Can you feel the exhilaration after Jaguars' big win? Let's celebrate and dissect some of the game's toughest moments together! From the breaking news about the upcoming game in London to Duke Kaboom's halftime show motorcycle jump, this episode is packed with gripping discussions you don't want to miss.
We're tipping our hats to Calvin Ridley and Trevor Lawrence for their stellar performances, and boy, are they making it hard for us not to notice! It's thrilling to see how Trevor connects with Ridley and how he's made noticeable strides from his first to third year.
And of course, no episode is complete without the rookies. We zero in on Tank Bigsby, who despite a rough start, came roaring back with a touchdown. Talk about turning a negative into a positive! We're buzzing about the rookies' bright future and how they can learn from their initial blunders. We also discuss the struggles of the Jaguars' offensive line and propose solutions to keep Trevor safe. Join us for this electrifying episode!
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.
Can you feel the exhilaration after Jaguars' big win? Let's celebrate and dissect some of the game's toughest moments together! From the breaking news about the upcoming game in London to Duke Kaboom's halftime show motorcycle jump, this episode is packed with gripping discussions you don't want to miss.
We're tipping our hats to Calvin Ridley and Trevor Lawrence for their stellar performances, and boy, are they making it hard for us not to notice! It's thrilling to see how Trevor connects with Ridley and how he's made noticeable strides from his first to third year.
And of course, no episode is complete without the rookies. We zero in on Tank Bigsby, who despite a rough start, came roaring back with a touchdown. Talk about turning a negative into a positive! We're buzzing about the rookies' bright future and how they can learn from their initial blunders. We also discuss the struggles of the Jaguars' offensive line and propose solutions to keep Trevor safe. Join us for this electrifying episode!
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. Here's your host, james Johnson, and Phil Smith. Hey, everyone, welcome back to another episode of the Touchdown Jaguars podcast. I am your co-host, phil Smith, and joining me, as always, is your other co-host, james Johnson, and Jay man. It just feels a whole lot better to record after a win, doesn't it?
Speaker 1:Jacksonville Jaguars kick off the season 1-0 after a victory over a division rival, indianapolis. At times it looked a little bit rocky there. As I mentioned last week, these divisional games can always be tough and you never know what can happen any given Sunday. Right, that is what they always say. You know what the Colts give them some credit. They stuck around a little bit longer than I expected them to, but good teams find a way to win. That's what Jacksonville did this past Sunday. Jay, I'm excited to break down the game as well as talk about some breaking news that just came out very recently pertaining to a Jaguar game here coming up on week 4. That's going to make the London game, I think, a little bit more interesting. Excited to discuss all that with you. How are you doing here tonight?
Speaker 2:Yeah, man, I'll never get used to all of the after all of the years and years and years that me and you and even Jacob shout outs to Jacob DeLorence have had To talk about losing teams. You know, aside from 2017, at last year, I'll never take for granted a victory Monday. So I'm glad to be here to talk about victory Monday. I'll be it.
Speaker 2:You know it probably didn't go as well as we thought it should have gone, but when I looked at the film, I actually went too disappointed and it's a lot that can be cleaned up and I'm still optimistic about how the season can go.
Speaker 2:But you know, a lot of us felt like we should have probably been able to put up a little bit more or beat up on the coats a little bit more. We'll talk about that more on that later, man. But yeah, man, excited to talk about what I saw on the film and excited to talk about what you just said as well, about the upcoming game in London as well. As always, everybody, you know where to follow us at at touchdownjaguarscom, where we have a course, archived episodes and articles as well. Feel free to check us out on Apple Podcasts as well, most notably, rate, comment, subscribe there and also check us out on Spotify for our other users who don't have Apple devices as well. But yeah, man, as you said, ready to discuss what was a pretty interesting game, though it could have gone a lot better for us.
Speaker 1:Yeah, as I said, there were definitely some touch and go moments there during the game and we're going to discuss all of that here. So, as Jay mentioned, make sure you check out the link tree link in the show notes. It's going to have everything you need that. He just mentioned all of our social media pages linked to all of our episodes, as well as the website touchdownjaguarscom. You'll also see a link in there to download the Seekieek app where you can use our promo code touchdownjaguars and save yourself $20 on your very first Seekieek purchase. That helps out the podcast and, of course, it helps out yourself. Save yourself some money while helping out the show. Once again, that is promo code touchdownjaguars. So, jay, we're going to jump into the game here in just a moment, but we want to discuss the breaking news that came out earlier this evening from ESPN and in a couple of weeks, the Jacksonville Jaguars will quote unquote host the Atlanta Falcons at Wembley Stadium in London, and that game got a little bit more interesting for people that are looking for maybe a little bit of a different type of telecast. Of course, the standard game will be available on ESPN Plus, but you can also watch it on Disney Plus, as this will be called, to infinity and beyond. The Walt Disney Company and the NFL are bringing fans a first of its kind fully animated alternate NFL game presentation of the Falcons and Jaguars in Pixar's iconic Toy Story universe. This is directly from the press release that was sent out to us. Toy Story Sunday Football a real time alternate presentation streams Saturday morning, october 1st, at 9.30 on Disney Plus and an ESPN Plus as well, so you'll be able to catch both broadcasts on ESPN Plus. And here's what's going to happen. The Walt Disney Company and the NFL have collaborated on a first of its kind NFL game presentation, toy Story Sunday Football, as real time action between the Atlanta Falcons and the Jacksonville Jaguars will be experienced in Pixar's iconic Toy Story universe. What's going to happen is Andy's room is going to host Toy Story Sunday Football. Andy's room will replicate the on the field gameplay from Wembley Stadium, where each Falcon and Jaguar player will have an animated representation on a traditional looking field catered to the Toy Story setting. Players will view every run, pass, score and all football related action through state-of-the-art tracking technology enabled by the NFL's next gen stats, player tracking data and, beyond sports, in addition to the gameplay, all the surrounding aspects of the game announcers, graphics, scoreboard, penalty announcements, celebrations and more will all embrace the Toy Story themed offering in their packaging and delivery, all occurring in Andy's room. Woody, buzz Lightyear and many of the characters from the acclaimed animated series will be visible throughout, participating from the sidelines and other non-gameplay elements. The first of its kind NFL presentation is made possible by ESPN, espn's Edge, innovation Center, disney, nfl, pixar, next gen stats beyond sports and Silver Spoon.
Speaker 1:Really really quick, jay. I don't know if you saw Toy Story 4, but one of the most exciting things that I saw is that the halftime show, duke Kaboom, which is the character that is voiced by Keanu Reeves, will attempt a motorcycle jump as the halftime show. Super excited for that, jay. A couple of years ago, the Nickelodeon broadcast for the Playoff game I think that was what Bear Saints. That got a lot of really really great buzz and a lot of really solid reception and I like that. They're embracing kind of like the sillier, fun side of this. I'm very excited to watch this broadcast, jay. I think I'll probably have both on, maybe side by side. But what do you think when you hear about this man? Toy Story and the Jacksonville Jaguars is certainly not a collab I thought I'd ever see in my lifetime.
Speaker 2:Me. Neither Me either. You know, maybe it's just a part of the Jacksonville Jaguars winning a little bit more, or maybe it was just. You know, they were just in the right place at the right time in London for a game done by ESPN, who obviously Disney is the parent company of ESPN. And but regardless, I'm excited.
Speaker 2:As a Toy Story fan, I love that movie, seeing it more times than I can count on VHS.
Speaker 2:That and this movie is not a Disney movie, but Space Jam as well, I can recite like Toy Story and Space Jam, like from word to word basically.
Speaker 2:So you know, I'm super excited about it as a kid back in the day who owned a Woody and Buzz Lightyear action figures more than one probably and a kid that just just loved that movie. And to answer your question, no, I haven't seen the last Toy Story, but yeah, I did see the video of Kaboom that he's going to be in the halftime show, so that looks exciting. They kind of mentioned him in the video and showed the like, I guess a little highlight of him as well. But yeah, I think it's going to be interesting to see a Pixar model of Trevor Lawrence and Calvin Ridley, like we saw in the little video shoot that they put out there, as well as some Falcons players. As everybody you know, I'm a Falcons fan secondarily. So you know we'll get to see Bijon Robinson, you know, out there doing his thing as well, who had a killer, a rather impressive start to the season, week one.
Speaker 2:who you know Phil knows a lot about that guy as well. As a Texas fan. Shout out to Texas for handling Alabama too, by the way. Love to see it. Yeah, man, yeah man yeah.
Speaker 2:A lot of great football went on this weekend, right, but yeah, man, I'm very excited to see how that goes. As you said, the Nickelodeon thing to me is such a hit. I can remember the first one they did. I watched the whole thing Like I didn't even watch the regular broadcast and Nate Burleson is so good as a commutator to explain the rules for, you know, for kids, and he did such a great job with that. So I think you know they're going to have Booger Mitt Farrowing on ESPN side for the Toy Story run, which I know a lot of people don't really like Booger like that, but to explain the game to kids. I think he might actually flourish in that role. You know, and we'll see, Time will tell.
Speaker 2:But yeah, going back to the Nickelodeon thing, like it was so dope, like the slime on the field and SpongeBob is in the field goal post. They had, like SpongeBob as the field goal net. It's kind of dope. It makes you wonder, like what we'll see from, you know, Disney side between the Jags and the Falcons in terms of what Easter eggs they put in there and things and whatnot, like that. But yeah, man, excited about this and I definitely will be tuned in. I definitely will record that via DVR. You know me and you always have wanted to go to the London game, but looking at it now it's like, OK, what a time to be home to actually watch this one they do with this special event for both the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Atlanta Falcons.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's really cool, man. I think I remember talking about this when, like you said, the Nickelodeon game happened. Like I wish something like that was around when we were younger. Like you know, eventually we did learn the rules, but like, how beneficial would it have been for a you know, whoever Nate Merlison would have been at that time when we were younger, to explain the game and explain what was happening and the ins and outs and the little nuances would be really really cool and like the ability to, you know, vote on the MVP. Remember, I think, famously, mitch Trebisky won the MVP that year even though the Bears lost the game.
Speaker 1:You know, just really, really fun stuff and I really enjoy when they embrace the fun side of things. And you know, obviously the no fun league is what is tied to the NFL. So whenever something like this comes out and we get the opportunity to see something a little bit different and is just meant for everybody to have a good time, you know what Kudos to the NFL and Disney for linking up to make this happen. I can't wait to see what the final product looks like. This technology is wild, jay. I would love to see how it works, like behind the scenes.
Speaker 2:Yeah, man, oh man, it would have been amazing to have like one hour you know favorites break down the game for us, maybe like Emmett Smith or something like that Well, he was still a player at the time, but somebody, you know, somebody along the lines of that.
Speaker 2:Like that would have been dope. You're right, man, I'm kind of jealous of the kids today that they get these, you know, these telecasts with SpongeBob and Patrick and all of that. But yeah, it surely would have made the game a little bit more easier to understand. We had to learn the hard way, right, like in my case, I had to go on the field and learn the hard way. But yeah, nonetheless, like you said, I'm excited about this, man, and you know we'll revisit this the week of. You know, of course we do weekly episodes, so we'll talk about it a little bit more in depth down the road and you know, probably more details will come out down the road. But nonetheless, man, I think that you know, I think this will be a hit and maybe we'll see the Jaguars in this in the future because, as we all know, they got the commitment to London going.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we'll certainly be tuned in. The only thing I'm wondering, jay, is you know, for these London games we typically get up early and go to like the bricks or hopting or something like that. They probably won't be showing the Toy Story version of the game at the bricks, huh.
Speaker 2:I doubt it, but you definitely should ask the manager to definitely get that on. I mean, like that'll add to the drunk man's experience, I think. I think that would be a good idea to actually get that on while everybody's watching. So, yeah, maybe you all need to holler at the manager to see if they'll be able to do that for you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I definitely think it will go over. Well, asking the manager at the bricks to put on the Disney Plus version of the game, I don't know. I mean, you know what? I think a lot of people in the crowd would definitely be up for it. So we'll see how that turns out. But again, nonetheless, really, really cool.
Speaker 1:I haven't really gotten a chance to like, check Twitter for the reaction or anything like this, but I hope no one is being like, I hope no one's being lame about this. You know, have fun, it's not a big deal. Just watch the regular broadcast If it bothers you that much, it's not gonna hurt anybody. So I will definitely be checking this out, as we mentioned. But nonetheless, jay, there was a gameplay this past weekend and the Jacksonville Jaguars came out on top against the Indianapolis Colts for their season opener. Lots of good things to talk about, lots of positives and also some takeaways on the I don't wanna say negative side, jay, but maybe opportunity. You know the opportunity side to discuss. When it comes to the team.
Speaker 1:We're gonna start off, as always, with the positives, and one of the things that Jaguar fans were most anticipating, jay, was Trevor Lawrence's new best friend, calvin Ridley, and how big of an impact would he make? And man, at least in the first half we saw that impact immediately. And let's just start there. Trevor had some incredible throws.
Speaker 1:You know I watched this game with our friend Eric and you know we still saw a couple of moments where Trevor makes some throws where you're like your head is scratching just a little bit. But then he turns around and makes some of those throws that he makes to Calvin, the throw to Zay Jones, which we'll discuss here in a moment, but let's start with that connection between him and Calvin Ridley. Seven catches and, I think, 97 yards in the first half basically unstoppable. And then the Colts maybe seem to either adjust a little bit or it was the play calling. You know that's kind of up for debate. But what did you think about Trevor and Calvin, this brand new duo that we are expecting to help Trevor make that Jalen Hertz, josh Allen type of leap, now that he has that elite wide receiver?
Speaker 2:Well, first and foremost, what I will say is we told you so, and when I mean we, I mean the Jaguars media, because there was a whole ordeal about Calvin really being away from football for X amount of time. And when the Jaguars got Calvin Ridley and the projection started coming out, everybody was talking about, well, he's been away from football so long. We have to see how he'll go, let's not put him on the pedestal yet. And we saw what Ridley was doing in training camp when I were on eyes. When I say we, I mean Jaguars media, me and Phil included. We went to training camps and saw what Ridley could do and he looked faster than everybody. And we were reporting this. And we told people like, okay, yeah, you know I get the skepticism before training camp and before OTAs, but then, when OTAs and training camp came, we got the message out there that, hey, he looks faster than everybody, he's going at his own speed. He was at times Ridley was running fast, so fast at times where, you know, a lot of us were like, okay, he needs to slow it down, we're scared, you know, of injury or what have you. But he only has one speed. And now people are getting to see it. People are also getting to see the connection that he has with Trevor Lawrence.
Speaker 2:And, granted, now I think the Colts were down a few cornerbacks, or maybe a few of their top cornerbacks aside from Kenny Moore, I believe, I'm not sure. I know somebody showed up on the injury report that I think a few Colts fans were talking about in terms of, or in the inactive list that a few Colts fans were talking about was maybe a top to depth chart. So, you know, maybe he didn't get the strongest competition, but Kenny Moore is pretty straight, but maybe he didn't get the strongest competition out there, but that doesn't matter. You can only compete against what's out there and you know, I think Calvin Ridley will do that to pretty much any defense out there, as well as Trevor Lawrence man. So, yeah, man, this is just an indication of all those people that didn't want to give Calvin Ridley his due and didn't want to or wanted to act as if the film he put up at Atlanta wasn't phenomenal, which, you know, I wouldn't know about watching him there as well. So I had a smile on my face the whole time, because now it's, you know, oh, you know, trevor Lawrence is definitely, you know top three or whatever the case may be in terms of MVP potential, now that everybody saw what Calvin Ridley is doing for him. But what was that energy a few months ago type of thing.
Speaker 2:But enough of that on to Trevor Lawrence. I guess we should start about calling out the people who, you know, wanted to put Justin Fields over him and I love both of those quarterbacks, by the way. Both of them are Georgia kids, by the way but we all knew, when we saw Justin Fields get ranked over Trevor Lawrence by the players by the way, this was a list done by the players, the NFL Top 100 list we all felt some type of way, including myself, and it wasn't even the fandom side of it, but it was the reality of. We knew what that was. And that was one player plays for the more popular team, the team with a bigger fan base and the team that got more exposure. And it was a matter of you know, a lot of people hadn't got exposure to Trevor Lawrence as much as they had to Justin Fields. And now Trevor Lawrence goes out there and he's putting everybody on notice.
Speaker 2:Now, yeah, sure, like you said, it was a few throws here and there that made you scratch your head. But the good throws he made makes me want to take back what I was saying about his MVP chances. You know as hard as it will be for a player from Jacksonville. He's making it hard for people not to notice him. With his throw to Zay that he made with him, threatened that needle to Calvin Ridley, where I think Kenny Moore and one of the other defensive backs ran into each other, which I'm glad they're OK, by the way. I think they came back in a few plays later. So good thing that you know no injuries were a result of that. But those throws, man, you know those are arguably those two throws I just mentioned should be in ESPN's top 10 highlights, you know, for yesterday, and they should be probably two of the top throws of week one.
Speaker 2:When we all, when we look back at it. But yeah, when you look at how much he has improved and it's just one game, of course we got 16 more to go but the strides that he appears to have taken from year two to year one, you know you got to feel like and in addition, with the defense which we'll talk about a little bit later looking a little better than expected For me, the needles moving a little closer to them, being a super ball team, and I thought initially and some other things that could get in the way We'll talk about that later but I was very impressed with Trevor Lawrence not shot, but very impressed and you know, this is what I expected. Though, when we got Calvin Ridley and knowing Calvin Ridley's work at the, knowing that he was going to, you know, get with Trevor Lawrence as soon as possible. This is what I envision. A moment we pull to trigger on getting Calvin Ridley, and I'm excited to see if it continues going throughout the rest of the season.
Speaker 1:Yeah, man, I mean every single connection, every single time. He hit Calvin and you know, especially that first touchdown. You know he's rolling to his left, throwing across his body. You know making time getting out of the pocket and making that throw. He made that throw a couple of times on Sunday I think I'm not sure if they were both to Calvin the other ones may have been to, may have been to Zay or or Evan.
Speaker 1:But yeah, jay, like you said, you know we're just going to see this, this partnership, flourish. You know, the one thing I am a little I don't want to say concerned about is we only saw Christian Kirk get one catch for nine yards, three targets. We obviously saw Zay a lot. You know you talked about that incredible throw and catch by those two. But do you have any concern there? This isn't necessarily a negative, but do you have any concern that Christian Kirk is going to get not lost or forgotten in this offense? But do you just feel like we're probably going to see Christian Kirk games and Calvin Ridley games and Zay Jones games? Do you think that was it or is there any concern there that we didn't see Christian Kirk getting involved?
Speaker 2:Not at all, because it's their first game together and when you have that many weapons it's pretty much a given that the beginning stages is figuring out you know how to distribute the wealth. You know because that was the first time they all played together. So, no, I'm not concerned at all. And you're going to see games that look as much as I brat on Calvin. Really. You're gonna see games where they clamp down Calvin. Really start, you know, throwing double teams at him and all of that. And you're gonna have to go to your other weapons. You're gonna have to go to Evan Ingram.
Speaker 2:You're gonna have to go to Travis, you T and you're gonna have to go to Christian Kirk. So no, I'm not concerned. I think you know the the more and more they get Touches and you know snaps on the field, together They'll figure out how to distribute the wealth amongst each other. And again, you know, as teams get more exposure to them, that's when you'll start to see them switch up weaponary. You know, maybe cater to this weapon a little bit more in this game and that weapon a little bit more in that game. It's just one week and, um, yeah, I think they're, they're in good shape.
Speaker 2:I think we'll see more Christian Kirk. You know, down the road, depending on you know what Kind of slight weapons or slight defense Some this team or that team shows against them. You know what teams have a weakness at the slide, I guess, is how I would put it. You know those are maybe to be the weeks We'll see a great game from Christian Kirk. But yeah, I'm excited, man, I that didn't really bother me at all. I mean, yeah, of course you wish Christian could have gotten more catches, but I'm not the slightest bit concerned about him getting his touches down the road.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I did mention that to Eric while we were watching the game. You know we didn't see him until, wait, wait later. But yeah, like you said, you know, as they figured this thing out, as Trevor figures out how to distribute the ball, you know not too worried about it here at this point, but it was still good to see Zay Jones and Evan Ingram getting involved. They had five catches each. Travis, etn also five catches had a solid day on the ground, did ETN 18 carries, 77 yards, as well as that touchdown where he bounced out of the pile and Essentially iced the game there in the fourth quarter. But offensively, jay, lots of, lots of solid things to talk about. What else did you want to highlight before we move to the defensive side of the ball, because they were definitely some positives on that side as well?
Speaker 2:Yeah, one thing I want to add to what we were just talking about too.
Speaker 2:You know, look no further than yesterday's game in terms of the adjustments. You know, like they they obviously put Kenny Moore on on Ridley in the second half and then, okay, the Jaws were like and the main, no mistake about it, the jazz probably still could have hit Ridley a few more times in the second half, but the jazz were like, okay, well, you know, we'll just get a ball to ETN. So that kind of shows you their ability to adapt with whatever is in front of them. That's why I'm not concerned about Kurt, because he's gonna have his day as well and trouble lords kind of. You know, talked about that, but he was more so talking about it from the perspective of the offense need to pick up the defense At times, just like the defense did for the offense in this particular game, that defense which will talk about next here. As you know, they were dealing with a new quarterback in his first game by the way, I'm one of the more explosive play Playmakers from the draft and Anthony Richardson.
Speaker 1:Yeah, let's talk about that defense, jay. You know we were talking last week about our hesitancy to to put this team specifically within Super Bowl contention or give them a Super Bowl appearance because of our concern with the past rush. Now I also talked about how I would have looked like a genius if I had just went with. One of my possible Full predictions. Right was that Josh Allen was gonna have a career year in a in a contract year and he goes out and has three sacks, a career high in his in the first game. Trayvon Walker also look really, really solid.
Speaker 1:So you know we discussed the importance of them possibly having to Bring in a past rusher via trade sometime during the season. You know we talked about Chase Young, aaron Donald, somebody along those lines. But as you mentioned, jay, before we got started, if they play like this man, they are going to be competitive with anybody. And you know what better test than next week, as we look ahead just a little bit, when they have Patrick Mahomes coming to town, possibly without Travis Kelsey, we'll see how that pans out. They will have Chris Jones back again. I'm getting ahead of myself, but you know you got an opportunity against a Kansas City offensive line. That's. That's not great, and you know you get it offered, you get the chance to come out and against a lot of eyes that are gonna be watching this game and Show the rest of the league, hey, our pass rush is fine, as is, so talk a little bit about the defense and how you were, you know, just pleasantly surprised with how they perform, specifically that front four.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I was cautiously Optimistic about what I saw out of this defense and again, that's because the the Colts tackles aren't great. So you know I want to jump the gun. But again, like I said earlier, you can only play against what's in front of you and and trade one. Walker and Josh Allen were just fine against what was in front of them. I mean Josh Allen for, crying out loud, got three sacks, you know, and if he continues to play at this rate, I mean the guy needs to get a contract before the end of the season, which is something that me and you have been on the fence about. It's like do we pay him? Do we, you know, not pay him? But if we get that guy for the rest of the season, I'd be mad if we let him go. So, yeah, shout out to Josh Allen because you know, when he he hasn't been the player that we were hoping for. I've been on his case and it's only fair. We give him his kudos for the three sack game that he had and he really could have had like two more sex. When I was looking At the film, it was two other times where he got his hand on the quarterback and probably could have got it. You know, a few more sex. So, you know, maybe we're looking at him having that.
Speaker 2:Kalei is Campbell game from 2017. If you know, he can bring down the. You know, bring down at the Richardson, which is easier said than done, right? But um, that being said, you know, this week They'll have a better, a little bit better competition in terms of the tackle position. I don't know how much more better. You know this pair of I think it's, of course, is Joanne Taylor and I think it's Donna Vince Smith, if I'm not mistaken, as the left tackle. So this will be a little bit stiffer competition but nonetheless, you know, if they play like they did on Sunday against the coast, I think this is a group that they can have success against to, and I'm talking about Trayvon Walker and Josh Allen. And and as for Trayvon Walker, yeah, I like what I saw out of him. You know, the between the strength and the.
Speaker 2:The Bull rush got him a sack as well. He's a guy that, um, you know, pff didn't necessarily great highly. I think he great like a 46 or something like that, but what I saw in the field is, you know, a player that's progressing and a player that we should be excited to see Heading into the future. Now his sack was more so. It probably was a sack where Richardson might have held on to the ball a little too long. You know, you could, that's debatable, but none the last man Love seeing them bend the corner and get to the big man formally of Florida, which of course, I don't mind seeing a Georgia Bulldog have success against the Florida Gators, and speaking of which, tyson Campbell also got a pick in the game.
Speaker 2:But yeah, man, like I, you know, yeah, yeah, I'm a little bit shocked that the defense looked as good as they did. Now they had the one play that kind of ticked us all off, where I think it was the screenplay that probably should have been better handled. But that's OK. Aside from that play, you know they really kept this offense in the game when the offense was sputtering right, because if they don't have the stops that they have, you know the coach probably win this game and of course, a Jamal Agnew's return helped as well.
Speaker 2:Shoutouts to everybody who was talking about, you know, jamal Agnew at the end of the season and that's exactly why I was like, hey, you know, pump the brakes on this, like jump on Jamal Agnew's case. That guy flips field position better than anybody in the game. From the special teams perspective, we need him and, look, he saved our behinds in this game. So yeah, man, I am really, really excited but cautiously excited about Josh Allen and Trayvon Walker heading forward Because, again, I understand the Colts offensive tackle group is one of those groups where you know you can't jump the gun in terms of what we saw on Sunday, but they did show some, some promising things.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know I love Tyson talking about how they baited Anthony Richardson into that interception. I think you had a lot of solid plays from Devon Lloyd and, you know, foyer Also, andre Sisko forced that fumble during the game too. So, like you said, there were. There were certainly some moments where you you hope that they are handling things a little bit better. You know a lot of people still criticizing Mike Caldwell, especially on Twitter, so it'll be something we have to keep an eye on throughout the season. But there were definitely some bright spots, obviously with you know, as we talked about Josh Allen and Trayvon Walker being anti-Sincambl being some of those brightest spots. Go ahead. I know you wanted to add something else.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, I mean on a call. Well, yeah, like we, of course we were disappointed a little bit in the first half, but I mean, you know and they kind of talked about this on Twitter Again I think it might have been Trill Will shout out to him aka Sean, or it might have been somebody else and Sean might have commented on it but Caldwell actually made a pretty good adjustment in the second half. I mean again, and you know, trevor Lawrence kind of, he kind of talked on this how the defense held them, kept the Jaguars in that game. So I mean, like, when you look at that and the adjustments that were made, it's like, ok, you know this staff, or at least you know the young parts of this coaching staff, are showing improvement as well, just as well as the product on the field and the pass rushing the defense. So I mean there's that and we'll watch that heading forward.
Speaker 2:I also, you know, like, want to talk about some of the guys you mentioned as well. For you it was all over the place, but should we be shocked? He'd be shocked, but he made a great amount of tackles. He was the guy that I think he made like two back to back plays on the Colts. Last drive on the coach for trying to punch it in. I think he got a pass deflection to end that drive on fourth down and before that he might have made the stop behind the line of scrimmage or make the stop in that goal line situation to avoid the coach from getting a touchdown.
Speaker 2:But again, we shouldn't be shocked because you know, four year will be four year and he probably will lead the league in tackles again. Hey, I mean for crying out loud I said he'll, you know, hit the tackle record. We'll see if he could do that. But yeah, I was impressed with you know what I saw to him, tyson as well, not just Tyson from the perspective of you know the interception and what he did and pass coverage. But you know just the physicality he brought. You know the. You know he looked like a Kirby smart Georgia boy, georgia Bulldog player out there with the fourth fumble that he caused and you know just just getting physical. And it was some other tackles he made close to the line of scrimmage as well, where he kind of showed his, his physicality.
Speaker 2:And another guy I want to talk about, who you know we've cooked on this podcast a few times that really helped the Jaguars in his game more than people realize Trey Herndon.
Speaker 2:Trey Herndon from the perspective of they blitzed him a few times and you know he got some heat on the quarterback, got some heat on Anthony Richardson, so he helped them a lot, which is not surprising because Trey Herndon is a player that he's not the best in pass coverage but when it comes to helping you near the line of scrimmage he's pretty good at that. So give him his flowers as well and the performance he had. I think he had like a 77 on PFF and you know we've been talking about him probably being replaced by Gregory Jr, but for now, you know, trey Herndon is like no, this is my spot and it'll be exciting to see, you know, if he can help. I mean you typically don't want to rely on your nickel back to help you with the pass rush, but you know it'll be interesting to see if they get creative and use him a little bit to affect the passer, as they did on Sunday.
Speaker 1:Yeah, he had one pass defense as well as a quarterback hit. You definitely saw him a couple of times in the backfield when they sent him on the blitz. So you know if they can find roles for these guys I mean, we saw them do it last year with Dewey Wingard right, you know who's to say Trey Herndon can't be that guy this year, you know. So certainly deserves his kudos, like you said, jay, but it was, you know. Really, in all and I think you mentioned this you know the defense only gave up 14 points. We'll talk about how they got seven of those on the negative side that we'll flip over to here in just a moment. But I think we're going to see this defense get better and better as the season goes on, and you know they'll be essentially forced to step up quite a bit, with Patrick Mahomes coming to town next week. So they get a nice, a nice tough test early on and then they also play. They got the bills in a couple of weeks too. So plenty of opportunities for them to just continue to get better and better as we, as we progress through the season. But, jay, let's move on to the opportunities or negative side of this football game. And before we talk about the offensive line, I want to talk about what a lot of people were upset about, including myself, and you know we just want to point out obviously this was his very first real NFL regular season game and this is a difficult game to play, right, but he was catching a lot of heat and for good reason. He made a major, major mistake that I'm sure he will never make again and I know the coaches are going to ingrain in him to make sure that never happens again.
Speaker 1:But Tank Bigsby had a rough outing early on. You know. He did make up for it a little bit later with the touchdown, with the help of Pretton Strange and the offensive line. But Tank Bigsby, first he, you know the ball comes off his hands for the interception. The pass was a little high, but you still, you know he still hits off his hands and ends up in the Colts Defender's hands.
Speaker 1:And then the fumble right the Trevor Lawrence gets sacked, the ball is loose and Tank Bigsby, just, you know, he just stands there and they the whistle has not blown. You know what is that one rule play till the whistle. And he just stands there with the ball gets punched out, defoe takes it back for a fumble recovery touchdown. Things seem to be falling apart for the Jacksonville Jaguars at that moment. But, you know, just want to get your thoughts on what you saw from Tank Bigsby, because he did flash during the preseason and a lot of people are excited about this combination, but as far as debuts, you know, a lot of things went poorly for him. And how does a young man in that position on a massive, massive stage, playing for a team that has incredibly high expectations? What do you say to him in your opinion, and what do you do going forward again to make sure you correct those mistakes? Because, again, he's young and I don't think we're ever going to see something like that happen for him again in terms of the fumble.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, you know Doug kind of talked on this. You know that's something that you know, according to Doug which we, you know, have every reason to believe that you know they stress playing to the whistle in practice. So that's a mistake, that it's kind of like ah Tank, you got to do better. But you know, as you said, man, he's a rookie, right, and you know, when Travis ETN had the issues he had with fumbling and stuff, we gave him, you know, we gave him some bail on that and I think we should do the same for, you know, for Bigsby as well. I'll be there. You know two different types of struggles. You know it was more so fumbles with ETN, but still, you know what I'm saying is, you know, that's how that same energy for Bigsby, who was also a rookie running back, which I guess ETN was more so in his second year, but it still was his rookie year because he didn't really play his first year. You know, let's just have that same energy for Bigsby, but yeah, that play was one is, if you're a coach man and you're, I'll put it this way, coaches watching from home and not just coaches on the sideline, but it's like, oh man, like you have to know that that's still a live ball and, as you said, though, it's one of those mistakes like that you'll never forget for the rest of your life, and it probably won't happen again, and that's something that take, you know, to his defense, tink probably has been taught that since he was a kid to like if you don't hear the whistle, play to the whistle. He just had a, you know, a lapse in a mental lapsing. To his defense, the rest of the offense looked like they had a mental lapse too, because they were just standing around too. So it wasn't just him, you know, it was veterans and all of that standing around. I mean, I guess you can't like, really, you know, showcase that the ball is live and let the coach know, but still, I think it was more so, the Jaguars office just as a whole, just fell asleep at that moment.
Speaker 2:But yeah, as you said, man, he did redeem himself in terms of scoring the touchdown, got a touchdown in his first game, and I do want to talk about that play, which is more so a positive, and I know we're talking about the negatives, but the reason we want to talk about that play is I tweeted about it, and you know that play doesn't happen if it's not for Brendan Strange and it actually wasn't Bigsby's fault that he was tackled so quickly near the line of scrimmage behind the line of scrimmage, for that matter Brenton Strange actually missed his block. He barely, I mean, he got a little piece of his defender, but it wasn't enough and he was able to get Bigsby behind the line and just good job on him and a good job on Bigsby to have the you know, the power and the wherewithal as well. But good job on, like Brenton Strange, we're talking about rookie mistakes here. This is how you justify your rookie mistake, and Strange made some too, like the blocking wouldn't all that great for the tight ends either, but this is how you justify the mistake. Knowing that he missed his block, you know, knowing that coach Richard and Gulo probably is going to call him out in film studies for missing that block and getting tank tackled behind the line of scrimmage, he immediately, just knowing what to do or understanding the situation of the game and how desperate the Jaguars needed that first down, ran to Tate, dragged him to the first down marker along with some other offensive linemen that were pushing in there. Barge was in there pushing, I think Tyler Shatley was in there pushing but just the presence of minds of those two rookies to understand in week one how important it is to beat the Colts and how important it is to make up for the mistakes they already made, for them to have that presence of mind and make that play, is huge.
Speaker 2:That already in that instance, that already showed the growth of them learning from their mistakes and understanding the gravity of that game and understanding the gravity of the situation, of nearly being in a situation where we're about to lose to a Colts team. That we shouldn't. I think that was huge and that is why you have to believe these rookies are going to be okay. When I talk about tank and I talk about Brent and Strange is because, while they're going to make their mistakes, that play right there. That showed you that this team is going to be all right in terms of the mentality that these rookies have and I'm excited to see them heading forward.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I expect tank to bounce back in a big way throughout the season. He's got to continue to be a big part of this offense and, like you said, jay, just with that run there and everything that kind of broke down for Brent and Strange, tank, bigsby and then everybody else in the offensive line Ants on Harrison, also another rookie for them to have the wherewithal to turn that negative play into a huge positive was really really impressive to see. Especially, it's their first game, like we talked about, is their very first NFL regular season game and they're already learning and they're already showing that kind of promise. I think is great. But the offensive line definitely struggled yesterday and it was a huge topic of conversation over on Jaguar Twitter. We saw certainly Walker Little struggling. Obviously Brandon Scherf went down with the injury and tried to come back in but eventually was out for the rest of the game.
Speaker 1:This is going to be a point of concern, I think, for the entire season. Jay, what do they need to do? What did you see that concerns you and what can they possibly do to correct it? Is it as simple as waiting out the Cam Robinson suspension or is there something they can do in the immediacy to address what's going on in the offensive line, because they're obviously keeping Trevor upright and keeping him safe is going to be a utmost importance. I mean, we just saw, as we're recording here, monday night Aaron Rodgers go down, possibly with a long-term injury, and everybody knows any team is just an ankle turn away from their season being over. So what are they going to do to correct this and how can they get it done quickly?
Speaker 2:Yeah, they really concern me because I don't know if this is an issue that's easily fixable, especially the guard play. I didn't like the guard play. I don't know if anybody agrees with me here, but it's clear at that position that even that center at times I think they lack that. I guess the way we would put it in football terms is country boy strength. They lack that ability to move piles, and that goes between Barch. Shurf hasn't looked like the star that I was hoping he looked like. That's not to say he won't bounce back or whatever the case may be, but he is going to be battling an ankle injury heading, for he sustained an ankle injury and Fortner, you know, his strength doesn't seem to be like improving all that much to me, to that's just me, by my eyes, but I mean to their defense, shurf was out there on a bomb ankle right. Ben Barch was you know what. He just came back two weeks ago from his knee injury, so he hasn't really been on the field all that much. He played a little bit and I guess one or two of the preseason games probably won. So you know, I guess we can, you know, cut him some slack as well. But you know. I think, yeah, as you said, what will probably help this group a little bit more and I hope they help some from a strength perspective and give them that again as they call it, country boy strength in the interior that they need, I believe. I think you know, when Cam is back you get, put Walker Little at guard. That'll help tremendously. We'll see, time will tell. But yeah, they were a low point of the game for me.
Speaker 2:I do think they have the coach, the right coach, and Phil Rauscher, who is going to look at that film. He's definitely going to be disappointed in it. He's definitely going to voice his displeasure with it. You know me and you have talked about this in the past. Every team has that coach, that loud, super aggressive coach. Every staff needs one. That's Phil Rauscher.
Speaker 2:So that's the good news. We have the right guy probably to get those guys right. But they need to get better quick, fast and in a hurry, because we're playing the chiefs. This next week Chris Jones is coming into town. Things aren't going to necessarily get easier. I know that the Colts they have more so of a duo in that interior, more so than the chiefs. It's just kind of Chris Jones with the chiefs, unless I'm blanking out on somebody else that plays on their interior. But you know more so with the Colts is they have Grover Stewart and Defoe. But yeah, they got to get better quick, fast and in a hurry, because if they don't, man, they could be a long day for us I was about to say night, but it could be a long day for us against the Kansas City Chiefs.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So if we're going to be Dilla pointing this out, I think maybe the saving grace is Chris Jones' first game back. It's going to be incredibly hot in here and the home opener, so maybe there is some silver lining for this. They got to get re-acclimated. If you're going to get Chris Jones, you might as well get him at his very first game, as opposed to when he gets settled in and becomes the force that he is. Go ahead, jay.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, one thing I wanted to add to. You know Anton had his issues too in the game, but I don't think Anton was as bad as others think he was. So that's the good news is, I think Anton had a better game than some think he had. I think he actually is probably the guy I'm least concerned about, and he's the one battling through injuries. Right, he's the guy I'm least concerned about on the offensive line. But again, I think you know when they get Cam back, that definitely will help some things. For sure they're a little kicking in the guard, so that moment can't come soon enough.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we'll continue to monitor the. You know the discourse with the offensive line. Obviously we've got to see some improvement, and quickly, with that unit. But, jay, anything else you want to mention here as far as either positives or negatives, you know it is just good to come out with a win, as we mentioned. You know, good teams find a way and that's exactly what the Jaguars did on Sunday. When it came down to it, they knew they were the better football team. They made the plays that they needed to and they won, and you know we want to see them do that and show everybody in the league.
Speaker 1:Against the Kansas City Chiefs, who are coming off, you know, a tough loss against Detroit. They don't have a lot of weapons outside of Travis Kelsey, who might not even be playing. They got an opportunity to make a statement, as we mentioned last week, I think, as currently constructed, if you take, you know, other than Patrick Mahomes, which you know he is who he is. But offensively you can make the argument. I think a lot of people would agree that the Jaguars, offensively, are a better football team than the Kansas City Chiefs. So you got a really big game coming up and you get an opportunity to kind of put the pedal down, all gas, no brakes, and really take it to them. So anything else you want to mention before we look ahead to this big week to match up with the Chiefs?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean real quick. I wanted to talk about we kind of didn't talk about this and this was a key topic just the whole aspect of Press Taylor, the news that broke. You know he and rapper Port broke the news about him calling plays, and I'll keep it short for the sake of editing purposes. But what I will say is I don't know if Press Taylor had as bad of a game as we thought he had, because there were some plays that if they go in the Jaguars way, if the often and I agree with Doug Doug said it's like the offensive line has to do a little better, bit better in situations, and you know a few more plays where the offensive line or, for example, the screen to Evan Ingram, if they get a block on the guy, this game looks a lot better for Press Taylor than it did. So he's a guy you know I'm not completely ready to jump on on board for saying you know he's going to be the answer at playcaller, but at the same time I'm not concerned about the game that we saw out of him just yet. Time will tell if he's the answer there.
Speaker 2:Now, in terms of what you said about the Chiefsman, yeah, man, I am excited about this game. This one has been circled for us. I do believe, though, the key with this Chiefs game is, if the Jaguars win, the whole, the whole ordeal will be Well. Travis Kelsey won 100 percent, right, and Chris Jones was just coming back from week one, so that will always be that, but I am kind of excited to see them as close to 100 percent as possible, because that'll give Trent Baalke what he needs to see, and he needs to be the one to see this how far away we are from competing with the Chiefs.
Speaker 2:Therefore, you could make the adjustment. If you need to make a trade, get whatever needs to get done during the trade deadline. You don't have any excuse, because the Chiefs would have, at that point, showed you where the bar is. So, for that matter, I kind of want to see him full strip, but at the same time, it's like do I want to see him full strip because we can use that win. So I mean, regardless, I'm excited about that game and, yeah, eager to see if Trevor Lawrence can match up with Patrick Mahomes, because they I mean they look like the two top quarterbacks really coming out of week two.
Speaker 1:Yeah, get yourself some early wins against some AFC opponents you know even their. You know the Colts game. It's a big division win. Then you got the Chiefs and then you have the Bills in a couple of weeks as well. So you know, knock out some teams here that you think are going to be and you probably know we're going to be in contention when it comes to home field advantage. You get some wins over the Chiefs and the Bills. Those W's will go a long, long way. The Bills currently up on the Jets right now, albeit without Aaron Rodgers. You know, as I mentioned, this is all unfolding as we have been recording and I'll tell you what, jay. If this Aaron Rodgers injury and if it ends up being something massive, it's probably the biggest week one injury since the Tom Brady injury, right the year that they had Matt Castle I think it was play quarterback. I cannot imagine how Jets fans feel right now after Aaron Rodgers went down.
Speaker 2:Oh, yeah, man, those are the type of energies where your heart drops. We've seen them, you know, in the past ourselves. No need to mention them, but we've seen them. It's like, oh my God, like, is this really happening? So, yeah, man, we'll see where Aaron Rodgers is health wise. Maybe it's not anything too major or too significant. I know a lot of people wanted to see him in a Jets uniform and see how he would do with another team. I personally have some questions about if it'll last and, you know, will there be turmoil? But you know, we won't know until you know he's on the field and right now he's not able to be on the field, so that's kind of a bummer.
Speaker 2:But yeah, man, that'll be an interesting situation to watch him fold in terms of his health and where he is Because, as we all know, like you know, the Jets were one of those teams that people were projecting to go to the playoffs. They might have been a team that we would have seen in the playoffs, if we, you know, make it to the playoffs.
Speaker 1:So that'll be an interesting development to watch Yep, he has been ruled out. Will not return. X-rays reported as a negative. But you know, until they get a more conclusive look at that thing, you know who knows what's going to happen. But, jay, another great episode here.
Speaker 1:We very much look forward to week two, a big time matchup home opener. I'm pretty bummed because I am going to miss it. It's kind of like a catch 22 because I'm going to miss the home game which I would have missed anyway because I would be working at convention this weekend down in Ocala. But I will actually be in Atlanta with my daughter and my sister as we will be taking her to her first concert. So you know it's a bittersweet thing. We're certainly excited for a trip to ATL but bummed, we're going to be missing the home opener. So for all of you that will be in attendance, continue to hold it down. Can't wait to see what the energy is like in the bank and excited to see everybody here in a couple of weeks against Houston. But, guys, thanks so much for joining us for this episode.
Speaker 1:As we mentioned in the very beginning, check that link tree link in the show notes. It's going to have everything you need. Link to the website, touchdownjaguarscom, link to all the rest of our episodes, social media pages both for the podcast as well as J&I's personal Twitter accounts. The best way to keep up with us is Twitter. Specifically is where we pretty much get out all of our news, along with the website. And don't forget to download the Seekie app and use our promo code. Touchdownjaguars Jay. Anything else you want to mention to our audience before we get out of here for the night?
Speaker 2:No, that's it, man. Enjoy the Victory Monday. Another Victory Monday, and here's so many more to come.
Speaker 1:That's right, folks. So thank you so much for joining us here on the Touchdown Jaguars podcast. That is my co-host, james Johnson. I'm Phil Smith, and don't forget to tune in to Touchdown Jaguars for every Jaguar touchdown and we'll see you next week.