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Touchdown Jaguars!
Touchdown Jaguars!
Episode 101: Eagles/Jaguars Week 9 Analysis - Jags' Coaching Issues Surface Yet Again
What if the Jacksonville Jaguars' offense could unlock its true potential with a few strategic tweaks? Join James in this episode as he flies solo, dissecting the Jaguars' 28-23 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles. With co-host Phil Barrera taking a break, James takes you on a rollercoaster ride through the emotional landscape of being a Jaguars fan. Get ready to explore the highs and lows of the game, including key plays, standout performances, and the challenges faced by the team.
We highlighted the roles of Tank Bigsby and Travis Etienne, examining how their distinct skills could reshape the Jaguars' offensive tactics. Whether it's Bigsby's ability to break tackles or Etienne's potential in the short passing game, James discusses how these players could be pivotal in overcoming the Jaguars' current offensive challenges. Plus, the importance of integrating new talent like Brian Thomas Jr. into the mix is highlighted, bringing fresh energy and options to the playbook.
On the defensive side, James doesn't hold back in critiquing how their offseason additions have come up short. The episode shines a light on the tough matchups against Eagles stars like Saquon Barkley and Jalen Hurts, exposing the Jaguars' defensive vulnerabilities. With a keen eye, James dissects the team's execution issues, especially in critical moments, offering insights into the changes needed for a brighter Jaguars future. Whether you're a die-hard fan or new to the game, this episode promises a deep dive into the intricacies of the Jaguars' current season trajectory.
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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.
The Touchdown Jacksonville 109 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. Welcome to the Touchdown Jaguars podcast. Here are your hosts, james Johnson and Phil Smith. All right, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Touchdown Jaguars podcast for episode 101. I am your host for today. Ryan is solo here for this episode.
Speaker 1:Uh, james Johnson, as you all know, I'm normally joined by my cohost, phil Smith, or, excuse me, phil Barrera. Sorry for butchering that. Um, we all know he had to change in last name but my cohost, phil Barrera, um, for each episode, but this week uh actually had to. He took a little bit of a vacation this weekend and made a trip to Dallas. So, with all of the traveling and whatnot going on, I just told him I'll hold it down for this episode and I mean, you know, when you're dealing with the Jacksonville Jaguars, you need a break, right? So that break was certainly well deserved and and um, I, I totally, you know, get a little, taking a little time out to uh, take care of yourself and all of that good stuff. And, quite frankly, he probably saved himself some heartache, some anxiety. You know, um, he also didn't waste his time because obviously, uh, the of the Jacksonville Jaguars last game, which they fell to the Philadelphia Eagles 28 to 23, wasn't what we wanted, of course. Now you know we'll get into the actual meat and potatoes and the nuts and bolts of the game itself and how it went down. And you know the Jaguars did show some fight and all that good stuff. But at the end of the day an L is an L and there are no moral victories in the NFL. But going back to Phil, yeah, he definitely saved himself. You know, some time that he couldn't get back by missing the game and we will discuss all of that in today's episode. So the hope is to keep this one brief, because I don't want to really edit it, have a lot to edit and what have you. So the hope is to keep this one brief. We'll get right into it here.
Speaker 1:As always, before we talk about the actual game and review the game itself, we take the time out in the beginning of the show to plug our handles for our new listeners and if you are a new listener, welcome to the touchdown jaguars platform. Um, we hope that you stick around for many, many more episodes. And then to um, those who have been listening for years, even before we were, to touchdown jaguars podcast. We appreciate you as well. Of course, like I was about to say, we plug our handles in the beginning of each episode. You can follow me at sportsgrind underscore done on twitter. You can follow phil at phil the fil Filipino on Twitter. Our podcast handle is tdjaguarspod and our official website is touchdownjaguarscom, where you can go to find archived episodes and written content. Of course, we are on all of your major podcasting platforms Apple Music, apple Podcasts, spotify, google Play, you name it and if we aren't there, feel free to let us know and we'll, you know, do our best to get on their platform so we can keep you informed on the Jacksonville Jaguars from a week to week basis and keep you in the loop with your favorite team.
Speaker 1:And also, I want to give a shout out to our longtime sponsor in SeatGeek, who you can go to for your ticketing needs when it comes to any major event. Of course, we cover sports, most specifically the NFL, through the Jacksonville Jaguars, so they have you covered on all your sports ticketing needs. Feel free to check them out. So that includes the rest of the NFL, as I said MLB, which of course the MLB season is over, the NBA, mls, you name it. They have you covered there at SeatGeek. And also we have you covered as a first-time user. You can go in. We have a promotion code and that's touchdown jaguars in which you can use to save yourself $20 off your first order at SeatGeek again, that's touchdown jaguars and you'll save yourself $20. You know, flip that, spin it towards gas, whatever the case may be, and save yourself some money. So they got you covered with all your sports needs, just, not not only your sports ticketing needs, but as well as your concerts and your music related stuff. They got you covered there as well. Feel free to check them out. Seatgeekcom, of course, is the website, and you can download the SeatGeek app. Regardless, our promotion code will work either way and you also not only save yourself some money, but, you know, help us keep the lights on, so to speak, here at the Touchdown Jaguars podcast and, as promised, we will go ahead and get right into the show.
Speaker 1:As the jacksville jaguars fell to the philadelphia eagles this sunday, I would in what was supposed to be a primetime game initially, but it got rescheduled to a four o'clock game, and I mean it was. I will say this it was entertaining. Um, it would have been a good sunday night football game, as opposed to what we got. I think that was the Colts and the other team is blanking out on me. It was the Colts and somebody else. Let me check on the little schedule here. Bear with me y'all and the Vikings, that's who. It was the Vikings. That game went down by a score of 21-13 in favor of the Vikings.
Speaker 1:But we're not here to talk about them. Instead, we're here to talk about the jacksonville jaguars. And before we get into the game itself, which has a lot of talking points, we'll get into that. But, um, of course we'll go through the box score here, as we always do. Uh, trevor lawrence was 16 of 31 for 169 yards. He did have two picks We'll discuss both of those, because those are two key talking points as well and he had two Russian touchdowns. So, you know, while he had some picks, he also, you know, was the reason the Jaguars were able to get some points on the board offensively.
Speaker 1:And then, in terms of the russian statistics you know it wasn't all that pretty and great in terms of the russian statistics uh, travis etn, returning from his hamstring injury, had uh, three carries for 24 yards, while you know, the average was, uh, eight yards per carry. He didn't necessarily help the team on the scoring side of things. St Bigsby had eight carries for 22 yards good for 2.8 yard per carry rate. And then also Trevor Lawrence he had five carries, only had eight yards, but again, the key with him is he had two rushing touchdowns along the way.
Speaker 1:Then, receiving wise, it was Evan Ingram leading the way. Again, you know, and this is going to be one of the talking points the offense didn't really have a lot of juice, especially in the beginning of the game. But Evan Ingram, with five carries, or, excuse me, five receptions for 45 yards, wasn't super effective in terms of his impact. Parker Washington three receptions for 41 yards. Of course he saw a lot of time on the field as an offensive player because of the injuries that we previously endured, which he handles a lot of kick return and punt return duties, but this week he had to step in and help as much as he could On the offensive side. Austin Trammell, also called up from well, I won't say also, but called up from the practice squad and also had to help this receiving group that is banged up at the moment. As we all know, christian Kirk is out for the season due to a shoulder injury that he sustained, but Austin Trammell, with two catches for 40 yards and, uh, brian Thomas only had two catches for 22 yards, which, again, that is another talking point for this episode.
Speaker 1:So, before we get into the defensive side of the ball, let's go ahead and discuss. You know what happened offensively and I think you know I just wrote in my notes here um, I've seen the game, of course, I saw it live and then, um, I saw like half of it again in a re-watch and, um, you know, one of the notes that you know I came away with here is something that I just mentioned, and it was just, you know, another slow start that we've seen, you know, plague the Jaguars, um, all this season and you, you know, even before, but another slow start for them offensively and I believe we can attribute that to you know, it's not rocket science, even though the offensive coordinator and, you know, the Jaguars coaching staff kind of try and make it that way, but I feel like it's probably not rocket science of why they are struggling early and it's just a matter of you know they got to get to their stars early in the game and they got to highlight their stars early in the game. I mean, you know, I just read off Brian Thomas Jr's highlights, or, excuse me, his statistics and he only had two catches on the whole night. So, um, that in itself speaks for itself. But they, you know, they got to get to him and your go-to guys that you've um been able to generate offense through your brian thomas juniors of the world, uh, your tank bigs bees of the world. You know, and I know there's been controversy where doug came out to say like, hey, tra Travis Etienne is our starter, although Tank Biggs leads the league, or was leading the league at one point in yards per carry. He had to come out and clear that up and say, hey, travis is still the starter and Evan Egram is the other one you have to get to as well. I mean, this is a guy that had record numbers as a tight end last year. But I think that's really the key for the Jacksonville Jaguars getting themselves out of these slow starts, and you would think they would have picked up on that by now, but obviously they haven't.
Speaker 1:Kind of going back to the Tank Bigsby thing and the Travis Etienne thing is one thing I think that could help them in terms of getting this offense going. If you're going to start the game off running the ball a lot, or you're going to start this game off or any game off for that matter leaning on the run game, you definitely need to have Tate Bigsby as your starter for that particular game. Or, you know, if that's kind of like the trend that you're going to follow throughout the season, you need to, you need to have have Tank Bigsby as your number one guy. You need to go ahead and make that move right now, because one thing we're finding out is that Travis Etienne, when it comes to the run game, especially with how leaky this offensive line is in the run game, he is just not going to have success with how things are set up now in terms of the run game and the offensive line and their abilities in the run game, of lack of ability in the run game. So, that being said, you know you need somebody who, if they're, you know, going to be leaky and people are going to be in the backfield that can break those tackles which Tank Bigsby has shown us on many, many occasions. It's been plenty of times and plenty of instances where we've seen Tank. You know somebody, maybe get an arm on him or hit him in the backfield. He'll give you two to three to four positive yards still nonetheless, and that's kind of his game, if you will, and that sets up the offense in a situation of, you know, second and seven, second and six, whatever the case, may be much more manageable second down situations to move forward with. But with ETN, if he gets tackled in the backfield, that's pretty much it, you know, and it kind of feels like at times he's not as decisive as Bigsby too. So, again, going back to what I was saying, if your plan is to lean on the run game early in games and throughout the rest of the season, tank Bigsby needs to be your guy there. That would help this offense get out of the lows that they've had or the struggles they've had out of the gate throughout the entirety of this season.
Speaker 1:Now, look, if you are going to rely more on the passing game to help yourself get out of these, you know, slow starts or what have you? You know, maybe you want to start considering what we saw a few weeks ago I think it may have been the Colts game or a game around the Colts game where we saw, you know, earlier in the season the Jets would start slow and then what got Trevor Lawrence going and what got him to start playing a little bit better throughout that little stretch of three or four games that we were discussing last week, was that. You know, what started that, if you go back and look at the season, was them getting ET in the ball in the short passing game. Right, and I can remember I forgot it was a game or two three weeks ago where trevor lawrence went to travis et in like four times, maybe even more, in the short passing game and that helped open up things in the passing game for the intermediate level and then for the you know um, for the deep ball level which you would go through. You know you obviously use brian thomas jr for a lot of that and sometimes christian kurt who's injured, but that opened up things. Just having that ability to check down to Travis Etienne early in the game really got Trevor going on the run that he had, not just that particular game but the run that he had. So again, it's not rocket science If your goal is to start faster and you want to do it through the passing game, you're going to have to rely on the short passing game to do so. And then that's where ETN would come into play, if that is your plan and thought and you know mindset in terms of how to just simply get going a little bit faster than the Jacksonville Jaguars have. And then, as I said you know, get Evan DeBall more and most definitely get Brian Thomas Jr DeBall more, who looks like he's pretty much open on every route that he runs. And the crazy part about it is he's not even developed as a route runner yet. But even without that technical route running aspect part to his game to his repertoire, which will come in the future, part to his game to his repertoire, which will come in the future he still looks like he's running wide open pretty much anytime you line him up out there and have him run routes.
Speaker 1:And another talking point that hurt the Jaguars in this game early in the game in terms of getting going offensively. And before I mention this, I do want to read off a statistic here from Daniel Griffiths, friend of the show here, who does a lot of Jaguars statistics, and you know he posts them on Twitter and what have you? Just to kind of show you all the struggles the Jaguars had offensively in this game To start the game, in the first half the Jacksonville jaguars only had one first down, according to daniel by the way you can follow him at daniel d griffiths um yards they had 31 yards in comparison to philadelphia who had 187. And then, lastly, their time of possession was 8 minutes and 34 seconds in comparison, in comparison to philly who had a ball for 21 minutes and 26 seconds. So if that doesn't tell the story of how slow the Jaguars offense started, then I don't know what will.
Speaker 1:But one of the things that also hurt this Jacksonville Jaguars team, they did have an interception which we certainly can't blame on Trevor. It is some things we can blame on Trevor, more on that later. But the first interception, the one to Travis Etienne, was not on him and I think Travis Etienne was running some kind of like slant or post route and I know I literally was just saying you know they need to rely on him in a short passing game. And here he goes. He goes out there and has a miscue where the ball it might have hit his chest plate or whatever the case may be. But it hit him in a place where he should have caught the ball. He pops it up in the air and then you know it's an interception from one of the Eagles linebackers and they got people to thinking like, hey, man, like we might need to get Travis up out of here. But I think if you're gonna go to him another thing about that too if you're gonna go to ETN in the passing game, he's better out in the flats, right, and you know things of that nature, and not running into the interior of the defense that's a better way to put it actually um, like he was in this particular instance, um, and you know, lo, and the one time that we do do it you know we weren't making run a post we get the result that we got right.
Speaker 1:So I just wanted to bring that talking point up, that Travis Etienne just kind of going back to what I was saying when I was mentioning him in the run game he's just really not helping his team and that is something that's just concerning, because he was drafted in the first round, right, I mean, granted, it was during when Urban Meyer was here, but he was drafted in the first round. We brought him in alongside Trevor to be that guy for Trevor, and this year has been one where he's just completely falling off a cliff. It's like him and Tank Bigsby. In terms of where Tank was last year and where ETN is this year, it's like they completely switched spots. Last year we were talking about Tank, who was a rookie at the time, who was having fumbling issues and wasn't helping the team at all and putting the team at bad predicaments. Now we're talking about ETN doing it. It's funny how much of a difference a year makes, but it just hasn't been clicking for him.
Speaker 1:And you know I wouldn't be shocked if the next I tweeted about this if the next GM comes in here and is maybe looking to trade him. You know like. And one thing about it like GMs like to make a statement coming into the building as well. You know, maybe he might see ETn as an expendable trent balky pick and hopefully we do get a new gm but he might see etn as an expendable balky pick. That would also send a message of like hey, we're going in a totally different direction and we're going to get people in here who can make the plays that trevor lawrence needs to make. So that'll be something to watch down the road. But I guess we can't really talk about that now because that's neither here or neither there. That's more of a future topic.
Speaker 1:And then one other thing that stood out to me was the fourth down that we didn't convert, which I think the Philadelphia Eagles, if I can think about, uh, if I can recall um, and just my mind serves me correctly, the Eagles didn't take advantage of it, even though they did receive the ball on their side of the field. But the Jaguars had a fourth down that they tried to convert that did not go as planned. Um, now, it wasn't picked off or anything like that. It wasn't like a complete disaster, but I think it was a play that Trevor Lawrence might have checked out of. It looked like he made a call at the line of scrimmage and he tried to get Evan Ingram out there in the flats and Cooper DeJean, if I'm not mistaken, was all over it and it was a turnover on downs.
Speaker 1:And even before that the Jaguars tried to convert a third down, a third and short through a quarterback sneak. And the reason I'm mentioning these two plays is because those two plays kind of just highlight the struggles and the amount of issues the Jaguars have had when it comes to conversions and whatnot, particularly in the quarterback sneak. If y'all look at that play, what kind of upset me about that is. I believe the Jacksonville Jaguars could have done that more successfully. When you look at it, trevor Lawrence would stop just short and I think it was just a matter of like it's not being coached right, like little things, like the quarterback sneak isn't being coached right. But I think if Trevor Lawrence keeps his feet going instead of just taking a lunge forward, they get that third down conversion. But if you guys go back and look at it, he kind of just lunged ahead and as a result, he was short.
Speaker 1:Um, he didn't bring his feet with him, and that's one of the basic fundamentals of football, especially with the quarterback sneak. Of course. Now as the quarterback, you're trying to protect yourself and what have you. But just knowing where the line of scrimmage is and knowing, um, you know the amount of foot drive and estimating the amount of foot drive that it would take to get you the first down is that's basic football that needs to be coached to these young men that it seems like they're not getting from Press Taylor and Doug Peterson, who should know better. These two men were on a Super Bowl staff, right.
Speaker 1:And yeah, here you have Trevor Lawrence not bringing his feet with him in the quarterback sneak, and then, uh, potentially we'll have to. You know, I guess later down the road we might know what the deal was there when he checked out of whatever they were going to do on fourth down and if that was the case at all, and went to Evan Ingram in the flats, unsuccessfully. You know my mindset there was like why not do the quarterback sneak again? You have a guy even though Cooper Hodges did get injured in the game but you have a guy, mitch Morris, who has actually been better than I was giving him credit for. So you know, shout outs to Mitch Morris, and again, we'll call ourselves out anytime we're wrong, but Mitch Morris has been better than we've been giving him credit for. And then you look at a guy like Cooper Hodges, who is probably, in my opinion, the most naturally strong or most naturally gifted player on the offensive line in terms of strength. You have those two guys right there on the offensive line in front of you, and it didn't look like the Eagles necessarily had linebackers stacked near the line of scrimmage either too, and at least not in front of hodges and where mitch morse was looks like that would have been an easy conversion. If you go for the quarterback sneak again and you just go behind those guys, just kind of knowing where the strength is of your, your offensive line and knowing what a weakness is of that defensive line at that time it's just basic stuff that you go back and look at film and just scratch your head and it's like what is press taylor teaching these guys? But nonetheless they continue to struggle and you know we at this point we're just ready for the season to be over.
Speaker 1:So after the first half I'll talk about the second half a little bit offensively. That's when the Jaguar started getting going. We'll talk about the defense a little bit. But Trayvon Walker made a huge play there where you know I have to go back and look at it. But maybe just by ruling Saquon Barkley should have been ruled down, but hey, you know the refs gave it to us if that was the case and you know there's no one doing it now. But Trayvon Walker made a huge play of scoop and score. More on him later. Trevor Lawrence got going a little bit. The offense got going a little bit. Trevor Lawrence got his two rushing touchdowns during that second half and then we made a game out of it and then we got to the end of the game.
Speaker 1:We were driving the last offensive drive of the game for the Jacksonville Jaguars and Trevor makes the crucial mistake that he did, which could be a little injury related I don't, I don't know yet, but you know it's kind of hard to say on that but he makes a crucial mistake nonetheless in a play where I think somebody put a screenshot out of this where it might have been four verts and Dearness Johnson, of all the running backs right, it's the one on the field at this particular moment, this crucial moment, late in the game, only one to two minutes left in the game, I think less than two minutes left in the game. He's the one out there instead of of maybe even Tank or Travis. I know Travis had the fumble earlier, but I mean I guess you would rely on them more so in the passing game than Dearness, right, I mean that would make more sense. But Dearness goes out there, he runs an option route and, um, it was admittedly kind of a good play on the Kobe Dean go dogs. I hate that he made that play against us but, um, the Kobe Dean does a good job of getting his eyes off of the running back who was his responsibility Dearness Johnson and getting his eyes on Trevor Lawrence. He saw the misfire, was able to get the pick in the end zone and you know that was the play that a lot of people were talking about, because that that's pretty much what ended the game and a lot of people made a good point. It was a bad throw by Trevor, but even more so like what kind of call was that at that moment?
Speaker 1:Going back to Press Taylor right, and I am a guy that was defending Press Taylor earlier in the year and last year because he actually was not the top issue for the Jacksonville Jaguars. He might might've been second or third on the list, but now he's becoming the top issue for the Jacksonville Jaguars. And you got to think like, why call it that play? Especially and also to the just the amount of thought or lack of thought that they put into the situation in terms of time management. I think the Jaguars had, you know, about one minute and 20 seconds or one minute and 40 seconds left at that time and here they are. They're going to the end zone with a dangerous play and not trying to run the ball and leave very little clock on the on the board for the Eagles offense to take advantage of.
Speaker 1:Because this is the thing. If you are an NFL head coach, you know your team right. So this is this doesn't only fall on press Taylor for the wacky play call that it was, and you know the lack of thought into the time management aspect of it, but you also. This also falls on Doug Peterson from the perspective of you know your team struggles in the two-minute defense right, we've seen it before. You know what you have in that two defense. Right, we've seen it before. You know what you have in that two minute defense. You know if you give the Eagles the ball back, that is a strong chance that they're going to score, and probably score a touchdown or maybe a field goal, whatever the case may be. So that's just, to me, that's a lack of understanding of what you have on defense, right, and that part falls on Doug Peterson. So when looking at how that played out, it's just all the more reason we just want them to get up out of here, man Doug, and Press Taylor and Trent Baalke as well, who that kind of don't fall on him in terms of the play call and and things of that nature and the time management, but get him up out of here too, for obvious reasons. He's not a great GM. We. We've talked about that many, many times. No need to get into that.
Speaker 1:But, lastly, what I will do is go ahead and flip the switch and go to the defensive side and then, leading the way for the defensive side, it was Foye Alouikin Well, actually, three linebackers in terms of total tackles. They all they're their most notable linebackers at that. In terms of total tackles, they all their most notable linebackers at that all registered eight total tackles between Foye, devin Lloyd and Ventrell Miller. Trayvon Walker was not far behind. He had seven total tackles and he had the scoop and score as well. He also had a tackle for loss. Josh Hines Allen had himself a day, two sacks on the the night. They simply couldn't figure out what to do with him. Um, but yeah, just when.
Speaker 1:Looking at the defensive side of things, the story there to me was just saquon barkley not only just making a highlight reel of them, um, as a matter of fact, like they had two moments on there actually where not just Saquon, but I think it was Smitty who, devontae Smith, who caught one on Ronald Darby as well, where you have to look at them two plays and just feel like, oh man, like that's definitely going to be on ESPN top 10 highlight, so we'll be on there for the wrong reasons tonight. But yeah, the moral of the story with the defense man, man Saquon just did what he wanted with this team and you know that highlight play where he did the backwards hurdle. If that wasn't enough, just look at the run game and the ability or the, the statistics he put up in the run game, right, 27 carries for a let's see, it was 159 yards and a touchdown. And that one touchdown was just insane. Like I've freeze-framed the touchdown.
Speaker 1:I think it came late in the second quarter, if I'm not mistaken, and, um, it looks like you know the jabs were probably expecting pads, a lot of people playing off the ball, a lot of people like, I guess, kind of backpedaling andaling, and I freeze framed it when Saquon was handed the ball by Jalen Hurts and everybody was seven yards up the field on defense, which just breaking that down in terms of football 101. We all know that doesn't. That's not good for the defense. If everybody's seven yards down the field, the moment that the running back touches the ball is probably going to result in a huge gain. And you know, nobody was able to come up and make the play. The gap he had to run through rightfully so, with everybody playing so far off the ball was massive. You could have drove a semi-truck through that. And that was just kind of indicative of just like the WTF moment for Ryan Nielsen's defense which we all become so accustomed to seeing over the last few weeks. Man. And then I mean, you know, when Jalen Hurts went to the air, I mean he didn't go like crazy, crazy through the air, he only had 230 in terms of passing yardage, but he was efficient, right, 18 of 24, didn't get a lot of resistance there, you know. So he did complete under 20, you know completions, but at the same time they were 18 very effective completions. As I said, um davante smith led the way he had the touchdown I mentioned. On ronald darby, who has just been.
Speaker 1:I think another kind of moral of this story and what happened defensively is that the defensive players the Jaguars picked up in free agency. Now this is where it does fall on Trent Baalke and why he needs to be up out of here as well. But the defensive plays that were made, or the lack of defensive plays that were made in this game kind of all fall, and this kind of has been the moral of the story for the Jazz all year. They all kind of fall on these free agent pickups that Trent Baalke picked up who have been very ineffective for this team, most notably Ronald Darby, darnell Savage. They haven't made the impact that we were hoping, or you know that Baalke was hoping they would make. But yeah, smith had four receptions for 87 yards, with the big catch on Ronald Darby.
Speaker 1:Saquon Barkley again showed up in the passing game as well. Not only did he kill us in the run game, he killed us in the passing game and that highlight play where he back hurdled Jarrion was kind of telling of that had a receiving touchdown as well. They couldn't do anything with him either. So it really was the Saquon Barkley and Devontae Smith show, because I think AJ Brown left the game early, right, and you know when you're in that situation where one of the star receivers is out of the game, you know, as the Jacksonville Jaguars, you have to take advantage of that, right, and you got to capitalize on that and you got to get the w, but, as we all know, especially with a ryan nielsen-led defense, they weren't able to do it. They gave up way too many big plays between these two players I mentioned smith and barkley and the result was the result, which was 23 to 28 for the game in which the jacksonville jaguars, you know, again, they had a chance in the end but fell just short. Um, and in a nutshell, they fell just short because of that slow start I mentioned and just the inability to make the plays in the passing game and the run game that needed to be made. So I think, that being said, this is a good place to stop the podcast Again. I said this one was going to be brief and I actually held to that Before we go ahead and turn it in for tonight.
Speaker 1:As I mentioned earlier, you can follow me at Sportsground underscore dumb my co-host, phil Barrera at Phil the Filipino. On Twitter. You can follow the Touchdown Jaguars Twitter handle at TD Jaguars pod. Our official website is Touchdown Jaguars dot com, where you can find archived episodes and written content. As always.
Speaker 1:Also shout outs to our sponsor, seatgeek. Who is your go to provider for your ticketing needs, whether it's in the sports world, whether it's in the music world or whatever event it is that you're looking for tickets to? Go ahead, check out SeatGeek. They have an app, they have a website, seatgeekcom, and you can use our promotion code, touchdown Jaguars, to save yourself twenty dollars on your first order with them. Again, that's Touchdown Jaguars to save yourself twenty dollars. So, all of that said, we will go ahead and shut it down. We got the Vikings coming up and you know, of course, for that game, we'll be here to record for it win, lose, tie, draw, whatever the case may be, we'll be here to discuss it and if it ends in a loss, like all of a lot of the games have this season, I will be here to help you all vent your frustrations. So, in the meantime, take care of each other, look out for one another and you all hold it down, as I am James Johnson and I am signing out.