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Touchdown Jaguars!
Touchdown Jaguars!
Episode 94: Dolphins/Jaguars Week 1 Analysis - Falling Short in South Beach
Join James Johnson and Phil Smith on the Touchdown Jaguars podcast as we unpack the Jacksonville Jaguars' season opener against the Miami Dolphins. Despite a heart-wrenching 20-17 loss, we spotlight the bright moments that signal a promising season ahead. We delve into key performances, from Trevor Lawrence's muted presence to Tank Bigsby's commendable effort and Travis Etienne's unfortunate fumble. We also break down standout plays from Miami's Tua Tagovailoa, Tyreek Hill, and Jaylen Waddle, offering a balanced perspective on what led to this narrow defeat.
In our postgame analysis, we weigh the impact of coaching decisions versus player execution. Did Doug Pederson's choice to go for it on fourth down at their own 32-yard line cost the Jaguars the game? We explore pivotal moments like Christian Kirk's crucial dropped passes and missed tackles on defense, which allowed the Dolphins to gain extra yardage. We also highlight the importance of reviewing game footage to better understand the matchup dynamics, shedding light on what went wrong and what could be improved for future games.
Looking ahead, we discuss the defense's admirable performance and the offense's areas for improvement. Players like Travon Walker, Chad Muma, and Devin Lloyd show promise within Ryan Nielsen's defensive scheme, while the offense needs better execution and strategic play-calling to bounce back. As we gear up for the next matchup against the Cleveland Browns, we encourage Jaguars fans to focus on the positives and stay engaged through our social media updates and insights. Tune in for a comprehensive breakdown of the game and a hopeful outlook for the season!
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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.
Still ready. And no, that's it. No, no. Touchdown Jacksonville 109 yards. Incredible, incredible. Play action. Portals Upstairs Wide open. Tommy Bohannon, touchdown Jacksonville. Looking for Jimmy in the end zone. Touchdown Jaguars. Touchdown Jaguars, touchdown Jaguars.
Speaker 1:Welcome to the Touchdown Jaguars podcast. Here are your hosts, james Johnson and Phil Smith. Hey, everyone, welcome back to the Touchdown Jaguars podcast. Here are your hosts, james Johnson and Phil Smith. Hey, everyone, welcome back to 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.
Speaker 1:Week one is here and it has come and gone and unfortunately, as we, I think, kind of predicted when we did our season preview just a week ago, the Jacksonville Jaguars fell a little flat today in Miami in their season opener and we're going to discuss all of our takeaways here this evening. We are recording on the night of the game, so it is Sunday, september 8th, the night of the game. So it is Sunday September 8th and you know the game is obviously fresh in our minds a few hours removed here now. And, jay, we obviously have a lot to talk about.
Speaker 1:I know a lot of people have the tendency and myself included, especially in the past, to have a sky is falling mentality after just one week, but hopefully we can be the voices of reason and calm you down a little bit, talk you off the ledge, so to speak, as we discuss your Jacksonville Jaguars here this evening. I am a little under the weather so Jay may be carrying this episode, but I wanted to make sure that you know didn't miss the season opener here with you today, jay, that didn't miss the season opener here with you today, jay. And yeah, it was certainly a frustrating day, to say the least, but we did see a lot of good, so I'm hoping we can balance out some positives as we head into the week of the home opener against Cleveland.
Speaker 2:Yeah, unfortunately it's a feeling we know all too much or that we're all too familiar with, with, you know, uh, the start of the season and season openers, um, it feels like when we're not playing the colts in a season opener at home. You know it, you could pretty pretty much chalk it down to an l, but nonetheless, man, you know, we still got a long season, plenty of football to be played, and this one loss shouldn't dictate what could happen during the rest of the season because, as we all know, it's a lot of variables that go into an NFL season. I mean, also, as you said, you know, there were some positives, which I'm sure people don't want to really hear about right now, but there were some positives to take out of it and there were some things that make me believe that the Jaguars could achieve the records that we set out for them me and you, respectively of 10 to 11 wins. There were some things we saw in this game that you know indicate that they still could get there. You know, although one game is in the books and it went in the L column, both you and I, I think, had this game as an L for them, although I did kind of change my mind.
Speaker 2:When I went on the radio this morning and went with a W, I probably should have just stuck with my guns. But in terms of our predictions on this podcast and the ones that people have heard from us specifically on this podcast, I think we both had the Jacksonville Jaguars getting the records that they have with the L in this game. So the sky is not falling. We'll save that for another time, you know, maybe when they you know we get into the fourth quarter of the season. But I can't wait to talk about it all, despite the loss. And yeah, man, I'll do my best to carry it, as you are a little bit under the weather.
Speaker 1:Yeah, man, but nonetheless it's going to be a great episode. As we are back, you know the regular season is here.
Speaker 1:We also had a big weekend of college football, jay, so you know, big weekend, obviously for my Texas Longhorns, so just wish that the Jaguars had also held up their end of the deal and given me a 2-0 weekend. But it's okay, we're going to dive into this all here in just a moment. Just want to remind everybody to check the Linktree link in the show notes of this episode. You will find everything that you need. You'll find our social media pages for both the podcast as well as for Jay and I. You'll also find a link to the website TouchdownJaguarscom, where you will see articles go up there throughout the entire season, and you'll find a link to download the SeatGeek app and use our promo code TouchdownJaguars. Shout out to SeatGeek for, for I believe this is the third season now they have sponsored the show. Shout out to them and, once again, use that promo code Touchdown Jaguars. Save yourself $20 on a baseball game, football, basketball, concerts, whatever it may be, stand up comedy shows courtesy of the Touchdown Jaguars podcast. But, jay, let's dive into this here, as the Jacksonville Jaguars went down to Miami and fell to the Miami Dolphins 20-17. Now this was a game that was well in hand. I'm sure you've seen the stat floating around out there, jay. I think right before the fumble. The Jaguars had a 92.3% chance to win, according to the 33rd team. And after that, you know we saw what unfolded and what happened. We had an interesting conversation before we got started. You know I will.
Speaker 1:Um, well, let me just throw out the uh, the basic stats here. As far as uh, how everybody did trevor lawrence a statistically quiet day 12 of 21, 162 yards and one touchdown. Tank bigsby had his preseason success carry over into week 1 12 carries, 73 yards. Travis etn 12 carries, 44 yards, one touchdown and, of course, that costly fumble which we'll discuss here, I'm sure, in a moment. Gabe davis three catches for 62 yards. Four catches, 47 yards and his first career NFL touchdown. For Brian Thomas Jr and one catch for 30 yards for Christian Kirk. A very quiet day also for Evan Ingram Jay.
Speaker 1:On the other side of things, the other multi-million dollar man, tua Tonga-Vailoa went 23 of 37 for 338 yards. They weren't really able to get much done on the running side of things, but Tyreek Hill did Tyreek Hill things after a very, I'll say, eventful morning for him seven catches, 130 yards and one touchdown. Now granted, 80 of those yards came on one play. So you take that out six catches, 50 yards. I know that's not how it works, but that's how I'll break it down. Uh, jalen Waddell, the other other speedster five catches, 109 yards. And Devon Achain seven catches, 76 yards.
Speaker 1:Devon Achain had a couple of those plays, jay, that just frustrate you as a Jaguar fan when it comes to those screens. I remember early on in the game like a third and 13, they just pass it out to him gets the first down. It just seems to be one of those Achilles heels for this Jacksonville Jaguar team, no matter what the regime is. So yeah, you know we all saw this thing play out. Obviously we felt pretty good going into the half. He'll definitely take a 17-7 lead and obviously Brian Thomas Jr was looking great. We saw him chirping with Jalen Ramsey. That was really great, really great way to integrate yourself into a new fan base is certainly chirping at Jalen Ramsey.
Speaker 1:But you know I want to transition here because you and I were having a conversation, a very interesting conversation, before this started and I know on Jaguar Twitter a lot of people are putting this on coaching, especially in the second half, where they seem to completely abandon the passing game, and you can kind of see that there in the statistics. You can see that there in the breakdown and you had kind of a different way of looking at it, because I think a lot of people are going to put this on coaching obviously play calling because of the Doug Peterson and Press Taylor thing. But you had a little bit of a different take on this and I want you to share that with people because it certainly made me look at this in a different light. Where are you lying blame in terms of this game and this loss?
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, first I want to start by saying you know I have to go back and look at the game. I did watch it live initially, but you know, in that second go round, you know you see things that you previously didn't, and it's just. You know, when you're watching a game live, you're texting, you're tweeting, you know you miss a lot of stuff and, um, when you go back it's like, oh yeah, you know like you have a different perspective, so I'll go back and watch all 22,. Of course, um, probably after we start, uh, we're done recording. But for me, like right now, my feeling is that I think, before we get into the conversation of coaching and and point the finger at the coaches, we need to have the conversation about the plays that the jaguars left on the field too, where the coaches actually did drop the right stuff and the team just simply didn't execute right. The most notable one, and the most back-breaking one, of course, was the Travis Etienne fumble, which really changed the momentum of the game, would have extended the Jags' lead and you know, you have to feel like the Jacksonville Jaguars win that game. If Travisv Zetian doesn't fumble that, that probably turns into a touchdown. I think it was Javon Holland who punched it out. Hell of a play, by the way. But, um, even you know, if he stopped at the goal line or whatever the case may be, I have to go back and look at it and see if he had a free shot at the end zone and then, if he would have, you know, ran through Holland. But even so, you're, you know you're at the two or three. You probably can punch that in and you know you, you uh increase your lead there.
Speaker 2:And also, there were just some plays that you know were left on the field by other key players, in Christian Kirk as well, where these are routine catches, where we've seen him make these catches before and you know I was telling you before the um, the recording here is you know, we're starting to see these kids in college make one-handers routinely and just like, basically in in terms of a ratio, just be all over the top 10 plays of ESPN, like you'll see, at least, like five or six of them is, you know, a crazy catch in college where this kid caught the ball with one hand. So for Christian Kirk to like not come down with the two passes that you know a lot of us have been discussing. I know one of them was for first down. I feel like the second one he dropped was for first down was for a first down. I feel like the second one he dropped was for a first down. But these are routine catches we've seen christian kirk making and at times drop to where it's like you gotta have those right and you know when you break down those three plays that they left on the field.
Speaker 2:You know you have to argue that the jacksville chat wars would have probably won this game. Um, in my opinion and it was some, also some very key tackles which you mentioned with a chain that were missed on the defensive side who, for the most part the defensive side had a solid game, but a few broken tackles where he catches the ball and he's going for like 15, 14 yards after the catch right. And there were a few plays where I even seen Antonio Johnson be one of the people to come up and not necessarily on A-chain but sometimes on A-chain or whoever the case may be catch the ball near the line of scrimmage and just it leads to a broken tackle from him and then that person goes on to get an extra 10, 15 yards. That's stuff that you can't put on coaching right, press Taylor and Ryan Nielsen and Doug, they can't go out there and make a tackle that was there to be made, right. They can't go out there and make you go for a walk-in touchdown when they execute it, you know, or they call the play calls, especially leading into that drive with Travis Etienne right. The drive itself was also great. Let's not forget that. That was a chain of great play calling to get them to where they were.
Speaker 2:And then the fumble happens. Doug, nor Press Taylor can go in there and make you hold on to the ball in what was almost a walk-in touchdown. And the same goes for Christian Kirk. They can't go out there and catch the ball for you.
Speaker 2:The first drop, it just flat out looked like Christian Kirk was fighting the ball, and coaches, especially high school coaches and younger coaches that's a term they use a lot hey, son, it looks like you're fighting the ball, it looks like he was literally fighting the ball. I don't know what the deal was with that first drop. And then the second drop was one that you know it was a little out there, but still a professional NFL receiver should make it. So all of that said, man, like when you look at those plays, I think we just have to talk about those plays first before we even start having a conversation about coaching and all of that good stuff. Because on those particular plays, which I think the Jaguars would have won the game if they were, you know, made the coaches put everybody in the right position, you know, at that point is on the players to make the play, and I think it's as simple as that.
Speaker 1:Jay, what about just to kind of play devil's advocate, because I do agree with you. You know the players got to make plays and ultimately, you know, hold on to the football and everything that you said. What about going for it on fourth down on your own 32 with with a three point lead? Laurie Fitzpatrick pointing this out on her Twitter earlier today, and you know ETN tries to get to the outside and tries to loop around and things like that. What did you make of that decision? This is right at the 15-minute mark going into the fourth quarter, so right at the start of the fourth, and you run that play call. It just seems like these are some things we're seeing carry over from 2023. What were your thoughts on that decision?
Speaker 2:Oh yeah that that was stupid. It wasn't smart, but at the same time, too, like we can go back and look at that play all we want, right? The fact of the matter is it resulted in nothing positive for the Dolphins either. We practically gave them the ball good field position and they didn't take advantage of it. So for me, that's basically offsetting the stupid call. Basically, now, typically would you want your coach going for that? You know, no, of course not.
Speaker 2:Like Doug has to trust Ryan Nielsen, and I was literally about to tweet it like why not trust Ryan Nielsen? I know you know literally about to tweet it Like why not trust Ryan Nielsen? I know you know they gave up the big one, the Tyreek Hill, but still, why not trust Ryan Nielsen to you know, in that defense, to rebound from you know what few mistakes that he had in the game? Why not trust him to rebound from those and be able to recover from them, from those and be able to recover from them? But at the same time now that I'm thinking about it too, though this was a game where, you know we I kind of noticed that the defense was gassed.
Speaker 2:I can't remember at that particular time if they were gassed, but they did spend a lot of time on the field, especially chasing this speedy Dolphins defense. So maybe I'm not trying to make an excuse for that, but maybe that's what played into it. But the bottom line is it that play didn't matter. It didn't matter because the the dolphins didn't capitalize on it, and, if I'm not mistaken, that's when they got possession of the ball and missed the field goal, right. So, yeah, you, you know you, you gave up good field position in there, but points didn't come out of the equation for the dolphins either, and we still had the lead at that time too, if I'm not mistaken too. So I that play, while typically Doug punt the ball. Live to see another day. What harm did it? Do you know, in my opinion and maybe I'm looking at it wrong, you tell me, phil but what harm came out of that play in the end?
Speaker 1:for me, I think, in terms of momentum, which had completely shifted to miami side, I think that's where it hurt because again, fumble, 80 yard touchdown, pass three and out not even three out, and then another turnover right. So for me I think that's where it certainly hurt. And if you're going to dial up a fourth down call and again it be on that side of the field, I mean this is and this is a stat from john chipley uh, trev was three of seven for 37 yards. Uh in the second half, after going 9 of 14 for 125 and a touchdown in the first half, and they seemingly had a matchup advantage with Brian Thomas Jr. Gabe Davis was also having a good day. It feels like targeting one of those two guys and continuing to take advantage of that matchup would have been the better call.
Speaker 1:If you're really determined to do that, or even this, jay, why not just run it up the middle again with Tank Bigsby? If you're committed to running the ball, tank Bigsby was having more success and I totally get wanting to get your guy back out there at ETN, get his confidence back up. He was obviously very upset with what happened, as he should have been. But if you're going to run the ball, don't run a slant. And also you can shout out to Staj actually, who commented on this post by Lori Cam Robinson, gets absolutely railroaded on that play as well. So why not just go back to tank if you're dedicated to writing the football and going for it here on this side of the field?
Speaker 2:Right, right, but I thought like the question was more so the idea of going for it, not the play call. Now, yeah, if the play call itself, yeah, the play call itself. No, I don't agree with that especially. Well, I would have punted it, which I already said. But no, I don't agree with the play call aspect of it either. They tried to get cute there and you know, for me I'm thinking like, well, if you're going to go for it, run it straight down the middle, which that's you know that's been a long ongoing issue with this team, that's you know that's been a long ongoing issue with this team. When it counts the most, we can't run up the middle, which is why I was one of the people advocating for, for, for getting Robert Hunt Right the guard from that used to be with the Miami Dolphins, so we can have the, we can make those two yard gains when we need them, and everybody knows it. That's why I was advocating for getting a guard in the draft so we can do that.
Speaker 2:And nonetheless, you know, for the most part they stood pat on, sat on their hands, with that interior part of the offensive line. They did get Mitch Morse, who I don't know how much he helps you in the run game, so like this, that that's not an addition that helps you for this particular moment. But, yeah, they stood pat, they, they resigned. Ezra cleveland ran it back with brandon scherf when those guys in reality, to me they should have been replaced this offseason four moments, just like this. So, if you're talking about the specific play call itself, yes, you probably want to run a better play than you're gonna, you know. Then they ran, um, if you're gonna do it at all and if you're not gonna punt the ball. So, yeah, man, I, you know. My mindset was like, well, I just know that they're gonna run it up the middle somewhere, you know, and try and get these two yards, but uh, that was not the case.
Speaker 2:So, um, and then also, you mentioned something in terms of, you know, from a momentum's perspective, it felt like the momentum was, you know, in the Dolphins corner as well. Well, I could argue that there was a little bit of momentum shift on the Dolphins end too. When you miss a field goal, that ain't positive momentum for the Dolphins either. So they're dealing with a little bit of negative momentum as well, just as well as us, you know, because obviously we gave them the ball with great field positioning, but they went back and missed the field goal, so like it didn't positively in fact, affect their momentum at least at that time it didn't um. So like they're kind of dealing with a stalling momentum. I guess, is what I'm saying as well too. So I don't know, maybe I'm looking at it the wrong way, but it's, it's. It's all behind us now and it as unfortunately, this one is going to go in the L column for us, and that's the part that we can't change.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean, the good thing, jay, is I think there is a lot to take away from this. Now, I know people are sick and tired of hearing the. Well, you know this, learn from this, get better, watch the tape, make improvements. You know that's all kind of rinse, wash, repeat, but that's going to be any football team, so I don't really think that's a that's not a Jacksonville Jaguar problem, because there were plenty of positives, I think, to take away from this game, jay, and one of them I think we got to start with my one of my predictions, one of my bold predictions for the season that Brian Thomas Jr will lead NFL rookies in touchdown catches.
Speaker 1:Well, jay, I don't know if you know this, he's on pace for 17 touchdown catches this year with his one touchdown catch here against Miami touchdown catches this year with this one touchdown catch here against Miami. And you know I already talked about the. You know the chirpiness with Jalen Ramsey and you just really love to see that from a wide receiver, especially from somebody so young. But yeah, I mean early and often, jay, it looked like Trev and BTJ have developed this chemistry and seemingly putting him in positions where he is going to succeed, which, again why I think it was so baffling that they went away from him in the second half. So talk about the rookie's day and also that beautiful touchdown pass from Trevor to him in the back of the end zone there in the first half.
Speaker 2:Yeah, man, I'm very happy about the Brian Thomas jr pick because I was the one, one of the people, saying, you know, like, I think he'll take a while to develop um. At the same time, you know that that caused, like me and you, to be a little patient with, you know, his starting training camp, where everybody was putting up uh, not wanted signs, but um, looking for b, for Brian Thomas signs, and all of that on Twitter. But yeah, he's developing way faster than I thought he would. And you know, the crazy part about it is, you know, trent has had a terrible history with receivers and Brian Thomas, in the early stages, looked like easily the best receiver he's drafted, which, you know, that's kind of telling because Brian Thomas has only been in one regular season game and three preseason games. But that being said, man, like I'm really excited about him heading forward, man.
Speaker 2:And, as you said, man, the way that he started this season, yeah, he could end up with double-digit touchdowns and, heck, at this rate he might, you know, could end up with 1,000 yards with it.
Speaker 2:And for him to and I said this on the radio too Shout-outs to Fox Sports Jax, they had me on to rep the touchdown Jaguars. I said this too. Man Like those kind of games only boost his confidence, especially after actually having a good game against Jalen Ramsey and company. But you know, those are the kind of games that will boost your confidence from the perspective of like, hey, my first NFL game was against Jalen Ramsey and I did some good things against him, you know. So I think he'll take that, he'll run with it and, you know, this is that's one of the positives that we have to take from this game, from the perspective of, you know, we're going to need him and we're probably going to need to go to him a little bit more down the stretch, that challenge. So, yeah, I'm very, I'm very happy with what we saw out of Brian Thomas, although you know we would have liked him to have more yards.
Speaker 1:But overall, a very good game from Brian Thomas Jr and I think the future is bright for him yeah, very excited to see his development over the course of the season and, um, yeah, just seeing him and Trev link up quite a bit and seem to have that chemistry, that carryover from the preseason, even though I remember we only really saw what two catches from BTJ in the preseason from Trev, and we were like, oh, there might be something there and that seems to be coming to fruition here early in the season. But then, Jay, you know, the other guy that we were convinced was on the cusp of a breakout year and he's been getting better and better every single season is Trayvon Walker and he absolutely bullied a Miami Dolphins offensive lineman to get the sack. And I don't know if you saw this, Jay one of Tua's zero-yard rushing attempts was actually changed to a sack. So Trayvon Walker is off to a two-sack start, obviously putting him in position for 34 sacks this season. So he's going to have a great year. But Trayvon Walker looked good, Jay.
Speaker 1:The defense in general, like you said, the defense played their role for the most part. Eventually, Tyreek Hill, Jalen Waldo that speed is just going to catch up to you. That's just a fact of life when it comes to this Dolphins football team and one of the reasons that you know. They're just so dangerous when it comes to. I think they could be so dangerous when it comes to playoff time, if they manage to get a home playoff game right and they're not going to be playing in negative 50 degree weather in Kansas City or something, so that's just going to happen eventually. So you know, talk about right, not only Trayvon Walker, but how did you feel Ryan Nielsen did in his debut as DC for the Jags?
Speaker 2:Yeah, man, you know Ryan Nielsen is another guy I talked about on the radio and how he has made this. This scheme is catered to the core players for the Jacksonville Jaguars and how, how he simplified it to where they could just play off of instincts, right, and it's kind of one of those schemes, as Bucky Brooks put. You know, see ball, get ball right. And that being said, man, trayvon is one of those core players who this game is catered to, help, of course. And you know, the idea is to, you know, play him on the edge and also play him in the interior too, where a lot of people feel like he could be a problem for interior linemen. Now, I'll have to go back and watch the film to see if he had any rushes from the interior, um, but in terms of um, the news that you just broke, in terms of it being two sacks, I missed that. So I was still thinking he had a one sack game. But regardless, man, uh, everybody knows I'm a Trayvon guy. When everybody questioned if you know he was the pick, or he should be the pick at the number one overall position over Aiden Hutchinson, I had no problem with it as a Georgia Bulldog fan. Go dogs. By the way, they didn't disappoint me this weekend, like Texas didn't disappoint you as well. But yeah, man, again that's another thing to be excited about. That why, while I am ticked off with the loss, I am excited about the rest of the season is because of what you just mentioned, right, trayvon Walker and the day he had and the defense in general, how much more instinctive they're playing. You're even seeing guys like Chad Mumma in the offseason who was playing, or the preseason, who's playing more instinctive they're playing. You're even seeing guys like Chad Mumma in the offseason who was playing, uh, or the preseason, who's playing more instinctive? Um, you saw Devin Lloyd make a few plays. Um, I think he might have missed a tackle, but you see, you saw him make some plays. Another core player, and that's exactly again, going back to what I was saying is exactly what Ryan Nielsen's scheme for this unit is catered to is those core guys we drafted Trayvon, devin Lloyd, chad Mumma, andre Sisko, tyson Campbell, who unfortunately got injured with a hamstring injury that could linger We'll have to monitor that Josh Allen, so on and so forth.
Speaker 2:This scheme is for those guys and you know the early returns we're seeing are quite positive and something that you know as as mad as we are, we probably shouldn't lose sight of. I mean, they held the Dolphins to 20 points, like if you do that, you're supposed to win the game. Right, in most cases, if you can hold this Dolphins team to 20 points, you're supposed to win the game. So, aside from a few of those, you know those key chunk plays which you know they were bound to happen, because that's just the Dolphins offense for you. They just got speed for days. They were bound to happen here and there. Despite all of that, I do think Ryan Nielsen is a guy that we probably can't really blame for this loss.
Speaker 1:No, certainly not, and you know, we said it, we preached it all preseason, putting these guys in positions to win, and we saw that for the most part. You know, eventually, like I said, tyree Kill's going to get, he's going to get into the secondary and turn on the Jets. Unfortunately, that's just part of playing Miami but, like you said, holding them to 20 points, I think you certainly take that as a win. I think maybe most of the concern comes with how does the offense bounce back from this? And honestly, people are going to be thinking about play calling Jay, when Press Taylor and Doug Peterson in terms of who's calling the plays, is such a big storyline all throughout last season and didn't really get settled here in the preseason. People are just going to continue to wonder who's calling the shots and and what's happening uh, over there on the sideline. But we do think there were a lot of positives to carry into this and I don't know if you saw jay, but cleveland didn't look that great. What did we say? What did I say last week when we were talking about the browns? Yes, great defense, but deshaun watson is not a starting caliber and if, or at least not a top tier caliber quarterback anymore. He is what he is and you know, leaving all the other nasty stuff aside, he's just not a good quarterback anymore. And that certainly showed itself against a Cowboys team that just got their quarterback signed long term, ceedee Lamb, getting his first game time and still look really solid, which is why I'm excited for maybe the matchup for um for the Jaguars receivers against Cleveland. So they did not look very good and you know, I think people will be fired up to. Well, I know for a fact people will be fired up to see them here at home, here at Everbank. Plenty to build on. And I think people will be fired up to well, I know for a fact people will be fired up to see them here at home, here at EverBank, Plenty to build on, and I think they can improve going forward for sure.
Speaker 1:But, jay, those were just some quick thoughts we wanted to get out. Obviously, we want to make sure these episodes get out on Mondays as soon as possible and there may be some fluctuations in terms of scheduling and stuff like that. We're both very busy and for a lot of you know, I also have another podcast. But, jay, anything else you want to cover before we wrap up this episode and move on to Cleveland. We have obviously a lot to discuss and break down, so anything else you want to talk about before we take another, maybe few hours to decompress and look over the film and then from that point on, we focus on week two yeah, well, it was one thing I um didn't really talk on a lot, even though I'm I don't think neither one of us are really in the mood for positives, but, um, it's.
Speaker 2:It's our job to also put the positives in there with the negatives. But, um, another positive too that, uh, you mentioned, but we didn't really discuss it but Tank Bigsby, translating his success bringing the Jaguars a power run game presence that they haven't really had in a while here as well. I think that's something to monitor and be excited about. Well, um, I think that's something to monitor and be excited about. Um, and I know, like he looked so good to the point where shout outs to boogie and a lot of other people, a lot of other people, was like, you know, bench etn, make him the number one, this, that and the other. Okay, that's, that's a little far, y'all okay, all right, because that same guy, tank bigs, we can go back and pull up some tweets last year that y'all were, we all wanted to shoot him to the moon, like I want to shoot ET into the moon. So, let's, let's not do that. But again, I don't want to get sidetracked and veer away from the point, which is you know, this is a game for Tank Bigsby where you know it's finally feeling like he's living up to his expectations as a third round pick. You know it's finally feeling like he's living up to his expectations as a third round pick and, uh, he looks way better than he did last year, which many of you discussed. This right, phil.
Speaker 2:A lot of his mistakes were rookie mistakes, fixable things, right. So it wasn't necessarily a a reason to doubt him. Fumbles are fixable, um, which is another reason we should, all you know, not be so upset. Well, I mean, of course, be upset with et, but let's not let it define him. That's how I would put it, because more times than not, etn makes those plays and his body of work, for the most part, is more positive than that fumble. So don't let the fumble define him.
Speaker 2:But going back to Tank Bigsby, you, you know that's something Tank has cleaned up right. It was one play, specifically that I was mentioning, where he got, you know, I think it was about 10, 11 yards. Whatever the case may be, db comes up on the side of him and Tomahawks, the ball ball didn't even move last year. Tank Bigsby probably fumbles that. So that kind of shows you the progress and then guess what happens on the you know that drive. Later down the road we get a fumble from Travis Etn. But uh, yeah, I mean I just wanted to give him his due because you know a lot of people knocked him last year. We might have even been on that wagon with people. But you know, again, as I've said, when players play bad we're gonna call it out, but when they improve and, you know, play better, we also can't miss that, because you know we're the first ones to call them out when they play bad. So I wanted to give tank bigsby a shout out for the game he had yeah, 100, like you said.
Speaker 1:You know, people were ready to throw tank bigsby off this team last year and he has worked hard and that showed itself in training camp, showed itself in the preseason games and showed itself here in week one against the Dolphins. So I would like to see them continue to have this balance. They each had 12 carries here in this game and I think you just really have to. They need to find that balance between not giving up on the pass and also divvying out these carries, and I think people will be pretty happy, jay and a lot of really positive things. And also getting Christian Kirk and Evan Ingram going. You know, I think people really have underestimated how many weapons that Trev does have at his disposal. I think you can make the argument that these are the most weapons he's had since being here in Jacksonville. And we know we didn't even discuss Parker Washington, you know, obviously being a part of the offense, and then they want to incorporate Devin Duvernay from time to time. So they got a lot of things to figure out and I think these are positive things they need to figure out when it comes to finding this balance on the offensive side. So, with that being said Jaguar fans, you know this obviously is coming out later in the day on Monday. Decompress, look at the positives that came out of this game and move on to the Cleveland Browns, which will be here for the home opener, and I think you'll feel a whole lot better. Let's hope that Cleveland looks as flat as they did today against the Dallas Cowboys.
Speaker 1:So, with that being said, folks, thank you so much for joining us for this week one edition of the Touchdown Jaguars podcast. Another reminder check the Linktree link in the show notes of this episode. You will find all of our social media pages. Definitely keep up with the podcast Twitter page, as well as me and Jay's personal pages, as we continuously give you updates throughout the entire week. When it comes to the team, jay does a really good job at covering press conferences. I like to throw out some statistical milestones that certain players are about to achieve and then, obviously, keeping you up to date with injury reports and everything like that. Make sure you check out the website touchdownjaguarscom, as well as downloading the SeatGeek app and using our promo code touchdownjaguars. Save yourself $20 on your first purchase with SeatGeek Folks. That is James Johnson, I am Phil Smith, and do not forget to tune into Touchdown Jaguars for each and every Jaguar Touchdown and we'll see you next week.