Welcome into jags Am presented by Field's Auto Group. Jackson will step up to luxury Fields Auto dot Com. I'm kind of Annie Stephen's here with Brian Sexton, John Oser. It is Chiefs week, it's the home opener. We're all kinds of excited for our game on Sunday, so we're diving into that matchup against the defending champs, and we have our Chiefs insider Neil Jones with us today as we go over some of the matchups and what it's going to look like when these two teams face off
on Sunday. Neil, thank you for joining us. We appreciate you.
Good morning, Good morning.
What kind of what is the roster going to look like when the Chiefs get here on Sunday. I know you guys have Chris Jones back, and then obviously the Travis Kelsey situation was the latest on that.
Well, at practice yesterday we were able to go in and shoot stretching only because, as you call me an insider, there are no insiders in the media in Kansas City. Andy Reid is as secretive as they come. He is Bill Belichick with a slightly more genial personality.
So we really don't know.
I will say this, Travis Kelcey didn't do anything overt. He didn't make any movements that were quick. He did some stuff. He did some reps, but they were at about a quarter speed. He was wearing a sleeve on his right knee. Wasn't really a brace. It was like a sleeve you'd put over your.
Pads, which is a good sign.
All signs are that his knee injury is not very serious, But does that mean he can play. They will not play him if there's any chance that he could get hurt worse, So we don't know if he's going to go or not. The likelihood is that he will be able to play. When it comes to Chris Jones, the question is how many snaps can he get. Yesterday was unseasonably cool, at least for this year in Kansas City.
It was eighty degrees with.
Very little humidity. It's been very hot in human all summer long. During training camp. It's hard to know what kind of shape Chris Jones is in. I will say this, he works out year round. He knew come in into the league that he puts on weight in the offseason, and so he made a concerted effort to get training staff down in Miami where he spins the off season.
He works out twice a day, almost year round. So he comes in looking very slim for a man who's over three hundred and twenty pounds, and he says he's in great shape. But how does that translate into game shape? How many snaps can he make? And I think he can play a major role in this game if he's able to play thirty or forty snaps.
Hey, Neil, nice to see you, my friend.
And you know, look you ky, you called him the Chiefs insider, and he humbly shook that off. He's been around kansaiting a long time and few people know the Chiefs as well as Neil Jones.
So thank you for making time, my friend. It's good to see you. Good to see you as well.
First of all, I've seen a lot of players in early season one o'clock games in Jacksonville who were in great shape get carried off the field here famously, some Steelers back in nineteen ninety six where it felt like soup. So Chris Jones can have worked out twice a day, but if he didn't do it in the kind of humidity he's going to see here on Sunday. I wonder how many snaps he could take, But that's not my question for you. You have seen good football in Kansas
City with Patrick Mahomes. Were you surprised at how much it how ineffective the offense performed relative to their standard? Obviously without Kelsey. I mean, Patrick has made it look so easy with whomever was around him, but on that Thursday night against the Lions, it seemed difficult for him, maybe for the first time in his career.
Yeah, you know, that's exactly what I took away from that game and what surprised me so much. People don't realize how good of a game planner Andy Reid really is.
I mean, we've seen him succeed with there's just a number of different quarterbacks with different skill sets, and you know that he's really good, but you don't realize how great he is until he was given an instrument like Patrick Mahomes who can execute his offense, who's also very smart and a hard worker, so that he can recognize things and to see them kind of steymied was surprising, But it was not just not having Kelsey that was the biggest But there he's got young receivers who were
playing their first game. You know, their second round draft pick for Shee Rice, number four, who's an excellent player out of SMU is lost a little bit. Kadarius Tony was getting open. He does know the offense and he's worked very hard when he first came in from the Giants last year, so he knew where to be. The problem was when they threw it to him, he dropped
the football. They had eighteen incompletions which is a large number for Patrick Mahomes, but ten of them are deemed to be drops by the official stats to compiled by the NFL.
Ten drops.
So they were executing the offense, getting the football people's hands, they weren't catching it.
And what he does, what.
Patrick Mahomes does, he puts the ball up and gives his receiver a chance to make plays. Sometimes that can make him look bad if the receiver turns the wrong way or doesn't win his battle for the ball, doesn't go up and win it at the high point, because it looks like he's just laying it out there. That's what happened in the AFC Championship Game two years ago in overtime against the Bengals and it got a beat.
He tried to get it to Tyreek Hill and give him a chance to make a play, and Hill wasn't able to make it. It looks like he was throwing a double coverage, so it did look very uncharacteristic. But I will say this, the last time did we saw this Chiefs team playing without their all world tight end Travis Kelce was against the Titans in the playoffs the last half of the Alex Smith era. Their offense went completely stagnant in the second half without the tight end,
he changes everything. Defensive coaches will say, you have to account for him. Used to be you had to account for him over the middle and for Tyreek Hill deep. Now without Hill, you have to account for him and without him in there to tie up a bunch of underneath coverage. It changed the way people play defense against him, and it made them vulnerable.
Neil, this is obviously a huge game for Jacksonville, It's a big game for Kansas City. But I'm wondering if you get any vibe for how the Chiefs sort of feel about this game. I get the Jaguars had never beaten them. They were nine to eight last year, etc. Do the Chiefs care about this game in any way the way the Jags do, or put that in perspective.
For me, what they're thinking of this, Well, you know, that's the great thing about last year. They played two games against the Jags. Game one, the Jags secondary was more physical than any other secondary that the Chiefs saw. They blasted them. It looked to me like they made a concerted effort.
We are going to hit them early and often.
And just we're gonna go right up to the rules and maybe a little bit over the line a little bit, and we're gonna really put it on them. That got their attention. I thought the Jags were much better that first game than we expected. And then the playoff game is a seven point game. I mean, they come into this saying all the right things, but more than that, I think that they believe.
This Jags team is a good team.
It is an ascending team that's coached by a guy who Andy Reid loves, Doug Peterson. He talked about it yesterday at the press conference. He goes, I've been with him a long time, a lot of years. I respect him. That carries over to the football team. This is a smart football team as well as being a talented football team. And I think they know how good the Jags can be. I don't think there's any way they overlook Jacksonville.
Hey, quick thought, Neil. I'm sure you've gotten to know Juwan Taylor a little bit. We all love the kid. Just a tremendous young man and a good football player. How is he handled all the questions in attention put his way this week? Is he taking it in stride or is he a little aggravated by it? Because when he gets under his skin a little bit, he'll give you that little twitch.
All right, Well, let me explain how it works. Yesterday we go out there, we have Patrick Mahomes, Chris Jones, Kadarius Tony, and the head coach, Andy Reid. They closed the locker room the minute the press conference ended, so none of us win.
I don't know that.
There might have been one or two internet guys who went in and talked to Juwan yesterday, but no television people did because we were in the interview room and it's an either or right, and everyone's like, I bet they keep I bet they they closed down the locker room the minute they get done with the press conference. And that's exactly what happened, because everybody wanted to go in there.
I suspect today he will be There'll be some people that do go in there, and they may even bring him to the podium.
I don't know.
He did not have a great game. He didn't have a terrible game on Thursday last Thursday, but he didn't have a great game either. He had a couple of penalties, and I didn't think the left tackle, the guy that came in, Donovan Smith, who's a veteran guy who was released from Tampa Bay last year, had a real good run at Tampa Bay. I don't think he had a great game either. He missed the block he got driven
right back into Mahomes's face. Now, Mahomes held the ball longer, and this goes back, Brian, to what you were talking about.
He held the ball longer in.
That game Thursday. According to the NFL stistics official stats, he held it longer than he did at any time last year. And that's because receivers weren't getting open, and so he's patting the ball and moving around, keeping his head up field. So the offensive line had to protect longer than usual. The ball wasn't out on time he dropped back. You're used to it coming out. It wasn't
coming out. So I'm not pointing the finger at the offensive line, but the offensive line did not have a great game, and it started with the tackles.
Neil.
I just want to close out with you because I like to get the outside perspective as to what other teams are seeing. But we feel like Jaguars have things in place with Doug Peterson and Trevor Lawrence. Obviously, you have a coach in quarterback combo that's pretty much as good as it gets when you have an outside perspective looking in. What do you see from Trevor Lawrence? And are you guys as high on him as maybe we are?
Well, I think he proved himself. He made great throws in those two games. He stands in there. He's a big guy who's not afraid to take it. You know, he was handed such a bad hand right out of college, and it reminds me a little bit of what Alex Smith went through when he came out the number one picking the draft. Not okay, let's face it, nowhere near
the college career that Trevor Lawrence had at Clemson. But Alex Smith comes out from Utah, people expected good things and he goes into a really bad situation and he said it set him back at least two years, both mentally and physically and with emotionally with his confidence. I think that the job that they did last year and Doug Peterson's ability to work with quarterbacks and that offense is so quarterback friendly. They shaped the offense to fit
the skills of the quarterback. It was a great, great thing for Trevor Lawrence. And I think last year we began to see what he can do. Obviously we knew what he did in college. So I think people look at them and they think, Okay, this is a team who's arrow is pointing up. They are going to be a team to be reckoned with. And I think the Chiefs are taking them very very seriously.
Wonderful and Neil, thanks so much. We look forward to the matchup on Sunday. When you appreciate you joining us this morning. Got all right, stay with us here on jag Zam. Coming up, we're going to detail our big things for this weekend, what to look forward to. EverBank advantage, you make the most of your money at EverBank dot com slash Jaguars. EverBank is sponsoring the home opener on Sunday, which is I don't know if it's completely sold out, but if not, they're very, very close. I think the
standing room tickets at this point. So if you haven't gotten your tickets already or it might be a little late, but try anyway, because it's going to be. It's gonna be as good of an atmosphere as you guys have seen here in a while. Yeah, especially this earlier in the year.
I'm sure that that you guys have been hit like I have with everybody who wants what can you get? There are maybe a few standing room only that will be available, but it's almost all gone.
It's going to be sensational.
Johnny feeling calls from all your friends.
I have no friends, but I'm not for that. I'm feeling calls from people. You know. It's gonna be an unbievable atmosphere. I did see somebody there's a story of something that the biggest game in Jacksonville in years. Well, no, it's not. The playoffs were here last year or in the end of the season, but I will compare this. I think most people who've been around for a little while. Remember the atmosphere of the Patriots game in twenty eighteen.
That's what it's gonna feel like. With the heat, with the energy, with the fact that this team has been so good for so long. I don't know that it's as easy to hate the Chiefs as it was to hate the Patriots. Yeah, you know, they're not a hated team, but beating them sure means exactly what beating the Patriots meant. So yeah, it's gonna be It's gonna be a scene.
Man.
Part of the reason they won't be hated is because Doug Peterson and Andy Reid's relationship is so strong. I think people understand that. And the relationship between Mahomes and Trevor Lawrence in the way that they've shown mutual respect, is really strong too. I do want to point this out. And John, you were there Week one home opener nineteen ninety six. It felt like a million degrees on that field.
And here come the AFC defending champion Pittsburgh Steelers, fresh off the Super Bowl, and I have Johnson and Greg Lloyd and Kevin Green. This was a great team and end of the third quarter they were carrying those guys off the field. I mean, they just were not prepared for how hot and steamy it was. It's hot in Kansas City. I know I'm from there, but opening day one o'clock here, it could really be something.
Can't You're sell the home field advantage for sure.
The only difference like that year, it was so nude everybody, and they hadn't been very good in their expansion season, So I don't know that people expected. They sort of hoped. I think there's a feeling of, you know, this could solidify what people hope they feel about this team, if that makes any sense. So there's and again that was the same feeling people had in eighteen and it all went, it all went haywire. This doesn't feel anything close to
being able to go haywire. So I think people also feel that there is a feeling of what I said yesterday. I think people were jacked about this game, but they also sort of realize there's gonna be more of these. Yeah, this is the first of a lot of moments like this, So it's gonna be cool, but it's not gonna be the only one.
All right, let's go over some of our big things, our first big thing is gonna be thirty six hundred seconds because we talked a lot about the Jags having a fast start, but now it's about playing a full complete game. Doug Peterson talked a little bit about that earlier this week.
It could come down to that, right, It could come down to a kick. It could come down to whoever has the ball last, which you know, you do look at the playoff game, right and if we don't, we don't fumble, hopefully you score. You're down three with you know, five minutes to go, you get to you know, so it's gonna come down to those types of types of moments, and you know we've got to be prepared for that.
You know, not only is the coaching staff, but as players and and but anytime you're playing you know, these types of teams, you've you gotta be ready for that fourth quarter.
John, I know you called it last week that the game was gonna come down to the wire, but it seems like it always comes down to the wire with the Chiefs.
Yeah, and I think the Jaguars task is to have it be a game that last year's games, to me, felt like the Jaguars had a chance if everything went right, and that they were fighting uphill the whole fourth quarter, and you kept thinking, if they could just get a break and get back in this, they'll have a chance. And it felt to me the whole games that the Chiefs were clearly the better team and the Jaguars were gonna need something special to happen.
At the end.
They were close. But the task now is to be even keeled or even footing the whole game, and then to be the team that makes the play, not have it feel as much like a miracle as miracles too strong.
You know, I'm getting no I can elaborate on it.
I think they're there where they have a chance to do that. At the same time, number fifteen over, they're so good that it's hard to pay me well.
And that's it, John, Look, you go in this league kai from being a bad team that loses big, which the Jaguars have been, to a team on the rise that loses small, which they were doing last year, to a team that wins small, to a team that occasionally wins big, because that doesn't happen this league that often, right, So the next step for the Jags is to go and win those small games, those tight games in the fourth quarter you have to know and they do because
they watch that playoff game against Buffalo where the Jaguar jaggs the Chiefs beat the Bills. You know with thirteen seconds left to play. They understand this one. Can they get comfortable with it? Can you go into the fourth quarter knowing that you have to be on an even keel emotionally, mentally, physically, you have to be ready to go every second of the game because Mahomes is so incredibly good in those situations. Is this team ready for that?
And Doug and Trevor both answered the question yesterday and both believe they're ready to take that step.
I mean, we compliment them all the time, or at least I do. Trevor is about us even as it gets and this will truly be the test of how even keeled he can be when you take on the Chiefs, because they always seem to pull it out of everybody else. People fall apart going up against them. So we'll see
what Trevor can do with that on Sunday. Our next big thing today is gonna be a shootout, because when you're going up against the Chiefs, you can try and slow them down a little bit, but it's really gonna come down to maybe who has the ball last on Sunday, and Trevor Lawrence talked about that earlier this week as well.
But you do understand that even if it the final score isn't thirty plus points or whatever it is, you understand the firepower they had that they can answer at any moment. So I think that's something like I said, you got to execute in situations. You gotta score off turnovers, you gotta score in the red zone, specifically touchdowns. You know, all those things are heightened awareness of that based on who you're playing. But yeah, I mean, I'm excited to
see our defense. You know, they get another crack at them. It's gonna be fun.
Brian, are you looking at something like thirty five thirty one?
Yeah, you're gonna be high.
Yeah, I mean at thirty one to twenty eight. Maybe I asked him the question, and I don't know whether you caught on. The very first thing he did was defend the defense and said, I have faith in the defense.
I'm excited about.
What they're capable of doing, and then he went into scoring points. I have faith in the defense too, based on what they did last week how well they played. It's not about the defense. It's about the fact that with Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes, these guys averaged twenty nine point two points per game last year. They score against everybody, you're gonna score thirty, which means points points points points points.
Yeah, the Chiefs scored twenty seven twice last year against this team and won both games. The Jaguars are not billed. Very few teams are in the NFL right now, But the Jaguars didn't build this thing to beat the Chiefs seventeen to fourteen. They build it to win thirty one twenty seven, to get those ten points that they didn't
get last year. I thought the money quote from Doug Peterson yesterday it sort of goes back to big thing One was when he was talking about the Chiefs get better as the game goes on, and then you followed that with we're starting to do that. I'm paraphrasing with that.
To me, that's the thing that if you sat Doug down and said what do you respect most about the Chiefs and Andy Reid that he gets his teams to do that, it goes back to it's going to be a high scoring game, and the team that can look the other team in the eye and make that play at the end is the team that's going to win. The reason the Chiefs have been five straight AFC Championship
games is they're usually the team to do that. I think Doug thinks, if we can be the team to stare this team in the eye, there's no team we can't stare.
In the eye. Absolutely, and that's bodes well for the rest of the big games this year. Our final big thing is going to be windshield because you need to look forward in this league. And while the Jags came out on the wrong side of things in the two games last year against the Chiefs, they have an opportunity in Week two to make a statement, but also for
themselves kind of see where they're at. They're going to have to compete against teams like this I especially in the playoffs if they want to make it to their ultimate goal. So, Brian, when you look at this, is it a measuring stick game? What do you want to call it? Whatever you want to call it, What can we take away from this game on Sunday?
Well, yes, it is a measuring stick game because you're going up against the champs and how much better are you than you were last year? Can you execute better than you did last year? Because as John mentioned, you know, they gave up twenty seven points, which was below the Chiefs average, but they still didn't do enough. Are they ready to do enough? And I know the question was asked a lot, you know this week. Do you go back and look at those games against Kansas City? Is
it personal? You know, did you grind? Did you wear that all off season? And these guys, the guys at least that I heard, the answer was no, I'm looking forward. Do I recognize?
Yes?
But am I focused on what we did last year? No, which tells me about the way that Doug Peterson has this team mentally ready to go. You can't just it's revenge. Doesn't work in the NFL, except in very limited cases. It's got to be about proving yourself and showing the league who you are now, not that you're better than you were last year.
Yeah, they've got to get past this team, obviously to get where they want to go. But I don't think these guys last year. I spent the off season saying, oh man, the Chiefs, you know they jenerars weren't the best team in football last year. It's not like the beat It's like ninety nine and they beat everybody else and couldn't bet the Titans. They were, you know, ascending, and they ran into the best team in football twice
best mean football beat them. So I think they just look at it as, yes, it's a measuring stick, because if they beat or how they play against them shows where they are. But I don't get the vibe that it's all or nothing. If you follow me, I think they think, well, this is gonna be measuring stick. And then the Bills and then the Bengal. You know they're gonna be big games. At some point, they're gonna start winning those big games, is it, Sunday? I don't know.
I think they're gonna be really good for a long time. Are they ready to win this game? Sunday? I don't know, because that's why they play the games.
I think this is why we're so confident about them going forward, because it's not like years past or maybe they're getting up for one big game and then there's a f all off after that. They're even keeled going into this. Yes it's a big game, but they know There's a lot more season to go after week two, so stay with us here on jag Zam. He will,
he won't, he might? As we preview the Sunday's matchup in the home opener tags fans, If you want customized Jaguars furniture for your home, check out zipchair dot com to browse all customizable options. Zip chair is furniture for fans. Welcome back as we get ready for he will he won't? He might in our Sunday matchup against the Chiefs. Rand you want to kick us off with who you.
Have for him?
Yeah, I'm going with Andre Cisco and Andre will have a big game on Sunday.
Now, look, I just got done saying they didn't look back to last year.
But if there's one guy that might look back, it would be Andre Cisco. You know, he got that penalty for the hit that he made on Marcus Valdez. Scant No, was a scantling, I thought it was.
It was Jay Wright. It was a concussions christ teacher, right.
Okay, So he had that big hit which was not any illegal hit. And then of course he had the hit last week on the tight end in the ball game, again not a cheap shot, but it was illegal in the sense that it was poorly timed. He's a big hitter and a big, big player in the middle of this defense. He'll have a big game on Sunday and he might remember a little bit about last year. He won't back down. His style is not going to change.
He'll make adjustments so that he doesn't give fifteen yard penalties every game, but that's just not the way he's going to play the game. He is going to be there to deliver the hit in the middle of the field. He's an enforcer of swords and John. I think he might be the most overlooked guy in the Jaguars on the Jaguars defense, because you know, we talked about Trayvon and Josh and Foyer and Devin and Tyson all the time, and yet Andre Cisco is a really good football player
and a really important piece on the back end. You know, he's that quarterback of the defense, especially the secondary, that gets everybody where they're supposed to be. And then he's got the speed, in the range, in the size to be a good closer and clean plays up.
Yeah, it was He's starting to be really good, and he was good last year starting to come on. He had that weird start where he didn't play as a rookie in the urban year. That was all kind of
messed up. But yeah, he's quietly. I'm not sure why it's so quiet, because he's a big hitter and he makes plays, so it feels like he's one game or one sort of big play away from all of a sudden being a guy that every fan talks about hay lof Cisco, Yeah, because he's a likable kid when you interview him, very very intelligent, very dynamic to talk to. He's a safety who he has a little bit of a unique combination of he really hits and at the same time he's got an incredible nose for the ball.
So he's probably that close to being, I don't say a national name, but a really big time player. A lot of people know.
About hadding towards Aco in his last year, Yeah, Syracuse, he would have been a.
First up pick, certainly a first round talent at least for US. Fortunately, John, who do you have for he will?
He won't?
He might this week?
Well, I kind of went with the obvious, or to me, it's obvious. Calvin Ridley, he will obviously be very important to the game plan. He won't be overlooked because she's going to know about him. At the same time, in the he won't part. He's the one factor in this offense. With apologies to Bigsby and Strange, He's the one difference between what they were last year and what they are now. And we've all talked about it. We talked about it so much in the off season. We saw a little
bit of it last week. But it feels to me like there's a step in terms of dynamic above the exits and those plays that he's capable of that might good. Hey, I didn't have to stop. I just went right into it. You're getting John might be the difference in the game because he's the difference in this offense and just statistically scored twenty fourist last year scored twenty against the Chiefs. He might be that guy that gets him to thirty that they need. So great trade. Obviously, great vision to
see this coming from Trent Balkey. He might be the difference in the game because as good as he looked last week, I think Jaguars fans are excited about what he did. Did you guys think that he was maxing out at all. I mean, so there's something there, Yes, And you wonder if with a special player like this, the moment gets bigger, he'll get bigger. So I just wonder if there's not a big moment game something from Calvin Realley this weekend.
Mine is similar in the sense that it bounces off Calvin. Really, because I'm staying the offensive side of the ball, I picked.
The Christian Kurk.
I think he's going to lead the team and catches this week because I don't believe he's going to be shit. He won't be shut out like he was last week. I don't believe he's gonna have two down weeks in a row. And we discussed, you know, Jay Jones was the recipient of some of those benefits from playing with Calvin Ridley when there's overcoverage on him. Za Jones benefited with that great touchdown catch, and I think Christian Kirk
is going to benefit this week. Especially if Chris Jones in the backfield a lot, They're going to want to bail out and get those quick passes off, and I think Christian Kirk is going to be that guy that is the recipient for that. Frequently and he might very well be the guy at the end of the game that ends up being that game winning catch, whether it's Calvin or not. Because I know everybody's eyes are on Calvin, I think it might be one of the other targets.
And for me, it's Christian Kirk this week that I think will benefit most from that.
I talked to offensive coordinator Press Taylor yesterday after practice. He told me that he had a nice conversation with Christian. The Christian gets the fact that with all the talent that's there on the offensive side of the ball, there are going to be days where the ball is just going to go the other way. And there were situations in the game where the ball could have gone to him.
But the Colts, and especially with the linebacker Shack Leonard and middle of the field, we're very aware of where Christian Kirk was. And he doesn't think there's gonna be a lot of games this year where Christian Kirk only has one catch.
Here's what's going to happen this year. Every week, I'm going to get some email, but why didn't they do this?
You know? Ye?
All the emails last week were why did they stick with the run? So much. Well, you know what if they hadn't stuck with the run and been why they
get away from the run. If you're going to stick with the run, which this team is going to do in spots, and get the ball to Ridley and get the ball to Evan and get the ball to Tank and get the you know, somebody's going to get left out because there's only so many I answered a question about Christian Kirk this week in the Ozone Man, so his game's only last, so loll there's only so many
catches or there's only so many plays. If it had been five quarters, I'll bet Kirk has three catches for twenties, you know, but time runs out and all of a sudden, presses that they're going I got it now, I gotta talk to.
Well listen my interview with Press wool Run in the first hour of the pregame radio show, so if you'd like to hear it, look for it there. But he said, I'm going to call plays for everyone. I'm never going to tell the quarterback where to throw the football, right, Okay, Well, that's the quarterback's decision based on what he sees, and week to week based on what the defense says, with how the defense tries to defend them, he will find guys that are open.
Look at us all these options?
Is this what is this about?
The team has so many places to go. This is great, this is a good, good place to be, but they have too many people to throw the ball to say with us as we go around the locker room previewing Sunday's matchup against the Chiefs back here on JAG's Am, We're going to quickly go around the locker room see what some of the players had to say as they get geared up for a big matchup this week on Sunday.
They're really a great all around team. The old line works really well together. Mahomes is obviously a tremendous quarterback, Travis obviously a great receiving threat. And then it's it's schematics as well. You know, Andy Reid is a you know, he's gonna be a Hall of Fame coach one day, so you know, he's putting his guys in a great position.
It's really about what we need to do, making sure that everyone's in the spots that they need to be, making sure that we all rely on one another, and we go out there and we'd be where we need to be where we need to be there and just trust the process and and uh we'll see what happens at the end.
Of the game.
Yeah, it'll be a good test for us early in the season to see where we're at. And uh, you know, this is gonna be a tight football game, and we know that, we know adversity's gonna strike. And so I think it's big for us, you know, week two, uh, to really get a taste of you know, the caliber football and the level of football that we want to play, you know, and we're gonna have to beat teams like this to get to where we want to go. So I think it's really important, you know, for us to
approach it that way. And uh, you know, I'm looking forward to see how we respond, like I said, you know, when when things get tough and uh, you know, hopefully come out on the positive side of fans.
So all right, seems like the players are ready, coaches are ready. I know the fans are ready to get out there on Sunday. Uh, final call you guys who you got on Sunday?
John Ah, ain'ts h I'm bailing because I got to pick for it. I think it's a coin flip. I think the Jaguars can win. I don't know if they're ready to beat Mahomes, so I think it's gonna be tight.
I say Jacksonville thirty one to thirty.
Brandon McManus drills a long field goal to beat the Chiefs here in front of an insane crowd on a really warm day, and yeah, I just have the sense that this team is ready to get over that hump, now, you know. I mean that doesn't mean they're gonna be all of these teams, you know, the Buffaloes and the Bengals and that, but I just have the sense that this one is theirs.
Yeah, there's part of me that thinks this offense could score if they can get these guys blocked, which is a big if. Yeah, the offense it's there, it's there if they can get him blocked.
I also don't think that Travis Kelcey, even if he plays, is gonna be anywhere near himself. And I think that Devin Lloyd and Andre Cisco are more prepared this year to be able to handle that or however Mike uses them. But those two guys would seem to be the guys most capable of handling him in that situation, and I just don't think he's going to be himself, and I think the Jags take advantage of that.
Yeah, it's a game where we can see if some guys have grown up.
Yep, absolutely, we'll see. It's definitely going to come down to the last minute. I think for whoever comes out on top, I'm going to double down on the Jags. I said they were going to start really hot, so they're going to take down the Chiefs in week two. All right, we'll have all of your recap for you on Monday on Jags Am. Enjoy the home opener on Sunday,