Welcome, and you guys were here on jag z A. I'm kind Nannie Stevens with Brian Sexton John Osier as we get ready for the Colts this week, you guys, I know, we've been talking kind of generally about if we're really gonna deep dive today, and we're gonna get an insider in with us as well in terms of a player specifically, who are you guys kind of looking at in terms of the cults as someone you're game planning for or who could be problematic for the Jaguars.
Anthony Richardson obviously is whoever was looking at right the quarterback, but for me, whoever is being covered or whoever is covering Jay Jones, because I think Zay is primed to have a big game.
I'll go Michael Pittman. Now the wide receiver. Anthony Richardson is one everybody's got to watch in order to be interesting.
I'll say, all right, so we'll go over some of our big things today. Our first big thing is going to be pushed to start, because as we've been talking about having a fast start, the team really needs to focus on getting the offensive offense going quickly and not just a fast start, but also a clean start for them, and Doug head coach Doug Peterson talked a little bit
about that yesterday. Well, Doug kind of went over with us at least yesterday in his press conference, saying, Yeah, you want to a fast start, but you want to finish fast as well. And I think for him, as much as we've hammered home that fast art, he also was like, yeah, let's play a full complete game out there.
How much have we talked about it. I mean, fast start is something every team talks about john every year, and you want to get it going and see if you can do that. But what matters most is what Doug was saying yesterday is that we played consistently well through the course of the game.
Yeah, they didn't start horrifically slow last year. I get the sense of when they talk about the fast starts, it's exactly that they want to see consistency. Obviously, the Chargers game was a slow start. You're down twenty seven nothing, so it's not necessarily the first drive. So I went back and looked at this and they weren't down at halftime all that much out of out of kilter with
their schedule. But I think they want to not be trailing by double digits in the second half the season so much so I think I think it's going to be a completely different offense and a completely different feel when this team starts games this year. I don't think they'll have to worry about a fast start once we get into two or three weeks to this thing.
And do you know what, I think, really another way of saying it is clean, right. That was what they were talking about, the coaches and the players before the first, not the first, the third preseason game against the Dolphins. They want to go out and execute well, not make mistakes, not make penalties, not create issues. So I think if they're clean, that could be considered a fast start. We saw how well that worked against.
Miami, absolutely, and I think sometimes we don't. We forget about the defense, right, So fast start for them is not getting the team down by two touchdowns right out of the gate. So that's something to consider as well. Our second big thing heard from Trevor yesterday, So it's a little bit about winning being everything because we talk a lot about stats. Obviously, some of them have big
contracts coming up. Trevor included they're on their last year or their dealer, they're looking for extensions, and while they do that, they really are focused on winning. I know it's a little bit of a cliche, but when we hear from the players and you feel they actually mean it, at least when I feel it's very genuine and Trevor speaking yesterday saying none of that really matters to them as long as they get to win.
Of course, we all want to we all want to have good stats, and we want to play well. Like that's'd be ideal you do that in win the game. But when we're talking about guys like you should always if you win the game, doesn't really matter what your stat line is, even if you have one catch, no catches. If I, you know, threw a pick through two picks and we win, obviously I'm not gonna be happy with my performance, but I'm gonna celebrate with the team. I'm
going to be happy we won the game. That's what this league's about. It's hard to win. So when you find ways to win. You know, that's the cool thing about our team is we enjoy it. You know, we understand that it's hard to win, and we have that perspective of it's not really about personal stats individual stats. It's about the team.
Obviously. You know Trevor's super unselfish, but John, I feel like we see that a lot in the receiver room specifically, there's so much talent there. But you really do feel like they want each other to be successful.
Yeah. I don't know how. If somebody asked me after this show, well, how do you know what you're saying is true? I don't know if i'd have an answer. But in talking to these guys, there is a feeling of commitment to each other and commitment to the cause if you will that. Frankly, you don't feel on every team, and I think it combines with sort of an energy. It's still fresh from last year. This all still feels new and moving up, if that makes any sense. So, yeah,
it's real. These guys do want numbers, especially the wide receivers all right, receivers numbers, But within the concept of that, it's as team oriented and supportive a group as I've ever been around.
They know they're good, right, They understand that this is a good team. They also know, JOHNA We've talked about this, that they're not likely all to be together for very long because of the salary cap and the way that it works, and so you just get the sense that they understand that there's something special here with this group.
It's not going to say Jones about it yesterday, and they understand that there's going to be days where they have big games like they did against Dallas last year, or there'll be a big game where Christian Kirk or Evan Ingram comes through. I think they're all willing to be part of it because they understand that they're a good team that can do something special, but only if they get out of their own way and start not caring about who plays well but that the team wins.
I think what Christian said the other day, I mean interrupt, but on Monday, when he was asked about Jacksonville, he went, you know, for a couple of minutes on just what it means to him to be here and chance to be a part of this. I have Zay Jones and the ozone podcast later on today. I'm gonna skae him the same thing. There does more than a lot of
teams I've been around. There's a feeling of guys, even beyond being professional football players and getting paid, there's a feeling of this is has a chance to be pretty cool to be a part of this for a while, and maybe this is what I'm gonna remember about my career. I'm going to remember myself as a Jaguar during this time, even if I go other places. I think Ingram feels that. It feels to me like Zay feels that does that's unique.
And again I don't know how I would prove it, but you feel it from these guys.
Well, I'll second it, right. I mean the thirty years each of us doing this, I don't know that I've ever felt it, but this is a special room.
And all those guys you mentioned, you know, evan Za, Christian, They've played other places where they didn't win and where maybe stats were more important, so they know the difference. And I think that gives it a little more credence when you hear them say it, because they've lived the other side of that coin, so rings a little more trip. All right. A final big thing today is going to be everyone's got one because everybody's got an opinion about
this team. We obviously have shared ours with you, and everybody's been hyping them up a little bit more than maybe we're used to around here, but Trevor says, they're not really listening to it.
Everyone always asks about expectations and how you deal with them, Like you don't really deal with them, you just don't listen to them. Like, what doesn't matter what you know? This guy said over here, he's not in our locker room. He's not a part of our team. And even if you said something good, we go out and lose Sunday, everyone's like, oh, I told you they weren't going to be and agains. It doesn't really matter, you know what people say or you know, so we just have to
keep our ship tight. And I think that's the biggest thing that coach has done a good job of is making sure we do that and managing all those expectations, because that's just it's they're not real. It's not a real thing. You know. We have to go play every Sunday and put our best foot forward. And you can't do that if you're listening to what other people are saying.
They're clearly blocking it all out. Are we at the point now where we just got to play football? Like there's just no nothing left to say?
So John, you know this because you've covered some really great teams. Great teams don't care about opinions. They don't worry about They drive our world here, right, they drive the media conversation with the fans, but they don't do anything on that side of the whole way. When you don't have a good team and people's opinion of you is not very high, well then you get your dander up a little bit about it. But when you're good, you couldn't care less.
I think Trevor's just happy he didn't lose to Duke.
Sore spot spot where that's an opinion he might not like.
All right, coming up, we're going to go across the sidelines if you will get our Cults Insider here as we preview Sunday's Game one matchup in Indianapolis. Stay with us. Welcome back to jagsam presented by Fields Auto Group, Jacksonville. Step up to luxury Fieldsauto dot Com. Welcome back. We're in the Hyundai studios and going across the sidelines today because we're going to check in with our Cults insider Michael Chappell, an old friend of John's. We know, thank
you so much for joining us today. We're excited to kind of talk to our divisional friends, and check out what's going on up in India. Michael, What what are you looking at? When we always like to see the outside perspective? What what have you seen in terms of what the Jaguars are bringing to the table this season?
They seem loaded. I talked I talked to John earlier in the week, and for so many years no offense Jacksonville. But for so many years it was this is the year they're gonna get it right. This is the year that the pieces are in place, and expectations were high, and it didn't happen for whatever reason. I look at this different because really two reasons. Coach, quarterback, you seem to have hit it right on both and you have you have to have a good coach, but you gotta
have a good quarterback. You've gotta have a quarterback you can rely on. Look at all the great teams and John and I hereward were in Indy for the Manning years, and that quarterback makes anything possible. Trailing thirty five to fourteen to five minutes to play, you can't win. Well he did. So that quarterback gives you chances and as and you've got young talent, you know, at the skill positions,
which which again that's when you build a team. Yeah, have defensive line, office run, I understand that, but to have impact players at skill positions or on the edge of the defense, that's what gives I think the outside world reason to believe that they've they've gotten it right this time.
When we go up against a rookie quarterback. We just trying to get your perspective what you hear from Anthony Richardson every day. Obviously some of the Florida fans down here are a little bit familiar with him, but he didn't play you know, a ton of snaps in college. So what have you guys seen from him so far? And is he ready to go for Sunday?
Well, we'll see. I mean, it's history is not kind to rookie quarterbacks. I think Colt's rookies are like thirty five percent winning percentage for their you know, as a rookie. In one stat that sort of tells you the history is this team's had one rookie quarterback win the season opener, and that was George Shaw in nineteen fifty five. So you know, it doesn't happen often. But from what you've seen individually or personally. You like the temperament. He's very
well grounded. He moved his family up here, family and invited us up here because he knew he needed, you know, that foundation around him. But it's not too big for him coming from Gainesville in that atmosphere. I mean, he was exposed, even though it was a fear, he was exposed to that. On the field, we'll see he's sort of been what we all thought he's been. This isn't Peyton Manning coming in here and the ball never hitting the ground in practice and he just looks like he
owned the team. Not quite the same. You know, he was a fifty three percent passer in college. Well that's what we've seen. We've seen the inaccuracies, we've seen the strong arm, we've seen snippets of the leg, what he can do with in the run game. But you don't do all of that in preseason. And it's hard to early tell in camp because you're not taking guys to
the ground. But but what what he does, he gives them hope and to have that after going through this cycle of you know, Carson Wentz and Matt Ryan and Philip Rivers and Kobe were setting on and on the franchise needs hope, it needs it needs a direction sort of what Trevor Lawrence gave you guys last year or two years ago. When you've got the young quarterback, now you've got to be right. If you're not right, you're
setting back another six to eight years. But we have seen things to say, you know, maybe maybe this is the right guy, and if he is, this can work. If not, it's going to be a long haul getting back to being competitive, Chap.
Is it too extreme to say that this team goes from a great running team to a so so running team without Jonathan Taylor? And will he ever play for the Colts again?
Two good questions people up here, people are nationally they said, well, you know, he's just another guy. No, he's a great running back. He's top I know, I think top three, and we can argue that. But to think that they're going to go from you know, one of the top two or three running teams in the league to staying the same without him is ridiculous. I mean, Jacksonville's defensive coordinator, you think when they look at the Colts this week, they're saying, you know, we got to pay attention to
that running back. No, they're saying quarterback when he gets on the edge its quarterback. Will you ever play here? I don't know. I want to say yes because I need someone to tell me how it behooves anybody to sit out a season, and if he's on pup all year, the contract calls and here we are again. So I kind of thought they would have I guess this dumping before rosters were when they had that self imposed deadline
and just get what you could. Maybe they still do, you know, I mean the trade deadlines watched October thirty first, that can still happen. I think it's very, very risky no matter what quality of employee you have, and this is this is a great level employee. But just make him work for you, you know, no, you know you signed a contract and you're gonna play for us, or you're not gonna play. The team has deliveries that they do, but it's not very healthy to force somebody to work
for you. And that's kind of where they're going to be in a couple of weeks when he comes off up, if he comes off.
Up, Mike.
A couple of years ago, not too long ago, the Colts offensive line was a dominant force. Easy to say, maybe the second or best, third best.
In the league.
Last year they fell off.
Why now that you look back at it, and do they have the ability to return to that level since so many of those players are still around.
Well, it's the same group that finished season, the same starting five that gave up sixty sacks last year. They miscalculated at left tackle.
Uh.
They went with Matt Pryor, who had never been a full time left tackle anywhere, and with Danny penn Or at right guard, and neither one worked. Both were binge before too long. And then I left tackle. They went with Bernard Ryman, a rookie who wasn't ready. He just wasn't ready. So that's that. That was a failing on their part, and they paid the price. The quarterbacks paid the price, the offense paid the price. They're they're anticipating
Bernard Ryman really stepping up in a year two. And I'll tell you the best compliment I can give him from training camp is we never noticed him, which you know, it's kind of like the umpire. If he didn't knows them, they did a good job and that that's he's played well. He'll get tested this week obviously, but there then they're expecting that those cornerstones Quentin Nelson, Ryan Kelly and Braden Smith to have bounce back years. That's fine, it's just
there's but there's not much proven depth behind them. They lose Danny Penner to an ankle injury for the season, and that's a major loss. And as good as he's been at times, you shouldn't say, boy, we really missed this guy. But the depth is very questionable. And I think it was in twenty nineteen all starters played sixteen games. Well that that happens like once every twenty years, so they're gonna need depth. I think the line will be better.
I really do that much better. We'll see again. Losing Taylor doesn't help. It just doesn't help. But I think I think the line, whatever their problems are this year, and there will be problems, I don't think the line will be top three in problems. I really don't.
How do the Colts win Sunday? Mit?
Oh boy uh. I'd pull out the Dean Smith's for a corner and try to shorten the game as much as I could. They can't get in a shootout in Jacksonville's They're just loaded offensively with with skilled people that somebody, somebody is gonna be on. I mean, whether it's one or two guys or whatever. This is. This is a very mismatched defense right now. Young corners, young secondary and very good front seven. But don't turn the ball over.
Find a way to run the ball, make plays when you have to, but do not under any circumstances getting in the get in the shoe. That with Trevor Lawrence.
All right, Michael, thank you. If anybody knows, we know that things can turn around quickly as they did here in Jacksonville, so we wish the same for you. We'll see you on Sunday in Indian Thank you for joining us. Coming up later, thank you. All right, later on we're gonna go over He will, he won't. He might as we have our picks for Sunday's matchups. To stay with us while we're back. Setteth this Florida's trusted and reliable moving company. Setteth is proud to be the official moving
partner of the Jacksonville Jaguars. To get a guarantee quote, visit suttith dot com slash jacks. All Right, Suteth is presenting he will He won't. He might for us this week as he walks ahead and pick our players of the game and what we think they're gonna do. So, Brian, who did you pick this seak?
I'm going with Tyson Campbell and he will shut down Pittman or Pierce or whoever lines up across here. They'll have some catches, but they won't be game changing sorts of catches. And it's easier to say obviously this week because you're not sure that the quarterback can make those games changing kind of throws. He will not, will not
allow anything to get behind him. Remember last year, the Jaguars had the lead in this ball game with two minutes to play and Chack Griffin let everything get behind him and cost them to win. And I think he might end the season john as a top five corner in the AFC. You think about Sauce Gardner and Pats er Tan and Marlon Humphrey, I think he fits right in there. People are gonna point to Jalen Ramsey in Miami, although he probably won't play this year until it's too
late to be a factor in this thing. I think Tyson Campbell, based on what we've seen from him both last year and then training camp in preseason this year, I think he is poised to join the conversation as one of the best young corners in the AFC.
Well, yeah, I think he's definitely got that. I think he's right on the outside of that. If he's even on the outside of that right now. But I think I think he'd be in the conversation.
And but Sir Tan Gardner the two he joins, right Luffer, he's been around for a couple of years, and obviously Jalen has two. But Sir Tan and Gardner the two there one point two and say they're the best young corners in football. And I think Tyson Kimbell belongs right there.
Yeah, I agree. I went with Travis etn he will be ready, and obviously they're all ready. But didn't you guys watching this preseason get an idea the entire offense is this way, but that Travis's is just ready to roll. And as one of these guys who in his third year is saying, Okay, now I can really show what I am, and I think what he is is gonna be really special.
He won't although Doug Peterson said it during the preseason, he won't be a sixteen sixteen hundred yard rushing guy, not that he's not capable of tank Bigsby in this offense. I don't know that you're gonna get enough opportunities for Travis to get to that level, but he might wind up. I was asked earlier this week who I thought the MVP outside of Trevor Lawrence would be for this team, and I think it went with Ridley. But the more you think about it, it might be Etn. Even with
Bigsby cutting into his numbers a little bit. I see Travis possibly having maybe about the same yards he had last year eleven hundred ish, but that touchdown number, and that if there was a stat for memorable plays, yeah, things that mattered, he might be it. I mean, in that Miami game, there was something about the way he ran that was different than a rookie, and he always had the explosiveness. He's always tougher than anybody gives them
credit for because he's not huge. I just think this running game as a whole was going to surprise people. Etn's guy has been a little overlooked in preseason. That might just explode this year.
Look my disagreement with Doug on the sixteen hundred yards was I mean, that's Fred Taylor, that's Maurice Jones drew. I hadn't seen that from Travis, but I saw that style of running. I saw that kind of production in very limited fashion against Miami, and I thought, well, he's running like those two guys, so maybe he can't. Here's
where I think he might be the MVP. He's a mismatched nightmare, right, He, unlike Bigsby, is a guy who I Bigsby can catch the ball, don't get me wrong on this, but he looks like he can go line up in the slot, he can come in motion, do the jet screen. There's a lot of different things you could do with him in the passing game with Bigsby on the field, which will create mismatches with safeties and linebackers that could give him a lot of those memorable plays that you talked about.
I's gonna be really interesting this year to watch formations where they line guys up tight ends in the backfield, tight ends on that. I mean, it's gonna be nuts, and I think it's gonna be a topic by week four, and it's to be a topic of the people in the NFL t talking about how diverse and explosive this offense.
I've said it before. The guy that I liked watching the most in terms of how he deployed his offense with personnel and groups and positions was always Kyle Shanahan until Doug Peterson showed up. And now with all the weapons that he's got, I think he's going to be a lot of fun to watch every Sunday. How he creates mismatches and gets the guys he wants the ball. I can't wait to watch.
The options are seemingly endless. Press Taylor and Doug Peterson are going to have a lot of fun with it. For my he will, he won't. He might have picked Devin Lloyd because I've been so impressed with him in training camp so far. So I'm going to say he will have an interception on Sunday because there will be interceptions on Sunday and no one else that I would expect to be involved in it other than Devin Lloyd
because he'll be all around in the middle. He might lean the team in tackles because he's really been flying around and doing his best. Foyer if he will of just inserting himself into every play on defense, and you're
not going to be disappointed. I really feel that we've talked a lot about a second year John for some of these guys in their second season in the NFL, and everything I've seen from Devin makes me believe that we are going to see the devinoid we saw maybe that first chunk of the season, before he got hurt and before some things went awry the second half. I really feel that's what we're going to be seeing from you.
That he is a gifted player. Last year, it took him time to integrate, and I talked to coaches and players, guys who've done this before, and they said that people don't realize the coverages that you run in the NFL and how different they are, the complexities of an offense. They just don't have time in college football to put in and to expect him to then adjust to that and the speed of the game. It was too much to ask. But when you look at him now, I
don't think it is too much to ask. I think you're right on.
If he's that guy. This is a different defense, and he had stats early last year, but I don't think anybody around the team would tell you that he was one of the guys who was making the defense better. If he was very hard for rookies to do that. I'm not criticizing Devon on that young guys usually don't even Josh Allen when he had ten sacks as a rookie, I don't know that he was the one making them better. I think it was Klay's campbell. They don't have that impact.
Devin is a guy who's around the ball so much, and when he's around the ball, the ball finds him that he can easily turn into a guy that by week five you're saying, oh, they're pretty good on defense, and he's a reason why. And that would be what a gift for this team that would be if that happens.
And I think it bears telling him again. Kyle Whittingham, his coach at Utah, told me at the draft that they took him. But this was the guy who was in the film room on Tuesday night and Wednesday night and on Thursday. He was able to explain every nuance of the defense, not to the coaches, but to his teammates. Their job, his job. So last year when everybody was saying, you know, it's too fast for him, he doesn't get it. I didn't think it was fair because they didn't understand
how much work this kid puts in. Now you take all the physical attributes and the mental attributes and his work ethic, and you put it together. John, I think the guy is gonna have a massive year.
Here's hoping. I like to be right with my guests, so let's let's hope for that. All right, coming up, we're gonna go around the locker room real quickly and give you our final picks for the weekend. Fans. Jaggs fans, Do you want customized Jaguars furniture for your home? Check out zipchair dot com to rouse all customizable options. Zip Chair is furniture for fans. All right, we're gonna quickly go around the locker room. I got a chance to
catch up with Evan Ingram. We've been talking how excited we are. He told us a little bit about how excited he is to finally get out on the field and see what this offense can do.
It's all excitement. You know, nobody here is comfortable, you know, not, nobody's complacent, and uh, I feel like everybody's had their share fair share of adversity. This camp and their career, and you know, if we all understand the opportunity that we have. So I think we're all really excited. We're all locked in or ready to go, and you know, it's real. This this, this, these ones count, these plays count, So we're really excited to go make some place.
Things will be real on Sunday. They're excited as we are. You guys want to pick them? Who you got?
Well, I think the Jags win something on the lines of thirty one, twenty two, thirty one, twenty something in there. I said, oh, I think they grind out a lead seven minutes in the fourth quarter. It's still a game. People holding their breath, and then they force Richardson into a mistake that allows them to get you know, double digit eight points somewhere in there. That's how I see it.
The average game in the NFL is decided by eight points. I mean, rare are the opportunities where you say, oh, Jaguars again will win by ten, twelve, fourteen, something like that. The Colts this year because of their quarterback. Maybe the Texans, but not often. I think it's gonna be a thirty one to fourteen game. I mean, I just I'm watching Evvin Ingram on the screen, and I'm thinking, how you can take him? Kirk, we talked about ETN. I mean,
there's just so many mismatches This Colts team is. They've got some veteran players, but they are in a stark rebuild. The back end of their defense does not match up with this offense. I just don't know how they're gonna stop them. So I'll say it's a pretty big win for the Jaguars and opening day. I don't know whether it takes them to the fourth quarter to get there, they get off to that fast start that both Doug
and Trevor talked about wanting. But I think it's a big win and gets this team really wound up and everyone wound up for Week two.
If it was week two here, I pick huge win. Those little factors of road in week one. Just maybe think it'll be scoring. You're right, totally understand that. I just this Colts team just doesn't match up well with this It's rare that you get that where you say they can't do this, this or this, and on their.
Defense against this offense, I just can't see it. But if it was closer, I totally understand opening day.
And on the road, I think we're can all agree that the Jags are gonna win, and I think four touchdowns plus is reasonable to expect against this Colts defense. I think I'm gonna go similar score with John maybe thirty one twenty one ish, but I think it's gonna be the opposite. I think they get ahead early and Colts kind of sneak back into it a little bit. But now for a true, true threat.
I just want to give one other, you know, around the locker room kind of feel. I had a conversation with Roy robertson Harris yesterday, really good conversation, and he told me that he before last year he had never won anything. He didn't win in college. He didn't win a bowl game, right, He had never been a part of something that won. And you could just see the look in his eye was this fire. And I said, so, how does that set you.
Up for this season?
He goes, I want to do it again? Right? The Big Roy has been doing it, you know around here since late last Season's been making these plays. When you get a guy like that who's a veteran player who says that what last season did for him sets up this season to want to do it, get him excited about it. That's kind of the vibe on the defensive side of the ball.
All right, that's all we got before the game starts. Things get real on Sunday. We'll have your full recap for you on Jags Am on Monday morning at ten am. We'll see you then enjoy Game one in Week one,