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Touchdown Jaguars!
Touchdown Jaguars!
Episode 117: Steelers / Jaguars Preseason Week 1 Analysis
The Touchdown Jaguars podcast returns with co-hosts Phil Barrera and James Johnson breaking down the Jaguars' preseason opener against the Pittsburgh Steelers, highlighting early signs of a new team identity under offensive coordinator Liam Coen.
• Trevor Lawrence looks comfortable in new offense,
• Liam Coen's system showing creativity with screens, end-arounds, and manageable down-and-distance situations
• Travis Hunter impresses primarily on defense, displaying natural cornerback skills while also getting limited offensive snaps
• Cam Little steals the show with NFL preseason record 70-yard field goal that changes strategic calculations
• Defensive concerns remain but many issues appear fixable with several key players missing from action
• Quarterback Seth Hennigan showing impressive arm talent in late-game action
• Potential roster battles emerging at receiver between Joshua Cephas, Trenton Irwin and Austin Trammell
• Questions surfacing about Tyson Campbell's development and health status as a cornerstone defensive player
James Johnson and Phil Barrera 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. Oh no, that's the second. Oh no. Touchdown Jacksonville. A hundred and nine yards Incredible Play action. Portals Upstairs Wide open. Tommy Bohannon Touchals 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 everybody, welcome back to a brand new episode of the Touchdown Jaguars podcast. I am your co-host, phil Barrera, and joining me, I would say as always, but it's usually it's me that's been missing for a little bit. But joining us, as usual, is your other co-host, james Johnson. Jay, man, it has been a while, obviously a long summer, but football is here, man, so I appreciate you holding it down and allowing me to step away, while I've been doing a bunch of other projects which I'll update you guys on a little bit later. But, jay, good to see you, man, and we made it. Football is here, jaguar football is here, and I am excited to get back to work in what will hopefully be at least an easier season to get through than last year. Remember, last year around this time, we were pretty full of hope and optimism and by, like I think, the end of September. All that was gone. So hopefully this year will be a different, a different story yeah, I agree.
Speaker 2:Um, I mean, it's already been a stress-free off season, like for me, like, and I really want to like say that I appreciate that for a change. It's always been stressful because you always had that cloud over your head right of like, well, it could work out, but balky's here, so it's not, you know. And now it's like a new found, as you have new people in the building where you don't know where it's going to go. But it was a guarantee of we knew what was going to come when trent was here. You know there was going to be internal conflict, right, we were going to draft a lot of people that look like the Monstars from Space Jam with long arms and long legs, and it wasn't going to work out. And like 50 percent of the draft class wasn't going to work out, and we end up with egg on our face at the end of the season.
Speaker 2:You can always predict that with Trent. Now it's a little bit of newfound hope, which and we'll talk about this too little bit of newfound hope which and we'll talk about this too Now you can see not just the culture change and camaraderie, but an identity start to establish, and we talked about this in one of the podcasts that we were in together with one of our last podcasts that we were in together with, where we saw a cultural identity and tangibly rich players right, but now we're starting to see an on-the-field identity. We'll get to that in a little bit, but I'm glad to be back and, as you could tell, I am happy that football is here.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and you kind of get a sense of that and we'll touch on that here. Obviously, throughout the episode You've mentioned this you know, just kind of off to the side in our personal conversations, obviously, throughout the episode you've mentioned this you know, just kind of off to the side in our personal conversations, there is like a tangible sense of identity for this 2025-2026 Jacksonville Jaguars and that feels good, man. So it's really to see that kind of come to fruition. But, yeah, we're going to talk about preseason week one. If you want a little bit more in depth about the upcoming season, as well as how training camp went, make sure you check out last week's episode, episode 116, where Jay got to speak with Jamal St Cyr. That was a really great conversation, so make sure you go check that out.
Speaker 1:And yeah, as I mentioned, I anticipate being back here for the preseason regular season and despite everything else that's been going on. To kind of explain a little bit of my absence, I've been doing a lot of projects. Of course, I still have my Wait For it podcast project, which has been keeping me very busy. We still do a whole lot with the local and in-state convention scene, but I've also started voice acting and voiceover, which I think I've mentioned here before. Hence the name change to Phil Barrera, which is a stage name, kind of an homage to a family type of thing. But yeah, I plan on being here throughout the entire season, as well as the rest of the preseason, and we're going to do our very best to give you episodes each and every single week. As you all know, and we have mentioned, before, life happens and it gets in the way. But you guys have always been a really, really patient audience with us and we appreciate that for sure. So make sure you click the Linktree link in the show notes of the episode and continue to use that promo code.
Speaker 1:Touchdown Jaguars with SeatGeek. That is still active. Somebody used it. A couple people used it over the summer. So we appreciate y'all for that. But, Jay, let's get into it here. The Steelers and the Jaguars. Week one of the preseason. The Jaguars did fall 31 to 25. However, we saw a lot and we did see the first team for a drive as far as offensively, Trevor Lawrence went 6-7, 43 yards and a little bit of a controversial throw on that incompletion to Brian Thomas Jr. But we also got to see some Deami Brown, Travis Etienne, some concepts we haven't seen ever, maybe in Jacksonville. So that was also very nice. And of course, Jay, the star of the show. We got to see a little bit of Travis Hunter. So what were your takeaways when you saw the offense stroll out there? And then we'll talk about the defense in a little bit.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean I just the first thing that's going to stand out is the cohesion and the willingness to help Trevor Lawrence and keep him out of bad situations right off the rip right like. If you just reflect on last year and what we dealt with with Press and Doug, it was a lot of situations where they be in a situation they would go into second down with over 10 yards to gain. So, like a lot of times it would be like a first down where they would lose yardage, whether it was trying to run the ball, whether it's taking a sack or something stupid happening. We always went into second down, like you know, with some kind of uphill battle to climb. Now, look, we saw a glimpse of that actually return in the first play of the game because Anton Harrison got up a penalty. But what I will say is a lot of the game didn't feel that way. A lot of games that were coached by Doug and Press did not feel that way. And you know, at least we were able to go into second down with three yards that we gained, right, at least four yards that we gained and it's manageable. And even when it got a little bit slippery and sticky, as they say, then at that point Liam would dial up something pretty easy, a pretty easy concept for Trevor to make the situations heading forward manageable. What I mean? Screens, right, which you know, doug, didn't really do screens like that, but there was plenty of times where we saw the screen games show up and that's going to be a trend. You know, just looking at how Tampa Bay ran things when Liam was over there, we're going to see more screens, right, we're going to see Travis Etienne more in those situations and you know, they might even try out some of the other running backs there. So a lot of screens. We saw the third and one or it was a fourth and one field where they did the end around to De'Ami Brown getting creative, which Liam has actually kind of hinted at before.
Speaker 2:They've asked him, you know, in a press conference, like how do you handle these situations where the Jaguars have struggled to just get one yard on fourth down? And he said you know, hey, you don't always have to run between the tackles to get it done, there's other creative ways to do it. And I know I wasn't expecting De'Ami Brown to be getting the ball at that point. So like that's refreshing to see. And, all of that said, you could see somewhat of an identity. Of course we'll see more of an identity during the regular season. They only want to show so much, right, but you can see an identity Easy concepts to get Trevor Lawrence out of not so great situations that we seen him have to come out of previously.
Speaker 2:And then the other thing that I want to mention too is Trevor said this himself earlier in the offseason and I can tell it's registering and you can see it like coming to fruition on the field. But he mentioned that this offense has all the answers. You know, and whereas last year we couldn't say that you even said it, phil Our identity under Doug Peterson was hoping and praying that Trevor Lawrence could get us out of a very bad situation, which isn't an identity at all. But Trevor has said it this offense provides all the answers. And I can tell, like he really believes that and here's how I can tell he believes that that on the quote unquote hospital ball that everybody's talking about, the brian thomas jr what happened on the exact next play? He went right back to the middle of the field to brenton, strange, once again, without hesitation, didn't even think about it, hit him in stride and hit him for a first down.
Speaker 2:To me that shows a quarterback that has belief in the system, believes that the quarterback, you know that the system is providing all the answers. And it also just showed his confidence after going to the middle of the field and seeing what unfolded with Brian Thomas Jr. He went right back and got a first down through Britton Strange, which I'm excited to see more of him too. We'll get into him down the road. But yeah, I mean like I saw mostly good things and you know, while you would like to get a touchdown, I was certainly happy with the showing from the first team offense. For the most part I would like to see the run game in terms of the run blocking, a little bit more aggressive and them to get a little bit more push, and I think Liam mentioned that. But in pass pro they were fine too. So a lot of the things we were seeing last year were kind of like eradicated in that one drive.
Speaker 1:Now we're not to say that that'll continue to be the trend, but a lot of concerns we had last year Liam kind of erased those, at least in that first drive that we saw the first team in yeah, one thing, like what happened with when doug was here and you already touched on it, is like things actually developing downfield and you can like see that happening, even with these very basic concepts early on in liam co offense. So it's just a nice change of pace. Now, again, we're not going to get too ahead of ourselves. Remember, like a couple of years ago they lit up the Cowboys and you know the Cowboys like third team heading into the regular season. Everyone's like this offense is going to be elite and you know everything. You know everything kind of turned out the way that it did. I mean, that was the year that we did start off. Eight and three was it. Was that last year that they lit up the cowboys in the preseason. I can't remember if that was last year or two years ago, but but yeah, you know you always have to take everything you see here in the preseason with a grain of salt. But you also want to see the. You know the kind of the fruits of the labor starting to pay off from training camp right away.
Speaker 1:So yeah, like you said, you definitely want to see the touchdown but like, like you said, the, the fact that he goes immediately right over the middle to brett and, strange, gets it into that little opening and then gets that first down, um, and then just a lot of quick passes, like you said, to get the second and six, to get to second and five, second and four.
Speaker 1:Even the like the little run, you know, like that he did, that he gets four yards. We've heard that liam cohen has encouraged him to hey, you're an athlete like use your legs, like you're, you can run the football effectively. So even that is just going to really really help in terms of keeping drives alive and making sure they don't make things too difficult on themselves. So, yeah, I'm not going to touch on this nonsense trevor lawrence hospital ball thing, as if he has some sort of reputation for doing this, which is just simply not true. Trevor Lawrence is a really easy punching bag right now for NFL fans. So you know we're not going to touch on that any more than we have to.
Speaker 2:The curators. They got to get their money, man. You know we live in a bot-driven era. You know that's true.
Speaker 1:The dead internet theory. So, yeah, you know they got to pay for these blue checks. You know that they're paying for so. But yeah, jay, so we got a very small dose of Travis Hunter on offense. We'll touch on the defense here in just a moment, but in you know two catches. I think what nine yards is what it was. Had a very like brief opportunity to think what nine yards is what it was. Had a very brief opportunity to maybe spin around and turn it upfield, but he was caught. But yeah, anything there of note, or you can't really get anything too much out of those two catches. What did you see?
Speaker 2:No, I mean you kind of touched on it, like you know, maybe if it hadn't rained earlier that day he could spin out of that one play and get more yards after the catch. That's kind of a theme for the offense. If you look at the second string guys, especially who we'll talk on some of them later but yeah, no, like you can't really make too much out of it. I mean, you know, liam gave his assessment, said that he ran a lot of it. I think at least two of the routes that he ran were choice routes, so he made the right decision there, according to Liam. So that's only what we can go by there. But you know this is a game that we can't really like make a big time assessment on Travis through Now, I will say, and we'll get to the defensive side it was some good things we saw on defense that really excited me.
Speaker 2:The defensive side it was some good things we saw on defense that really excited me, and I mean it holds up my theory of Travis being a better cornerback than receiver. So that kind of makes me look good. But in any case, yeah, man, I just can't wait to see more from him on the offensive side in these next few preseason games, because of course the reps will ramp up, but, yeah, not really games, because of course the reps will ramp up but, um, yeah, not really there, like not a lot there to take from in terms of, um, how he looked on the offensive end. I'm just glad he was able to get that first catch out of the way, get that first hit out of the way, get it all out of his system and now he could be the Travis Hunter that we saw at Colorado and at Jackson State for a very long time yeah, excited to see what they kind of dial up for him to kind, of, you know, get his feet wet on obviously both sides of the football.
Speaker 1:So I mean then, yeah, you are you talked about it as well Really love the Deami Brown and around. You know just a little taste of what I think we'll get when the you know, the act of the game start counting and a little bit more of the dynamic play calling games start counting and a little bit more of the dynamic play calling. So Travis Etienne, I thought looked relatively solid as well. I mean, two carries, six yards, but I think he had. Did he have a couple of catches? Yeah, oh, he had one catch for 10 yards.
Speaker 1:So you know, you see him out there, and whether that is to get him more comfortable in the offense or get some more tape on them so they can flip them in a trade, you know there's all those rumors talking. I think it was the espn morning show, I think it's called on sportsman like they did, like a top five players they thought could be traded before the beginning of the season and travis etn was on that list. I don't know where they had it. I think maybe they had him going to buffalo because of what's going on there with uh, with cook. But I don't know, man, I guess we'll see what they end up doing. When it comes to uh, you know the jaguars are certainly no stranger to making trades before the season or right before the season starts, but I don't do you have any any uh input, jay on the travis, etn trade rumors, or you know people wanting him to be shipped out so tank bigsby can be the lead back.
Speaker 2:Yeah, me and Jamal actually talked about it and me and him kind of agree on this, like I think they keep him for the year and I don't think like it's like real genuine interest in trading him. I think with and this is something me and Jamal talked about too with this offense, that there is a place for him and Bigsby and the young guys who we'll talk about, tootin and Allen. It's literally a place for all of them on this team in this offense, especially when you look at the two running backs, especially their top two running backs that they use in Tampa. I don't think neither one of those were complaining about the amount of reps they got in the production that they were able to get together as a pair, and I think like a similar situation could be set up for Tank and for Travis Etienne. Now, what I will say now is, with Travis, I'm starting to veer towards like the casual opinion in this sense that I do think if you are looking for somebody to get the tough yardage for you and like you're going to be in a lot of tough yardage situations you probably want to veer towards Tank.
Speaker 2:What Travis showed on the few snaps that he got in terms of run plays. They were just like small two yard, one yard gains and that's kind of been the story of his life, at least the last few years, if you look at the last two years. Whereas Tank, which you know, we got to see him and I think, yeah, after that first drive he came in after that first drive. Whereas Tank, you know he can get you to tough yardages so long as he can hang on to the ball. That's kind of his thing. Like you got to worry about fumbles with him. But yeah, I am starting to veer towards that casual opinion of, yeah, if we're going to like be in a lot of tough yardage situations, then tank needs to be the starter in that regard. But it's still a lot of a lot of snaps for both him and travis etn to distribute and share and to have significant roles and have significant production. Like it's plenty of room for both of them.
Speaker 2:Like and this is the conclusion kind of me and jamal discuss, like does it matter who starts between the two? Like they're both pretty talented we won't say elite running backs in any regard but pretty talented enough in this offense to be productive. So like I think people are making too much of it, like I mean two veteran running backs who have a ton of experience working together will make this offense go as it should. And I think that's how it should be the two veterans leading the way, and then next year you more so move towards the two young rookies that we got, and well, three, because the young man, the undrafted fellow Jackson, you know he's pretty decent, so you may be fair towards them after this year. Yeah, you know, I mean like why he's pretty decent, so you may be fair towards them after this year.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know, I mean, like why he's under contract, like why not? You know what would really be the point. You're not going to get anything that's going to help you this year either. Right, it's probably draft compensation. I don't really foresee like a player for player trade that could materialize. So, yeah, I mean, why not just keep him around and then see what happens, and then you enter like that contract situation and kind of deal with it. Uh, you know, however you want it is he playing on his fifth year option.
Speaker 1:Is that what? It's what's going on with him right now?
Speaker 2:yeah, this is his uh last year so like basically, a lot of people were on the mindset like, well, see what he does in training camp and then give him an extension based off that. But I don't think an extension is coming, which is OK.
Speaker 1:Not with his front office, right Right I mean the tea leaves are there.
Speaker 2:They drafted two running backs. So you know, like that would tell you, while they might not think of those two like necessarily as the present, but they could think of them as the future, and then you can make the argument that they feel like they have skill sets that can help them in the present as well. Like Allen, which me and Jamal mentioned, allen can help you on third down because he's good and phenomenal in pass protection, facial tutoring. You can't ignore the night that he had, by the way, which we'll probably get into that, can't ignore that. And the explosiveness that he had, by the way, which we'll probably get into that can't ignore that and the explosiveness that he can bring.
Speaker 2:And you know like the running back position is a tough position to play, like injuries happen there. You, in this day and age, you probably need four good ones, maybe five. You know like if you include you got on practice squad. So like I just I don't understand this national perception about entry, with tra Etienne being traded, because we live in an era where they're playing 17 games, phil, like five running backs is almost a necessity and people just don't realize it, especially like you can't tell me. You can look at a Liam Cohen offense and say that going into this situation with five running backs and one on practice squad that'll be your fifth guy is something that sounds crazy. You know, in a 17 game stretch it'll be just fine. Everybody will get their work in and I think, like we could be looking at, you know, a group that we're very satisfied with at the end of the season.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we saw Trent kind of try and put together this kind of dynamic running back room and it just never came to fruition. So I certainly see Liam Cohen and the coaching staff just prioritizing keeping that room well-stocked and with guys that have a lot of different skill sets as well. So but yeah, jay, let's get to the defensive side of the football Once again, as we alluded to, we did see Travis Hunter, who you know, despite a missed tackle or a broken tackle, I guess you could say played relatively well, especially in coverage, as has been notated by quite a few people within Jaguar Twitter. But the defense did give up a touchdown. Mason Rudolph did take the offense, the Steelers offense down the field for a touchdown. I believe it was a yeah touchdown.
Speaker 1:Pass that to Darnell Washington, just a large, large man at play. He tied in for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Obviously you're very familiar with him. But yeah, what did you see defensively? People came away, I think, think, with some concerns, myself included. But you have had some time to rewatch some of the film and kind of reevaluate how you felt, at least a few days removed from the game. So where's your level of I don't want to say concern for the defense again. Very first preseason game, but how do you feel about the first team in their limited showing on Saturday?
Speaker 2:Well, I mean I am concerned, but it's probably not concerned for the same reasons everybody else is. Now what I will say is this the reason like after watching the film that I'm not as concerned is because there were plays to be made by the players themselves that at least would have held Pittsburgh to a field goal on that particular drive right. There was a situation I mentioned, the one where Devin Lloyd does a drop in coverage and we kind of talked about this in our text thread. He does a drop in coverage and if Devin Lloyd could just simply have a sense of coverage and just like simply find the hook route that's right there in the vicinity of him I showed you the screenshot, I feel it's like three yards away from him and he could break on the ball. They go in the third down right there without any game there. So there was that situation.
Speaker 2:Then the very next play, you know. Then there, there it was a um, a running play off the edge where the running back uh got past Tyson. You know, like, if the reaction is just a little bit quicker, right, if Tyson Campbell can get just a little bit more to run it back, I'm not saying make a business decision on a running back and hit them head to head but like, get a little bit more to run it back in that tackle instead of the ankles, and if Foye Aluokun can, like get off his block just a second quicker, right. And the funny thing about it, phil, they were showing video of the practice today. One of the things they were working on and I don't know if I should put a lot into this Maybe they do this every Monday, who knows but one of the things they were working on is shedding blocks, the linebackers, right. So I don't know, is that a coincidence? I don't know, but maybe if Foye gets off a block a little bit sooner, they can make that play and they stop the running back a yard or two short, right.
Speaker 2:So it was just like little small things like that, and that's. You know, that is being nitpicky. What I will say is this like I would like to see less of a like a cushion approach, because they did play a lot like soft zone. But who's to say that? That's not coach Campanile just trying not to show a lot, right, and just going straight out with just simply basic concepts and what have you. So we'll see. In time we'll tell I said it in my tweet let's take an observable approach with this defense, because there was a point in time right where we thought oh, I'm blanking on this name the gentleman, the first defensive coordinator that Doug had that got fired. Who was that?
Speaker 1:Hold on, I'll look it up.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but it was a time where those first stretch of games he was looking decent and we were like, oh man, we might have to worry about somebody snagging our defensive coordinator. And then it all just plummeted, like after those first four games or so. So like he started off hot and Was it Joe Cullen?
Speaker 1:No, joe Cullen was a Urbans. Mike Caldwell, mike Caldwell.
Speaker 2:That was the one. So you know he started off pretty decent like, and you know we thought the defense looked decent under him and then it just all fell off a cliff after that. So we'll see, in time, we'll tell. Now what I was saying earlier is, you know, I do have concerns, but probably not the same concerns as people that watch the game do. My concerns is more so.
Speaker 2:What's the status of eric armstead? Right, because defensive tackle is a weakness for this team. Me and jamal talked about this. My concerns is more so. What's the status of Eric Armstead? Right, because defensive tackle is a weakness for this team. Me and Jamal talked about this. What is the status of Mason and Smith? They are needed to stop the run, especially they are badly needed by this defense and it kind of showed there. So what's the status of them? Armstead hasn't practiced since training camp, if I can recall it, or if he has, it's only been one or two practices. Mason Smith started training camp on IR and he's supposed to be a big force for this team. So I'll be monitoring that head and forth because it is a very important part of this defense that you would hope to have them before week one of the regular season yeah, certainly not at full strength.
Speaker 1:I think, really, the what I saw and I only got to watch through it once is just kind of how easy it was for mason rudolph and them to move the football down the field and kind of. You know the lack of pressure as well, but you know, until we see the front seven at full strength, we're just not gonna know. So, yeah, we just we need to get those guys in there and and see how it looks when it comes to them playing as a unit. So it's just kind of wait and see, kind of not get like a holding pattern, uh, when it comes to that. But uh, yeah, what did you see as far as defensively from Travis Hunter Obviously the hot topic here Again, a lot of people were pointing out him in coverage and him playing very well and, as you have said all along, you just mentioned a moment ago what you believe is his natural position, which is cornerback or defensive back.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, what did you see out of Travis Hunter in his limited amount of time? That guy is just itching to get out there. It obviously has a lot of doubters when it comes to him playing on both sides of the football. So what did you see out of 12?
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, man, I love the play where the receiver ran an outside route and Travis basically ran the route for him and cut him off and that's just. You know, part of that is just playing receiver so much and familiarity with route concepts, so like you're going to see that a lot with him because he, you know, he, no wonder he was able to like basically run the route for him because he was running the routes not too long ago at the start of the game when he was on the offensive side of the ball. So like you know, like he's just gonna be wired a little bit differently than most cornerbacks because he has that muscle memory of running routes on the offensive side of the ball. But it was, it was clear there. Um, there was the deep pattern that Smoot got the sack on where Travis had I guess it was probably deep third coverage. I'll have to see the all 22 to see what it was but stride for stride with his guy it ended up being a coverage sack. So yeah, man, he really flashed on the defensive side, like now we just want to see like him have a flash on the offensive side before the regular season. But yeah, I really like what I saw from him of course.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they kind of mentioned the play where he missed the tackle, and that was the one play that people have mentioned where he let the running back get to the outside. Basically and I think me and you have kind of talked about this field when it's not like a receiver out to the far right or out to the far left and the cornerback is kind of closer to the offensive line and to the alignment, their job in most cases is to not let anybody get the outside so they can bend the corner and use the sideline as their advantage. And he did let them turn the corner on him. But you know that's something that like that's easily fixable, right, like that's something. If he gets a step or two into cutting that off, you know that play doesn't happen and you know like that won't be.
Speaker 2:I don't think that'll be a typical thing that we see out of Travis and look, look, it's the preseason. Right, it's a learning moment. He has to learn the speed of the game too. You know what I'm saying. Like at Colorado, you can get away with that, right, you can get away with getting late to the corner and cutting that off. But in the NFL, as he saw, and those were second stringers that ran that plate in the NFL, as he'll see, like they're a little bit faster. You know what I'm saying and you got to get there a little bit quicker and what have you. But all of that will come over time. He is not anybody that I'm worried about in any regard and, yeah, I really like what I saw for the most part out of him on the defensive side.
Speaker 1:Yeah, a lot of encouraging things and really just kind of like really highlighting you know how special of a player he truly is going to be. And you know everybody wants to jump to conclusions after what 10 snaps you know or however many he played on both sides of the football. But there is a lot of optimism there and I didn't get to talk to you guys about this. It's one thing I wanted to speak with both of you about, both you and Jamal, last week, but obviously I couldn't make it. Unfortunately there was a some of the people or some of the discourse I've been hearing out there is Travis Hunter is not only, of course, just really good for Jacksonville and for the team and for the city, but it's also good for Trevor Lawrence to maybe not have as much spotlight on him, because Travis is going to take up so much of that conversation and so much of that attention. What do you think about that? Because I do agree to a certain degree that that could be the case.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, I think that's a very accurate assessment and I you know what I like it because and this is not to say that Trevor does it, but I like it because Trevor Travis, while he does have a social media presence in terms of releasing YouTube videos, like he doesn't have a social media presence in a regard that he's looking at Twitter or he's looking at Facebook, or he's looking at Twitter or he's looking at Facebook or he's looking at like he you know, and it was a while ago that he kind of took this approach when he was at Colorado, like where he said like hey, man, like I'm going to just take a step back from social, I don't even want to look at it like that.
Speaker 2:You know, he might stream him playing NCAA or something here and there and, like I said, release a YouTube video here, but he has really disconnected himself to a great deal from social media. So, like all of this backlash and all of the like negativity that is veered towards him, he doesn't even see it you know all of these things about and it's not really fair to you. You know, whatever you you feel about his relationship with his wife, like all of this negativity veered towards his, his wife.
Speaker 2:All of this stuff veered towards him in terms of his personal life, stuff yeah, his personal life stuff, and not only that, but just like him always being upbeat on the field. I see a a lot of that too, like why is he always dancing and this, that and the other? And it's like, well, that's kind of needed in the NFL, especially on these hot training camp days like where nobody wants to be there, they're tired of hitting each other. You need that one person that's like, hey, y'all, let's turn this up right, let's turn it up a notch. So you know, he is a breath of fresh air for the team in that regard, keeping them upbeat during these hot, tiring training camp days. And he's a. He's a big asset in terms of, as you said, like he does take the pressure off of Trevor and it probably won't even phase him, it won't affect him because he's not on social media like that. He veered himself away from that a while ago when he was in college.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I remember you talking about that during the trip they took to the Bahamas I believe it was the Bahamas and you just need a guy with that kind of energy in the locker room. I didn't ever play football, but I did play basketball and it was just always nice to have that guy around to keep things light but also knew when to lock in. Honestly, I don't even believe that that is specific to just sports. I think it's also good to have that person just in a working environment, in a friend group, in your family, all of that, just in a working environment, in a friend group, in your family, all of that. Don't you want that kind of person around?
Speaker 1:I think what is happening here just like the similar thing happened to Trevor is he ended up in Jacksonville and that's not where people wanted him to go. People wanted to see him for some reason in Cleveland, I don't know. People wanted to see him in some of these other bigger markets New York, obviously. You know, maybe even with a New England like with, you know to try and bring them back to kind of prominence, but you know he ended up here. He ended up here in Jacksonville and people are always going to have a problem with that because you know no one wants to pay out of the first. You know the first team on both sides of the football, Jay, Now we'll kind of just switch to just an overall view of the game and see what kind of stood out to you.
Speaker 1:I do want to start off with one thing, and ultimately this isn't really going to matter. I think if anything it could maybe affect, like the practice squad, Jay, Seth Hennigan can sling it. Man, that guy was again, I think maybe he probably, just obviously I don't think he's going to make the team. Nick mullins is the backup quarterback, but I mean I was just kind of blown away by how those fastballs that seth hennigan was throwing. And a guy I've been a little removed from what's been going on at training camp, so like it was the first time I'd ever really heard his name. But to see that guy fling the football around I was like damn, that guy's got some heat, especially after seeing, you know, Wolford out there and Nick Mullins, you know, not not necessarily throwing the ball as strongly yeah, man, like we always have that one quarterback, backup quarterback, every year.
Speaker 2:Man, that's like, oh, okay, like this guy needs to push for the second string spot, which we know won't be the case, because Nick Mullins is coming literally from the same offense with the Vikings, the Liam Cohen scheme of offense. But yeah, no, like Hennigan was like he was on one bro, like the whole behind the back pass where he hit Allen. Like you know what I've always wanted to see quarterbacks do, that more. It's like, when you're going down, man, don't take the sack. Man, nine times out of ten, your running back is out in the flat somewhere. Try, and you know, get it out to him. If it's within reason, right. If they're five, four yards away from you, try it, man, and see what happens.
Speaker 2:And lo and behold, the Quint Allen takes it back for what? Like 12, 15 yards, something crazy like that, maybe even 20. But, yeah, man, like I am excited to see him, like I wasn't, like super impressed with Mullins, you know, with him, knowing this offense, and I personally, and again, we don't think this will be the case but I want to see himgan push for the number two spot. We'll see, like, if, like, they really go that route? I doubt it. And you know who knows? Like, maybe when he's facing the second stringers he's not as good as Mullins is. But I would like to see, I would like to give him a shot with the second stringers and see and make an assessment from there. Man, I think he earned a look in that regard.
Speaker 1:But again, I doubt they go that route yeah, like you said, there's always a backup quarterback that kind of takes, uh, you know, the the world by the jaguar world by storm. Well, who was it a couple years ago?
Speaker 1:air canada, yeah I was gonna say the guy nathan rourke so yeah, you know, seeing a little bit of that here, uh alex magoo with the yep, seeing a little bit of that here with uh seth hennigan. So yeah, ultimately, again, I think it's just a it'll end up being a fun story and we won't really even think about him once you know the regular season kicks off, obviously, but you know it was interesting to see. But, yeah, jay, who are some of the guys that really popped for you? I have, uh, maybe one or two I want to mention. But actually hold on pause, just kidding.
Speaker 1:Let's talk about kicking little baby. Let's talk about the best kicker in the nfl 70 yard field goal. Jay, we're gonna see that attempt in the regular season. We're gonna see it. It's gonna happen at the end of like a, a half or something along those lines. I don't know if we'll ever see it like to win a game, but like man, to be like, hey, just get me to the 40, give me the r40 yard line and I'm in range. Let's talk about cam little, and what a just incredible moment that's been. Obviously it's not the official record, but it is the preseason record, but man, that guy is gonna go for it, I think, here at some point in the season yeah, man, cam little's a superstar man.
Speaker 2:Not to give trent balky any credit, but trent, that was a great six round pick man. That dude was a star. You know we always have said phil when you start getting in the sixth round, why not?
Speaker 1:just start. You've been wanting them to take a kicker for years.
Speaker 2:So exactly, man start swinging at kickers on the sixth round. That makes you look better as a gm, because they have a higher rate of being successful than trying to take some defensive tackle or some freaking guard or something that you know you're hoping is a gym. Right, gm's, listen to me on this Take kickers and running backs in the sixth round and you'll save yourself a lot of stress. Right, you will like, because those are the easy ones to hit on. Save yourself a lot of stress. Right, you will like, because those are the easy ones to hit on man. But, yeah, man, like I am not shocked because when you go to camp and I think you've been to a few camps where Cam kicks the ball like it just sounds different, man, when the ball comes off his foot, you know like, you can tell like he's not your average kicker and we've been able to tell that a long, long time. Anybody who has been to practice, who has seen cam little line up and, and you know, take a few swipes of the leg at it, man, we knew, we knew like, and even bucky brooks was shocked. He was like they're not gonna go for this at 70 yards and I was like, uh, why not? Like you know what I'm saying, based on the things like it's like bucky, have you not seen this kid in practice? Like, why not? What time? You know what I'm saying, based on the things like it's like Bucky, have you not seen this kid in practice? Like, why not? What time is a better time than now to go for the 70 yarder in a preseason game where the repercussions isn't like all that bad they didn't even the Steelers didn't even put a returner back there, right, like that's how serious they took it, right, so like we didn't have to worry about them returning it. The best time to try that was then. And uh, you know, like for Liam Cohen, that'd be his first game as a head coach. Like that'll always stick out in his career, you know, regardless of where his career go is just seeing that 70 yard kick.
Speaker 2:But yeah, man Cam is an absolute star. You could tell that the franchise believes he's a star too. He's in all of the promotions, right, the Prowler cereal, all of that they already knew because they've been watching him at practice. They know what he offers. But I actually had faith that he was going to make it because of watching him at practice. And you know like I was like this is not out of the realm of possibilities. He might barely make it. And he it was, bro, he, he had four more yards to give it looks like.
Speaker 2:So now, like you have to like, with that happening right now, it's always the thought of we just need to get to like the 40. You know what I'm saying like that's always going to be in the back of our head, like and, to be honest, what you feel. That's a good feeling to have, especially when you're in a game-winning situation, when you got to tell your offense, all y'all need to do is possibly, you know, we, you know whether they try it or not, that's up to them. Just get us to the 40 or 50, close to it, and this kid can do it. And and Cam and the I think the best part about that field is when they were in the position to do it right. It was obvious they were going to do it because they threw a dump off to a running back in the middle of the field and the running back just fell immediate.
Speaker 2:I'm like, oh, they are setting this up for a crazy kick and we'll see if they make it, but the the crazy part about it, ph Phil is.
Speaker 2:Liam said he looked at Cam and Cam was like, yeah, like no hesitation, yeah, let's do it Like I want to try this. So, when you have a kicker that is that confident in their leg to try a 70-yard field goal, that gives your offense comfort as well. Like, man, if we get this to the 50, cam is more than fine with taking this kick and he won't be fazed by it. So, like, think about how much of a boost of confidence that is for Trevor Lawrence and company. If they're in a situation. It's a game-winning situation. That's a little bit of pressure off of them. It's like, hey, we just got to get it right there and this kid can make it from 70. And it also, you know, gives opposing coaches something to think about too as well. So, yeah, man, I love seeing that. Wish it would have been in a regular season, but I think he will be the record breaker for longest kick in NFL history one day.
Speaker 1:Nfl history one day. Yeah, man, between Cam Little and Logan Cook. Boy, that is a crazy duo dating back to the Mike Hollis. And who was the 90s punter? Didn't it start with a B? Am I tripping? Who was the name of the punter Jaguars, punter 1990s? I feel like they had a good punter in the 90s as well brian barker I think so yeah, brian barker like scoby.
Speaker 1:I don't think ever had that like uh counterpart as a punter. You know brian anger who became a pro bowler later. Third round pick, uh. But yeah, between those two guys, uh, yeah, that is um a really solid duo.
Speaker 2:But yeah, j Don't forget Phil, Don't forget a solid trio, because Ross Matysik, that's true, a pro bowler 72-74 overall in Madden, baby, let's go. He will knock your block off and we've seen it OK. So yeah, I mean he's a pro bowler for a reason.
Speaker 1:Yeah, there were some things on the special teams on the return side as far as, uh, the return defense side that I hope get ironed out before the regular season. But uh, overall, you know special teams is going to be another strong point for the jacksonville jaguars. But yeah, jay, who were some other standouts? I know you highlighted some people over on twitter. You've also, you, we've also had conversations about some other guys that stood out. So who would you like to highlight here in the first game? You know, because we did see a lot of extended playing time for quite a few guys.
Speaker 2:Well, first I'll start with what I want to highlight. Eight penalties, I think it was. We got to clean that up. You know, like that's that old Doug Peterson stench which you know it's normally not easy to remove that stench from the previous regime when you're a penalty-heavy team. So that's something that'll come in time, I hope. And I do think they are practicing cleaner football. Just looking at the practices and getting stuff like that cleaned up. I don't think this is going to be a like a ongoing issue, but you hate to see it. After coming off of the run we came off with with Doug Like it's like that stench is still there. So they'll work on that.
Speaker 2:For me, man, the standout to me was BJ Green from Colorado defensive tackle Bro, that that dude is as strong as all get out. And I didn't, you know, like just kind of looking at his measurables, I didn't think he packed that much power, but, man, he had a bull rush. It was two back-to-back plays that I highlighted. He had a bull rush where he, you know, like you just tell the guard was just having a bad day with that dude every time he was on the field and then he came screaming off of the edge on the very next play. The tackle didn't even have a chance. Like he was like, oh, like it's one of those plays where the end zooms past you and you know it's no hope to catch him, like you just hope your quarterback is like smart enough to either get down or get the ball out of his hand or run in the other direction, type of thing. So he'll be a guy worth watching because, again, of just how this defensive line is in terms of depth, they are down their top two defensive tackles and you know, like the defensive line in general kind of didn't stand out.
Speaker 2:Um, the other one, uh, danny strugow, who me and Jamal well, jamal mentioned him. He's the kid that went to the Super Bowl late. He got the forced fumble that we couldn't recover. Like it was right there for us to recover but he caused a forced fumble. So that's another guy worth watching, see if he can make the team on the back end with Green and Basial Tootin. I got him highlighted as well Because, like I've been saying it, like I'm a big LaQuint Allen fan when it comes to like him and Basial Tootin and I probably shouldn't like put those two against each other right, because they are going to really benefit from having each other.
Speaker 2:Like just imagine when you go to college, right, and you're a freshman, you're a new guy and literally your roommate is, you know, a guy that can absolutely relate to you Play the same position. You know, been through some similar things. Like they. Really I think they're really building fit from having each other in that running back room. But Basial, tootin man, explosive, explosive as all get out man, and Allen too. Like we saw Allen kind of shine in the past game. But it makes you excited about that running back room. We were just talking about ETN and Bixby but look what they have waiting in the wings with Tootin and Allen. Like one thing we can say is in all likelihood the future is bright at running back for the Jacksonville Jaguars. So I do like that and I like what I saw out of him.
Speaker 2:But those were some of the guys. One more Dorian Singler, who had some yards after the catch type of plays that he kind of flashed on. He'll be a guy or Dorian Singer, should I say to watch. He actually beat Travis Etienne on a play in Utah, utah, so like that always kind of stood out to me. But yeah, he's a guy that, like, offered something after the catch that I'll be watching headed for. It was some real easy concepts that he took advantage of, but still nonetheless, you know anybody that can do. What we saw from him after the catch is worth highlighting and worth watching head and forward.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I love seeing the offensive line and the offense in general just pushing Basial Tootin' into the end zone. You love seeing that kind of physicality down there to get the touchdown. So that was great. A guy that I certainly want to highlight, jay he had some ups and downs but did have quite a few opportunities which is Trenton Irwin. I forgot that.
Speaker 1:Trenton Irwin, jay, is the guy that Tony Khan mentioned. Looked like Adam Cole, I forgot that was him and just kind of doing like a quick look into, a quick dive into him. Very popular guy amongst Bengals fans as well, so I would like to see him make his way onto the team. It seems like he's a pretty sure handed guy when it comes to special teams. He was a big contributor over there and, yeah, he had, you know, the drop in a couple of missed opportunities, but he did end up getting that touchdown, I believe from I believe it was from Wolfe, no, it was from Mullins, and so you know it was nice to see him popping up quite a bit along with those players that you mentioned there. Jay, yeah, you know, as we've already talked about, you know, we might be seeing a little bit into the future when it comes to those two running backs and seeing what they're able to bring to the table and, as you also mentioned, you know we're talking about a very long season One of those guys is certainly going to have some very important snaps at some point during the regular season. So keeping all those guys, I don't think there's anything wrong with that.
Speaker 1:What was your overall continued evaluation of Joshua Cephas A name, of course, that's going to continue to come up for the remainder of the preseason? He had three catches, 25 yards. We're talking about, you know, the fifth or sixth guy on the roster when it comes to either Irwin or Cephas. So what do you see there and how is this going to be different than you know, some of these other camp names that get very popular here, you know, during the preseason, is he going to be able to make an impact, do you think?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I forgot all about Cephas. That's my guy, like I'm glad you mentioned him. It's like how could you forget about like all this talk? I've been talking about Cephas like since last year and you give me the opportunity and I miss out on him. But yeah, he had the one I think it was a hook route where he just kind of sat in the zone. But yeah, no, he's been having a great camp man. Like it's going to be hard to cut that kid. The only thing that stands in his way is how much he helps as a special teamer. Right, that's what could get Trenton Irwin excuse me, adam Cole on the team over him. Is that baby? Yeah? And shout outs to Adam Cole, man, I hope he um that's my guy he gets.
Speaker 2:Yeah, man, I hope you get healthy. Man shout outs to you you're one of the one of the better wrestlers we've seen in a while. Man shout outs to him but yeah, with Trent, like that's with Trenton Irwin. That's kind of what gives him the edge over Cephas. But I think still, like with what Cephas is shown in practice and what he's also shown in terms of like, what stands out to me with him is the, the development from year one to year two and if I can recall he didn't really he didn't get to play on the main roster at any point in time, he was mostly on practice squad and for him to be able to develop while on practice squad and get a little bit better like he looks miles different than he did last year, in my opinion. I mean, we all work.
Speaker 2:We already said Phil we had this discussion on the podcast Cephas was draftable. I think the kid should have been draftable and he's really proving that right now. There's no way that man should have been an undrafted free agent, especially what we're seeing out of him at training camp, and even last year in training camp there were glimpses of it, but I think he told Jamal this. I think, if I'm not mistaken. I don't want to misquote the media here, but I think he told Jamal this. His big thing was he didn't take advantage of the preseason last year. This year we're starting to see him do that a little bit. So I can envision a place where both him and Trittner both are on his team and that's five and six at receiver, behind Parker Washington, because I really would have a hard time cutting him, like if he gets cut, he's. I think he's getting snatched up, you know, but that's me.
Speaker 1:Yeah, the other guy that has like a lot of special teams reps is Austin Trammell. You know he's been around for a little bit but yeah, cephas is listed, you know, right behind Brian Thomas Jr, at least on last week's unofficial depth chart. We'll see what happens as the preseason unfolds, but yeah, I can certainly see a case where they keep both of those guys and it would just be, I I think, a huge mistake for him to get away. I don't know if it's an alan lazard situation when it comes to cevis, but I do think that he'd be able to be utilized, uh for sure, by somebody else, you know, especially with, uh, with a competent scouting department for sure. But, jay, anything else you want to mention, as we approach kind of the hour mark here of this episode, you know saw a lot of things I think, to build on. For sure, I did like how they were kind of moving the ball down the field with Hennigan there at the end, unfortunately, they fall a little bit short, not able to get out of bounds on that final drive. But you know there was certainly signs of life and a lot of encouraging things you'd like you want to see in the first game.
Speaker 1:You know how many of these preseason games have we seen where the Jaguars come out flat. Then there's just nothing to look forward to. But they put up 25 points. They got some good film on some of the guys that are going to be contributing to give you depth. Now I think we just want to see it out of the offense. Get a first team offense, get a touchdown right on one of your first drives and then, as far as the first team defense, get some pressure, maybe force a turnover or you know, just look really good and like a solid three and out. You know what do you? Uh, what other takeaways do you have for this game? If any, um, or if you're ready, we can kind of talk about what you want to see this upcoming weekend against new orleans.
Speaker 2:yeah, well, I'll talk about what I want to see this upcoming weekend against New Orleans. Yeah well, I'll talk about what I want to see, because I've kind of talked about all the takeaways. As I mentioned, penalties need to go down. I want to see less drops too, which I'm actually not shocked about when it comes to drops, because even like that was one of the not that he had any drops in this game. Well, I guess you can't call the throw with him and Trevor a drop, cause he was just put in a bad situation there.
Speaker 2:But one thing that I did mention in my scouting report is that and they they've kind of seen this from him in practice drops with Brian Thomas Jr. You know like it's not something that's overly concerning, but I put it in my scouting report. He had some drops for LSU that it was like oh bro, you got to catch that. You know what I'm saying. So I want to see drops get cleared up from that group as a whole, and I'm not just singling him out, but that group as a whole the you know the one I think it was the one Irwin drop where he's literally it looked like Irwin was fighting the ball, bro. It's like come on like wide open pass, or if it wasn't him, it might've been Trammell, or they both might've had a drop in the game.
Speaker 2:I have to go back and look, but I want to see drops and penalties get cleaned up, as you said. Yeah, you do want to see a score. You know when the first team is out there and, most importantly, you know, I want to see everybody come out healthy. And then, lastly, you know, I want to see, in that standpoint of the defensive tackles, I want to see if we, you know, get some movement on our top two defensive tackles getting back on the field. You know, or know, or you know at least some kind of news on if they're returning or close to returning. So those are some things I want to see.
Speaker 1:I want to take this opportunity, jay, to ask you, as we kind of wrap up here, what's your level of concern with what we're seeing out of Tyson Campbell, or like, what we're not seeing out of? Tyson Campbell gets paid last year, obviously not a current regime guy. What's your read on him? Because you know, coming out of the draft obviously people were kind of like a little confused about the pick. Starts to play well, then he gets his money. Um, where are we at on that, when, of course, you want to see a dynamic duo, of course, between Campbell and then, if he's going to be playing a lot of defensive snaps, of course, travis Hunter. So where are we at on that?
Speaker 2:uh, mid-tier concern because when Tyson has always been about putting him in zone coverage where he can see the ball right, which they did a lot of that um, if I can recall now I have to go back to look at the film, but they did a lot of that on saturday right, and he still didn't look all that great. Now, look now he. He was on the um. Well it's I guess it's technically not an injury report now because it's training count, but he was held out of practice for undisclosed injury. We'll have to get more on that.
Speaker 2:So maybe he's not 100 percent, but yeah, I have mid-level concern about him because, as much as I love my Georgia guys, you know, like when we picked him, you know I always felt then that you know that pick could have been spent elsewhere, high for him and just also too man. Like what's concerning is he had such a great training camp but when you're on the field with players and concepts that um you aren't as familiar with, it all goes downhill, like this man was going toe-to-toe with btj right, I'm probably seeing reps against travis hunter and then he gets out there and that happens. So you know, I I hope again, like I'll never not root for georgia bulldog. I hope he can get it all put together. But look, man, we are in what year? Six for Tyson, five yeah 2021 draft.
Speaker 2:So yeah, it's concerning he's gotten his money.
Speaker 2:He's gotten his money. And not only that, but a reoccurring issue keeps coming up with him and you know it's injuries that's concerning. Chances are, if you and I don't like to be a pessimist about this kind of thing and I wish him a great bill of health, but if we saw a lot of injuries throughout the start of your career, what's to say that's going to change for the second half of your career, right? So there's that. You know, maybe it's just something minor that he's dealing with and they just want you know they'll take a precaution because it's the preseason. It's not worth him further injuring himself, uh, but yeah, I, I'm pretty concerned about tyson man and, um, you know another thing.
Speaker 2:One last thing, phil, is now that I'm looking back at it, right, this team wants Travis Hunter to play a significant amount of cornerback snaps. He spent a number what two overall pick on Travis Hunter. Not just like to be a receiver but to be a cornerback. Is that because they had concerns about Tyson too? Because that's a big, heavy investment to put into a team when you trade up to the number two overall spot and give up what we gave up. So there's that too yeah, listen.
Speaker 1:And gladstone has not been afraid to jettison those trent bulky guys out of here. Right, we've seen it already. So whether it be via trade, you know I don't think because of depth reasons. You know I don't think tyson's going anywhere or anything like that. I can't foresee that happening. But there's no reason to believe that they're not keeping an eye on that just like everybody else is and have a better pulse on it than we do.
Speaker 1:So the thing about the tyson campbell pick jay, I will say is like just looking back at that draft, which we love to do, it doesn't seem like there's necessarily another defensive back in that. You know, post Tyson Campbell that has really like elevated himself or like man we could have had this. You know that that happens so many times when you look at the Jacksonville Jaguar draft history. So we've kind of avoided that for the most part. I know a lot of people at the time were like throwing around Asante Samuel Jr, which he doesn't even have a team right now. So like if you really wanted to go get asante samuel, you could go do that. But there isn't necessarily a guy on here that you know as far as defensive back. But there are names out there, like landon dickerson and jok from cleveland. You know names like that that are out there that you would have. You know you maybe could have gone to creed humphrey, you know.
Speaker 1:So, nico collins'm going to stop scrolling here, it's going to make me sad, but it's. You know, that's the, at least as far as defensive back. You know, obviously, the prize position, as far as that position in that draft was Patrick Sertain and JC Horn, and you know we weren't really in the position to get those guys because we took Trevor Lawrence. So, but yeah, it's something we certainly need to keep an eye on and, like you said, as far as his health, you know, we obviously wish him the very best and hope he can return to the form that we have seen him compete at.
Speaker 1:But I don't know, we will see. So, yeah, I would very much like them to come out against New Orleans, a team that is like boy. When you talk about a team that I really could not tell you what their direction is, it's definitely the New Orleans Saints. Obviously, they drafted, you know, the quarterback that's as old as you and me in the draft, but outside of that, kellen Moore. I'm not sure what they're doing out there, but I would like to have them come out and put on like a really solid performance against New Orleans this weekend. But yeah, anything else you want to mention before we wrap up this episode, and I look forward to this weekend's game.
Speaker 2:I don't know, man. You just made me reflect on something, man. You remember when the Saints used to be feared, right? You know what I'm saying? Like what happened.
Speaker 1:There's an aura about the Caesardome too, because it's not the most flashy building, it's not, it doesn't have all these bells and whistles of all these other new stadiums, but like there's just about it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, there's just something about it and obviously, what new orleans has gone through as a city and as a community and that's just like gone. Now, like I mean, maybe kellen moore is a good coach, but he looks like a rugrats character. Uh, tyler shuck, like we said, is you know he's collecting benefits since from louisville. He's got his, he's got his 401k withdrawal from louisville and they got like the remnants of. You know they're holding out alvin kamara hostage and you know the the ghost of Drew Brees is haunting that and Sean Payton is haunting that stadium. So I don't know, maybe they, um, you know, I think the NFL is a better place when the Saints are a team worth rooting for, and I don't know what they are right now, so sorry, Saints fans no one's.
Speaker 1:None of them are gonna listen to this, but I feel terrible for my favorite rapper currency, man.
Speaker 2:Hey, I hope y'all get it together, man and hey, come on the show currency, talk about it. If you ever want to vent about where the saints are, talk about it with us. All right, we'll gladly have you on. But yeah, no man. I'm just happy to be back, man, and it was a great episode. But go ahead, you got something to add?
Speaker 1:I was gonna say we're facing two teams in a row here to end up the preseason that have like a, a lack of identity, like new orleans, and then miami whatever's going on with tua and tyree kill and, uh, you know, their coach is on the heights hot seat, a guy that, like a couple seasons ago, everybody wanted mike mcdaniel. So, uh, you know, I will say, like, in terms of where we are at currently, I, I certainly you know we're in a much better position than New Orleans and I even I think even you'd say Miami I don't, I don't expect Miami to be competitive this year, do you?
Speaker 2:No, man, I got too much turmoil. And you mentioned something, man, I'll put it out. I'll word it this way Right, if that turmoil gets to be too much for Miami and they have to make some changes, I would love to have Mike McDaniel and Jackson.
Speaker 1:Right, man, I'll put it that way. Offensive coordinator, offensive assistant, something like that. Let's bring that energy. I really believe that, like him and him, Liam Cohen, we get along very well. So yeah, Miami, by all means.
Speaker 2:Yeah, by all means. But yeah, man, I'm just glad to be back and glad to be talking football, as you can see. And yeah, man, we'll keep updating people with tweets and I'll keep up the TikTok page. I've done a little decent job of that, surprisingly. So, yeah, we'll have a TikTok coming out soon and we'll get this podcast up as soon as possible too yeah, everybody, thank you so much for joining us.
Speaker 1:Episode 117, pre-season week one, is in the books. We will be back next week to go over the game against the new orleans saints, but once again, make sure you check out the link tree link in the show notes of this and every single episode. Follow myself and Jay and the podcast over on social media and continue to use that promo code Touchdown Jaguars over on SeatGeek $20 off your first purchase, and that helps us immensely. And head on over to Apple Podcasts, spotify, wherever you're listening, give us that five-star review. It is very much appreciated. But, folks, that is my co-host, james Johnson. I am Phil Barrera and first time in a long time it's been a while since I've said this don't forget to tune in to Touchdown Jaguars. We're each and every Jaguar touchdown and we will see you next week, folks.