Welcome to our annual record/bold predictions episode!
We start off the episode by reviewing the Final 53-man roster. Were there surprises in our opinion and what players could have a big impact once given the chance?
Next up, we reveal how we think the Jaguars will fair this year record wise. There are a lot of expectations for this team to succeed. How successful can they be?
After that we get into one of our favorite yearly traditions, bold predictions! What type of madness will we cook up this year??
Finally, we wrap up the intensity with our Super Bowl picks. Which teams will represent their respective conferences in our opinion and did either host pick the Jags to end up in Vegas at the end of the season??
Touchdown Jaguars Linktree
Download the SeatGeek app & use code " TOUCHDOWNJAGUARS " for $20 off your first SeatGeek order!
James Johnson and Phil Smith 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.
Welcome to our annual record/bold predictions episode!
We start off the episode by reviewing the Final 53-man roster. Were there surprises in our opinion and what players could have a big impact once given the chance?
Next up, we reveal how we think the Jaguars will fair this year record wise. There are a lot of expectations for this team to succeed. How successful can they be?
After that we get into one of our favorite yearly traditions, bold predictions! What type of madness will we cook up this year??
Finally, we wrap up the intensity with our Super Bowl picks. Which teams will represent their respective conferences in our opinion and did either host pick the Jags to end up in Vegas at the end of the season??
Touchdown Jaguars Linktree
Download the SeatGeek app & use code " TOUCHDOWNJAGUARS " for $20 off your first SeatGeek order!
James Johnson and Phil Smith 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.
Welcome to the Touchdown Jaguars podcast. I am your cohost, phil Smith, and joining me, as always, is your other cohost, james Johnson. And Jay, we are fresh off. Hey, we've given you guys three. This will be the fourth episode Y'all have gotten this week. We hope you're enjoying all the content. Hopefully we're not oversaturating the market, but hope you guys have checked out all of our AFC South previews. We did the Texans, colts and Titans Shout out to Stony Keely, megan Hall, cody Davis of their respective projects that they all work on. Thank you so much for all of your time, jay, you and I haven't gotten to record in a while since the final cuts were made. We're going to talk about that here, as well as what we're going to be talking about win-loss predictions, our bold predictions, as we do each and every single year. We will give you our Super Bowl picks, Jay. Plenty to talk about here this evening, but good to be back here with you in the studio. How are you doing tonight?
Speaker 2:I'm good and excited. As you said, we've done episode every day of the week. Shout out to Cody, by the way, that lockdown schedule in terms of the content we put out this week. I'm excited to see how all of the podcasts do in terms of I don't think we've ever done it that way Put out at least three or four episodes in a week. So just excited to see the numbers back from that.
Speaker 2:We just wanted to credit you for coming up with this. We just wanted to give everybody something a little different heading into the offseason, as opposed to how we've done things in the past. That's part of the podcast game, right, it's changing your approaches and trying out new things. We figured we'll get everybody some content, some enemy intel on the AFC South beforehand, and also we'll do it in the season as well, because we obviously play all three opponents three times. But we wanted to look at these teams beforehand coming out of training camp, coming out of their respective off-seasons, so people can know it in advance. And that would especially help with the Colts, since we played them first in the week one. But we wanted to give everybody that preview beforehand and then you could kind of have a evaluation on where they were based off of what we got, the intel we got beforehand, and where they ended up being by the end of the season.
Speaker 2:So excited about those Shout-outs to Cody, megan and Stony Appreciate their time, as always. You all know where to catch our content At Touchdown Jaguars is the website. Archived episodes are on there. You can find us on Apple Podcasts, most notably, and Spotify, so there shouldn't be anybody who shouldn't be able to access this podcast. But yeah, man, in terms of the upcoming episode, excited to talk about these predictions because we have a very, very good football team to watch this season and things could get rather interesting for this Jacksonville Jaguars team.
Speaker 1:Yeah, the amount of hype surrounding this team is higher than it has probably ever been. You know, we weren't in the journalism game as far as our Jaguar fandom back in 1999, so not sure if the hype was similar around then. But the way that this team is getting recognition from not only, of course, here locally but within the national media, is something we certainly have not seen in a very, very long time. So a lot to discuss here, jay, as we talk about how we believe the season is going to go and, as you mentioned, you can find everything that Jay just talked about. As far as our links in the website, all of that is in the link tree link of this episode. You'll also find a direct link to download that C-KEEK app so you can use our promo code Touchdown Jaguars. Save yourself some money on some tickets by using our promo code on your very first purchase with C-KEEK. Once again, promo code Touchdown Jaguars. Shout out, as always, to C-KEEK for sponsoring the show. But, jay, let's go ahead and jump right into it.
Speaker 1:As I mentioned, it's been a while since you and I have gotten a chance to get together. Let's talk about the final roster. As far as those cuts that happened just a couple of weeks ago. We have not had a chance to discuss it here with our audience. We have, of course, talked, you know, in our group chats and everything like that. Were there any surprises?
Speaker 1:A lot of talk was happening. As far as the wide receiver room, a lot of people had their fingers crossed, hoping that Caleb on Chason was not going to make the team, but he is stuck around and will continue to do so until further notice. Nathan Roark ended up on the practice squad, so I think a lot of people were at least happy about that. For some reason, there was this weird Twitter discourse about Doug Peterson cutting his own son and how messed up that was. He was never going to make the team in the first place. Guys, I don't know where that uproar came from. It was absolutely ridiculous. But, jay, as far as the final roster, what were your thoughts when you saw who did and who did not make the team?
Speaker 2:Yeah, man, of course I'm glad Elijah Cooks made it, even though I flip flopped. I should have just went with my initial guts from the first preseason week prediction of him making it and then I went to Tim Jones the week two. But that being said, glad Elijah Cooks made it. He's a guy that I think he can play a big role into helping his team this season. Because, especially when you look on the depth chart right which I have pulled up here shoutouts to Demetrius Harvey or the Florida Times Union, because I didn't feel like digging through my emails and finding it, but here we have the depth chart and he is actually behind Calvin Ridley on the depth chart. So I found that is interesting at receiver position. And I find that is interesting for the simple fact that we all know Calvin Ridley's injury history man. You have talked about it. It's a strong possibility If you go off of history and we would love for him to play every game, but he might miss a few games and if that's the case and Elijah Cooks gets snaps in his place, the one on one opportunities he would get, albeit a different way, a totally different receiver than Ridley the one on one opportunities he could get as a bigger body. We can see a guy that could catch on late in the season if he had to come in for really whatever the case may be and again, this is the unofficial depth chart, so this isn't official, but I found that is interesting. Shout out to Trill Will for pointing that out. But yeah, man, I wouldn't like to too surprised, like you said, like I don't get the Doug Peterson son thing with Josh Peterson in terms of like being shocked that or believing that he would keep his son on the roster, which he did end up being on practice squad. Don't mind that one bit, you know you could develop them there. We've seen how the practice squad works for us, right With Scape of Gregory Jr. He spent a lot of time on practice squad last year. Now is on the final 53 develop quite well while on practice squad. So you know it's a good development opportunity for his son there.
Speaker 2:But yeah, I mean, like the biggest standout really was just, you know, cooks making the team because we just didn't know what they would do at that wide receiver position, of course you know. The other thing is, you know how do we compensate for that first four weeks without Cam Robinson as well, which you know. Obviously we drafted Anton Harrison. He's going to play right, walker Lutle is going to play some left. And how do we compensate? Or how do we make up for the loss of Devon Hamilton, which Doug Peterson has kind of answered, you know, saying that notable is like Adam got sis, you know, with play in that spot.
Speaker 2:And we also drafted Tyler Lacey, who showed up on the injury report, so that'll be worth watching. And we had guys like lead better step up. So you know he was another guy that we thought would make the team after how he started off the preseason. He's going to play a big role in filling in on that defensive line and helping us just make up for Hamilton not being there. But yeah, man, overall, love what we got on this roster, love the depth, something we haven't been able to say for a long time. Right, and, yeah, excited to see not just how the starters play but how this depth helps us down the stretch when you really need it. Because, as we all know, you know injuries do happen. We were hoping for nothing major, but injuries do happen and other players have to step up, so that'll be an interesting thing to watch in those November and December months.
Speaker 1:Hey, speaking of injury, Jay, one thing we didn't even mention was the Ventral Miller injury that unfortunately happened, as his season, his rookie season, will be missed, and do you think that injury I don't want to say saved, because I don't you know that doesn't want to sound like it's a. It's a good thing for Shaq Korderman, but do you think that, because of the injury to Ventral Miller, that it allowed Shaq Korderman to maintain his roster spot for now?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I would say it probably did aid him in keeping his roster spot. But, as I said, you know, the big thing with Shaq that also could have helped him as well is, you know, maybe you had your special teams coordinator pounding the table for him, saying like I really want this guy on the team, and so on and so forth. But that would have been hard to do with Ventral. And, by the way, get well soon, Ventral.
Speaker 2:It was Achilles injury, if I can recall, who was all over the place at, you know, in the preseason and I rarely say this but about Florida Gator players but I was excited to see you know him in terms of he was probably going to end up being more of a guy that we saw on special teams, but just excited to see him in the season because he was just always around the ball. But get well soon, Ventral. And yeah, the answer to your question yeah, that definitely probably ate it, Shaq and getting on the team. Time will tell you know if Shaq has to actually take the field and play in terms of some time on the field, which he did last year, and we all can remember the infamous 904 on 904 crime when he hit Derek Henry caused a fumble there, but hopefully we'll mostly just use Shaq for special team purposes, and if we do, we'll be just fine.
Speaker 1:Yeah, certainly sending our best out to Ventral Miller and, like you said, jay, you know that was definitely one of the picks that I think some people were a little confused about. But when we saw him out there playing in the in the preseason and literally just being all over the ball, you know we understood oh okay, this is what they saw in him and he was certainly showing that off. And also just a guy that you know you talked to Florida Gator fans but also his former teammates a guy that was a huge locker room leader. So hopefully, even in his absence on the field, he'll be able to maintain that in the locker room. You know, like you said, jay, hopefully he gets better soon and we look forward to seeing him in some some real games next year. But yeah, like you said, the Elijah Cooks thing.
Speaker 1:I think a lot of people were excited about that, myself included. Tim Jones, you know you were talking about. It was going to be one of those two and it ended up being both of them. You know, tim Jones benefiting from the familiarity that the coaching staff has with him, and then Elijah Cooks just continuing to wow people with every opportunity that he got. I think a lot of people were banging the drum for Nathan Roark to be the backup quarterback. But I mean, when it came down to it, I mean, jay, we just kept seeing it over and over again this relationship that Trev and CJ have is important and it makes it. You know, it's very important to have that familiarity in the quarterback room and Nathan Roark still gets to stay around. You know he's not going anywhere, but I know a lot of people were kind of banging the drum for us to make a change at backup QB.
Speaker 2:Yeah, here we were, you know, concerned that Nathan went and make the team right Me and you included one of him to be the number two quarterback on this team. But I do understand that we had concerns, that you know he gets nagged on practice squad. But looking at it in hindsight, maybe we should not have been, and I thought about this the other day, and here's why it's not anything to do with how Nathan played or anything like that, because obviously he would be on somebody else's team, but we were worried about him getting snagged. But when you look at most rosters at this point coming out of training camp and all the work they put in at training camp, most rosters already have their established quarterback to and you have a guy that's probably in most cases that quarterback to. That's, you know, been there for not only the entirety of training camp but maybe even, you know, several years and what have you that already knows the playbook, that's already familiar with everything.
Speaker 2:Who would want to replace that guy right With a rookie quarterback essentially, which he is, I think work is 25, but he spent time in the Canadian football league. So who would want to replace their number two quarterback with a rookie who doesn't know the playbook and would be, again, as I said, playing in his first year. So I never thought of it that way. I just thought of it as a guy putting up great film for the preseason and that he was just guaranteed to get snagged.
Speaker 2:Now, if you know, if you have a team that was willing to take three quarterbacks into the final roster, you know, maybe one of those teams might have been more intrigued with Roark. But again, even in the case of a third stream quarterback, you're looking at a guy who has familiarity with the playbook, a guy that you know. Again, you probably don't want to replace with a rookie that doesn't know the playbook. So all of that worry and we did was for nothing. Now, look, we got to worry about somebody snatching them off a practice squad, if that you know, if it comes to that. But Gladdy's back. Gladdy can develop at least a little bit more time on the dub Peterson and hopefully next year he is the Jaguars number two and they can, you know, hand a raise to him to be that guy for them.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you're right, I definitely didn't think about that. I, you know, remember I said a couple of weeks ago if there was anybody that might take a look at him. You know, I think Kyle Shanahan would certainly have maybe snatched him up, but they got their three quarterbacks, just as everybody else in the league does. Before we get into the win-loss record prediction here, jay, anything else as far as the final cuts that stood out to you that you wanted to mention before we move on, no, that was pretty much it, man, we covered it.
Speaker 2:Rort was a big one. I almost forgot that. I'm glad you brought him up at the end, because I would have not spoke on that. But yeah, I'm good on this.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it'll be interesting to see which guys get called up, as we do inevitably. You know, as every season, no team is immune to injury, so it'll be interesting to see which guys that are in the practice squad will get their opportunity on the main roster. But let's move into the win-loss record predictions, jay. In years past we would literally go game by game and talk about these matchups. We're just not going to do that today, for the sake of time and for the sake of editing. We're not going to do that. There's also an additional game now, so with 17, it would just take way too long. So let's just talk about where we think the Jaguars are going to finish and then maybe we can highlight some individual games that we're excited about.
Speaker 1:For me, you know we've been talking about, you know, putting some money down on the Jags. I believe Vegas has the over under a nine and a half for Jacksonville, which is pretty crazy to me. But I always do think about how Vegas is usually spot on. You know, those guys usually don't give out a lot of money for a reason. But for me, I have the Jaguars going 11 and six, winning the division and competing for that number one seed in the AFC.
Speaker 1:Now everybody's talking about how incredibly competitive the AFC is going to be. You know what the AFC reminds me of this year, jay, is the Western Conference in the NBA from like during, like the Lakers and Spurs era, where it was only Western Conference teams just rolling, whatever the Eastern Conference champion was going to be. That is what the AFC reminds me of right now. Not that there aren't legitimate contenders in the NFC, but it's just going to be a murderous row for whoever gets through the AFC playoffs this season. But I have them going 11 and six. I think there is a little wiggle room there for them to go 12 and five, you know, if a couple of things go their way, if the ball bounces correctly. But yeah, I have them going 11 and six and winning the division pretty handily.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm going to go with one less win. I'm going to go 10 and seven, because I feel like in this division you probably, even as as bad as it is, you still need double digit wins to get in there. I feel like I do think they'll improve upon their record from last year. You know they got to get through this stretch, which I think they should be able to do pretty. They should be able to do this, but get through that first stretch of the first four games without Cam and Hamilton right and smooth to you know smooth and return eventually as well, Three veterans that you know they really need on this team.
Speaker 2:But, yeah, I think I can see them going 10 and seven. I can hit, I can see them reaching that 11 where Mark is well, but I think I might have just, you know, played it a little safe with them playing some, you know, better teams than they did last year but at the same time giving them a better record than they had last year as well. So, yeah, that's where I got them in and I'm excited to see if they can either get that record or top it. I would love it if they could top that record.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and even though I think they'll win the division pretty handily, I don't think that any of these games will be complete blowouts. Maybe you can take advantage of the Colts and the Texans early on, but I don't expect those teams to be bad all season. You know not that I'm expecting them to make a playoff run or anything like that, but we know, we know how games go here in the AFC South. Obviously they get an opportunity very early on, jay, against Kansas City, to make a statement. They may be without Travis Kelsey and Chris Jones. My worry is that the Chiefs are going to, you know, really, really struggle against Detroit tomorrow night and then immediately just get to the drawing board.
Speaker 1:As far as a contract with Chris Jones Travis Kelsey, I think I'm not sure if he'll play or not, but the Chris Jones thing is obviously something that's weighing heavy on a lot of people's minds and I think they have an opportunity to take advantage of that Kansas City Chiefs team if both of those guys are gone. And then obviously you want to hope that the team is still in contention when the Monday and Sunday night games come along right. First we have the Monday night game against Cincinnati. That's actually on my birthday, december 4th, and then they will have the Sunday night game against the Baltimore Ravens. Two teams, jay, that I think will be in contention for representing the AFC in the Super Bowl. But yeah, jay, what games do you have highlighted on the schedule this year?
Speaker 2:Yeah. So of course you mentioned the Chiefs game. That one has been standing out I know you were on the fence about it before everything had went down in terms of Chris Jones and Travis Kelsey. I still, even if they could get Chris Jones back and we'll have to monitor Travis Kelsey situation if they don't have Travis Kelsey back that still puts the Jaguars in a pretty favorable, favorable situation because Travis Kelsey is just one of the better. I mean, he plays tight in but he, you know, you can classify him basically in terms of the statistics and how he impacts the game. He's another high impact receiver basically, and we all know that. So without him or even you know, he might not be 100% at that point in the season which is the second you know game in the season, I think you know the Jaguars have a way better chance than we previously thought they did.
Speaker 2:I'm really eager to see that Bill's game. Of course, the last time we met the bills we did beat them. I think that was one of Urban Myers only wins. It was a bit of a low scoring game, but one that kind of got us excited in terms of what the future could hold. So always good to, you know, play a team that people view as a Super Bowl contender or it could be in the Super Bowl. I want to see us play the Saints and actually the reason I had the infatuation with that game is it's Thursday night football and also, like me and you have talked about this man I want to go to that game and like I don't know if we can get enough people on board, shout out to Jazz.
Speaker 2:I think she wants to do it. But that game, just going to that atmosphere, witnessing iconic venue, I would love to go to that game. And aside from that, just you know, just being on Thursday night, football, I think that's our first prime time game, if I'm not mistaken, and you know, getting the national spotlight on us early, a little bit earlier in the season than we normally get it on us. Obviously we played at 49ers want to see how we match up against them. A lot of people have the 49ers like going and winning to the Super Bowl, even despite the unknown about Brock Purdy. So those are all exciting games.
Speaker 2:We'd love to see us against the Bengals as well. That could be a potential AFC championship matchup. Maybe I have the Jaguars meeting them in the AFC championship. We will talk about that later, we'll see. And yeah, man, those are the games that really stood out to me. Time will tell. If you know we make those Ws. I would love to make all of those Ws, if not most of those Ws. But very exciting schedule. You know a lot of people would say, like you know, the Jaguars playing a lot of first-place teams from last year could be what hurts them, but I am actually excited and I actually I'm thrilled about the challenge of seeing where they stand against these teams that. You know we a lot of guys that are viewed as Super Bowl contenders are potential Super Bowl winners, depending on who you ask.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know. What else I like, jay, is that we drew the AFC North this year as far as the division that will be playing, because some people think that all four of those teams can make the playoffs. I don't feel that way. I'm definitely not as high on the Browns as some people are. Who knows what happens with the Sean Watson, you know, if he returns to form, but that'll be a great test as well, you know. So you're not only playing those first-place teams, the first-place schedule, you're getting the AFC North, which a lot of people think is the best division in football.
Speaker 1:I think the Steelers are kind of sneaky good to kind of jump ahead to some hot takes or you know predictions. I think the Steelers have an opportunity to be a really, really good team and we get to play them in Pittsburgh, a place that historically we do pretty well in, you know. I want to also circle back to the Bills game, because that will be the second of back-to-back games. Of course you know overseas and you know it'll be really interesting to see how the team responds. They'll be playing the Falcons first at Wembley and then they'll follow up with a you know quote-unquote away game against the Bills at Tottenham. So we'll see how that goes, but there are certainly some interesting matchups on this and, yeah, definitely going to have an eye on how the team performs in back-to-back London games.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I like that. You mentioned the Steelers man. I like that team man. I mean, obviously I like Mike Tomlin and that's kind of hard to say in terms of liking the Steelers because they're a big-time rival of ours but I like Kenny Pickett, you know, I think he can play a little bit better than he did last year and take a step. You know, obviously, as a Georgia Bulldogs guy and you know we really wanted this guy to come to Jacksonville because we did mock drafts with him. But George Pickett set to take another step.
Speaker 2:But what excites me about that matchup is Pickett's and Tyson Campbell former teammates man taking the field together. You know it's going to get a little testy. You know it's going to get competitive. You know it's going to feel like those old practices that you know, those intense practices that we've seen on you know YouTube videos that Georgia and Alabama has and all of them. It's going to be like that again for those two and that's going to be a matchup which we maybe should make a podcast on this matchups, because it's a little different matchups that we're excited to see from a perspective of personnel not teams, but personnel in terms of the Jags opponents. So, yeah, that Tyson Campbell. George Pickett's one is one I'm really excited about.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's definitely going to be good. Yeah, there's just some things you just don't do, jay, and that is bet against Mike Tomlin, right, we definitely are not fans of the Pittsburgh Steelers, but very much so a fan of Mike Tomlin, and you know the type of coach and the type of person that he is. But let's move into the bold predictions, as we like to do each and every season right before the real game start. Now we have had some doozies in the years past. I always like to bring up my prediction as far as kind of I can't even remember the name of the player. Now, jay was the tight end that I'm obsessed with.
Speaker 2:Josh Oliver.
Speaker 1:It's escaping my Josh Oliver I can play. I'm so sorry, josh, I can't believe I disrespected you like that. One of the best blocking tight ends in the league. Now I just want to remind everybody. But when the first year we did this, I predicted that Josh Oliver would lead the team in touchdown receptions and then I think he got traded before the season started Something along those lines. But it's always been a lot of fun, jay.
Speaker 1:I'll kick us off here with the bold predictions and this probably doesn't even really qualify as a bold prediction because I know some people have been saying it, even people in the national media. But I'm going to go all in here on record on the Touchdown Jaguars podcast here this evening as we record on Wednesday, september 6th at 9.38 PM, as we record here, I am going to say that Trevor Lawrence wins MVP and again we have been seeing some odds on him as not necessarily a dark horse candidate, but I believe he is in the top five, top seven range as a guy that could win MVP. I'm going to go with the pairing with him getting Calvin Ridley and bringing back Evan Ingram and then, of course, all of the weapons he was already acclimated with and then throwing in Tank Bigsbee, parker, washington, Calvin Ridley. Like I said, brenton Strange, I'm going to give T-Law the MVP this year. What do you think?
Speaker 2:I love it. I love it. It's just always an uphill battle for Jaguars players to get the recognition they deserve. Doug Peterson does help his case doing that and I mean, I do believe Trevor Lawrence has MVP caliber skills and I do believe that he can do it. I just think it's not even him that concerns me, but, well, the people that need to give him the respect that he deserves to make him the MVP. Well, they do their part. It's always that.
Speaker 2:But yeah, this year is a little different. I think I would feel a little better about his chances and again, it's not his ability that I'm concerned about, but more so the voters. But I think what would help him is if he can maybe get into the AFC championship one year, go to the Super Bowl. That would help him to be able to win that award in the future. So if he could do that this year, I would like his chances to win it next year. But I love it, man, I love it. Big Trevor Lawrence fan. Everybody know like that listen to this podcast that was a guy never gave up on. Like when, throughout the Urban Meyer times and you know when people were like I don't know, man, he might have never gave up on him. So if there's anybody who believes that Trevor Lawrence has the ability to do it, it's certainly me. I love that prediction.
Speaker 1:Hey, listen, and I can tell you right here, right now, you know that my confidence was wavering a little bit, especially when they were you know what was it? Two and eight or something along the those lines, when things weren't looking great and he was still making mistakes that we were seeing from year one. I got a little worried and, you know, luckily, with the coaching and with his ability, we were able to see him turn it around and, like you said, like we said, a lot of people in the national media are starting to give him his flowers. But, yeah, I would certainly feel a lot better if maybe, like, say, last year he had a AFC championship run right, something along those lines.
Speaker 1:Even though they are getting a lot more recognition and a lot more, a lot more love this year than they normally do, it is going to be an uphill battle for them to overcome the national bias. You know, no matter what the success of the team is this year, it is still going to be a bit of an uphill climb. You also have guys that I think are going to bounce back, such as, like a, like a, lamar Jackson, I think, is going to have a big year. Obviously, aaron Rodgers is going to have a lot of expectations and then, honestly, until Patrick Mahomes doesn't win it, you kind of have to bet on Patrick Mahomes, right? I wonder when we're going to get to the MJ LeBron Kobe kind of thing with Patrick Mahomes, where people are going to start voting for other guys, even though you know that, like you know, michael LeBron Kobe was the best player in the league but other people were winning MVP.
Speaker 1:You know, I wonder if that's going to start happening with Patrick Mahomes or if we're just going to continue to see him crank out of the PS. But that's where I'm going, trevor, trevor Lawrence for MVP. Let's start that campaign right now. Jay, what is your bold prediction for the 2023-2024 season?
Speaker 2:I don't even know if it'll be considered bold the minds is on the opposite side of the ball for defense but I believe that your Sear Abdullah will have eight sacks. I think he will, all right, all right, basically mimic what James Houston did as a rookie for the Lions. And what got me to thinking on him is the preseason he had. He had one of the better preseasons a rookie could have and it went under the radar. Because you know, obviously, like we're looking at the offense, we're looking at you know Trevor Lawrence and you know, oh, how does Kevin really look after? You know how many you know, or so years, that you know a year and a half from not playing football, and we were caught up in that and caught up in like, oh, does you know?
Speaker 2:Elijah Cooks makes this team, but I think that he will really, really settle in and I'm talking about Abdullah here in that third down Russia role and he just showed me like, a great deal of athleticism.
Speaker 2:You know, yeah, he's smaller in stature but you know, it's a lot of things like that that I see that he kind of reminds me, not that he's completely the same, but kind of reminds me a little bit, athletically and bill wise of Yanick a little bit, and I think that you know placing him in, that you know if that's what they plan doing, that's what we believe they plan to do, placing him as that third down specialist role, I think he can flourish in it.
Speaker 2:I think like not to agree with Trent Balkie here, but, as Trent Balkie said, he's a little bit shorter in stature, kind of like James Houston right 6-1,. James Houston is 6-1. Able to get under these 6-8, 6-7 mammoth tackles that we're seeing in today's day and age. And that preseason he had once again the preseason he had got an interception, got a sack and I think he might have caused a force fumble or something like that Really showed me that he, you know, is a guy we should have been looking at, like Ventrell Miller, who was always making an impact playing around the ball, and he's a guy that I'm really excited to see heading forward.
Speaker 1:I love that man and listen, if you see your Abdullah goes out there and has eight sacks, it's going to dampen a lot of the concerns that people have about this pass rush right. I would absolutely love to see that. Like you said, the guy athletically just flashes on the screen and whenever he gets out there he is just going to turn heads right For people that are in the know, for people that aren't. I think he is definitely in for a big year and a really big rookie year. I should say I almost won in the defensive side as well and went with Josh Allen. We'll have a big year because we are in a contract year. But I just don't have that kind of. Until I see it, you know, on a consistent basis, it's hard for me to have that confidence in Josh Allen again. But yeah, you see your Abdul Amin. I would absolutely love to see that happen and I'm feeling that prediction. I like it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, I like it too. And the other ones that came to mind for me Doug Peterson winning coach of the year. I think he has a better chance to win a coach of the year than Trevor Lawrence has making the MVP, because everybody already knows they associate Doug Peterson with a Super Bowl ring right. So that kind of goes back to what I was saying about Trevor Lawrence. Trevor Lawrence just doesn't have that accolade yet to, you know, get him over the hump of whether that's, you know, winning an AFC championship or going to an AFC championship or winning the Super Bowl. Doug Peterson has that and I like his chances especially. We all know what the defense is going to be, but, like when people look at Doug Peterson, they're going to be like, okay, yeah, the defense isn't there, but Doug Peterson doesn't have anything to do with the defense. He's the offensive mind and as long as that offense does what we think they can do, then I'm with it in terms of I like his chances to maybe win a coach of the year.
Speaker 2:I had another. I guess I could talk about it now. I thought about saying the Jaguars would get Aaron Donald, would trade for Aaron Donald, but as me you discussed early in the podcast, in this case in a prediction episode. We kind of want to stay away from trying to project or predict something like that. You know, we just got to like kind of predict with what we have now and keep that in mind. So I didn't use that one, but I was close to going with that and if we get Aaron Donald man, like you know, it would be phenomenal for this defense, yeah, but I think you got to hope and expect a poor start for the Rams.
Speaker 1:I mean, that roster man is, it's rough, and I think Cooper Cup is dealing with injury too.
Speaker 1:You know what's Matthew Stafford going to look like. But, yeah, if the Rams get off to a poor start and a lot of people are expecting them to do so I think that is the trade market for Aaron Donald and, you know, maybe some of their other players is something that needs to be monitored, because that team, you know, they went all in for the Super Bowl, they got it and you know, now they're paying the, now they're dealing with the repercussions. So I think that's certainly a really, really good one because, yeah, like you said, jay, if they get, if they get a pass rusher and we talked about this before I don't even think it has to be a pass rusher of the caliber of Aaron Donald, I think, if it's, as long as it's an upgrade and something that can bring consistency to the rotation. I think you're having a whole different conversation when it comes to the Jaguars. So I think that's a really really. I think that's definitely something we need to monitor as far as the Rams and the Aaron Donald market.
Speaker 2:Yep, for sure, for sure. And, like you said, yeah, it doesn't have to be Aaron Donald. You know it can be a B tier pass rusher. And just as we were talking about this, I was looking on my timeline on Twitter just checking out just wrestling stuff, and, lo and behold, guess who pops up on my timeline is Chase Young. So maybe that's a little foreshadow and a little look into the future. Maybe it's not Aaron Donald, maybe we get Chase Young, I don't know. Like I don't find it as a coincidence. We all know like the, the, our iPhones are probably listening to us and using that as algorithm stuff. Right, not to get into conspiracy theories, I'm not a conspiracy theory person, but it's funny. I mentioned Aaron Donald or Booster in that pass rusher and then Chase Young pops up in a video on my Twitter timeline. So I'll take that as well. I'll take somebody you know a B plus or you know B minus type of pass rusher as well. Either way, I'd be excited.
Speaker 1:Listen, we've been tied to so many different pass rushers this off season. They got to get one right. I feel like that we're going to see a trade and it's going to happen. Who that guy is going to be we're not sure, but like we, just it's. There's been so much smoke, eventually there has to be fire, so we'll see what happens. But I definitely think that is something we need to monitor. But yeah, we will. We will keep our fingers crossed and keep an eye on those Rams guys. Keep an eye on the Rams and the commanders and we'll see how their seasons go.
Speaker 1:But, jay, let's get into our Super Bowl pick as we wrap up this episode. We are recording here on Wednesday night before the season has begun, so the Thursday night game will be tonight by the time you guys hear this episode and I think we're going to see a lot when it comes to, I think this game for the chiefs is going to kind of set the tone for how they want to attack the remainder of the year. If they win without Kelsey and Chris Jones, you know maybe they stand pack for a little bit and you know they just ride the the Patrick Mahomes train as long as they can, as they continue to do so without you know, some really important pieces on their roster, but if they get blown out or if they lose to the Lions, I think you can see the chiefs make some moves really, really quickly. So let's go with our Super Bowl picks. I'll let you go first, jay, since I kicked off the last two topics who do you have in the Super Bowl, and did you put the Jags in?
Speaker 2:I thought about it up until this point, man. It went down to the wire. I literally was like thinking about it throughout the podcast. Am I going to really do this this year? I can't. I would love to, but I can't.
Speaker 2:That pass for us Again, me and you talked about that does concern me. So it won't be the Jags, but what I will say is I can see them getting to the AFC Championship, which I mean I would like that too as well. I would love that, don't get me wrong. But I don't know if I could take another AFC Championship heart break if they can't get to the Super Bowl. So it's like, do I want that and what am I saying? Of course we do. We want the Jags to go to the AFC Championship. We want them to win it for crying out loud. But I will say this too Now, if they you know they pull off what I said, they get Aaron Donald, then you know that we let's get our tickets to Vegas. You know, or they get like Chase Young or something like that, let's get our tickets to Vegas. But as you, as you said in the beginning of the podcast before we started recording, we just kind of have to look at a roster as it is now and we, you know that's something we can't project or look into the future in regards to it We'll be able to land a talent of that magnitude. So I will go with the Cincinnati Bengals to win the AFC Division and I wouldn't be shocked that they met the Jaguars in the AFC Championship. But I'm going to go with the Bengals here. I love Joe Burrow as a quarterback. I know we used to have a little small rivalry with the Bengals back when we had the Saxonville Jaguars. It was a couple of scuffles that went on back then. But yeah, I like Joe Burrow as a quarterback. I like Zach Taylor as well. Then I, like you, know what they have. They have enough on defense. They have an offensive line that doesn't necessarily have any all pros, but certainly good offensive linemen, offensive line who kind of gets viewed in the same light as the Jags a little bit. I guess not so much anymore because they've made, you know, notable additions there. But I don't think their offensive line, I think their offensive line can be underrated by some people at times. Kind of like the Jags, I think there are better offensive line than Jacksonville has. But, yeah, being said, I'm going to roll with them in the AFC is the Cincinnati Bengals. I love the offensive weapons they have to Jamar Chase T Higgins, so on and so forth.
Speaker 2:The third receiver I'm blanking out on his name, I don't know why, but in the NFC I will go with the Philadelphia Eagles and I know you know some of their plays. It was a lot of turnover, I get it. I know that some of their players on defense are a little bit up there in age, but, coming from a guy that thought Jalen Hurts wasn't it, what he showed me last year was quite impressive. He and, to be honest with you, he's one of my favorite none Jax players in the league. Now, just looking at his, his film and his highlights from last year very exciting, dynamic player and a very good person as well too, which we're starting to see. And, yeah, you can root for like a better guy to win in terms of the Eagles or, excuse me, in terms of the Super Bowl. We'll love to see him get his due and, yeah, I'm going to roll with them on the NFC side.
Speaker 2:Time will tell if they can make it. They obviously have the offense to do it right. They have AJ Brown, they have Smith, who has won me fantasy leagues you know what I'm saying the last two years. Shotouts to him. They have the weapons there, and you know that would be good for Philadelphia, although they have one there's. They got a Super Bowl, you know, they ended their drought, but they are one of those cities that that kind of you know, from the standpoint of Fans, that deserve a Super Bowl win. I feel like they are. They deserve another one kind of like us, we were still searching for our first, though, but those are the two teams that I could see in the Super Bowl, and those are the two that I'm gonna roll with.
Speaker 1:Not bad picks, not bad picks at all, philly. I think we'll have I don't want to say the easiest road because you know, when you look at the NFC, there are definitely a few teams there that could get in their way. It's just so tough to go to the Super Bowl and back to back years, you know it's also. It's also tough to win that division, the NFC East, and back to back years. It hasn't happened in like what 20 something years With them. You know, you got whatever the not sure what the Cowboys are gonna do. I don't think the Cowboys are ever going to Be a legitimate threat of the playoffs as long as Dak Prescott is their quarterback. But I do think they can win the division before getting to. You know when the games really really matter. Sorry about that Cowboys fans and my fellow DFW people, but then as far as the Cincinnati Bengals, yeah, I mean there, they were just there a couple, a couple of years ago. They were so close and you can argue they got there a little bit early and but now that team is, you know, fully fleshed out and I think they can be really, really good and I definitely think they're going to be Right there and contention when it comes to representing the AFC in the Super Bowl. For me, j AFC first, I am going with the Baltimore Ravens. They finally gave Lamar Jackson Some weapons. As far as the passing game goes, this will not be a one-dimensional offense. I think OBJ and Zay flowers are going to make a world of difference for him, for Lamar. But I think the biggest difference, j and this is a guy you're very familiar with is Todd Monkin. I think Todd Monkin is going to open up that offense and we are going to see things from Lamar Jackson that for somehow we have never seen before, even though we feel like we have seen a plethora of his bag. As far as him being in the league, you know he got his money, he's happy and again he's got some some people there to help make his job a little bit easier. They still got a pretty solid defense there, I think, in Baltimore, and I think the Ravens are going to take this opportunity as a franchise that is Constantly doing the right thing, you know, as far as their front office, we praise their front office all the time and I think that's going to finally pay off here with Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens NFC side of things.
Speaker 1:I am going with the San Francisco 49ers. I think they are overdue. We've seen them get close a couple times now. They got there with Jimmy Garoppolo. I think Brock Purdy is better than Jimmy Garoppolo. Obviously they believe that he is as well. They had the wherewithal to give up on the Tray Lance project when they knew that it was a mistake and they have moved on. They just gave their pass rusher. What which? Which boss of they have? They have Nick Bosa. A whole bunch of money. So that is out. You know they don't have to worry about that. They paid their guy I often some line of solid. They got weapons galore all over the place on both sides of the football and I think it's time.
Speaker 1:I think the 49ers, like I said, are overdue for an appearance, for a return to the Super Bowl.
Speaker 1:I should say so.
Speaker 1:I have the Baltimore Ravens and the San Francisco 49ers and when you talk about speed and Weapons, j, I think that would be a great Super Bowl to see.
Speaker 1:I wanted to, just like you, I wanted to so bad put the Jaguars into Super Bowl and I think, as is, as we talked about, as is. I think Pass rush is just, is such, is going to be such a concern. You know, hopefully we get the a Sierra Abdullah Bull prediction, like you said. If that happens, then you know what? Maybe we're having a different conversation. But I think, when it comes to the gauntlet of quarterbacks that you're gonna possibly have to run through in the AFC, when you talk about Patrick Mahomes, josh Allen, justin Herbert, throw in, aaron Rodgers who's now in the division, to what all these guys you're gonna have to get to these quarterbacks, and until we see it, I don't know that they're gonna be able to do it consistently enough, so that I, as of right now I still think they are a year away They'll make some upgrades, you know, and maybe they make that Aaron Donald trade, you know, like you said, but as of right now, I am gonna go with the Baltimore Ravens and the San Francisco 49ers.
Speaker 2:I Like those pigs. I like those pigs. You know I also Almost mentioned the Ravens earlier when we brought him up with the yeah, the whole time on King thing and him. You know he used to be a Jaguars assistant as well, under I think it was under Jack del Rio. But love what Todd Monk and did at UGA. I mean like we've won two championships, man, and like you know he got us out of the drought. So People are building. If we could, we'll build a Todd Monk and statue At Sanford Stadium.
Speaker 2:But yeah, with the Ravens, you know, and I thought about them, they crossed my mind. My thing is, I do think that when the offense take off, it is gonna take off. It's just that a first-year head coach or, excuse me, a first-year offensive coordinator and Just getting that, that timing and, you know, getting things down pat, that kind of concerns me again. I think eventually they will, but I do think it'll take some time to Go from the offense that they were running to you know what time Monk in wants to run. So that that concerned me. They're a little bit young at past rusher. I know they have is it away, if I'm not mistaken, and no job old, so they're a little bit young at past rush too, so that kind of goes into. You know the category of us a little bit like we're super young at past rusher. I don't know if they have enough veteran. I mean, I don't want to say enough veteran experience there, but Some of their more notable rushes are super young, so that there's that.
Speaker 2:And then on the other side, where you went with the 49ers, I could definitely see that happening. Wouldn't be shocked at all. I mean, look, we talk about Shanahan all the time, we praise him all the time. But that being said, I think with them it's just an unknown of like I don't know enough about. He's one of the players I don't know enough about. But Brock Purdy If I can get some more answers and if I were a little bit more filled in on Brock Purdy, I could probably go with them as well. But he's just one of those guys that I, admittedly, I don't know too much on. But again, they do have a lot of tools over there to Help will him to the Super Bowl and win it if needed. So we'll see you time We'll tell. I like their prediction though. Yeah.
Speaker 1:I can see either scenario playing out. I can also see none of these four teams going to the Super Bowl Could be somebody we totally don't expect. And you know what? At the end of the day, jay, I think neither one of us would be upset if we were both wrong and the Jacksonville Jaguars end up representing the AFC In the Super Bowl.
Speaker 1:If that happens, you know this would be a great time to do so, as the team is inevitably it seems like on the way to playing some games outside of Jacksonville for a couple of years while they Construct this new stadium. So it'd be nice to have the home crowd be able to see it happen and see a magical run. But with all that being said, jay, you know I think we covered everything. Is there anything else you want to mention before we get out of here and Focus on some actual games? We have some real NFL football tomorrow night and then the Jaguars will take the field in there in their season opener Against the Indianapolis Colts. So anything you want to talk or anything you also want to mention before we wrap up here tonight.
Speaker 2:No, man, we covered it all. Great episode, man. I enjoyed this one. I always enjoyed these episodes, even in the years where we've Not been good and we went into the season no knowing that we weren't be, that we would not be good, because it's always good to still like, do a Bowl prediction even if the team is bad, like you can maybe find that that, jim, that can maybe be the the light, you know, for the Jaguars, even with their, their bad roster. So, as always, man, I think this episode didn't disappoint. I don't think it a disappointing terms. That listens everybody. Let us know how you liked it, which you thought of our predictions. Interact with us. You know, we might even put polls up on the predictions after we let the Episode sit down, you know, or sit on the internet for a little while, but yeah glad that we could link up and do one more of these and can't wait to see if these predictions we may come true.
Speaker 1:Yeah, one of things for sure is we are all very excited for this season to get going. A lot of reasons to be optimistic and excited and Enjoy a Jaguar fans. We have earned this. You know a lot of us have been Waiting for the team to be relevant like this and to have the quarterback and to have the head coach, and you know we've never we seemingly have had both of those things at the same time, at least not since the Coughlin and Brunel days, and you know you guys have earned it. So enjoy the season, what we hope to see some of y'all down at the stadium and can't wait for this all to get started.
Speaker 1:Just as a reminder, make sure you click that link tree link in the show notes of the episode. You'll find everything you need all of our social media pages, the website, as well as where to find all of our content. If you find yourself listening on Apple podcast or Spotify, please, please, do us a huge favor. Leave us those five star reviews. It helps us out so much. You guys don't understand. We really, really appreciate those of you that have taken the time to do so already, and don't forget to download that seekie App. Use our promo code touchdown Jaguars. Save yourself some money on some tickets, whether it's Jaguar tickets, concert tickets, anything you want. Use our promo code. It will save you some money and it will help us over here at the podcast as well. Folks, that is my co-host, james Johnson. I am Phil Smith. This is the touchdown Jaguars podcast. Do not forget to tune in for every Jaguar touchdown, if we will see you next week.