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Touchdown Jaguars!
Touchdown Jaguars!
Episode 95: Browns/Jaguars Week 2 Analysis - Identity Crisis in Duval
Is the Jacksonville Jaguars’ season already in jeopardy after just two weeks? On this episode of the Touchdown Jaguars podcast, Phil Smith and James Johnson tackle the hard-hitting questions surrounding the team's disappointing 18-13 loss to the Cleveland Browns. With a seventh consecutive defeat in the books, we scrutinize Trevor Lawrence's unexpected struggles and the disheartened fan base’s growing concerns. As we sift through the wreckage of the game, the focus shifts to the team's lackluster performance and the worrisome signals from the players' body language, leaving us wondering if significant changes are needed to salvage the season.
We shine a spotlight on the Jaguars' offensive woes, questioning the underutilization of talents like Brian Thomas Jr. and the impact of Evan Engram's absence. Despite Monteric Brown and others making notable contributions on defense, the overall inconsistency and failure to adapt are glaring issues. Comparing Doug Pederson’s current struggles with his tenure in Philadelphia, we explore whether better support from the front office could turn the tide for the Jaguars. The broader implications of management’s role in the team’s performance are laid bare, challenging listeners to consider if leadership changes are essential for future success.
Finally, we dissect the Jaguars' failure to leverage their playmakers effectively, advocating for a more vertical passing game to unlock the team's potential. The ongoing issues with the offensive line, seemingly misaligned with Doug Pederson and GM Trent Baalke’s coaching philosophies, are another focal point. As we look ahead to a critical matchup against the Buffalo Bills, we express skepticism about the Jaguars' ability to resolve internal conflicts and poor leadership. However, amidst the turmoil, we hold on to a sliver of hope, believing that potential solutions could still emerge with the right adjustments. Join us for this comprehensive exploration of the Jaguars' current state and the possible paths forward.
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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 running. And no, that is a no no. Touchdown Jacksonville. A hundred and nine yards Incredible, incredible Play action 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. Hello everybody, 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:We are recording this episode a little bit later than we typically would. We're here on Monday night, september 16th, typically. We of course like to record our episodes the evening after the game, a little bit later than we typically would. We're here on Monday night, september 16th. Typically. We of course like to record our episodes the evening after the game, but you know we actually will benefit a little bit here from being more than 24 hours removed from the game. So you know we've had some opportunity to take in what the coaching staff has had to say, take taken what the players have had to say. So you know some things we don't necessarily have full access to whenever we do record on Sunday night.
Speaker 1:So hopefully that will bring us a little bit more of a fresh perspective here as we will look back at the Jaguars week two loss to the Cleveland Browns in their home opener, in a game, jay, where you know, I think we had this discussion like a similar discussion last year, where I said, okay, let's talk everybody down and we mentioned this last week too, against Miami.
Speaker 1:Let's talk everybody off the ledge and calm everybody down. Well, we're already at this point now here in week two where we're kind of running out of answers and running out of ways to become like a voice of reason or deliver a sense of calm over the fan base, because I think we're here as well, I think we're right there with you guys and just based off of our discussions in our text threads and the pre-show and all that stuff, jay, it's going to be interesting to see how we can. I don't want to say spin this, but like, what conclusions have we come to in regards to the future of this team? Still a lot of games to play, right, we're two games in, we got 15 left and still plenty of time to turn things around. But that same old song and dance is getting old. I think we're ready for a new song, a new dance and, more importantly, some new dance partners.
Speaker 2:So very excited to have this discussion with you today, but unfortunately we'll be discussing yet another loss yeah, yeah, and, as you said, man, um, it's going to be interesting to see how we weather this right this time around. As you said, a lot of games are left to be played, but I don't know if that's necessarily a good thing. That could mean we got a long season ahead, which I'll explain that a little bit later. We'll get into that part a little bit later, but I don't know if that's a good thing in this case. We'll get into that part a little bit later, but I don't know if that's a good thing in this case. Normally it is right, because this time last year we at least were healthy, right, and this year we're healthy too for the most part. We obviously lost Evan Ingram for some games or some time, but there were a lot of things that we can look at to make us believe that things could turn around.
Speaker 2:After Sunday's game, however, man, we are coming off of what like seven straight losses for this team. I believe I have to do my research on it. So that's not good. And yeah, as you have said, yeah, man, we are at this point we're running out of answers, so I can't wait to, um, have this discussion on the game. I got some interesting stuff in my notes here. I didn't get to see the full game. I've seen about four quarters and two minutes of it, so there's a little bit left that I gotta see because, as you all saw on Twitter, I was at work and before this episode I did a speed run, so I typically like to do a like all 22 look. But we're gonna make it work with what I have seen. I think I've seen enough. Needless to say, um, when you look at this game, but uh, yeah, man, this is going to be a very interesting one from us because, as you said, like we normally are good with talking people off the ledge here.
Speaker 1:But uh, after a seven game loss, man, it's getting really, really interesting in the wrong ways in the uh building over there at uh tiaa bank road yeah, not only is it seven losses in a row, jay, the last win that they did have, if I remember correctly if I saw the same statistic that you saw the quarterback was CJ Beathard. So Trevor Lawrence himself is on a unprecedented losing streak for him as far as his career, when you probably look back to, of course, college definitely never lost that much, and I'm sure high school was more of the same in terms of winning. So, going to discuss all of that here today, I know we're going to discuss a lot about the game, but also maybe even what changes need to be made, and I cannot believe we have to have this discussion in week two. Once again, things can turn around very, very quickly, but I don't know that we're going to see that here, based off body language, based off what people are saying, based off things that we are hearing. You know it's really tough to go off of. You know hearsay, especially when it comes to the NFL, but you can certainly pick up on energy and pick up on the vibe, for lack of a better term. So we're going to get into all of that here in just a moment.
Speaker 1:We want to welcome in all of you returning listeners as well as brand new listeners to the Touchdown Jaguars podcast. Make sure you click the Linktree link in the show notes of this episode. You'll find everything you need all of our social media pages, which includes me and Jay's personal Twitter account, as well as the Twitter account for Touchdown Jaguars. You will also find a link to the website, touchdownjaguarscom, where we will intermittently put up different articles and reports. Well, Jay will get those up there intermittently. And, of course, you can go ahead and download the SeatGeek app and use our promo code Touchdown Jaguars. Save yourself $20 on your first SeatGeek purchase courtesy of the Touchdown Jaguars podcast. So make sure you use that for your Jaguar tickets, for your NBA tickets, your concert tickets, your stand-up comedy tickets, anything that you need. Seatgeek will help you out and they'll even make it easy for you by putting a deal score on each and every listing. So make sure you use that promo code Touchdown Jaguars, and we would very, very much appreciate it.
Speaker 1:But, jay, let's go ahead and dive straight into this loss. It was a very messy and rainy day down at Trevor Bank Field, which it was known as yesterday, and I can tell you just as somebody who was there in person, the weather matched the energy. It was on and off raining all day. And I do want to, jay. I'm just going to throw this out here because it was probably one of the even more frustrating things than the team that happened at the game. I don't know, I know you had muted our group chat yesterday, so I don't even know if you saw this. But the guy sitting next to me I don't care if I'm, I don't care if this person finds this or whatever, because your behavior is is criminal the guy sitting next to me, jay, for pretty much the entire game and remember it was raining on and off this entire game had his shoes off barefoot the entire game. Disgusting behavior. I don't care Like this isn't the beach, you know we're not down at Jack's Beach or some nonsense like that. You're at a football game, there's other people around you, keep your freaking shoes on and freaking is what I edited myself to say instead of what I want to say, which I did say over on my Twitter account Set the whole tone. I think, jay, I'm going to blame that guy for exposing his disgusting feet and making me sit next to him for the entire game. I'm going to blame the loss on him. I hope I don't see him at all for the remainder of the season. But as far as the football goes, the Jaguars lost 18-13 to the Cleveland Browns, who were also coming in with a whole lot of questions when it comes to their team, especially when it came to their quarterback right, who I will not mention by name.
Speaker 1:But yeah, it was a tale of two halves once again and a shout out to our buddy Eric, who kind of mentioned this like it was kind of a reverse of what happened in Miami last week. So in the first half Jacksonvilleville was firing on all cylinders and then they disappeared. In the second half Well, this one they carried over that negative momentum from the second half in Miami into the first half here at home and then they started showing at least some signs of life. In the second half, trevor Lawrence statistically not a lot to write home about 14 of 30, 220 yards, sacked four times. Travis Etienne really struggled to get going 13 carries, 52 yards. He did get into the end zone once.
Speaker 1:Brian Thomas Jr two catches, 94 yards. It really seems like when you have what appears to be a rising star at wide receiver, maybe you should target him more than four times. We'll get into that a little bit later. Brenton Strange seemed to be a focal point of the offense because of the Evan Ingram injury. So Eric again mentioned this. You know, you really got to wonder how much of the offense was going to run through Evan Ingram yesterday because Brenton Strange ended up with six targets. Probably not something they wanted to happen. Um, so they've a complete lack of ability to shift their game plan right before the game began.
Speaker 1:Gabe Davis three catches, 43 yards. Uh, defensive side of things, monteric Brown led the way with 11 solo tackles and a couple of uh. Well, he doesn't have any, he didn't. He wasn't credited for any passes defensed here, uh, but he did have a couple of really solid plays. As far as on the brown side of things we're talking about, maury cooper really held to nothing. Three catches at 11 yards by tarik brown was a big part of that. Devin lloyd and foyer luacon also had eight total tackles. Foyer and josh hines allen shared a sack on the cleveland quarterback as well.
Speaker 1:So, man Jay, there's just so many things that went wrong that were just ugly and I don't even know really where to start. So I guess we'll, you know what. I'll take that back. We'll start in the first half, where we had to watch an offense that's just anemic, you know, absolutely no rhythm, no sense of game plan, it seemed, and no sense of urgency. And I really don't know what to do with that, because if they're doing something wrong, right, we have something to talk about. If something is just bad, if someone is playing just poorly, we can talk about that. But when everybody collectively just looks like either they'd rather be somewhere else or they don't know where they're supposed to be, I don't even know what to do with that, jay. So you try and make sense of it. I guess I'm going to sit back and see if you can see where you want to start, because I know you have notes and I know it's pretty fresh in your mind. What in the world is going on here?
Speaker 2:right, yeah, man, um, so in terms of what happened on the field, it was just you look at the offense, they were lifeless man in the first half and then in the second half you can see them get a little bit of juice, you can see them catch their win. But you know, in this league you have to play four full quarters to win a game. But that's what it comes down to in terms of the game itself is, the offense was lifeless and they just look out of place and out of sync and disjoin it that whole first half. Now I attribute me personally, me, and you talked about this before the podcast. I think the reason for that and we've seen this issue with them in the past too, where they kind of start off sluggish offensively as well so it's not something we're just seeing, you know, it's not something that we're new to, but I think a lot of it is just the simple fact that when you, when you look at this offense and it being lifeless, a lot of it is because they don't have an identity. Right, and I know we lost Evan Ingram just before the game, but that shouldn't have necessarily put the team in a position where they couldn't score enough points to beat this Browns team. They're not the greatest offensively. We saw what they did last week. You watched the Cowboys. Obviously you watched that game, but it shouldn't have been a difficult task to score more than this Browns offense, but they just simply don't have an identity to score more than this Browns offense, but they just simply don't have an identity. And I think a big part of that is because you know, when you look back at when Doug had success offensively, his teams had an identity right.
Speaker 2:With Philadelphia in 2017, his team had an identity, and a big part of that, too, was he had somebody to help him establish that identity, which was Howie Roseman, who you could argue is a top five to seven GM some people would put him even higher than that but one of the better GMs in football to help him establish that identity right, and I don't think he has that here in Trent. So, in a nutshell, he doesn't have the crutch that he had in Philadelphia and we've seen it proof that Trent isn't the guy to help, or at least give Doug the pieces to establish an identity, and this is not this placing the blame on Doug. I want them both out of here to be quite frank with you. But proof of that is just look at how they've handled things with that offensive line Right, and just look at what they put into it and the resources they put into it. Guys like Ezra Cleveland that they traded for hasn't worked out.
Speaker 2:They put money into the team in terms or the unit in terms of free agency, with guys like Brandon Scherf who hasn't worked out and Mitch Morris who is, who is mid, but he's okay, I guess. And then they've also put draft picks into the team as well. When you look at Anton Harrison, who is a pretty good tackle he's been struggling a little bit lately but he's a pretty good tackle. And also they drafted Walker Little also his struggle. They've also tried to resign.
Speaker 2:Guys right like that sure falls in that category. They altered his contract this year and cam robinson, who looked, didn't look great at all in this last game at all. So you know, trent, to his credit, has tried to fix this offensive line, which would help this team get an identity, but he's failed massively. And, that being said, that has trickled down to Doug Peterson not being able to establish an identity because he doesn't have the physicality on the offensive line to do so, and that trickled down to Trevor Lawrence and so on and so forth. So I think me personally and I would like to know your thoughts on the field. I think that's what it is. It's just that Doug doesn't have the crutch he had in Philadelphia in the GM, that's, you know, above him, and it's a trickle effect.
Speaker 1:It's affecting the whole team yeah, and you can certainly say quite a bit about the Eagles in terms of how they are right now. But I mean one thing is has stayed pretty consistent and they've been competitive and they've had one of the top rosters in the NFL in the last few years. Now whether or not that's translated to complete success, that can be debated. I mean, they went to a Super Bowl. That certainly cannot be understated. But now there does seem to appear to be some sort of rift within that front office, although adding Saquon Barkley has been obviously a you know, a huge plus for them. They're playing right now currently beating the Falcons seven to three in the second quarter, so we'll see if they start off two and oh, but no, you're right, doug Peterson appears to need, from the information we have now, he needs that elite teammate in the front office to offset his weaknesses elsewhere, and Trent Baalke is not capable of doing that. Or there's some sort of disconnect, which is something we've seen on social media floating around here today. There's some sort of disagreement going on in there. The players look more irritated than they have ever been. I'm actually going to ask you about that here in just a moment, jay. So if Doug Peterson and listen. We're going to give credit to Doug Peterson for riding the ship that you know, coming in and inheriting one of the biggest messes in NFL history that Urban Meyer left here. He's going to always get credit for that. And what seems to be more apparent to us and more apparent to the fan base is now we need somebody to come in and finish the job. Hey, pat on the back. Great job, doug. Thanks for coming in and saving us, but we need someone to take over.
Speaker 1:From this point on, what do you get? What do you make of the? The body language and the frustration we've seen from not only Trevor, but it seems like maybe even other people in the locker room. Travis Etienne seemed pretty irritated, but I can tell you just as being there in person, jay and I don't know if this translated on the broadcast you'll have to let me know if you noticed anything. Trevor was pissed off man. He certainly was mad in the press conference after the game, but he definitely was mad on the field, and I don't know if he's mad at his teammates or I don't know if he's mad at his coaches or a combination of both, but the body language is not good and I'm not saying this in a negative way. I'm saying I would also feel this way if I were Trevor Lawrence.
Speaker 1:So what do you make of what's going on here? Because it's one thing again. Make of what's going on here? Because it's one thing again to have lack of identity, but lack of chemistry is something that we didn't think was going to be a problem, especially from what we've seen in the offseason and training camp and the preseason. You know it's easy for things to look good before the games start counting. So did any of that translate on the broadcast when you were re-watching the game? Because this is something from trev that we have not seen and you know, eventually, those losses and losing, especially from a guy who is a national champion, who has always been a winner, those things catch up to you and those and trevor certainly not uh, he certainly doesn't seem to be okay with it and obviously none of us would expect him to be yeah, well, the first thing I'll say is the whole thing that you mentioned about giving Doug a pat on the back for what he did after the Urban Meyer situation.
Speaker 2:But like, at the same time, man, that to me doesn't do much because you came into a situation that was the worst in the league, right, like pretty much anybody we hired was going to be able to look way more competent than Urban Meyer. Now, granted, they went to the playoffs, so you know, you can't act like that didn't happen, right, and act as if we weren't, you know, very excited to see this team in the playoffs.
Speaker 2:But all I'm saying is like, how hard was it to look better than Urban Meyer, who was probably the worst head coaching hire in football history? Yeah, now, going to what you were saying about the player body language, yeah, it did translate on the tape as well, right, because to me it looked like in that first half the offense just woke up out of bed and didn't want to be there, right, or they were just getting up out of the bed, whatever the case may be. Meanwhile it looked like the Browns defense was just surging with energy, right, and our energy was not matching the Browns defense on offense. Right, it was players that just look like I don't even want to say people didn't look like they didn't know where they were supposed to be and what have you, but it just looked like they just weren't willing to match the energy from the Browns defense. You know it was blocks being missed and the Browns just sniffing out things well before we could develop it offensively, and it just was annoying to me. I almost wanted to just skip to the second half because they look so disjointed and so disinterested and just so not willing to match the Browns energy on defense, and maybe you know that is because when you talk about that and you have that discussion, you have to ask yourself, like why does this team, why does this unit look like they don't want to be there?
Speaker 2:And you know, maybe they too are fed up with the offensive scheme and play calling and what have you? You know, um, and again, that's all the more reason to get Doug out of there. And again, I think it should be a package deal. Trent needs to go with them.
Speaker 2:But you know, maybe they too are frustrated with the schematics, right, and they feel like they aren't being put out there to do what they do best. I guess you know one thing about that is you can't hide it for long, as we saw with the ETN you know ETN's comments More is going to come out if that's the case, and it's going to be an interesting next few weeks because eventually in this day and age, the players are going to discuss, uh, to vent their frustration, as as trevor did, which we already mentioned as well. So trevor and etn are already two who are two leaders for this team, by the way that have kind of vented their frustration. But it's not going to stop there if they can't get this fixed and we'll see more players come out to um also vent their frustration. So yeah, I will say that these pressers not necessarily the ones that's in front of the whole media room, but the locker room pressers and those in the media room are going to be very interested in heading forward.
Speaker 1:Yeah, right, if it's not one of them like Eric Armstead is one example they'll go on a friend's podcast, right? Some one of their former teammates around the league has a podcast, because everybody does now, Right? So if any of y'all want to come on to Touchdown Jaguars podcast podcast, the invitation is always open. So, yeah, you're so right, we're gonna find out. Listen. They got the bills on monday night football and they have been a better road team, especially last year. So we'll see what happens. And we talked about it in our preview episode for the season. You know they play pretty well against buffalo. Who knows, they might take that opportunity to suddenly show up on a primetime stage. I don't know that that's going to happen. I don't know that. We feel like that's going to happen, but we'll see. You know you're coming back, you do the turnaround and you're 0-3. All of a sudden and you know, the Texans are just continuing to run away with the division and all of a sudden, like you said, the chatter outside of the locker room will get pretty loud. So I'm very interested to see how that goes, because it's not like they're getting blown out either, it's just they're losing in ugly fashion. Right, like the game, like you could easily think about the timeline, jay, where the Jaguars are actually 2-0 right now. You know that timeline exists somewhere and it's not that far from reality.
Speaker 1:They lose to the Dolphins by three. They lose to the Browns by five. You know, in a game where the Browns didn't play particularly well, they went two for 14 on third down. Right, I mean they went three for three on fourth down, but still like two for 14 on third down in the second half couldn't really get anything going. They got five total points and two of those points were on that just awful safety. And you know, when you look back on that and you see Mitch Morse and Ezra Cleveland being beat on when they're double teaming a guy, the interior lineman, they can't stop the rush. Anton Harrison's tripping over Travis Etienne Cam Robinson is getting bullied by Miles Garrett. Plenty of instances where he got away with holding and Garrett still got home.
Speaker 1:You know, it's one thing, again, to be losing, but it's another to be losing this way when, like you said, the team just looks lost and they're wandering aimlessly through these games this way, when, like you said, the team just looks lost and they're wandering aimlessly through these games and there's not really anything to kind of look forward to, other than a couple of things, and one of those things certainly is Brian Thomas Jr. And I don't know if it's as simple as this, jay, because I do want to ask you about this. Somebody had pointed out on Sunday, uh, on sunday, malik neighbors, who was the giants entire offense had 18 targets, 10 catches. Brian thomas jr had four targets. Um, obviously he was the one that helped get the offense going with trev on the deep ball and he had another catch there on that final drive to try, and you know, before the Hail Mary to Bretton Strange, is it as simple as targeting Brian Thomas Jr more Because he seems to be up for this challenge and even though, yes, we know that he's going to have growing pains and I think he did have a drop that would have gone for quite a few yards on a slant, I think it was in like the third quarter Do you need to target this guy more Because he seems like he's more than capable?
Speaker 1:And what are the few bright spots on your offense right now? So what's going on? We talked about scheme, we talked about play calling. Why aren't they dialing it up to BTJ more, if you even have a some sort of if you can even break it down into some sort of logic as to yeah, well, I want to talk on something you mentioned earlier and you were saying you know, like the losses aren't like massive losses.
Speaker 2:And you're right, like they aren't massive losses. And you know, one or two plays changes things right in each of these games, which is a sign that they have the talent. Right, they're not talentless. We've seen that in the past too. We've seen a bunch of Gus Bradley teams that couldn't compete with anybody. So they're not talentlessless. That's not bringing silver lining, but what I'm simply saying is, um, they are a team that has the talent, which makes it even more frustrating. Right, we actually have some of the pieces in place now. We're not oozing with talent like the 49ers and some of these other teams, but that kind of correlates.
Speaker 2:Long story short, the reason I mentioned that is that correlates with exactly what Travis Etienne said after the presser I mean after the game was to the hell with talent. We can have all the talent we want is deeper than that. Right, you hit the nail on the head on exactly what he was talking about when he said the hell with talent. So it's deeper than that. You know, you can't like everybody in the NFL to some degree and again, unless you're talking about one of those Gus Bradley teams back. They had some talent to some degree. Right again, you know, it's about putting people in the best position to flourish and thrive, which is what you're getting at with Brian Thomas, and it's about executing. That's another term that Travis Etienne mentioned as well. So it was a lack of execution going on too, despite all of the talent they had. It was a lack of execution In terms of what you were saying about Brian Thomas.
Speaker 2:Should they target him more? What you were saying about Brian Thomas, should they target him more? I think they they should. I don't know if that's like. The answer to all their problems, necessarily, is targeting Brian Thomas, but me, being a fan of slinging the ball and being a fan of high-powered offense, I would love to see him get the ball way more than he's getting and get more opportunity than he's receiving, because, as you said, he is a gamer man and he's special. Like he's coming along way faster than any of us thought. Right, and that's a good thing to see, but too bad, they're not getting the ball to him. So that's another reason that, like, I'm frustrated with Doug. Now what I will say.
Speaker 2:We talked about this last week right for the Miami game. Phil, I don't know that giving Brian Thomas the ball more in the second half of last week's game would have made a difference. I think, ultimately, what made the difference for that game was ETN fumbling the ball and the momentum just shift. But I think if they walk in the end zone and they're in the ETN run the game, you know. So it wouldn't have necessarily been a need to get Bryant Thomas more involved, but that still doesn't take from the fact that I would love to see him get the ball more and you know, as you said, he absolutely is one of the bright spots heading forward that we can at least if we have a crappy season, you know at least we'll have a crappy season. You know at least we'll have a pro bowl.
Speaker 1:At this rate we'll have a pro bowl caliber receiver right right and man, he almost broke that tackle on that deep ball to get that touchdown as well. Um, yeah, so when you talk about bright spots, at least we have btj and yeah, it's just. It's so frustrating to be in this situation again when, like you said, the team is talented, they've got playmakers. I I want to address something. I want to ask you something, um, that I also saw on twitter is do you think this team has the ability to be more of a vertical passing team? Obviously they have travis etn definitely think he's one of the best runners in the league.
Speaker 1:But do they have the Etienne? Definitely think he's one of the best runners in the league, but do they have the ability to be more of a vertical offense? Because of Gabe Davis, because of Brian Thomas Jr, obviously Evan Ingram when he gets back. We haven't even discussed what's going on with Christian Kirk or lack thereof, but do they have that ability? Do they have the capability to open up this offense a little bit more and maybe avoid those slow starts where they go run, run and then you know incomplete, pass three and out? Do you even think the team possesses the dna to play that way?
Speaker 2:well, I think that's what they had in mind, phil. I mean because you look at you look at gabe dav, you look at BTJ like both of these young men have made a living off of passes that are deeper than 10 yards, right, like that's what people know them for. So I think that's what they had in mind. They've just been inconsistent with putting game plans together where those two are consistently used, right, right, and that those two are a part of their identity consistently, which is just baffling and puzzling to me, because obviously you know this off season for you to get two players of their caliber, with their skill sets, you were basically all but saying, hey, we need to be more vertical, and the fact that we aren't more vertical is puzzling. Again, another reason I won't dug out of here, man, is because, obviously, it was clear what you guys had in mind, but you're not falling through with it in terms of now that we're here in the regular season. And one other thing I wanted to touch on, to feel that just kind of frustrates me with this offense too, man, going back to that offensive line. And again, another reason I want Doug and Trent Balky out of here is when you look at that offensive line too. Man, like if you were to look at Doug's background right and you were to look at Trent Balkke's background and who they learned from Right and I tweeted about this earlier Doug is a disciple of Andy Reid Right and Trent Baalke is a disciple of Bill Parcells.
Speaker 2:When you look at that part of who they are and who they're supposed to be in their DNA as a GM and as a head coach DNA as a GM and as a head coach those are two trees that believe deeply in having physical offensive lines, and the fact that we don't have that is just puzzling to me. Like if you were to think of Doug Peterson and you were to think of Trent Baalke, just if you had a clean slate no roster built, the first thing that would come to your mind right, based on their DNA and who they learn from and who they're disciples of you would say, oh, these are two guys you know. Just based off of their you know who they work with in the past they probably want a physical offensive line and we have anything but that Right, and I think that's a key reason of why they don't go to those guys on the outside a lot. It's like. I don't know if they trust their line to be consistent to do that.
Speaker 2:But that's one of the more frustrating parts about this whole thing is that Trent and Doug aren't making this team one that are connected with their roots, and here we are, as a result, struggling. We're at 0-2, and we're about to go and face a Bills team on Monday Night Football who hopefully don't blow us out of the water. Hopefully we can get stuff straight. But if I told you all I thought that this team could figure it out and those two could figure it out and come together and rally the offense, I'd be lying to you. Really, at this moment I don't have confidence that anybody could put their egos aside within that staff and that front office to make things happen, positive things happen against the Buffalo Bills.
Speaker 1:And the Bills have started off 2-0. They just blew out the team that you lost to right in week one in the Miami Dolphins and listen, that game was well out of hand before the unfortunate Tua injury. And then they're also coming off of a long, you know, extra rest. You know they haven't played a game in 10 days once Monday night comes around. So a Bills team that seems to have kind of figured it out in terms of just playing boring football right, no, stefan Diggs, but they just hand the ball off to James Cook and Josh Allen is Josh Allen when he needs to be right. That's a dangerous team.
Speaker 1:And you know, I almost went with Josh Allen for my MVP pick, jay, and for some reason I went with Joe Burrow instead. And here we are now. So, yeah, man, it is a frustrating time because, like you said, with other episodes after losses where we've just gotten the brakes beaten off of them, right, like I said, there's something you can point to right, or it's one of those teams that just isn't talented enough. But that's not the case here. They've got talent all over the roster, but we have a front office, including the owner, who have shown consistent incompetence. And here we are again coming off an offseason where you paid your franchise quarterback, you paid your franchise pass rusher, you paid your what, hopefully, is your franchise DB, just not the starter that you wanted.
Speaker 1:Now, to be fair, I think you said this, jay. I think you foretold an 0-2 start for the season, if I recall correctly, and then going into Buffalo and then winning these next two Buffalo and Indy. So technically they're on schedule for you. So many things still have time to turn around, so we'll see. But right now I'll tell you this I feel pretty stupid for saying this team can go 11-6. I didn't expect them to come out and look so lifeless. So maybe that's on me, but according to your predictions, jay, this team's right on schedule.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they are, and you know, that's the beautiful thing about football, right? Things can change in a drop of a dime. As I just said, I'm not confident that it will, because there's too many like egos in the way, and just how Doug just looked in the press conference, like you know, he just don't belong. You know what I'm saying. But things can change, you know I hopefully they put their egos aside and they do some soul searching. That's what they need to do. It's a shame we're saying this week too, but they do some soul searching and go to their roots, as I was mentioning, right, finding out who they really are, going back to what made them who they are, in terms of, you know, doug and Trent, and also to this offense. Again, like when you look at when they did have success, it was because Trevor Lawrence was balling out, right, you know. So that can you know. That can apply what I just said to the offense as well. And them going back to what they can do and establishing their identity. But time will tell. If they do that, I would love to look stupid, you know, and for them to prove me wrong in terms of me saying that I don't think they can overcome this and where they are now. But a win against the Bills certainly would change things. Right, like we're having a whole nother conversation if we win against this Bills team, right, and we're like, okay, maybe everybody can coexist, maybe with some deep soul searching, this team can not just win against a good team but build from this win against the Bills and, you know, make it a streak, because I mean, after that's a, it's room to make a streak, right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the texans are probably a team that most people would say would beat the jaguars, but I don't think, like you know, the jaguars play their game and play to their potential. That is out of the realm of possibilities that they can't beat the texans. And then you, you go to london, right, which those should be, should be key word should be right, minus all the turmoil that's going on. But the london games, those should be two wins against, you know, a team that's gonna, two teams that's gonna have to travel there, that aren't used to making that trip with quarterbacks that aren't great. So, uh, yeah, we'll see in time we'll tell um, they can turn it around, but I don't have a lot of confidence that they will yeah, right now, you, you just can't have confidence in them until they give you a reason to believe it's.
Speaker 1:It stinks, man. It it really does, and hopefully we'll see if we're having a different conversation next Tuesday when we record for the Monday night episode. But I don't know, man. Is there anything else you want to discuss throughout there from your notes? I'm sure you'll have a lot for us during the week via your Twitter page and, of course, through the podcast Twitter page. But anything else you want to mention before we get out of here and focus on Monday Night Football, because they're going to need a lot of focus on their end and a lot of soul-searching to find their way and win in primetime Nah, that's it man.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I've exerted a lot of energy on this team and I've got to exert some more into watching the All-22, so I'm good.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we'll see what comes out of that. And uh, be make sure that you uh you follow us on social media and keep up with everything throughout the week that you need to know. You can find everything you need in the link tree link in the show notes of this episode. Uh, personal twitter accounts for j and I, as well as the touchdown jaguars twitter page and the touchdown jagu website. Make sure you follow that as well and leave a five-star review for the podcast on Spotify, apple Podcasts, wherever you can. All of that is incredibly beneficial for the health of the show. And, of course, make sure you download the SeatGeek app. Use that promo code Touchdown Jaguars. Save yourself $20 on your first SeatGeek purchase.
Speaker 1:Folks, thank you so much for joining us this week. Go out and do something that brings you joy, that takes your mind off of the Jacksonville Jaguars. If you are in the North Florida area, I do implore you to come down to Ocala Comic-Con, down in Ocala, florida, about a two hour drive from Jacksonville, and come say hi to myself as well as my wait for it. Podcast co-host Eric Cerna will be down there hanging out with everybody and should be a really, really fun time. So no Jaguar game on Sunday. So if you want to come down and you know, and indulge in some pop culture stuff as well as see some really great artists and vendors, that'll be a good place to spend your weekend. But, folks, that is my co-host, james Johnson. I am Phil Smith, and do not forget to tune in to Touchdown Jaguars for every Jaguar touchdown and we'll see you next week, duval.