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Touchdown Jaguars!
Touchdown Jaguars!
Episode 92: Buccaneers / Jaguars Preseason Week 2 Analysis
Want to know how the Jacksonville Jaguars are gearing up for the season? In our latest episode of the Touchdown Jaguars podcast, we promise to give you the inside scoop on the second preseason game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. We break down the joint practices that provided our team with much-needed exposure to a different opponent and discuss the challenges faced by the Jaguars' offensive line against Tampa Bay's ferocious defensive front. Despite some hiccups, the week's experiences have been invaluable as the team readies for the regular season.
We delve into Brian Thomas Jr.'s impressive progression during training camp, highlighting how his development could add explosiveness to our offense. We'll dissect the preseason game, spotlighting standout performances from Parker Washington and Mac Jones, and discuss the depth concerns for the offensive line. Plus, we address the injury to backup quarterback CJ Beathard and what it means for the team's depth.
Who will secure their spot on the Jaguars' roster? We shine the light on Austin Trammell’s standout performance, emphasizing his potential contributions to the team and special teams. We also discuss Parker Washington's consistent showings this preseason and what it means for an already stacked offensive lineup featuring stars like Travis Etienne and Christian Kirk. Lastly, we touch on the promising display by Tank Bigsby and other running backs, setting the stage for a thrilling final preseason game. Stay tuned to Touchdown Jaguars for all the latest insights!
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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 are your hosts, james Johnson and Phil Smith. All right, what's up? What's up? What's up? Ladies and gentlemen, we are back for another episode of Touchdown Jaguars, going to be another solo episode, being that we had some tech issues on my end actually here and, um, yeah, me and phil our connection when we joined the room together to have a podcast discussion uh, it was a little choppy, so I decided to do a solo where I feel edited. So we'll still tag team it together, but, but it'll just be a solo episode in terms of one voice for episode 92 here, as you all know, my name is James Johnson, aka SportsGrind underscore Dunn, as you all know me. On Twitter, you can always follow my co-host as well, phil Smith. At Phil the Filipino, as you all know him. On X, you can also follow, of course, our podcast handle for the Touchdown Jaguars podcast those of you who are first time listeners, if you aren't familiar with that, that would be at TD Jaguars pod. And of course, we have the website wwwtouchdownjaguarscom, where you can find archived episodes, and every now and then we put written content on there which I need to do a better job of updating. So all of that said, this isn't going to be an episode where I hold you all up too long. We will pretty much get straight to the point here.
Speaker 1:As the Jacksonville Jaguars entered their second preseason game this week, it was against the Tampa Bay Bucks, who they had two joint practices against as well, two productive joint practices, in fact. They were so productive that Doug Peterson pretty much didn't put any of his starters out there during the game, which was on Saturday the 16th or, excuse me, the 17th. But yeah, productive two weeks, you know, to get some work in against a team that you're not accustomed to having in practice week in and week out. We talk about this all the time in training camp. At some point you kind of just get tired of being up on your own teammates and at some point emotions start to get high, everybody starts to get irritated with each other, fights start to break out, all of that good stuff. So it's good to get a break from your own teammates and, I guess, kind of break out the monotony, if you will. But a productive week for the Jacksonville Jaguars in terms of those two joint practices, which we'll talk about a little bit, and also the game itself.
Speaker 1:But before we get into the core part of the show. Of course, as always, we have to give a shout out to our sponsor, seatgeek, because I've already plugged all the handles so I already took care of that part of it. But shout outs to SeatGeek, our longtime sponsor here, who you could go to for your ticketing needs, whether that is in the sporting industry, but they have you covered in terms of your other sporting events, whether it's the MLB, nba, whatever the case may be, you can go to Seat Geek to satisfy your ticketing needs for any event. They got you covered, and not just sports, though it's not just exclusive to sports. They also have you covered when it comes to your concerts and your music events, your tours for your favorite singers, your Taylor Swift's of the world which I know that's somebody that really annoys Phil, right, but your Taylor Swift's of the world, your Bad Bunnies, they have you covered there as well, over there as well. And of course, you can save yourself some money by simply using our promotion code, for first time users at least, and that is Touchdown Jaguars. You can find that promo code pretty much everywhere we put up content, whether it's in our bio, whether it's in the description for this show, which Phil will drop in. There you can find that promo code touchdown jay or save yourself twenty dollars. So shout outs to seat geek. Longtime sponsor of the show. We appreciate them, uh, looking out for us, and they also have you all covered, whether that's on the site, seatgeekcom, or on their app, you can use their promo code. You could go out and look for tickets for whatever event it is that you're looking for tickets for, and they will take care of you and tell them that Jay and Phil sent you by using that promo code. So, with all of the housekeeping out of the way, we will start with.
Speaker 1:I guess the right place to start is with the practices, because that's what came first in chronological order and just one of the big things I just wanted to talk about with the practices, of course. Really the biggest thing to really come out of those practices in terms of on the jaguar side is just kind of how the offense look. Now that first day. I will say there was some negative to the offensive side and some positives. The negative was that the offensive line just kind of gave everybody a scare, which you know. I'm kind of not shocked. You all have seen me put out the tweets in the early part of the year, back in January, of how I would have addressed this offensive line and address that interior part of it especially. And you know they really only added Mitch Morse and it kind of showed that Maybe they should have done a little bit more there. We'll see in time, we'll tell. But maybe they should have done a little bit more. We'll see and time will tell. But maybe they should have done a little bit more.
Speaker 1:They're kind of showed in the practices, especially in the one on ones where you know the offensive line on Jacksonville side was going against the defensive line with the Tampa Bay Bucks side, which you know at the same time, you know, maybe it's possible that those drills could have been overblown because you know, in the defense of the Jacksonville Jaguars line they were out there dealing with Vita Vate, right, and Vita Vate personally, one of my favorite players coming out of college especially. But what he's become year after year, uh, he's just a mountain of a man that nobody could really handle one-on-one right. So, nonetheless, still, you know, it gave people a scare and it's just pretty much that thing that we've talked about, myself and Phil that we've talked about when you know we look at what could have been done better. Right, it was a lot of positives, don't get me wrong. You know the team did a great job in terms of the additions on the field and also what they got done off of the field with the stadium. It was a lot of positives that came out of this offseason. But still, you know, at the same time you got to look at both sides of the coin. That's kind of our job, right. When we looked at it from the perspective of the negatives you know, that's one of the things we pointed out it's like, hey, I think they could have done a little bit better with addressing that offensive line. So, you know, as many people have said, it looks like that offensive line is going to be the key right here and forward, because a lot of things outside of that offensive line is looking positive, you know, and in a positive direction. But at the end of the day, you know when you look at the offense and what they'll be able to do, it might be a situation where they'll only be able to go as far as that offensive line will take them and hopefully, you know that start in five, because you know when you look at the depth behind them and there's some kind of that was revealed with these practices with Tampa. It's a little sketchy, a little skeptical when you look behind them. So that was just kind of one thing that I kind of got detoured on.
Speaker 1:But the main thing that I wanted to talk about in terms of those practices is just how Trevor Lawrence and uh Thomas look. You know, when Trevor Lawrence wasn't taking, I guess you could say, not real sex but would be sex, he was dealing first and second day and it was simply put. You know it was him and Brian Thomas out there that were the two stars of the show. They simply could not deal with Brian Thomas's speed. There are plenty of clips out there where you can see Brian Thomas making a snag or two on the defense of the Tampa Bay Bucs and the defensive backs. Now, granted, some of these were in like seven on sevens and like you know stuff like that and when, like the full team on the field, but mostly you know the skill guys on the field against the uh defensive backs and linebackers and what have you those types of drills, but still nonetheless, I mean that's still good to see out of our rookie first round pick, especially when we had all of these concerns about trent balky's track record right with receivers. It looks like he finally got it right. Shout outs to Trent man. But I guess we have to wait to the regular season to hold our thoughts on that and see how things will go. But so far so good.
Speaker 1:For Brian Thomas, somebody who's getting better week in and week out. When you talk about training camp, he's the epitome. He's the definition of how to get better week in and week out. Remember first few days no pads everybody was putting out the signs like where's Brian Thomas? Type of thing. Of course you know me and Phil, we weren't part of that group. Of course, like we've learned in our years in the journalism game to be a little patient, you know things take time and you know he's a young receiver that really didn't run a full route tree right in LSU and all of that good stuff.
Speaker 1:And then, lo and behold, when the pads went on, things got better. You started to hear about him a little bit more. And then you got into last week, the week before, where we had preseason games, and he has really started to shine. And you know he's a guy that a lot of people are excited about in terms of adding explosiveness to this offense, especially after how he looked in these practices against Tampa Bay. So you know he'll be coming up on another big week, crucial week, especially in, you know, from the practice perspective of it week, crucial week, especially in, you know, from the practice perspective of it. And you would think probably the starters will see a significant amount of time in the last preseason game just to have them prepared for the regular season game. So you know he can shine in that preseason game as well against the atlanta falcons, my second team. But it's been so far, so good for him and also so far, so good for trevor lawrence, far so good for Trevor Lawrence, and that's what you certainly like to hear coming out of these first two weeks of the offseason or, excuse me, of training camp.
Speaker 1:So won't really really talk on the joint practices too much. As I said, you know the team got some good work. Shout outs to the bucks for coming in, keeping things cordial. We didn't have any fights and scuffles, which that might really maybe have to do with the fact that the nfl sent everybody letters like hey, we're about to start finding you guys if y'all pull with the giants and, uh, whoever else that was that were throwing hands, um, a few weeks ago, right, malik, neighbors and you know some, some others I forgot the team. The other team is escaping my mind right now. But if y'all pull that stunt, you know we might start hitting y'all with some fines. So maybe that helped or you know, just maybe it was just a degree of respect between the two teams and just understanding like, hey, man, we're here for one common goal, that's to get better. Like all of the fighting and all of that that's unnecessary, which you know. I can make a point that sometimes it's needed. Right, the intensity does need to ramp up and you just need a little bit of an edge Right, heading into the regular season. But they avoided all of that and still got a lot of good work done is the point I'm trying to make.
Speaker 1:Then, heading into the preseason game between the two at Everbank Field, of course, as I said, most of the starters sat. I do remember seeing Anton Harrison out there and Roy Robertson Harris If you want to consider him a starter, you know he saw significant snaps and maybe a few others were out there, but we knew, heading into this game. They weren't going to really play the starters because Doug talked about it and that was the purpose in those first two practices was to get some good work for the starters and you know you can reserve them from the game, preserve them from the game and avoid any injuries there. So yep, didn't really get to see them. But Anton Harrison, he was out there a little bit. I know everybody has seen the play where he was pulling to the outside and pancake two people. So you know he got to get his foot, his footing, back as he was coming off the injury prior. So that's why he was out there with the second string guys.
Speaker 1:It's because he missed week one of the preseason but make no mistake about it, the preseason game against the Bucks, in terms of you know who was the star of the show, it was all about Mac Jones. It was the Mac Jones show, right, and Mac Jones, he went 16 of 23 for 210 yards passing, was sacked twice but had an overall good game, had two touchdowns and you know, all things considered, he went out there and did what he had to do and you know he had to play a little bit longer actually than he was expected to and that maybe he was expecting because CJ Bathard got injured after seeing some time in the third quarter. Max saw time in, I think the first and second quarter majority of the second quarter and then Bethard may have come out late in the second, was in there for the third at the very least, and he sustained a groin injury because the offensive line was real sporadic, by the way, there were times where they looked okay, the offensive line, you know, they were surging Running backs, were able to, you know, get things going. And then there were times where, especially in pass pro, where they were looking suspect. So it was a hard game to kind of evaluate them on. Granted, you were dealing with mostly a second string offensive line, so it's kind of to be expected. But for us, I think Jazz fans were probably looking for a ray of hope in terms of just finding out what we had in depth in terms of anybody worth playing for a game or two if injuries occur on the starting offensive line, because, make no mistake about it, the Jacksonville Jaguars starting five have had issues staying healthy. No, people wanted some. I guess the word I would look for is just a breath of relief in terms of maybe somebody stepping up on that second string that can maybe help out if an injury occurs. But we did not get that for the most part. And you know, cj Bithard was injured in the game with a groin injury and it's to be determined his status in terms of you know how long he'll be nursing the injury, all of that stuff. Nothing was announced today, on Sunday, so we'll see. In time We'll tell on that.
Speaker 1:But back to Mac Jones. Mac Jones had to play more than expected as a result of that, so he came back in in the fourth quarter, finished it up and even threw another touchdown right after coming in in the fourth quarter. So it was the Mac Jones show. Simply put, he definitely locked up that quarterback two position even without the injury. Right to cj bethard uh, he locked up that number two position, uh, quarterback position, because he I mean for the most part he's outplayed him.
Speaker 1:You know, even going back to that first preseason game and, um, you know people probably say the same applies in the practices as well, and I mean this is simply why I was not upset right with them giving up the six round pick for him. Remember when everybody was upset like, oh man, why would we do that? Why would we give up a six round pick for Mac Jones and me and Phil actually talked about this on the episode, if I'm not mistaken, um where I was saying it's not that big of a deal, it it's a six round pick. It's not like Trent Baalke is hitting on six round picks left and right, even though things are looking better for him in terms of his late round guys. You know a lot of those guys showed up in this preseason, not just the Tampa Bay game but in general.
Speaker 1:But you know, at that time you know the mindset was like it's not like Trent's hitting on a lot of six round picks and giving up a six round pick isn't that big of a deal from the perspective of you're getting a guy that has starting reps. You know a pro bowler at one point in time and you know a guy that's also a first round pick. So the talent is obviously there to some degree, maybe not to the level of Trevor Lawrence and maybe he has limitations that Trevor Lawrence doesn't, but still, nonetheless, the talent is obviously there. What is the harm in giving up a sixth round pick for him? And now we're starting to see what we gave up for what we're getting is well worth it. It's way better than getting some I don't know tackle or something, uh, edge guy or something that may ended up on or may would end up on the practice squad at the end of the day.
Speaker 1:When you got a proven guy, proven commodity and somebody also who's probably garnering trade interest, which I don't think the Jaguars will entertain that unless it's something crazy, because you know they obviously want somebody who can uplift the team if something happens to Trevor Lawrence, and we are going to pray that that doesn't happen. But you always have to be prepared, right, like last year when Trevor got injured. You have to be prepared. You got to have somebody who can propel the team forward, win you some games if it comes to that. So I don't think the Jags will entertain that. I know JJ McCarthy. He got injured in Minnesota and a lot of rumors and articles have gone out there about hey, hit the Jags up for Mac Jones, um, mack Jones. But I think if you call the Jags for Mack Jones at this point you might get a nice little dial tone as they probably will hang up in your face.
Speaker 1:But going back to what I was saying on the six round pick thing. What we've gotten from him in those two preseason games this game and the one before you know it was well worth that six round pick, which is what I was saying. Like we could look back at this and say, hey, okay, that sixth round pick ain't that big of a deal. And here we are, as Mac Jones has certainly turned some heads and I guess you know he's kind of impressive, like Nathan Roy was, you remember he was the preseason darling at the quarterback position last year. But I hate to say I told you all and I know it's just a preseason, but so far, so good, in terms of you know me and Phil like not being that upset about bringing Mac Jones home, and that's another thing too. Man is just coming back home, is energized, and you see the energy and enthusiasm he plays with, and not only that too.
Speaker 1:Something else that I mentioned in that podcast when we got Mac Jones is that the luxury in getting him is we're bringing Mac Jones to somebody who is literally a quarterback whisperer in Doug Peterson. Right, and you know we see what Doug Peterson has been able to do with backup quarterbacks and starting quarterbacks, and the man for crying out loud won a Super Bowl with Nick Foles, who came in what? 12th week of the season, 9th 12th week of the season somewhere in there and uplifted the team and was able to get them to the Super Bowl. You know, despite Carson Wentz's ACL injury, he was able to get it done, get him in the Super Bowl, get him through the playoffs not just some of the regular season but the playoffs too and that'll forever be one of the most miraculous seasons for a team that won the Super Bowl ever. Because for the simple fact that when you lose your starting quarterback, you you're thinking, oh man, it's a wrap, right.
Speaker 1:So to get a guy with the talent that I was mentioning earlier, that first round caliber talent that Mac Jones has to bring him to Doug Peterson a quarterback whisperer for a sixth round pick, is all paying off now. You know, as I was saying in that podcast when we got him, and I wouldn't say I'm excited to see him heading forward, but the hope is that we won't see him a lot heading forward, right, but I am very impressed with what I've seen out of him and I'm just glad the man is, you know, enjoying himself, enjoying football again, and we're just at a point now where I saw some people were like I think it was a few tweets out there man like the Patriots really failed Matt Jones. And the crazy thing about that is when have us or when have excuse me, when have we Jacksonville Jaguar fans been able to look at another franchise, especially a franchise that has done what the Patriots have done, and be able to say y'all failed at player. Normally it's the other way around. The team is saying that to us and they're turning one of our players into a superstar. That was, you know, that fell miserably here. But when have we been able to say you guys, especially a team with what they have achieved over there in New England, you guys failed this guy. And here we are in Jacksonville. We've turned this career around again. I know it's just a preseason, but we turned this guy's career around and now we put him in a predicament probably where, like, if he hits free agency, you know you got a lot of people calling like, hey, man, we need a starter. You know we'll pay you starting caliber money and you know we can bring you in and you know you could be a starter next year. But you know that's later down the road. We'll discuss that at another time.
Speaker 1:So that's one of the big talking points really of the preseason game against the Bucs, of the preseason game against the Bucs. The second one would be you know how did things shake out for that? You know those last few receiver spots and man, did Austin Trammell ever answer the call? I don't even want to say answer the call because he kind of showed up in the first preseason game too, but it looks like he is in the driver's seat right now for one of those last receiver spots Because Elijah Cooks, just simply he had opportunities out there but you know he couldn't answer the call. So you know there's that. And also too, with Trammell. Trammell has shown the ability to help on special teams. Like, how much does Cooks help you on special teams? I mean, he can play, can play some special teams. Obviously he was on the roster last year for a little bit, but it feels like Trammell would be more effective as a specialist than Cooks as well. So Austin Trammell showed up four catches for 75 yards.
Speaker 1:This is a young man who you know, he previously, I know he played for the Falcons a little bit, if, if I'm not mistaken, and he also played for the Rams and I was telling Phil and my nephew Boogie this earlier in the thread and Phil, when I was talking to him, when we're having tech issues with with Trammell, it's you know, a simple fact Will you stick around with Sean Mayfay in their receiver room for a few years you know a season or two like Trammell did, and I can't remember if he was on practice squad or whatever the case may be, but still nonetheless, still a significant experience to be with Sean McVay for that long man. You come out of there with some knowledge and you come out of there with some skills and I think that's what's happening here is it's just translating for this Jacksonville Jaguars team and you know we'll probably get to see a little bit more of him in the Falcons game. He's one of his former teams and I want to fact check myself on it. I believe Trammell. I remember him playing for the Falcons. Again, that's my second team, but it might have been briefly, let me pull that up. I team, but it might have been briefly, let me pull that up. I'll fact check here. So, yeah, I was right, I played with the Falcons. He was brought into the league by the Falcons undrafted out of Rice in 2021. So I was right on that.
Speaker 1:After that, spent 2022 to 2023 with the Rams and then, of course, you know he spent it this year with the Jacksonville Jaguars. So nonetheless, man Austin Trammell showed up and showed out. Surprising he come out of there with a touchdown, the way he was playing, but yeah, it just seems like it was time where he was getting wide open and they were scheming him open pretty good and him and Mack Jones were really in sync. Another person he was in sync with which I don't really need to talk on too much because we talked about him last week, was Parker Washington, who was the second leader in receivers, with three receptions for 38 yards. He had a touchdown where he kind of split the seam there. Matt Jones hit him with a nice pass right there like he just perfect outstretched type of pass that Parker was able to haul in.
Speaker 1:And he just continues to impress this preseason as a specialist and as a receiver and it is to the point where you know you're kind of excited because he just adds another layer of weapons to this offense that already has Travis ET, to this offense that already has Travis Etienne, christian Kirk, brian Thomas Jr and Evan Ingram. Also, you know Tank Bixby as well, who's showing up as well, who had a great game too, physical, physical runner that has showed up these last two weeks as well. You add him into the mix with those guys and I'm talking about Washington here, you have an offense that's going to be very hard to game plan. Granted, again, granted, that offensive line looks at least like a top 15 to 17 group. That's what we're hoping for. I think we're past the point where they could enter being a top 12 ish group, but 15 to 17, I think will take that, granted the situation they are in right now and the talent that they have right now. So that offensive line shows up. Man, it's going to be exciting to see all of these weapons that Trevor Lawrence has, and Parker Washington is the newest addition to that mix in terms of what he has shown in the preseason, to that mix, in terms of what he has shown in the preseason. So really, that was the only thing that really stood out that we haven't already talked about.
Speaker 1:A lot of the standouts that showed up this week were people that showed up last week, so we don't want to rehash that much. Like Parker Washington, again, tank Bixby was one of them, dearness, had a few flashes there too as well. A lot of the running backs, you know, in general even the younger guys, they also had a few flashes. Jalen Jackson, you know, had a flash or two there. And Gary Brightwell, you know he had 4.8 yards per pop on his carries. I think he had nine carries for uh, actually I haven't here yet now and carries 43 yards, 4.9 average. So, uh, those will be some guys to watching that last preseason game. But uh, we'll discuss that later down the road. As we are coming up on that last preseason game, final cuts will follow that.
Speaker 1:So it's going to be an exciting, uh, heavily anticipated episode, but I will not make this one longer than it has to be, especially with phil having to edit it. Um, I think I really talked on the main talking points of what we saw this week between the practices and in the preseason game, the major, major storylines there. As always, we'll continue to update you all on the latest for the Jacksonville Jaguars, again, the CJ Pathar situation. We'll put up tweets and keep you all in the loop with that and you know, whatever roster moves they make, they probably have to bring in another quarterback too. So, all of that said, I will go ahead and do the housekeeping one more time.
Speaker 1:I am James Johnson, as you all know, aka XSportsGrind underscore Dunn, as you all know me.
Speaker 1:On Twitter, you can follow my co-host, who will be back joining me next week. Hopefully we'll get these issues resolved, and this one falls on me y'all. So if you're mad at anybody, be mad at me that Phil is in on this episode, but you can follow him at Phil the Filipino on Twitter. As I said, we have the website, which is Touchdown Jaguars dot com, at TD Jaguars pod is where you can follow the handle on Twitter. And I also forgot to promote the many, many platforms you can find us on in terms of this podcast. You can find us on Apple Music or Apple Podcasts, most notably Spotify, iheartradio, tunein, you name it. Whatever platform it is out there, we're on it, and if we aren't on it, feel free to let us know and we'll get on there so we can keep you in the loop with the latest in Jags news. So, all of that said, I am James Johnson, your host for episode 92. Until next time, everybody out there, be safe, take care of each other, and I am signing out out.