Monday Night Football returned to the city of Jacksonville for the first time since 2011, but it ended up being a night that Jags fans would rather forget. Not only did the team lose by a score of 34-31, but they also gave the fanbase a scare as Trevor Lawrence sustained an ankle injury that ended up being better than expected.
Im this week's episode of "Touchdown Jaguars!", Jay broke down Lawrence's injury situation and the other injuries that the Jags exited MNF with. While Lawrence avoided a catastrophe, receiver Christian Kirk wasn't as lucky and it appears the Jags will need some young players to step up for him and some others like Tre Herndon.
When it comes to the game itself, Jay broke down the biggest issue with the Jags' defense, which gave up almost 500 yards to Jake Browning and Co. Then on the offensive end, he discussed the offensive line and why drastic changes need to be made there if the team is to have a chance at becoming elite.
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.
Monday Night Football returned to the city of Jacksonville for the first time since 2011, but it ended up being a night that Jags fans would rather forget. Not only did the team lose by a score of 34-31, but they also gave the fanbase a scare as Trevor Lawrence sustained an ankle injury that ended up being better than expected.
Im this week's episode of "Touchdown Jaguars!", Jay broke down Lawrence's injury situation and the other injuries that the Jags exited MNF with. While Lawrence avoided a catastrophe, receiver Christian Kirk wasn't as lucky and it appears the Jags will need some young players to step up for him and some others like Tre Herndon.
When it comes to the game itself, Jay broke down the biggest issue with the Jags' defense, which gave up almost 500 yards to Jake Browning and Co. Then on the offensive end, he discussed the offensive line and why drastic changes need to be made there if the team is to have a chance at becoming elite.
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, your host, james Johnson, and Phil Smith. All right, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to episode 73 of the Touchdown Jaguars podcast. I am your host for today, james Johnson, writing this one solo. As Phil is currently working right now, I had to redo episode 73. I initially had edited and was set to post it today, and today I mean or by today I mean Thursday on the seventh and accidentally corrupted the file of the podcast that I put in Garage Band. All of those people who have edited a podcast before would understand all of this techno talk. But I corrupted the file on accident, trying to make space on my MacBook for another program, and deleted the podcast file on accident in the process. And I have a big mess on my hands where I now feel like the best move is to just rerecord the whole thing and just do a condensed episode as opposed to the one I had edited, which was 55 minutes. So, for the sake of time and for the sake of convenience, this one might be a little bit shorter, might end up being, if I can do it, more so in the 30 minute window. That does not mean it will lack passion and it'll be lacking in any way, shape or form. But just for convenience and just editing sake, I'm going to try and keep this one brief and nonetheless we are back from hiatus, as we missed last week's episode due to technical difficulties as well. Like it's just. It just seems like somebody out there doesn't want us to get this episode out, but that being said, we're going to make it work. I'm going to make this one short and we will be talking about the Jacksonville Jaguars disappointing Monday night loss by a score of 34 to 31 to the Cincinnati Bengals and will be breaking down at least the core things that went down, the most important things that went down in the game and the result of that game, and you know the condition the Jaguars came out of that game, in which you know that's been a big topic this weekend. That's kind of the luxury. That's one of the positives that came out of me. Messing up the episode and having to rerecord a shorter version is, since I've recorded that we've gotten some better news on the injury front that I can now talk about. So it is some positives to come out of this. But, that being said, we'll be writing this one solo. Don't know if I said this already, but Phil is working at the moment so he couldn't join me, but that's OK, he'll be back next week.
Speaker 1:That being said, before we get into the actual topic itself, I'll plug all our information in terms of social media real quick. Of course, you can follow me at sports grind underscore Don on Twitter Refuse to call it X to this day. At Phil the Filipino for Phil on Twitter. You can follow the podcast handle on Twitter at TD Jaguars pod, and also we have a link tree link linked in our bio, where you can find our other outlets. So, whether that's Instagram or whatever the case may be, so we aren't hard to find. You can also find us at, in terms of our official site, wwwtouchdownjadwarscom. Of course, we have some articles on there and we need to update those. As I've said in the past, we will get to that eventually Maybe some draft content, who knows? But that is where you can find us in terms of a web page, and we have archived episodes on there as well.
Speaker 1:In terms of the main outlets that you can find us on in terms of this podcast, of course, the most notable one is Apple podcast and Spotify for the users that have Android phones, but we're also on many, many other outlets, and if we aren't on those outlets, let us know. Another key one is Apple or, excuse me, amazon music, where you can basically sync up your Alexa devices with. I know a lot of people got those, so we're on there as well If you want to check us out on there. And again, if we aren't on one of your favorite podcast and platforms, let us know and we'll get on there so we can give you the latest in Jacksonville Jack Wars news. And then, lastly, as we always do, I want to shout out our sponsor, seat Geek, who is the provider for all of your ticketing needs and, as you all know, they've sponsored this podcast almost dating to the beginning, not from the first episode, but very close to the first episode.
Speaker 1:But, as you all know, this podcast it is about the NFL, specifically an NFL team in the Jacksonville Jack Wars. But Seat Geek, who sponsors the podcast, also could get you your ticketing needs outside of the Jag Wars, outside of the NFL. You know, whether you are a collegiate person, you want to get some collegiate tickets to see your favorite team, which you know. We got bowl games coming up. Some of us aren't so excited about those, some of us are, or it's outside of the world of football in general.
Speaker 1:If you want to check out the NBA, the NBA season is going right now. We're, you know, kind of in the first quarter of that right now. No, we got a lot of Orlando Magic fans that listen to the podcast from Orlando. But even if you aren't an Orlando Magic fan and you want to get tickets to whoever your favorite NBA team may be, get tickets to their latest game or a game in the future. You can find them on Seat Geek, as well as MLB tickets, nhl tickets and even outside of the sports world, they provide tickets outside of that for those of you who are into concerts and what have you.
Speaker 1:So head on over to Seat Geek. Use our promo code, which is touchdown Jag Wars Again, that's touchdown Jag Wars to save yourself $20 off of your first Seat Geek order. As we all know and they stay in age $20 can, at least for a ticketing event, you know, provide you with a little bit of food a little bit of food, I say because of inflation and gas as well, whatever the case may be. But you can save yourself a little bit of money by using our promotion code there and we will have that also linked in our description, is also in our bio, is pretty much everywhere that we post a podcast clip on or there's information about our podcast so it won't be hard to find will also post it in the description for this particular episode as well. So, that said, we will go ahead and, as I said, you know I got into the actual promoting part of the show pretty quickly there, but we're going to get into the actual game itself, as the Jacksonville Jag Wars, as I said earlier, failed to the Cincinnati Bengals 34 to 31 in the first Monday night football game.
Speaker 1:For quite some time for the Jag Wars I think it's been 10 years or more that they have been on Monday night football. It has been a while. Fortunately, we were on the national stage and did not perform as we should have. Specifically, our defense didn't do us any favors. But before we get on them, you know and you know the issues they had. Of course we must talk about the injury situation that the Jaguars came out of the game with, most notably to Trevor Lawrence, of course, who has a right high ankle sprain, which Doug Peterson revealed that later on Tuesday after the game, the day after the game.
Speaker 1:But scary, scary moment, for I think I speak for all Jags fans when I say that scary moment, especially those in attendance. I know Phil had text me. It was like man, that air has just come out of the stadium and I'm sick to my stomach. I think the same could be also said for those of us who were watching from home, and even you know some, you had some casual fans. As much as we thought Trevor Lawrence was, it was hated or is hated. You know a lot of people also sent their thoughts and prayers to Melissa, you know shout outs to her, and sent their thoughts and prayers to Trevor in general after seeing that situation, which was a tough situation to watch, unfold as he got his ankle rolled up on by Walker Little who was, you know, past blocking for him at the time. And it looks scary at that time.
Speaker 1:But you know, as the hours pass by and as time passed by, you know things became a little bit more optimistic and it looked like Trevor Lawrence avoided a catastrophic injury. Because again, it did not look good, it did look very scary. Now I will say when. When it happened, in the back of my mind, I thought there was a possibility for him to, you know, maybe come out of this I don't want to say unscathed, but, you know, without having to have surgery because we have seen some ankle injuries that looked a little bit worse not saying that his didn't look bad, but we have seen something that looked a little bit worse. But you don't like to speculate at that point in time and you don't, you know, don't want to jump to conclusions, although a lot of people did, but, yeah, in the back of my mind I felt like, you know, it was a chance that he may be able to avoid a catastrophic injury.
Speaker 1:And then, lo and behold, that was the case, as Insider started to fill us in saying that you know that night Trevor was in the locker room in high spirits and that you know he was talking to his teammates and all of that good stuff. As we said, or, as I said, on Monday, doug Peterson did come out and say that you know it wasn't anything like structurally messed up or anything like that, which is great, but it's more so a high ankle sprain. And also, again, one of the luxuries of me messing up the podcast and having to record or rerecord this is that I just saw Cameron Wolf put out a tweet earlier today from the NFL Networks Insider show, which Cameron Wolf care Cover, covers the Jacksonville Jaguars or covers the AFC South Division for NFL Network, but he does the Insider show, you know, with Ian Rappaport, of course, the top insider, tom Palisero, and so on and so forth. But he was saying that you know the inside the building, as of today, on Thursday, the Jacksonville Jaguars inside of the building are feeling like it's more so a, you know, a one week to two week type of high ankle sprain which you know. That would kind of indicate that it's not a high grade ankle sprain. But again, I'm no doctor, so don't you know, don't take that and run with it from me. At least I would prefer you all like listen to the professionals on that part of it. But just how he explained it, that does sound like a, you know, like a low grade ankle sprain as opposed to a high grade ankle sprain where you'll see guys be out for you know three to four weeks, which, regardless. Even if that was the case, that's still better than the alternative which was, you know, surgery and based on how it looked and how bad it looked. So that's even better news than you know. Maybe we were thinking before where we were thinking it's a high grade ankle sprain, perhaps potentially or potentially and it looks like that may not be the case and he has a chance to actually play against the Cleveland Browns.
Speaker 1:Now I will say this If needed, trevor, I don't mind having Trevor resting this game. I don't want to put him in any danger and just making the situation worse, and that would really throw a fork or put a fork in our preseason aspirations right, especially when you consider like Miles Garrett will be on the opposite end of the ball as well. And also something to consider here which we'll get into that later or get into this later is that also Walker Little, who I just mentioned stepped on Trevor Lawrence. His ankle is dealing with a hamstring injury of his own, so he's on the injury report as well. He may not play. He's day to day, according to Doug Peterson. And so you're looking at a situation where albeit, we are mad at Walker Little, for you know the situation and Trevor, you know being hurt might have to put Trevor out there.
Speaker 1:If you decided to start Trevor against the Browns, you might have to put Trevor out there with your third string offensive tackle or left tackle, should I say. Now I know they put in Blake Hans after Walker Little had to come out of the game, so that's an option there. And then also they said in practice again one of the perks of me having to rerecord this, I can now add this nugget in there At practice they had Ezra Cleveland playing some left tackle, who has expressed that he wanted to play left tackle when he was with the Vikings. But you know all of his starts came at guard, although you know he played left tackle or tackle at some capacity in college. So you're looking at a situation where maybe it's Ezra Cleveland, but more so probably Blake Hans, blocking at the left tackle position for Trevor Lawrence. And yeah, that's just kind of a scary thought right there.
Speaker 1:You know not nothing against Blake Hans, but what I'm saying is if Blake Hans is your third string left tackle, he doesn't get many reps in practice, right, and you don't want to put Trevor Lawrence in that situation. I mean, maybe you know they have a game plan where he's getting the ball out quick and you know they're protecting him to the best of his ability. But the bottom line is it is a possibility that Trevor Lawrence could play against the Cleveland Browns, as he has not missed a game to my knowledge if I'm Thinking about this correctly and you know, that's kind of something that Cameron Wolf also talked about is just Trevor having pride in, you know, not missing the NFL game so far, kind of being an iron man for the NFL, if you will. But I mean personally, I'm okay with him putting that record Behind him and, you know, sitting out on this one. If it's up to Trevor, though he probably would play, I guess it's more so a call on the coaches and trainers as to if he will. But I rather play it safe and protect them and look at it from, you know, the future perspective and getting into the postseason perspective.
Speaker 1:But you certainly can't Be mad at Trevor Lawrence for wanting to play and just like proving everybody just wrong that we're talking about him in the pre-draft process and how they were saying like I don't know if football is really in this guy's heart, like that. You know I don't know how much of a future he has in football in terms of past the decade mark after. You know he said some things in sports, illustrated and made people question his passion for Football, and we all knew that wasn't the case. He was just simply saying it's more of the life than football and people took that and ran with it the wrong way. But if you saw his passion when the ankle injury occurred and his, you know his Frustration and discuss with what had happened and it was probably some pain playing into affect the course into that too. But that passion just showed us right there. Like, this is the franchise guy. He really wants to be out there. And everything they've said about Trevor Lawrence in this recovery process since then Him actually being on the field that's another thing. He was actually on the field, not necessarily For all the drills, but like for warm-ups. He was on the field. That just shows that people that said what they said about Trevor Lawrence in the pre-draft process and his Questioning how much he wants to play football, were absolutely wrong on that and I'm glad he's proving them wrong and I'm glad he's our quarterback. So all of that said man shout outs to Trevor Lawrence, his parents, for the genes they have and they they gave him because, um, you know, it's crazy to see where he was on Monday night and to see now that he's actually able to go to practice and is walking without a boot and it cast and Making the progress that he is now again.
Speaker 1:Now that was the most important injury to come out of Monday nights game, or the most significant, but there were others that are pretty significant as well and I'm pulling up the injury report right now. With Christian Kirk. He had a core injury which is being listed as a growing injury on the injury report. And Look at, look at technology just working itself out, just as I said that, guys, I just got a notification that Thursday injury report is up so I don't even have to use Wednesdays anymore. I'm going to pull up Thursday's injury report and, man, it's really working out that I didn't put out the episode that I had cut up and edited earlier today.
Speaker 1:But so Thursday's injury report is up and the notables again going back to what I was saying, christian Kirk I had a core injury, sustained it in the first play offensive play that is, for the Jaguars of the game, where he went up to grab one, which he didn't. I don't think he really had to come off the ground for it or anything like that, but he kind of had to reach up for one that Trevor Lawrence through to him. It was a pretty Significant or explosive play. I forgot how many yards it was for, but the unfortunate part about it was that he sustained a core muscle injury and immediately he grabbed his you know his lower limb area. We could tell something wasn't right immediately and it does look like he is going to be out for a significant amount of time.
Speaker 1:If I'm not mistaken, ian Rappaport talked about it. Shout outs to Ian, by the way, friend of the show. But um, he said it was. It could be a eight week type of injury, although Kirk was going to seek a second opinion. So that'll put Kirk in a situation where, you know he wouldn't be able to return Until, you know, the Jacksonville Jaguars made it to the AFC championship, if they did, or the Super Bowl.
Speaker 1:So that's a pretty big hit there. You know he's in good spirits, you know he's been. He tweeted out to the you know the fan base and the team. That's good news. But you know that's a huge hit because Christian Kirk has been significant for this team in regards to, you know, explosive plays when they've needed him. He's just as the Peterson called him. He's a guy that you go to that can beat man coverage often and you know he's helped this team in some pretty, pretty big Situations and some predicaments that they got themselves in when they had to come from behind or maybe extend their lead. So that's a huge, huge loss.
Speaker 1:But the good news is that we do have a young Receiver in Parker Washington, who you know that was some injuries of his own earlier but his back had been returning punts in the game. But you know he had it coming to the game as a receiver as well when Kirk Sustained his injury and he actually was able to come away with not only his first catch in the NFL but his first touchdown in the NFL, which was a Pass where Trevor Lawrence threw it to the back of the end zone probably should have been picked. The defensive back for the Bengals wasn't able to corral it and bring it in, bounced off of his hands and then, lo and behold, parker Washington was able to reel that one in. So you know we got a player with A great deal of potential, at least from what we've seen, even though he was a late round pick this year and he's a rookie, but somebody who showed a great deal of potential, especially in training camp in like the preseason, and that people were excited about, and Earlier in the year we were just kind of like scratching our head in terms of what will the Jaguars do with their final 53, with all these numbers that they have at the receiver position? And now it's kind of helping us out, is kind of Working in our favor, you know, to our benefit, because now we will be without Kirk for a significant amount of time unless that second opinion brings like way better news than we have received in regards to his injury. But we have a guy with a ton of potential that can, you know, help us out there. Now, look, he's not going to be able to play to the level of Christian Kirk because Christian Kirk is, you know, a multi-year veteran. He's been doing this a long time and there are going to be hiccups there because Parker Washington is a rookie, but nonetheless we do have somebody at least I mean looking at the game as a prime example, where you caught the touchdown pass, caught a few passes along the way as well when we can get somebody who can help us in a big way and Contribute to this offense in a big way in that position While Christian Kirk is out.
Speaker 1:The other significant injuries that came out or that were a result of the game. Trey Hernan he had a concussion. He's been placed in the concussion protocol. He did not practice today. And Of course, kirk, who I didn't mention his status but it was no need. He didn't practice today. That goes without saying. Foley fatso Kasi was another injury that we sustained in the game. It was a hill contusion. He was limited today, so he's trending in the right direction.
Speaker 1:Another notable, I guess, injury Nugget worth mentioning, christian Braswell Was placed on the designated to return list. That's one hour young cornerbacks that we drafted this year. As he was dealing with a hamstring injury, he was limited today in practice after being put on the designated to return list. That's important because of, obviously, what I mentioned about Trey Hernan, who was in the concussion protocol and didn't practice today. So you know we need some help at that cornerback position, especially when looking at the fact that Tyson Campbell, who is the next person I wanted to talk about, it's also on the injury report with a quadricep injury and just hasn't looked like himself. And you know a lot of people may argue that maybe he needs to go on IR when you look at the performance he had against the bingles and even before that where he was struggling, but that's another topic for another time.
Speaker 1:Cj Balthard, who injured his shoulder in the game after coming in for Trevor Lawrence. He was limited today, so he's trending in the right direction. Walker little, who I think I mentioned his situation earlier with the hamstring he did not practice today. So again that's worth noting, watching, because obviously they would have to put blatant hands or as reclaving there, but those were the ones to come out of the game Injured and that is their respective status. Is also Andre Cisco. That was another one shoulder, but he returned to the game. So I didn't think that one was worth noting. But for those of you who want to update on him, in terms of the shoulder injury, he was limited today as well, and again by today I mean Thursday on December the 7th. So that's where we are in terms of the injuries that came as a result of the game and where those players are now as of Thursday.
Speaker 1:On the injury report, I guess we will go straight into the game and I'm kind of not used to Doing a podcast at this pace, but again I wanted to make it condensed. Hopefully it comes out Well. It doesn't feel rushed. If it does, please forgive me guys, but we'll go into the game itself, as I have the stats up here. In terms of how the Jaguars perform, I guess the best place to start is the team statistics, where the Jacksonville Jaguars they gave up 27 first downs in this game. So that goes to show you that they Didn't cause a lot of pun in this game, which we'll get into the defense in just a second gave up 17 first downs. Eight of those first downs were rushing first downs and I guess I'll start there in terms of you know, joe mixing and their backup running backs being able to have success against this rush defense. That had previously been good and they had a very disappointing performance from that standpoint.
Speaker 1:It was times where they were showing, you know, replays on ESPN where it looked like the ESPN equipment truck that they used for Monday night football the 16 wheeler that they have that always is sitting outside of the stadium. It looked like that could fit through some of the holes that this defense Allow to be open on them on Monday. And then, overall, when you look at it in terms of rushing yards, they gave up 156 rushing yards. Then they gave up 335 passing yards overall, 491 yards as a unit to Jake Browning. That's the biggest thing about it I think that has upset a lot of fans is they gave this up to a second or third string quarterback, which you know sometimes. You know, you, you got those guys that have been in the system long enough to where they can do those type of Things, but still nonetheless, like the Jacksonville Jaguar, shouldn't have been able to stop them at least a little bit better and not allow almost 500 yards to be put up against them. But you know, those were the key statistics.
Speaker 1:What I will say is, looking outside of those statistics, me and Stodge kind of talked on this, by the way, in our text thread with boogie and Phil. Shout out to Stodge, boogie and Phil. But Stodge mentioned this and it's something I've been saying as well, so I echo these sentiments as well. You know, when he was looking at the game, what stood out to him, aside from these terrible statistics that the defense allowed, but what stood out to him was the poor tackling, which I also think I tweeted about that During the game as well, and I've tweeted about that well before the game, but more so during February, march, you know, before the draft, and one of the things I said that this team needed to emphasize Was getting more sure tacklers Into the mix.
Speaker 1:Drafting more sure tacklers are getting them out of free agency because they did not tackle well last year. At times they're not tackling well this year. They know they're a poor tackling team and this is how I know, because Ray Sean jink has mentioned it earlier in a press conference or, you know, a locker room conference About two or three weeks ago, where he said that Bob Sutton or one of the coaches, had been emphasizing tackling in practice Over the last few months or so or since the season began, and even you know they met the training camp and so on and so forth. But that's a indication For them to have to stress tackling that much that they knew tackling was an issue and it still is an issue. So that's just basically the confirmation that you know I needed in terms of what I was saying back in March or February, saying that this team needed to draft some more sure-handed Tacklers.
Speaker 1:But it was way too many broken tackles and it's not just a situation that Shows up on one level, it shows up on every level and when that's one of the fundamental flaws to your defense, you will get exposed. Now again they've been doing a good job of kind of camouflaging that flaw and they have tackled better than they did last year. So their defense has looked significantly better than it did last year. But that issue reared his head against this Cincinnati Bengals team who just out physical us overall which I'll get into the physicality aspect of this game as well but the tackling really hurt this team and you know, joe mixing was just having his way in terms of running through tacklers and the receivers as well. So I don't know what the specific statistic was in terms of the amount of broken tackles in this game, but I'll be interested to find out and I might need to tweet that from the podcast handle actually, because that definitely was something that was an issue in the game and that is one of the fundamental flaws that resulted in the Jacksonville Jaguar statistically looking like they did defensively.
Speaker 1:But there was a tackle where, for example, just to point out some particular instances, the Ray Sean Jenkins tackle, which they you know we got a video up on Twitter, not us, but in general it's a video up on Twitter of I think he hit Drew Sample who was, you know, running around in the middle of the field, bounced off of him. I mean it could have been Drew Sample or it was another receiver, but it was a big body receiver or tight end and you know, lo and behold, sample ends up taking it up the field for a few more yards after the tackle. And you can also see the frustration from Jenkins after he missed the tackle. You can clearly see that he was upset about missing that. So there was that tackle.
Speaker 1:For example, one that I pointed out was the Dewey Wingard tackle, where he was trying to get low and hit Joe mixing and basically he was trying to make another blind tackle, which is an issue that I've mentioned with Dewey Wingard in the past. Can you guys remember that episode where we beat the Steelers that we had after that episode where I pointed out the blind tackle attempt that he tried to make on George Pinkins, george Pinkins leaped over him. As a result, basically, and you know, we broke down the concept of tackling in that episode where you know it's just very important to have your eyes on what you're hitting and what you're trying to tackle, and when you don't do that and your head drops early in the tackle process, the chances of you making that tackle drastically decreased. And that is exactly what happened in the George Pickins incident, where George Pickins actually leaped over him and scored. Same kind of concept happened this week with the Cincinnati Bengals, where he was trying to get low and also he just did not locate the what he was hitting, which was Joe mixing at that time, and Joe mixing not only ran him over but just kept, you know, turning his leg for more yards and that ended up in the touchdown.
Speaker 1:But if Dewey Wingard, even after initially starting to tackle and trying to tackle Joe mixing blindly, if Dewey Wingard has the awareness to realize like hey, he's not in the end zone yet, he could have, you know, shoestring tackle mixing at that point and maybe even stop them from getting in the end zone. But you know, I guess he was kind of, maybe he was just stunned by the power of mixing or whatever the case may be, but being that he did a blind tackle and not just a blind tackle, he didn't even bring his arms and wrap up with it or try and shoestring tackle him. That ended up in the touchdown. And then also, I think Darius Williams tried to get in there as well, which it looked like Darius kind of didn't want any part of mixing at the time, but the more I look at it, maybe it was just the way Darius tackled him. The certain way that he did is maybe because he was trying to avoid like hitting, mixing in the head or something like that, but I'm not sure Like I would have to more, so look at that again, but I do recall seeing it on the replay, where Dewey Wingard just absolutely basically watched the grass throughout that tackle and couldn't even wrap up in the process, and that resulted in the touchdown.
Speaker 1:So the reason I pointed that out, though, is just that lack of fundamentals kind of applies to the whole defense. It's a fundamental flaw that the whole defense has. It's times where I see defensive line and wrap up the quarterback and the quarterback squirts out for a few more yards, or the running back squirts out for a few more yards, even as good as he's been, and kudos to Josh Allen, who, I must say you know I've been hard on Josh Allen in the past, but he is a franchise pass rusher. At least he's playing like it right now, and we need to give them props where props are doing. He deserves a contract from this front office immediately. So I'll say that first and foremost, but it was one play where I can recall where Josh Allen hit a running back or quarterback in the back and didn't wrap him up. I mean, he wrapped him up with one arm. The guy slides underneath them, runs up the field for a few more yards and you know somebody else tackle them. So what I'm saying is it's not just a flaw with Dewey Wingard, but it's a flaw on all levels. But Dewey Wingard is lack of fundamental tackling in that particular instance is something that is carried throughout this whole defense. If you want to go back and watch that particular play where mixing did score, I think it was mixing's first touchdown of the game.
Speaker 1:So, without getting too much into, you know that situation with the defense and you know going and breaking down things that went wrong individually. I think that's some of the key things that people can hone in on. That kind of would help everybody grasp, like, exactly what went wrong in terms of defensively and then offensively. I don't really have to like go into the offense too much because while Trevor Lawrence did get injured and I'm going to get into that part of it in terms of the offensive line and where they are right now but while Lawrence did get injured. They scored 31 points. There's plenty enough points to win a game. So I really don't need to get into the offense. That much aside from the offense was lying, because again that's kind of resulted in our quarterback having to leave the game I think it was five minutes left in the fourth quarter having to leave the game early or before the game had ended.
Speaker 1:But one thing I also wanted to discuss before I wrap this up and we end the episode is just the disappointment in the offensive line and where they are. And I can't even say as much as I get on Trent Balkie's case and as much as you know we stay on Trent Balkie and say that he does not need to be the GM for this team. I can't say that the offensive line issues that we're seeing are a result of lack of investment into the offensive line. It's not that, but it's more so the poor scouting that has gone into the offensive line. They've invested plenty into it, right? They paid Ken Robinson a lot of money, you know. They spent the third round pick that's a, you know, a starting caliber pick on Luke Fortner, spent the starting caliber pick on Walker little, which was a second round pick, you know, and spent a lot of money to get Brandon Sure fin here and then use the first round pick on Anton Harrison but was hurting them there is is probably poor scouting right and Specifically, what we're seeing is that this offensive line just doesn't have what I consider.
Speaker 1:You know what I said a few podcasts ago. They don't have that country boy strength in the interior. You know. Branded sheriff, you know, looks like we won't get the branded sheriff of all with the Washington commanders in those days might be behind him, which Rightfully so. He's up there in age, so you know that's understandable. But he certainly doesn't feel like he's helping us get the what we paid for in terms of the contract we gave him.
Speaker 1:Luke Fortner, who I just mentioned not too long ago that's one of Trent Boggies third round picks just looks Overwhelmed and just does not have the strength you need at the center position and, as Pete Prisco pointed out and I said this before, pete actually said it during the game is like he just plays too upright. That's part of it, you know, not only does he not have the strength, but you're not helping yourself Also if you don't have the strength to play the center position, but you're also getting out leveraged and You're not anchoring down and you're not able to push anybody off the ball. You know you're not helping yourself in any way, shape or form. And here we are, two years into Luke Fortner's career and he still looks just like the rookie he was last year and that's that's pretty concerning. You know, that lack of growth is pretty concerning and I would dare say that I believe the Jacksonville Jaguars need to move on from Luke Fortner next year. You know, I know they got a lot of needs and they got to spend a lot of money to pay two premium positions between Trevor Lawrence and and Josh Shal, and but that's something that needs to be addressed because that Lack of growth from year one to one, year two and I'm not asking, I wasn't asking for Luke Fortner to make this gigantic step right and to become, you know, this elite Center like, I don't know, like Kelsey, like Jason Kelsey or anything but for him to look Pretty much like he did as a rookie in terms of strength wise and technique wise that's concerning.
Speaker 1:There should be some sort of growth there in terms of the making some sort of a step, and we talk about this all the time. You look at guys like Devon Lloyd made a significant step Although you know we weren't necessarily looking for him or asking for him to make this giant step and he has but made a significant step, you know, and all of these guys that we talked about from last year making significant steps or a good enough step to where they are able to be Decent contributors. That's not the case with Luke Fortner and that was a bad pick, so far, at least it looks like for Trent Baugh. He in terms of that third round investment Into Luke Fortner. And then you know, as we're Cleveland, he's new, so you know we can't really make a call on him just yet, but you know he's one of those time will tell guys, as well as Anton. We just got Anton this year in the draft. So you know we can't really make a call on them yet, but between Fortner and Sherf and even I can even throw Cam Robinson in there with them as well when they may need to make a change there too, because with Cam Robinson, as much of a spark as he is for this Offense and much of a leader he is for this offense and the tenacity he brings to the offensive line, which is something they lack is that tenacity and physicality.
Speaker 1:The issue with Cam Robinson is availability. You know, here we are in December and this is kind of happened often in his career when the Jaguars are without their starting left tackle in the month of December and the most important month of the regular season they are without him and you know I get it. You know injuries happen and it's nothing you could do about it and this, that in the other, but you can look league wide. What I'm saying is you Could look league wide and see where there have been Left tackles that have been more available than Cam Robinson has. So that's kind of been his issue and the issue with him and the you know the injury past that he's had and the struggles that he's had staying healthy, is that Cam plays a premium position and not only that, he plays a premium position for, you know, a Quarterback in Trevor Lawrence, who we think is a top five quarterback, top eight quarterback.
Speaker 1:Whatever the case may be, you're especially going to want your best left tackle on the field to protect Trevor Lawrence after he gets that contract. Not that you don't want that now, as it is obviously when we need that now, and this week was a case in point where he got hurt, but Even so, when he becomes you know, this 200 million dollar quarterback as well like we can't afford to have our best left tackle At a premium position on his blindside, not there in the month of December. So that's the point I'm trying to make about Cam Robinson, in terms of them needing to evaluate that position and possibly move on from him to and getting a healthier, a healthier body there as well, or a more available option for them there as well. So this offensive line man is going to need to be evaluated this offseason and we've already talked about that. But here we are.
Speaker 1:I needed to circle back around to that when looking at Trevor Lawrence his condition right now. But that offensive line is going to need to be Fixed and the issue is I don't think Trent bulky knows how to fix. It is the issue when you look at all of those Investments that he's put into it and the result we're getting. I don't think he has the answers. But I do think that Doug Peterson knows now and new heading into the season, that that offensive line wasn't going to cut it, and the reason I say that that's not insider information or anything. I'm telling people to go run with, or I heard from inside of the building.
Speaker 1:But what I'm saying is the reason I feel like that's a possibility that Doug knew heading into the season is because when you look at Doug's Super Bowl team that 2017 team that I always reference this offensive line is nowhere near close to that offensive line. And what I'm saying is Doug Peterson knows what a league offensive line looks like and he knows what a great offensive line looks like, and I think at the point in time before the draft you know in the off season is that he could look at it and tell like that what he had in his offensive line wasn't even close to the offensive lines he's seen in the past. So I just think, like he, you know as a offensive mind and as a as a coach that has had the success that he's had in being a Andy Reed disciple he does know what a great offensive line looks like. And if that's the case and he knew that this offensive line wasn't going to be the answer heading into the season, he needs to start speaking up. He needs to start having more pool in terms of fixing that unit, because he's more suited to me, he probably is more suited to fix that unit than Trent Balkie when looking at his past and Trent Balkie's past. So you know, maybe you know that's something that he emphasized and is and emphasizes this off season, that he kind of takes over in terms of fixing this off season and let Trent worry about the other stuff. But it is something that I really really want to see them emphasize and I want to see Doug specifically emphasize and speak on and, you know, also, just kind of like give us some kind of indication at some point in the off season that it's something that wasn't satisfactory to him and something that you know he may have some pool and fixing in the future. We'll see. You know that. You know their structure according to the shot, kind of this. You know all three of them have a say between Khan Balkie and Peterson have a say in the draft picks, but time will tell. That is a spot that Doug needs to take over and take initiative into fixing this off season because he is the most suited person in that front office to fix that. So, that being said, I think that's a good place to end this podcast.
Speaker 1:Again, this one is a little bit shorter than others. Please excuse that. I hope it don't feel rushed. I already explained why. You know I had to make this one a little bit shorter, but, as always, we appreciate your ears, we appreciate your listening and we appreciate your feedback and we ask that you continue to reach out to us and give us your feedback, let us know how we're doing and all of that good stuff. So I'll plug our handles one last time here and we'll go ahead and close this episode out.
Speaker 1:Of course, you can follow me at sports grind underscore done on Twitter. You can follow Phil at Phil the Filipino at Twitter and he will be back next week, so shout outs to Phil. You can follow the podcast handle at TD Jags pod or, excuse me, td Jag Wars pod, and, of course, our official site is touchdown Jag Wars dot com. In terms of the main outlets you can find or the main platforms you can find this podcast on. In addition to touchdown Jag Wars dot com, where it is archived, you can find us most notably on Apple podcasts and Spotify for our Android users. There are plenty of other places you can find us as well, like Amazon music Again, that's for your Alexa devices and, you know, your Kindle tablets.
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