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Touchdown Jaguars!
Touchdown Jaguars!
Episode 131: Jaguars/Cardinals Week 12 Analysis - Cardiac Cats Show Up in OT vs. Cards
A chaotic overtime win over Arizona shows both sides of this team: careless turnovers and ice-cold clutch throws. We weigh late-game analytics, celebrate a key return on offense, and map the most interesting playoff path Jacksonville has seen in years.
• Wildcard position improving with many winnable games ahead
• Trevor Lawrence volatility and late-game efficiency
• Breakdown of Lawrence's picks and the coverage adjustments he saw
• Brenton Strange’s return opening the middle of the field
• Parker Washington’s chemistry and special teams impact
• Defensive pressure spike, DB blitzes, and front improvements
• Coaching aggression on fourth down and clock nuances
• AFC playoff matchups to target and avoid
• Titans preview and trap-game risk management
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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.
Welcome to the Touchdown Jaguars Podcast. Here are your hosts, James Johnson and Phil Smith.
SPEAKER_01:Hey everyone, welcome back to the Touchdown Jaguars Podcast. I'm your co-host, Phil Barrera, and with us as always is your other co-host, James Johnson and Jay. We are recording here on the evening of November 24th, a victory Monday, albeit a very, very coming off a very, very stressful Sunday to get to that victory Monday, but it is a win nonetheless. And you know what? We will certainly take those over the losses. We are here at the end of November, Jay, heading into, you know, turning the corner into the holiday season, and the Jacksonville Jaguars are in the playoff picture. We're not discussing, you know, mock drafts. Last year, I think by week five, we were talking about who the next head coach and general manager was going to be. Nah nah, in the in the words of LA Knight, not this year, as we are uh firmly in position to kind of control our own destiny heading into the final month and a half of the season. So, Jay, good to be back here with you tonight. Uh, after I had to take last week off for my daughter's birthday, I was doing some traveling as well. So, yeah, good to see you. How are we feeling after again a very stressful Sunday?
SPEAKER_04:I I was stressed out Sunday, um, but um now I feel a lot better about it. And I felt better about it once we secured the win as well. Um, because not only did we win, though, we moved up a spot in the wildcard, you know, so that's always good. Um, as you know, me and you were discussing, like, well, at this point, we kind of have to look out for these other teams that could be threats for the wildcards that shouldn't be there in the first place, like the Bills and you know, these other teams we discussed, Pittsburgh and so on and so forth, and the Ravens. Well, the Ravens actually jumped to a number one in their division, so they uh we don't have to really worry about them in that regard if we're fighting for wild card spots. But yeah, like that was kind of our concern. Bottom line is you know, fighting off those teams. And here we are ascending in the wild card ranks, right? With a tied record to the the Chargers, too, who are ahead of us um by the tiebreaker regard. But um, yeah, that that was the best part about it was moving up a little bit, taking advantage of that Bill's loss. We could have easily not taken advantage of it. Uh look, it's plenty of football left to be played, of course. And uh, you know, we got to take this at a game by game basis, at least the team does. Um, but yeah, man, overall happy because, as you said, last year we were talking about GM candidates and you know, coaching candidates and trying to gauge if Trent Balkey would survive, and that's a whole nother different level of stress that I I rather deal with this kind of stress of keeping a playoff seat than that kind of stress we were dealing with last year. I'll gladly take that any day of the week.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, man. The um again, just a 180 that's happened here uh over the course of year one with Liam Cohen, James Gladstone, Tony Baselli, uh with those guys at the helm. Uh, you know, it feels good. And even though when watching the game uh and and Trevor is turning over the football, you are, you know, you know, you the I I've never been so frustrated with a 7-4 football team ever. Because for most of our fandom, it's been the Jaguars are really good or they're just really bad, and there's never been really an in-between. And I think this is a pretty good above-average football team, and they'd be even better if they cut back on some of the mistakes that we see uh over and over again for the most part, each and every single week, with the exception of a couple times. Uh, but like you said, Jay, they are currently in the sixth seed, only one game back from the Colts, with two games coming up against those Colts and uh two games also against the Tennessee Titans, who are uh not having a very good year themselves at one and ten. So again, they have the ability to kind of control their own destiny. Uh, they have that big home game coming up against Indy in two weeks. We'll talk about that obviously down the road. Uh, we don't want to look too far ahead, uh, you know, focus on what they have in front of them. So we're gonna break down what we saw here in this game, uh, and uh, you know, the good, the bad, as, and of course the ugly. Before we get started, I want to remind you guys to uh check the Linktree link in the show notes of this and every single episode to find everything you need, touchdown Jaguars related, where to keep up with us on social media, also where to use that promo code Touchdown Jaguars over on SeatGeek. Save yourself$20 on your first eligible SeatGeek purchase. And uh yeah, we appreciate you guys for coming along for the ride this season. It's been a whole lot of fun. From from being on the cusp of uh maybe not doing the podcast anymore, like our Carolina brethren over there. I don't think those guys are are I don't think they've returned since the Panthers have started winning a little bit, but uh to uh again talking about a playoff football team. It's been pretty uh a pretty crazy ride. So uh yeah, let's get into the game here. Jacksonville, it takes overtime, but they beat the Arizona Cardinals 27 to 24. Trevor Lawrence, uh, you know, you got the uh the the bad the good and the bad. A couple weeks ago I said, you know, this whole game was a microcosm of what the Jacksonville Jaguars are. This is a microcosm of what the Jacksonville Jaguars are here against the Arizona Cardinals. Uh, there was a lot of Ben don't break defense, a lot of really solid in the running game, uh, and then you know, Trevor Lawrence moving the football down the field with ease and then turning the ball over in the end zone, which is something we've seen way too much of when it comes to him in his tenure here in Jacksonville. We also saw another backup quarterback play very well in Jacobi Brissett. Uh, but Jay, you know, I don't I think we'd be lying to ourselves if we thought we would go and come into Arizona and this would be a walk in the park. Arizona's record is not reflective, I don't think, of who they are as a football team. They've had a lot of close games. We were talking about that before we got started. Uh aside from the two blowout losses to, you know, Seattle and also San Francisco, they've pretty much been competitive in each and in every single game uh that they've had thus far. And of course, Sunday was no different. So um, yeah, I guess we'll start with uh, you know, kind of the obvious the the talk of the town every single week, which is going to be Trevor Lawrence. 18 of 30, 256 for three touchdowns, and he had a matching three interceptions there, three head scratching interceptions uh to say uh to say the least. So let's start with 16. He's the lightning rod. Um, you know what? He he gets you there and puts you in the position to win, but also has been putting them in a position to not not win. And you know, what what did you grasp and what did you take away from Trevor's performance on Sunday?
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, man, you know, like the comparison I kept making and looking at it in hindsight, um I have a better one, but the comparison I kept making for him was like a Brock Purdy-like path we should take with him. But the more and more I look at it, and one of my followers or somebody who commented on Twitter on one of my tweets today uh gave an even better comparison uh in Brett Favre. He's very Brett Favre-like, right? It was times where we would watch Brett Favre back in the day, right, Phil, and the games in his last two minutes, he's trying to do a comeback drive or whatever the case may be. He throws a pick, and somehow, somehow, they still win the game because Brett Favre gets the ball with 50 seconds left, and he does what he does. I know he's a guy that a lot of people don't like to talk about for off-the-field reasons, but the on-the-field player that Brett Favre was, um that and but that's the Trevor Lawrence experience, right? And it's another quarterback that comes to mind that was very pick happy. I won't even say his name, but he played for the Steelers in war number seven, right? A very pick happy quarterback that um you you can see where the Steelers and they did eventually could win a championship with him, and then you can see where he would cost them one. So I think those are like very good comparisons for him, Trevor as a uh player. But yeah, man, we we got the full Trevor Lawrence experience in that game. And um, you know, if you didn't take your blood pressure meds before the game, then you learned a valuable lesson that you should probably heading forward. Um you just never know what you're gonna get with Trevor. Um what I will say, and I, you know, I tweeted about this and we discussed it in the thread. Uh what I did like about it is in the second half, each time he threw a pick, the next drive that he had the possession in, he drove him for a touchdown. And um, you know, this is something that's not again, it's not new to us. Well, we've talked about it on the podcast where also, and we talked about this the last time me and you were together on the podcast, also you keep seeing these uh spurts of a clutch gene. Yeah, the road to from the start to the end is very rocky and very roller coaster, like with Trevor Lawrence. But at the end of the game, and we keep coming back to this conversation for some reason, at the end of the game, he always makes that one play that needs to be made to get them over the hump. Granted, he's the one that got them in the situation they're in in the first place at the end of the game. He always makes up for it, right? Uh-huh. And even if you want to go to that, this is something I wanted to discuss with you. Even if you want to go to the Texas game that we would all rather forget, right, Phil? Uh-huh. Even in that game, what was the discussion that we had on this podcast? He made the game winning pass to Parker Washington, but in that case, it got voided, you know. So that could very well be another like clutch moment that he had with the game on the line and you know, last-minute drive type of thing. I saw somebody put out a tweet. I don't know if you saw it earlier, Phil, but have you seen his numbers like in game-winning drives? It's it's insane, man. He's like Tom Brady in game-winning moments. I wish I could find that, and I will when you when you get to talking. Um, but but his numbers in the game winning drives or when the game is tied at the end of the game is insane as opposed to the rest of his career. And I don't know what it is about him, man. Um, but I think like we we have to start having a conversation while we we had many conversations about if he's good or if he's bad, or what exactly he is. Another conversation we're gonna start having to have, or at least the opposition's uh or the opposition is gonna start having to have is do we want Trevor Lawrence to have the ball in the last minute of the game? Just look at how he's come back this year alone, the Chargers game as well in the playoffs, like he's built this kind of weird resume where his career is very questionable. But when it comes to the last minute, the last drive, or you know, when the game is tied, do you want that guy having the ball in his hand? Because for some reason he'll he'll find that guy, whoever it was, you know, in the the first Texas game, it was Bryan Thomas Jr. He made a play to Bryan Thomas Jr. at the end. Whether it was Parker Washington, which he did in this game, you know, he almost did it again in the second Texas game, but again, that one was voided. Whoever it is, man, he knows how to find them in that key moment. And uh, you know, it also helps that we have arguably the best kicker in football, too, as well. So that helps too. You don't have to like go the distance of the field. Um, but yeah, man, um just I advise everybody heading forward. If you're on blood pressure meds with this kid, take your blood pressure meds before the game. And uh you might want to grab your drink or two, not the people with blood pressure issues, but the people who can drink. You might want to grab your drink or two before the game as well with this kid because it's gonna be very, very six flags roller coaster-like, man.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I know the you know, one of the Daniel Griffiths tweets that came out in the last week was, you know, that he had not thrown uh you know his touchdown interception ratio as far as being, you know, with the lead and then when trailing, uh, he's now at nine of his 11 interceptions have come with the lead this season. And then he has 11 touchdowns, just two interceptions when tied or trailed. So yeah, it is something that we do continue to see from him where yes, he is he's the reason we're in some of these positions when it comes to having to make a comeback, but he's also, you know, he's he's getting it done. Like he throws the interception, Arizona takes the lead, they march right down the field. You know, the the perfect example was remember, he throws a dime to Brenton Strange on the sideline, and then he throws the interception the very next play. I'm like, what the hell? I mean, literally in the process of tweeting, damn, what a throw from Trevor, and then he throws the interception. I'm like, what the hell is happening, man? Like, give us one or the other. A lot what a lot of people are starting to draw the comparison to is Jameis Winston. And you know, Trevor, I don't think Trevor Lawrence will ever have a 40 and 40 year like Jameis Winston did, but um, man, it is it's a similar experience. And the thing is, Trevor Lawrence doesn't have the personality that Jameis Winston has, so I think if if he did, people would probably be would feel a little bit better about it. The guy that I have a lot of experience with, Jay, and my fandom, and and you'll know this, is is Tony Romo. Now, Tony Romo played in a different era, so like we're talking 4,500 yards, almost 5,000 yard seasons from him. Um, but a guy that you just never saw get over the hump, and I'm hoping that's not Trevor. I hope he has that extra game, the extra win and playoff run in him. But Tony Romo is a guy that I think about a lot as well. You know, a guy that I wanted here in Jacksonville at one point. You remember that, like when he came off that injury between the Dak Prescott year and then uh him coming off of that injury. I thought he could have played one more year, but uh didn't end up happening. But um that that's a guy that I think of too when it comes to the comparisons is I hope he is a guy, uh, you know, as far as Tony Romo, he was a hell of a lot of fun to watch. Um I haven't really even rooted for the Cowboys since he left. So that's a guy that I hope that as far as the numbers, I hope he can kind of replicate, but we'll eventually be able to get that win. So I do hope he's more on the field, you know, that number seven guy in Pittsburgh than he is number nine in Dallas.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, Tony Romo comes to mind. Um it was moments where Brunel looked like that too. Brunel would throw a pick in like a clutch moment. We're probably showing our age, but he'd throw a pick where you know, like, although we were kids, we knew when he was going to the sideline that Tom Coughlin was gonna cuss him out for the picks that Brunel used to throw. It's like, bro, what what were you looking at at that time? Even though, again, we were kids, uh, but yeah, on on the picks, that's what I wanted to ask you about. Um, on the picks, I agree, like two of them at least were very bad. Like he he threw so many, like he had so many turnovers, like all of them aren't like clear to me. But two of them were bad. Like it was the one to Buddha Baker where um, albeit Buddha did like have to make like a leaping interception, Trevor stared him down, right? Stared down, I think it was Austin Trammell for like a hook or a curl route. And or it was some kind of interior pattern. And I think you know what happened is they looked at that film last week with the Chargers. Trevor had a field day in the interior part of the field and they adjusted to it. And that's kind of the type of things that you know Trevor has to uh also make adjustments to on his end as well. It's like, hey, like they know you had a field day going, especially to Jacob Jacoby Myers on the interior patterns. That's gonna be something that they're going to look at the Cardinals will and kind of manipulate you with, which you know, the Budabaker pick now, he didn't it wasn't a manipulation type of thing at all. Buddha just followed Trevor, literally followed Trevor's eyes to the route. Right? It was another one where a linebacker did um it looks like the the linebacker was gonna go out into the flats, but then he dipped out into the seam and picked off Trevor. Uh that one, you know, still if you're Trevor, you know, you kind of gotta know that they're gonna try these tactics after seeing the success you had to Jacoby Myers in the middle of the field, um, you gotta adjust to these tactics that you're gonna see and these things you're gonna see. And that's where I want to see if he'll grow heading forward. Now, the one in the end zone, you know, it's it's kind of hard to see, but it did get tipped by somebody, Calais or somebody. So that probably altered it, but it did look kind of funny when it when the the uh whoever picked it off picked it. It looked kind of funny in regards to like the ball placement, and that could have been because it was tipped. So that one I'll have to watch some more, but the two that I mentioned beforehand, man, it's like bro. Come on, man. Come on, Trev.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, it is the uh the the Trevor Lawrence experience, man. It is um this is just who he is, and I think the the the sooner you know a lot of us, myself included, just kind of accept like this is what's going to happen. I think it's gonna be it's it'll still be frustrating, but make it just a little bit easier to get through. Um, but man, thank goodness Brendan Strange is back. Like the you know, the offense really clicked with him being part of it. I mean, Parker Washington looked great, obviously, continuing to have his breakout season and then Jacoby Myers, man. Uh that's why I I believe, you know, I don't want to get too far ahead, but you know, we we were kind of circling that um that Denver Broncos game a couple weeks back as one we were really worried about. But like heading into that game, if you got a healthy Brenton Strange, we'll see what happens with BTJ, and then the way Myers and Washington are just very quickly, especially Myers, are building that chemistry with Trev. You feel a little bit better, um, and then you just hope that the defense can, you know, uh get a turnover or two against Bo Knicks. But uh yeah, no turnovers against uh you know uh against Jacoby Myers, I mean uh Jacoby Brissett here, Jay. And uh, you know, a team where I was listening to Wig and um uh over on Lockdown Jaguars during the week, like a team that was trotting out guys off the street on the offensive line. Now, Josh Hines Allen did have, I think, a thousand pressures. I'd have to check the actual number, but it was something along that line. Um did get home on a sack, and I believe he had a sack and a half uh uh to look at the box score. You mean a few pressures? Um, a thousand. I think it was about one thousand. He was back there quite a bit. Oh no, I didn't I just caught over to what you were saying.
SPEAKER_04:I thought you were talking about the foyer thing. I don't I thought you were getting it mixed up with a thousand tackle. Okay, okay.
SPEAKER_01:I was talking about Josh Hines Allen being in the backfield quite a bit. He did get home, I think, on uh yeah, he did have one sack, but he was back there a lot a lot, blowing up plays. But uh, you know, you hope that the defense, especially with them being so turnover heavy in the earlier earlier in the season, would be able to uh, you know, force a turnover or two against Arizona, just didn't happen. But yeah, Jay, what were some of your other takeaways uh when it came to uh to this game?
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, um it's a general takeover, not just for this game, but like the last few weeks. Um the defensive line, you know, we were that was a talking point for us, right? They weren't getting the pressure uh that we needed them to get, but they've taken advantage of these beat-up offensive lines and these, you know, uh bottom half type of offensive lines, where there was the Chargers and the Cardinals, uh, which you like. Like, that's not a I'm not knocking them for anything, but that's what you want to see. Like, if you're gonna struggle against the the good offensive lines, at least can y'all look like decent against the the bad ones or the ones that rank outside of the top half of the league. But yeah, as you mentioned, Josh Hines Allen, you know, we were having conversations of like even in the thread and on this this podcast, like, what's the deal with him? He's getting home a lot more and he's causing havoc. He's causing, you know, he caused Jacoby Myers to throw a few bad ones. He calls Justin Herbert the week before to throw a few bad passes. And, you know, those are kind of game-changing things, you know, pressures, yeah, they don't necessarily register as a sack, but um they they have helped us out in some crucial moments these last few weeks. So Josh Hines Allen, you know, albeit against lesser competition, starting to get closer to um himself, Devon Hamilton playing better in the interior, right? Um, Eric Armstead playing a little better in the interior. And, you know, all of this is important because, you know, we are going to be facing, and I don't know where the Titans um offensive line ranks, but you know, we're gonna be facing lesser competition heading forward. You know, I would think that these lines aren't much better than the Chargers one we faced and um the one we just faced this week. So if they can continue that, then we're in the playoffs. If they could continue to take advantage of these lines that aren't necessarily elite. Um, not sure where the Jets line um lands in in terms of their ranking, but you know, you would think that they're probably not one of the top tier offensive lines, too. So take advantage of them, the Titans line, um, so on and so forth. And yeah, we we definitely will make it into the playoffs. So that was a takeaway, it's just glad to see um where they were in terms of pressuring the quarterback and getting sacks, and actually feel what I'll do, I'll pull up PFF and see what the pressure numbers were real quick.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, while you're doing that, I do have now this is uh of the as of the 21st, so this is before Sunday's games. Um, but Tennessee's offensive line, according to PFN, ranks 26th. Uh team offensive line grade of 66.8. Uh their highest ranked offensive lineman is Peter Skaronsky at a 78.6. Uh, that's 67th overall, and then their worst is Dan Moore Jr. at a 69.7. Um uh 129th overall. So yeah, definitely a bottom tier offensive line uh that they will be facing here this weekend. Yeah, so definitely got to take advantage of that before you go up against the Colts in a couple weeks, which is the third ranked offensive line according to PFN.
SPEAKER_04:All right, so yep, I pulled up the um the premium stats on PFF here uh in terms of how many hurries PFF said the team had um in the Cardinals game. And um, I don't know what how they define hurries, but it was quite a few, actually. 31 hurries is what is showing here. And you know, that could be a lot of two, and we we could talk about this a little bit too, Phil. Is um, you know, Camp O'Neilly kind of adjusting in terms of at first, like they took this bend but don't break approach, and Jacoby Myers was eating up that zone, like zone coverage, he was killing them. Um, especially with those um, you know, when you're you're doing off coverage, whatever it may be, cover three, whatever the case may be. He was killing them on those patterns, those outbreaking patterns, 10 yards, and then outbreaking patterns, he got a few of those on us. And you know, anything where he had to diagnose a zone, he pretty much was money for the most part. For the most part. But it was when Campanelli started making those adjustments and blitzing in the interior, uh, blitzing some DBs. I don't think I've seen so many DB blitzes uh be so successful against a team, but that's what happens when you're playing a team that's kind of meh, you know what I'm saying? Uh, but yeah, bring in Dewey, bring in um uh Jarian Jones, who has played also, by the way, who's been playing pretty good the last few weeks um and helping out the team in that regard with Jordan Lewis out. So shout outs to him. Um, but yeah, um the the pressures were plentiful, and um, that's what helped them get the job done in terms of the defense, and then in terms of the other talking points that you mentioned, um what a I guess um a blast it is to have Brenton Strange back. He had the five catches for 93 yards, helped in a big, big way. Me and you kind of talked about this in the thread as well. Part of why Trevor Lawrence was struggling throughout the stretch that he was struggling is not just because he was without BTJ and not just because he was without Hunter, but Brenton Strange was a big part of Trevor's success and his um giving him a safety valve in terms of a big uh target in the middle of the field, which Jacoby Myers helped pick that up when we got him in in the trade. But before that, we didn't have Strange, right? We didn't have that threat in the middle of the field, that big target in the middle of the field. And um his presence, strange presence, was felt right off of the bat. Um, he's only gonna help us even more. Um, the more reps he gets, and you know, the more acclimated he gets as he was previously before the hip injury. So, man, I was glad to have him back, man. Like Brenton Strange, albeit he's missed what, a month's worth of game. Like, I feel like that guy should be in a Pro Bowl, you know. If um, of course, we'll be in the playoffs at that time, right, Phil. So the Pro Bowl will be a thing that we're not worried about.
SPEAKER_01:They there have people are having these conversations about like the you know, the return of the tight end. Like, Brenton Strange would be in this conversation if not for that injury, like with the uh, you know, with the um the guy from who we just played with the Cardinals, uh, whose name um Trey McBride. With Trey McBride is with the Brock Bowers. Now, I don't think he would have the same uh, you know, as far as passing yards, as far as you know, receiving yards as a Brock Bowers, but like he's in that conversation of like the next generation of guys.
SPEAKER_04:Absolutely. Yeah, he is. He's in that next wave. Um, and then Parker Washington, another Penn State alum, right? Um, I can't say enough good things about what Parker has done these last few weeks, especially with Trevor. Like he's literally the thread that has kept the wide receiver group together with Trevor not having BTJ and um without Hunter. Like, Trevor's going through these games. This is not making any excuses for him, but the guy's going out there without his number wide receiver one and two. Like, so of course it's gonna look like a little bit funky in terms of a quarterback who's already not a top 15 quarterback going out there without his number one and number two. But Parker Washington has picked up the slack for those two, and that's been Trevor's like go-to guy, man. And I just love the chemistry they have, right? The back shoulder phase they have. Um, one of the throws that Trevor redeemed himself with after throwing a pick, the one, uh the last touchdown to Parker Washington as well, was a dime, man. Like I think he did like a little hook pattern to the outside or whatever the case may be in the end zone. Uh, it was a dime. And it did that play alone kind of shows you the chemistry those two have of just kind of knowing which where each other will be, knowing where to put the ball, understanding that the defensive back had his back turned and wasn't even looking at Washington, Washington coming to the ball a little bit more as well. Just go back and look at that play just in its totality and look at like Trevor's footwork and stepping up in the pocket. That's what we wish this team could be 90% of the time. That play embodies it. And not only that, as I was saying, taking it a step further, but also it just shows the chemistry that Trevor has with his number, uh what we would say, number three receiver on the team. And uh that, you know, that'll be one of the moments we look back at if we make the playoffs. That'll be what help us, or uh what one of the things we'll highlight and say that was one of the things that helped us get through that rough patch. Because this middle part of the season has been the rough patch, make no mistake about it. We started off hot, right? We beat, and that that's a good thing that we started off hot. We beat some teams we should not have beaten, probably, but the middle part of the uh season has been the rough patch because of injuries, because of how Trevor has played, and so on and so forth. Um, but again, when we look back at things, if we make the playoffs, that'll be the thing we highlight is the chemistry between him and Parker Washington as to what helped them at least, you know, beat the Raiders in the Raiders game, and what helped us uh to win this last one, and what helped us in that Chargers game. So that'll be kind of one of those. X factor moments for us. But yeah, man, in terms of Parker, bro, that's another guy like that. I'll take it a step further than Strange, right? Phil, he needs to be getting all pro especially because of what he not necessarily as a receiver. Of course, I'm not saying Parker Washington is an all-pro receiver. He's a very good one. He's a Pro Bowl caliber one. At least he's played that way this year. But I'm talking about what he adds in the return game, too. That's another X factor that helped us win this. Is he had a big time return for us that we scored, what, seven off of eventually? Like, I know he didn't score a touchdown on it, but it put us in good field position. Either we scored a field goal or a touchdown off of it. But as a punt returner, that guy's been an all-pro for us. And like, I don't think anybody can make a argument that he shouldn't be an all-pro for the AFC in that regard in terms of what he offers on special teams.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, you know what is the thing in like in basketball where you know he he's a uh you know, a guy can be a two-way player. And obviously that's not a thing with football because you know, well, other than Travis Hunter, but that's typically not a thing in football. But like Travis, uh, but uh Parker Washington is you know a two-way player when it comes to like special teams, when it comes to you know being a receiver. Um he's he's out there making a huge impact in multiple facets of the game, which is certainly what you want to see, which is you know, not to look too far ahead, but like I'm really excited to see the the core of that wide receiver group, like you know, a full 100%, you know, between BTJ, Jacoby. Hopefully they bring him back, you know, and then Brenton Strange, Travis Hunter, uh Parker Washington. Very excited to see what they do going forward. It seems like you know, Diami Brown is gonna be a one and done. You know, he's pretty much a uh essentially a healthy scratch. I think he's out there for one play, basically. So, you know, they'll see who they bring in when it comes to uh filling out the uh the wide receiver room. But like I'm excited about the future of this team. You know, BTJ gets over, you know, some of those mental things that seem to be plaguing him. And you know, you're in a good spot. Um, like you you felt like you were going into the season. So the emergence of Parker Washington, you hope that he can continue that growth and continue to be uh, you know, a good guy on special teams as well, um, just it increases his value, you know, his his value tenfold for this football team.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, yeah. No, I I told Travis that um Travis from BCC, uh Big Cat Country, I told him that in a comment that we made on Twitter is I want to see this this wide receiver core full strength because you got basically somebody who could do everything. Myers covers the middle of the field, and him and Trevor's chemistry in the middle of the field is philom phenomenal. You know, you feel like this is the best uh interior threat that Trevor has ever had in his career, and the fact that they've hit it off so quickly, it's only been three games, and you can see that chemistry now. Look, obviously they had to pick and and what have you, and stuff like that that needs to be ironed out. But you could tell those two trust each other, right? Like what a great deal of trust. Um, and then you have Parker who, you know, can help you as a slot receiver, who's getting experience in other um places as a result of the injuries right now, and can help you in the punt game and the punt return game. Then you have BTJ who can help you in terms of the deep threat game, which I know a lot of people have been on Trevor about you know, he's regressed in regards to the deep threat, but again, he's without the two guys who we would say are deep threats in Hunter and BTJ right now. So of course, like it's not gonna be a lot of explosion from this team right now without those two, because those were the those were their specialties, right? And when he did have BTJ last year, Trevor was one of the best deep ball throwers or deep pass throwers in the league. So that's worth mentioning there. But you have somebody that could do a little bit of everything. Um, you have the rookie and hunter, who he'll be a you know, a second-year player next year, um, who could do some special things as well. And then also a thing that we got to keep in mind, Phil, is that James Gladstone, if he can take that track record that the Rams had of finding receivers in like the fourth round, man, and he could add one more guy in like the fifth or sixth round that's not on the team right now that'll replace DeAmy, man, like that's just another weapon to add to the mix as well. And you also can't forget what Brenton Strange offers too as a receiver, too, that as well. But in terms of that receiver's room, man, I'm excited about what they have and what James Stone, uh, what James Gladstone could bring in in the future.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, man. So it's exciting. There's and there's reason to be optimistic as well, which is which is nice again, heading turning the corner into uh December. So um, yeah, Jake. Uh, anything else you want to mention when it comes to this game before we wrap up? I think you have maybe another takeaway or two before we uh look ahead to uh to Tennessee, the one in ten Tennessee Titans, which uh it makes you nervous because of the history with Tennessee, but also it's a game where that should be a game you get in and out uh without having to go into overtime.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, they they kind of scared me a little bit with how they were coming back on the Seahawks. Like they were trying to make a little comeback on the Seahawks. I watched a little bit of that game. So, you know, the Jaguars need to be mindful of that. They need to watch that Seahawks game and be like, hey, at least one thing you can tell is that they're still playing with heart, that they don't give up. Like they they're playing with house money too. That makes them even more dangerous, right? They don't have nothing to lose, they're not going to the playoffs. So like they're out there just guns are blazing, right? Out there, literally. Like I saw Cam Ward throw, uh, he threw a ball, he was running to the sideline, and he literally like threw it fading back into the sideline almost. And it's like these guys really don't care. Like, they're just trying to win, like that desire to get some more wins is still there. They know they're not making the playoffs. Well, that can be a dangerous team.
SPEAKER_01:That can make for a dangerous team.
SPEAKER_04:He's a dangerous quarterback, you know. Like he had, yeah, he has the pick history, but that's the exactly the type of quarterback that could get a Jaguars a loss that they will look back and say we shouldn't have lost that game. You know, somebody with that mentality, he's he kind of has a little bit, at least in college he did, he kind of has a little bit of Trevor Lawrence in him. Like, so that that's dangerous, man. Um, but yeah, one thing I wanted to ask, what do you feel about Liam? Um, a lot of people have been talking about the coaching decisions. Um, not necessarily saying he made a good or a bad decision, but what do you think about um for one, like he has this tendency to go into the second half without using all of his timeouts and that last drive? That, but even more so, what were your thoughts on him electing to take um to not take the field goal there at the end of the fourth quarter?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, it's I I think it's very on brand for kind of who like his background, you know, the tree that he is coming from. Because I mean, you saw how confident are you in the defense who had started to, you know, bend a little bit uh as the lead got away from them, um, that they are able to, you know, stop them from getting into the end zone. I think what what maybe had saved them is that like Arizona knew they could take their foot off the gas a little bit, even as they got closer to the end zone because they knew they had the field goal in their pocket. How does that like we just talked about with the Titans? Like a team and a Jacoby Brissett with no fear, knowing he has to get into the end zone no matter what, is maybe more dangerous than uh you know not getting the first down on that fourth down conversion. So I'm I wasn't totally against it uh just because again, I think at that point of the game, with the way they were moving the ball up and down the field and the inability to stop Trey McBride as well as uh who was their receiver that was carving to stop Michael Wilson. Um I I think it was I think it was the right decision just because again, they weren't able to get a full stop. So who's to say Jacoby Brissett doesn't just you know march the ball down the field and just get into the end zone uh knowing that a field goal isn't an option, you know?
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, no, no. Um I see where you're coming from. Um and yeah, I'm I'm not mad at them electing to go for the touchdown. And I think Liam has talked about this before. They asked him about this in another game where he made a similar decision. And, you know, he said, you know, and a lot of teams rely on this too a lot, you know, um, especially younger coaches, but he said the analytics says that you absolutely absolutely should go for the touchdown to put the game out of reach at that point, uh, which is what you were saying, with you know, just in case Jacob Roussette marched down the field, a touchdown wouldn't have been enough, right? Um so yeah, that being said, that he's actually discussed this, and he says that the analytics say that he um should go for the touchdown in that situation. Um the other thing I wanted to mention is in my opinion, um, I also wouldn't have been mad with them taking the field goal um because when I looked at it, like the only time that the Cardinals were really able to score, um score anything of significance, uh, was when Trevor Lawrence gave them the short field, basically, for the pick. So um, you know, I wouldn't have been totally mad with them taking the points, but uh, I do like that mentality that Liam brings, that gamblers' mentality of let's just like completely try and shut the door on them. Um, it's kind of something new for us, like uh a breath of fresh air for a Jaguars organization. Who they let's face it, like with our history, we need to be bold anyway. We've seen plenty of teams come back on us, and it's left it's left like a bad taste in our mouth. Um, and then in terms of um them and the Cardinals um and and them marching back down the field, bro. One of the things that caught me off guard, and you mentioned him, Wilson spiking the ball. I was like, whoa, what is this kid doing, man? Like, that's just kind of one of the moments I wanted to bring up.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I think I think that's just like a wide receiver getting like in his head immediately. Like, he just went into automatic like celebration mode, not and then totally forgot, like, oh shoot, you know, I forgot what's uh I forgot where I'm at right now, you know. With no timeouts, yeah. With no time, no timeouts. So hey, but yeah, listen, he's cooking uh in the last couple games. Uh, I think he has, I just had it up here the last two weeks. He has 303 receiving yards. So he's a guy. I was like, man, who the hell is 14? And why is he cooking us like this? But um, yeah, yeah. Shout out to Michael Wilson. So him and Trey McBride were we're doing good things. Arizona's gotta have, I think, and they are having this conversation, especially in the fan base. I think the Kyler Murray area is done, right? He's gonna be. I think if I were to put money on it, I think Kyler Murray is like what, a Pittsburgh Steeler next year or something. Pittsburgh seems like a team that will put up draft assets for Kyler Murray. I don't know if I don't know if his coach is Mike Tomlin or not, but Kyler Murray's on a different team next year, right?
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, yeah. And it's kind of hard to envision where he'll be because obviously you feel like he gets another shot to start, right? Like a lot of people say off of the. Well, are you saying swapping with Tua and McDaniels is still there?
SPEAKER_01:Oh, yeah, maybe do a coach trade too. Give him McDaniels to send McDaniels to Arizona. Yeah, I think McDaniels is probably out too, but uh yeah, like yeah, Kyler's definitely getting another shot somewhere. He's he's too physically gifted, but I don't know if he has it, you know. So right, right.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, no, he's he's definitely gonna be somewhere else. I'm interested to see where he goes, you know. That would be a big talking point for us if we weren't stuck with the Trevor money, right? But uh thank you. Yeah, oh man. Uh, but anyway, yeah, man. Um, now overall, man, just glad we got the win. Yeah, um, and also too, one last thing, Phil. And I hate to make this longer because I gotta edit this. One thing I wanted to discuss, also, too, looking at the playoff picture, right, Phil. One thing it kind of hit me, bro, is that if there ever was a time for us to go to the playoffs and have a legitimate shot to maybe even go to the Super Bowl, it just dawned on me that this could be it because when you look at it, there's no Kansas City Chiefs in this picture, right? And you look at the rest of these teams that are in the playoffs, they have all shown something for us to look at and say, like, I'm not necessarily scared of them. Like, even the Bills. The Bills just they just lost the game uh to the to the uh uh who was it on Thursday night football that they faced um that allowed us to jump a spot up in the wild card. Oh man, who is I'm blanking out. Yeah, they they just lost to Houston, right? So like they're while they are a good team, um, they're not particularly as intimidating as it would be to face a team like the Chiefs or whatever. We just talked about the Broncos, right, Phil. We we don't feel at least we talked about it in the the pregame process or the pre-pod process, we don't exactly feel like the Broncos are an unbeatable team when we go and meet them um later in the month, or if we meet them in the postseason because of what they are offensively, right? The lapses that they had there. And sometimes they do show up offensively, but they are a defensive team, right? And you look at the Chargers, we've beaten the Chargers, right? You look at the Steelers, not intimidating, even though they've been knocked out of the picture. The Ravens aren't the same Ravens we known of the past, even though they are what on a five-game win streak, so they look a little dangerous. But like, what do you think of this playoff picture in terms of we just need to be in it, and this might be the best chance we've ever had to make it to a Super Bowl because again, it's not a necessarily elite team, they're in the way, and they're most so they're more so on the NFC side.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, if the the way that it plays out right now, say if the playoffs were to start today where the sixth seed and you play indie again at home, uh, and and that is a controlled environment. I think what I would want to avoid, and right now they would avoid like an away game at Buffalo. I don't want to play in that in that type of weather. You also wouldn't would would probably want to avoid I I wouldn't want to go to Denver either, um, as far as an away game. But the rest of them, like, I mean, obviously, you know what you do against the Chargers. Baltimore, like you said, isn't necessarily who they uh who they've been in the past. New England is one of those up-and-coming teams who I do believe in, but when it's a newer, you know, it's a younger offense, it's a younger quarterback, you know, you never know. Um, like you said, all the veteran presence is basic is in the NFC, it seems. Um, so yeah, there are younger quarterbacks that you could take advantage of. You know, Lamar and Josh, Josh Allen are still in the mix, but you know, against those other quarterbacks, you know, you you you like you at least go in, you know, thinking you can win. Um, I guess we'll we'll we'll figure out a lot. We're gonna learn a lot in that Denver game, which again a couple of weeks ago seemed like a for sure loss. Now not so much. So I think if they go into Denver and at least it's not a LA Rams or Seahawks situation. I mean, they they only lost to the Seahawks by eight, but it felt like way more. I didn't really feel like they were ever in that game. If they go into that game and it's a loss to the, you know, to the tune of they were competitive and it came down to a you know a last-minute effort from either team, I'll feel a little bit better. It's just really going into those environments that I worry about as far as uh like a Denver, a Buffalo, um maybe indie just because Daniel Jones is inside, you know. If if we were playing outside uh in the elements, I wouldn't really trust him. But like when he can get in a controlled environment, you know, we'll see what happens there. But yeah, I mean it's definitely not like you said, like in past years where you got to go to Kansas City and it's negative 52 degrees, and and and the you know, their their field is frozen because they don't want to pay for new for a new stadium in in that city. So yeah, you feel better than than past years for sure.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, yeah. Oh man, that that's a funny funny topic that has nothing to do with the Jaguars, that's stadium situation.
SPEAKER_01:They suck, bro. I'm so sick of Kansas City Chiefs fans. Like I saw a tweet there, like they were talking about how the playoff picture, like, it just doesn't look right. And I'm like, yes, it does. If you watched football in the early 2000s, New England, Indy, Denver, and Baltimore in first place. That that's that's normal. Yeah, and the Jags too, the early 2000s Jags, right?
SPEAKER_04:Uh with MJD in them. Yeah, like it looks like the early 2000s, right?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. Yeah, you don't belong, Kansas City fan. Became a fan in 2013, whenever it was they got him. They uh they got Patrick, I don't know. Right. So yeah. But no, that's it, man. Yeah, for sure. So uh, but yeah, they got Tennessee coming up this weekend. Uh again, a game you don't want to look too far ahead because you have the big divisional matchup coming up here at home, a game that I will be attending. Very much looking forward to. That is my birthday weekend, so excited for that. And um, yeah, get past Tennessee, get in and out of uh Nashville with a win, don't leave any doubt, and then focus on the big divisional matchup. Who knows? Who do the Colts play next week? Let's see. Indy plays. So they have Houston next. Uh so they will have Houston this weekend, so they have a divisional matchup as well. And Houston's on a little bit of a roll right now. They're making a push uh here, thanks to us and a couple of other teams. So we'll see how that goes. But yeah, folks, thanks so much for joining us. Episode 131 is in the books. We appreciate you checking us out throughout the season. Again, make sure you click the Linktree link in the show notes of this in every single episode. Find us over on social media where we are the most active on Twitter. Uh Jay tweets out stats and and um tidbits from the oppressors from uh throughout the entire week. And then um we get you all set up for game day. Uh but yeah, appreciate you guys. And again, use that promo code Touchdown Jaguars over on SeatGeek. Save yourself$20 on your first eligible SeatGeek purchase. And um don't forget to uh like and share and give the podcast five stars on whatever podcast player you're listening to us to. Folks, that is my co-host James Johnson. I am Phil Barrera. Don't forget to tune in to Touchdown Jaguars for each and every Jaguar touchdown, and we will see you next week.
