(02:02):
but certainly the fans are. So you know, it's really
somewhat of a conflict if you look at.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
It that way.
Speaker 4 (02:09):
Well, I will say this, I spent a lot of
time and on Ross and I are both big red
zone guys. And we love watching it. And for some reason,
your game was on the red zone more than perhaps others.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
Was it today?
Speaker 4 (02:19):
Brown kept throwing interceptions. I'm like, jackson was going to
win this game. You're really going to win this game.
And then the receiving corps just dropped one pass after
the other. How did the Jaguars lose that game in
the Natty last Sunday?
Speaker 3 (02:35):
Well, you know, it was really interesting being there watching
this game because you pointed it out. I mean, you
have a backup quarterback, you knock out Browning, and if
you just say your backup comes and he throws three picks,
I mean you win the football game.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
And that wasn't the case.
Speaker 3 (02:54):
I mean, there were so many things that went wrong
for Jacksonville. I thought they should have taken the three
points to go up six. They didn't. They went for
it on fourth down, Trevor Lawrence made the right pass,
Brian Thomas Junior dropped it. That's a huge issue here
in town. Brian Thomas Junior looks scared. There's something going
on with him. We don't know if it's a personal situation.
(03:16):
We don't know if he's jealous of all the attention.
Travis Hunter is getting We don't know if he does not,
just like playing with Trevor Lawrence. He had much better
numbers a year ago with Mac Jones. But you know,
Jacksonville's defense has played some pretty decent football. Then all
of a sudden, with three forty two to go, they
allow a fifteen played ninety two yard drive and you know,
(03:41):
it totally changed the outcome.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
Of the game.
Speaker 3 (03:43):
When when you needed it most, it didn't happen for Jacksonville.
And that's been a huge problem for years here complementary football.
At times the offense does its job. At times the
defense does its job. He lost ten games last year
by seven points or more, and if you looked at it,
(04:04):
when the defense would step up, the offense would fall.
When the offense would step up, the defense would fall.
So that's something that Liam Cohen's going to try to change.
But yeah, it was a very difficult loss. That that
is a game that they flat out gave away. They
outplayed Cincinnati, they should have won it, and you know,
they had a ton of penalties and made some mistakes
(04:25):
and now they're one and one on the year.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
You mentioned Liam Cohen, who was supposed to come in
and kind of nurture Trevor Lawrence and help him reach
his full potential. What was your thoughts of the higher
when it was made? And then now through training camp
and seeing a couple of games on the field on
the field of how he's doing with Trevor Lawrence and
that offense.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
It's better than I expected.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
I mean, I had heard a lot about Liam Cohen,
but I really wondered about his you know, stability, and
he never stays in one place too long. He went
back and forth to LA and KENTENTUK. He then took
over a Tampa Bay offense and you know, it was
just fantastic. They were number one in red zone, they
were last in rushing three years ago. He came in
(05:09):
there and put him in the top four in rushing.
But when they got here, they totally you know, redid
Trevor Lawrence. You give a guy two hundred and seventy
five million dollars and then all of a sudden you
hear that they're working on changing his footwork and everything
from literally you know, top the bottom changed for Trevor Lawrence. Now,
(05:32):
I really think this offense is going to benefit him,
and the key is will they be able to still
run the football. But I mean, this just feels like
they started from ground zero with everything here in Jacksonville.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
And that includes Trevor Lawrence.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
Who you know, once again, you you look at his numbers,
he's twenty eight and completion percentage, he's twenty seventh in
quarterback raiding. Granted there's been nine drop so I think
that's kind I think they're double digits into the drops.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
I still think that this is going to work.
Speaker 3 (06:08):
I believe that Liam Cohen is the right guy for
Trevor Lawrence, and it's going to take a little bit
of time, but you know, we'll be here to see
what actually does happen. But yes, I'm impressed totally with
what I've seen with Liam Cohen. But you know the
other side of it was no one else was interviewing
(06:29):
Liam Cohen. No one else was interviewing James Gladstone. You know,
they were guys that were certainly lured here and wanted here,
but they weren't wanted with those other vacancies across the NFL.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
Rick Blue, Tintin XL and Jacksonville with us here on
Sports Talk seven ninety here in Houston. Obviously, the offensive
line has been much maligned and talked about in the
pressures on CJ. Stroud, But the defensive line is one
of the best units in football. How would you assess
the trenches on both sides for the Jaguars.
Speaker 3 (07:05):
Yeah, it's gonna be a lot of fun there. I
think this game is won in the ditch. You know,
they brought in six new offensive linemen here, Tony Bacelli
taking things over with James Gladstone. They've played really well
so far. They lead the league in rushing, They've only
allowed one sack, and you know it's the passing offense
that really needs to pick up a little bit. Defensively,
(07:27):
Anthony Campanelli has come in and really changed a lot
of things. You're told you can't pitch Joe Burrow, Well
they did last week and their blitz rate has really
gone up. I think every layer certainly does have a playmaker.
The concern for Jacksonville would be the middle of the
field safety. They said goodbye to Darnell Savage, so you know,
(07:49):
Anthony campaneally's played an awful lot of three safety looks,
more than twenty plays a game, and you know he
got rid of a guy who played twenty eight plays.
Against Caroline and twenty plays against Cincinnati, and now all
of a sudden, you're gonna put it in Antonio Johnson,
who's taken one snap in two games there at safety.
So you know, I think it's gonna be intriguing. I
(08:10):
think the Jaguars will have some success against Houston's offensive
line with Walker and heinz Allen, and you know, I
really think the key to the game will be who's
able to run.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
I know Houston.
Speaker 3 (08:25):
Struggled so far this year without Joe Mixon and Jacksonville
has done very well.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
It could come down to that.
Speaker 3 (08:32):
I mean, forever I covered you know, Florida Florida State
Miami was something like thirty two out of thirty three
years and that rivalry, who ever rushed for the most yardage.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
Won the game.
Speaker 3 (08:47):
And I kind of look at this one on Sunday
as that statistic being huge. Whoever was able to rush
the football more I think's gonna win this contest.
Speaker 4 (08:57):
Last question, how much is an East the ball as
Travis Hunter playing right now? And what do you think
if we were to visit you in late December, what
do you think that the split would be?
Speaker 2 (09:07):
Forty two plays on offense? Both weeks. He only played
six plays.
Speaker 3 (09:11):
On defense against Carolina, Jarion Jones went out with a
back injury. He played forty three snaps against Cincinnati, so
he went from six to forty three on the defensive side.
Parker Washington has had an incredible camp and they did
not target him against the Panthers. They did so five
(09:31):
times on Sunday against the Bengals, five for five for
seventy six yards.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
Parker Washington has earned more snaps.
Speaker 3 (09:38):
I think this game with a Jones injury, Buster Brown
looks like he's gonna come back, but he hasn't played
at all this year. I think this is a Sunday
where we see more snaps for Travis Hunter on defense
and less snaps for Travis Hunter on offense. That would
be intriguing because they said from day one that it
(09:59):
was going to be seventy five percent offense twenty five
percent defense for Hunter. But I think it's a fluid
situation and this would be the week that I expect
him to play more on the defensive side.
Speaker 4 (10:11):
Great stuff, my friend, Thank you Rick for joining us
this year in previous years. I hope to bother you
again down the road. And uh we enjoy hit you
having on the show and have a great weekend. Thanks
for joining us, never to bother have a great weekend.
Thank you again, Rick Blue ten ten Excel in Jacksonville,
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