It's been a couple of days since that disappointing performance by the Jags against the Ravens. Do you guys feel any better now that you've had a little time since the game ended.
I do.
It's the week before Christmas. Man, if you can't bring the energy, no one's going to give it to you. So yes, I'm here to bring energy.
I feel good, Jaguars. Why that feel a little better?
There's a lot of concerns.
Welcome into jag zam here on Wednesday and Pinony, excuse me, I'm kind of eys here with Bryan Sexton and John Osier and we've had a little bit of time for the dust to settle since things went down on Sunday Nights. Football not what we wanted to see from that team, but we have to move forward as there is still some football left to be played and they're tied to top the division of the AFC South now, so things are very important. Let's start off with our big things.
The first big thing is positive. So Doug Peterson obviously after the game not thrilled with how his team played, but you have to move forward, and he's trying to focus on the positives.
I think so much.
Sometimes we focus on the negative all the time and not the positive.
We got to we gotta.
Find the good too, and and fill our players' heads with positive this time of year, because you know, we're we're we feel like we're still a good football team, and we've we played like it at times.
Right.
It's just at times we we don't look very good.
It's just that simple, right, Brian, They just at times they just don't look very good.
Well, you know it's funny, so we don't put the question on. But I asked him the question, how is it that you take something that feels like it's compounding like it it just gets worse week to week? And how do you break that cycle? And Johnny, you probably recall, there was a long pause before he answered the question. It was like he was trying to break that cycle in his own mind.
You know, he was still frustrated.
You could tell when he walked in and he started talking about having to be positive and bring positive energy to it. My follow up question I thought was the most telling. I said, how.
Difficult is it to do that?
His response was, it's really difficult, especially the day after the loss. But you could sense john that he understood that this team still if they could just get out of their own way on the field, but listen to the right voice in their head and ignore the Internet and Twitter and all of those things they are telling them lost loss, loss, failure, failure, failure, but focus just on where they really are. Win these last three games.
It doesn't matter.
You're in at eleven and six and you repeat his division champs for the first time since nineteen ninety eight and nineteen ninety nine. That's the truth. Forget all the other stuff. Focus on that, And that was his message to them on Monday.
Yeah, going into this last six games, this on paper was a possibility, meaning Cincinnati, all the teams they've lost to you last three we have been good or playing well and might all be in the playoffs depending on how things play out. So you sort of knew they can get to those last three, which are against teams that aren't on paper playing as well, then they can do it. But then once that reality hits you, it's like, oh, no, they've lost three games.
It's all still there in front of them.
The worry for me is not necessarily they lost the last three games. It's their situation now with quarterback with personnel offensively. Does that sort of leak into the last three and sort of get into their heads. I think that's why Doug was trying to be so positive. It's his job to make sure that doesn't happen.
Yeah, it certainly could become an issue for them this week, and it touches on what I'm going to do for hot takes. So I won't go too deep into it other than to say that you really have to have a very strong mental approach this week knowing that you're going to be playing without some key players.
When we looked at the schedule earlier in the year, I don't think we would have been shocked if they lost maybe the last three games or so. But it's the way that they've been losing, which into our big thing Number two. Some of the negatives they've been hurting themselves. It's self inflicting mistakes and just silly errors that they know they shouldn't be making. Josh Allen a leader certainly
on this team. He talks a little bit about helping his teammates, specifically Travon Walker and improvements that they need to make going.
Forward, you know, and that's another way of holding each other accountable. You know, it was one player where I thought he didn't do it right, and you know, for me, I seen what I saw, so I got on him. But it wasn't it wasn't the message what I was saying. It was it was the words I was coming out because this is something that we probably something that we did.
But then once he explained it to me, we kind of, you know, dialogue, then they say like, okay, well, next time you do it, didn't just do it like that, and then everything he was just he was just free, you know. So it's just little things that.
John, I feel like part of it what makes it so frustrating is you know they can do it, and sometimes they're just making mistakes that kind of baffle us each week.
Yeah, and that's really the weird thing about the last three games. All three of those teams are playing well on paper. You can certainly see where they lost those games, and you can make an argument that all three of those teams are playing better than the Jaguars right now. But at the same time, there were chances to win. And Doug's right when he says if they had just gotten out of their own way, they would have that's really my storyline for the last three games. They should
win their last three. Even with the personnel on the field, they can beat Tampa. They can do these things they're talking about. But can they stop giving the ball away? Can they stop giving free points away on defense? Which they did against the Browns. The concern is is that what they are now? I don't think we find that out until Sunday.
No, I don't think so either. And there were two mistakes.
Trevor played a very good game against the Bengals and then he got hurt and they lost, and then he didn't play as well against the Browns. Of course, he's playing on that angle, so you've got to make sure you put that into the context.
And then he had those.
Two red zone errors late in the ball game or late in the first half that make you scratch your head and go, okay, where's the quarterback at? And I still john think that this is a kid who is going to be a really good quarterback. But the errors are on both sides of the ball, and they've got
to get those things fixed. And it gets much more difficult when you're playing without Christian Kirk and now perhaps say Jones, who's got a knee and a hamstring that he's having to deal with, so everyone around them has to pick up the slack this week.
Everyone, Let's go into our final big thing, which is question mark. Obviously that revolves around quarterback Trevor Lawrence. He's in the concussion protocol. They that came down after the game, so we don't know what the exact timeline for his return will be. Brian, I know you're a big fan of kind of just going forward with maybe either a CJ. Bether and the game plan for that instead of kind
of waiting out things for Trevor. But this will be an interesting week because they need to play well in Tampa. This could be you know now that they're hig to top Dassuth.
Well, you know, so we're looking here at some of the late throws. It seems so errant that one wasn't quite so late, but some of the throws and when he was throwing the ball, you're like, what's going on? That doesn't look like Trevor. And then we found out afterwards Johnan he was in the concussion protocol. Look, you know, he gutted it out with the knee and had a great game on Thursday, Night football in New Orleans, and then he gutted it out and gave his team a
chance to win despite the turnovers in Cleveland. This is not one he gets to decide. This is not him who says I'm just I'm playing no matter what. He's in the protocol. So, more so than ever, you don't even need to say help is not on the way. You know, you don't even need to declare this because it's obvious.
C J.
Stroud, by the way, the Houston Texans quarterback, didn't play last week, and now the word is he's not gonna play this week. So I think you just have to assume he isn't playing and CJ. Bethert is going to be the quarterback. And I think at this point of the week it's a benefit to know that because everyone knows help is not on the way. Everyone knows that they've got to lift their game to another level and make plays so that they can help CJ.
Bethard as they move the ball.
However they do that, Yeah, and I really think the key for one game, this isn't the key for career season. Even if Trevor was playing, the message would be don't make mistakes don't give this away. Let's play clean and see if we can by playing clean offensively with either Even if Trevor plays, it's a limited cast. I don't think Zay Jones is gonna play, Chris is not gonna play. They're having trouble running the ball, so it's gonna be a challenge offensively. So I think that's gonna be the
theme even if Trevor comes back. They have to play to their identity, which has been all season. Create turnovers on defense, play good on defense, and it makes some big plays offensively. I don't think it matters who's I don't think it matters who plays quarterback.
I think that's the approach.
This is gonna be a defensive game. The defense is gonna need to do this.
The bucksher I think they're twenty first on offense and twenty sixth on defense. That've gotten to seven and seven because the quarterback is playing well. Baker Mayfield's coming off a perfect pasture. I think he's the first quarterback to ever do that at lambeau Field in another uniform other than the Packers. A four touchdown, three hundred and eighty one yard performance. So I mean, you can just point
right now, right here. The question is who's gonna get this done, and the answer is the defense.
All right, stay with us. We're gonna go over a little bit about the road ahead and what the Jags are going to need to do if they want to win the AFC South. Jagzam is brought to you by field Atto Group, Jacksonville. You can step up to luxury at field Atto dot com. Price dot com is the easiest way to save money with comparison shopping, cashback coupons all in one. It is freeing. Can try out price dot com today. This school, this school, Welcome back to
Jagsam today. Well, back on the couch, We're gonna do a little this or that. There's a whole lot going on in the AFC South right now. Things have gotten a little bit more interesting than we were hoping they would be at this time in the season. It's a tie top the South with the Colts and the Texans and the Jags and a little bit of this or that. Which one are you more concerned about at this point?
I think normally would say the Texans, but set Strausen the protocol as you mentioned, Yeah, that limits them.
Yeah.
In early news, this week is that it doesn't look like he's going to come out of the protocol, right, which means that they're going to start Davis Mills, who was good enough to beat the Titans last week, but probably not good enough to beat a Browns team that has all sorts of momentum back to back winning seasons. For Cleveland, it's the first time sin's the Marty Schottenheimer
era that they have done that. So they are feeling really good about themselves and they're in the middle of this thing, and so you know, good for the Jags, right, and then behind them, you've got a Colts team that is scrappy and refuses to go away, that's playing in Atlanta. So you've got to be more concerned about the Colts because remember they're two games back unless they have a better record than you. So I would say that's the last part.
Yeah, Well, I think the scenario that could play out is Cleveland goes to Houston this week and wins. It's in Houston, right, and then last game of the season, Houston with a healthy C. J. Stroud beats the Colts, giving both of those teams one loss and giving Jaguars air to breathe a little bit. In that scenario, the Jaguars win the division with two wins, meaning they could lose.
Sunday and still get in.
Nobody wants to be in that situation because that's like walking on.
A tight rope.
So I'd say right now, my big concern would still be the Texans long term, But the Colts are that team this year. That for eleven games, probably because the Jaguars beat the Colts, it's.
Been out of the Colts. Well, now it's the Colts. Now.
If you lose, the Colts control your destiny and you can't do anything about it.
So I'd say both unfortun Well, one.
More reason why the Colts are team to be aware of is they're getting healthy. Right So, Jonathan Taylor's coming back. They got Grover Stewart, their big nose tackle, who really they found out when he was absent, how he powers that defensive front. He's such a load in the middle that you've got to have two guys always sort of accounting for him, and it makes everyone else's job easier. So they're getting healthy, they're getting guys back at the right time.
They certainly are. It's going to make things difficult. We will mention the days on the tiebreakers, but just went out and then you don't have to worry about any of the tie breakers, which would be key. Let's do a little quarterback talk because Nathan Rourke got picked up by the Patriots off waivers this week and coming at probably the worst possible time, right because obviously with Trevor and the protocol now CJ. Bethard, who has banged up the last couple of weeks as well with a shoulder
injury for himself. So is it a big deal that they've lost their third string quarterback? Normally I'd say no, but it's kind of not a great time to be losing him.
Well, it's not a great time, but I'm not sure it's that big of a deal. What do we really know about Nate Pipwork. We haven't seen him on the practice field. I mean he's been out there, but we haven't seen him on a game field since uh since August. And you know, he was playing at a time, John
where athletic quarterbacks run around and make plays. I mean there were hundreds of he saw him everywhere guys and making great throws because they're running around and avoiding you know, guys who are driving milk trucks now right there are even our milk trucks anymore. But I just don't know that he's a proven commodity. I don't know you can say other than he has more knowledge.
Of your knowledge of the system.
Although e J.
Perry was here on the practice squad last year, and how much has it changed. It's the same offensive coordinators, same quarterback coach.
You know.
The only thing that's changed is the wide receivers coach and that doesn't impact it. So I would say e J. Perry ought to be able to come back in and I think it's a wash.
Yeah, I mean, I think you'd rather have Roork because the reality is if you would have rather had Perry, he would have been here. So it's a little disingenuous to say it means nothing. There also is a school of thought of once he gets down to that third guy, then what are.
You really talking?
But as soon as I say that, a lot of teams are winning and grinding through with third guys right now.
The Brown Yeah, so uh yeah, you would rather probably have Rour.
But the big reality is if they had been super concerned about that possibility, they wouldn't have ever made him available, he would have been on the fifty three.
So, uh, that being said, why don't think it matters that much?
What's what really is the difference between Rourke and Perry that much?
That much?
As John says, when you get down to it, it better be someone else making plays because you can't rely on that third quarterback to do it.
Let's hope it doesn't get to that point. Well, no, exactly a little bit later on in the week, hopefully we're gonna talk Stug Peterson today, get a little more insight about where Trevor Lawrence is on that timeline, what they're doing to prepare CJ. Bethard for this week. But stay with us after the break, we're gonna go over
some of our hot takes coming out. For ten years, Dreamfinders Homes has been proud to call themselves the official homebuilder of the Jacksonville Jaguars, So you can visit Dreamfindershomes dot Com from all of the available inventory and go Jags. We also want to honor our Florida Lottery High School Scholar Athlete of the Month, Caitlyn Schultz. Caitlin has proven academic excellence, dedication to the community, and demonstrated leadership on
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a little time to settle from Sunday. I know the s guy felt like it was falling at that point. It may still be falling, but at least we're a little calmer about it. What are our takes this week, Brian? You want to kick us off?
Sure? This week it is the how before the food. The NFL is always.
About movie yet, I mean, it's who's your quarterback? It's about players, not plays. But this week, to me, it's about Doug Peterson and Press Taylor trying to figure out how to move the football with the collection of guys that are or haven't been impact players yet, right, I mean, Parker Washington has a couple of touchdowns.
But you're looking at Elijah Cooks and Tim Jones.
You know who knows If you bring a Seth Williams up from the practice squad, it is more about how they get guys open and how they utilize c J.
Bedtherd and what they ask him to do. It.
It's always players, But this week I just have this strong sense that Doug and Press and their team are going to have to grind to create ways to get guys open and be clever and creative. Not that they are not always wanting to be that, but this week there's more of an emphasis on it.
Yeah, it's it's it's frankly hard to see when you try to analyze it where points and where offensive efficiency is gonna come from. They've been really good at times when they've had all four guys, it's been operating smoothly. But they're not gonna have all four and they only have two, and the running game has not shown us that it can be a reliable force for this team that teams even have to respect.
So they may they will have to scheme.
And if you're gonna see a trick play, if you're gonna see something like that, you know that feels desperate.
You don't have to do that.
They somehow have to get their way into two field goals and two touchdowns and win twenty to seventeen to me, and that will take Yeah, some scheming on the part of Taylor and Peterson.
That's the reality this week.
I think it might be one of those we need some points from the defense game ye as well, or turnover is getting really good field position in the red zone helping.
Any well, remember the other night.
You know, if if you take advantage of your opportunities in the first half, you get at least twelve, maybe even sixteen, and then the Agnew touchdown gets you to twenty three.
They sot had to flow end of the night, and they should make a play. As I've talked about.
You can't give when your scoreboard hunting and when your score playing like that, you can't give those opportunities away because then all of a sudden, instead of being up your right down the whole way and.
Now you're playing uphill.
I don't think they're very good at playing uphill right now because of the personnel.
Just one example, you know, Luke Ferrell had that twenty eight yard completion on the second drive that put them into scoring position at the thirty five yard line. I believe of the Ravens, and you had Jay Jones and Evan Ingram and Ridley and Travis Etn and so it was easy for him to get lost right the safety.
They didn't pay attention. He's normally a blocking tight end.
Well, this week there's gonna have to be more scheme to get him open so that he can make plays for you.
It's tough when.
They're in such trouble relying on the running game that I think it affects everything else play calling wise. When you don't really trust that a handoff is gonna get you three point five, then all of a sudden, you become wary of what you have to call on other plays because you don't really trust that when you watch them. That's what it sort of feels like right now. I hope Sunday they prove that statement wrong. I went with they.
Need to grow up again, and I was wrong about this team in one sense.
I guess after the Texans game, I said, they're a mature team now that knows how to win games. Really, because for seven of eight games they had been that they had played to a certain identity.
They look to me like a team that was sort of playoff tough if you will.
They could win low scoring, grinded out games by playing smart, by sort of willing themselves to do that. I thought they did that a few times, and in the last three games when they've sort of needed that.
Somebody to make a big play.
This is our game now moment, you really haven't had it. And again, I don't think they would have been favored in any of those three games based on how the teams are playing now. But a mature team that's gonna make it, that's sort of establishing itself, figures out a way to get one, and they haven't done that, And I think that's surprising that the people involved with it.
It's not too late to be that team.
You can if you win the last three, then all of a sudden, you're that team again.
They got to this.
Week especially, it just feels like they need that ability to will themselves to it, even if you don't know how they're.
Gonna do it. I thought they were that team for a while.
I'm less certain about them right now, and I hope they show it again on Sunday to be that.
I think there might be a chance because we do see them do it against teams they should be. I will say a lot of their issues have come against you know, there's no shame in losing to the Ravens. It's just you right there. You could have put yourself in a better place with that. A lot of that was stuff you did to yourself.
So that's a little bit of it.
If they had lost any of these last three and it wasn't a three game losing stream, I think people would say, Okay, I get it.
They're good.
When you compile them together and giving some away, it has that cumulative feeling that again back to the top of the show, I think Doug is trying to sort of break that cumulative feeling by saying, hey, remember where.
We are, and it's hard to do with the backup quarterback and without two key receivers and two offensive linemen who are not one hundred percent on the left side.
There's a lot of stuff going around that they need to clean up and hopefully people will be coming back at some point. Mind's a little bit more about the culture of between men forward with the team needs.
To work on.
I think the Jaguars need to learn to hate losing more than sometimes that they like winning. And I mean that in the sense of you're never gonna get the entire team on board with this. But some of the great teams and the franchises that are continually successful, they dislike when they're playing bad more than maybe they're happy when they win. I think Doug Peterson's one of those people.
I think when we talked to him after games, he's kind of baffled sometimes by people not being on the same pagison because he's one of those guys I think, you know, we heard from Josh Allen. I think he's one of those guys. But there's a lot of young players on this team. There's a lot of veterans on this team. But they didn't necessarily come from winning franchises where they're expected to win, make the playoffs every single season. They're coming from somewhere where if you win, great, if
you don't win, you know whatever. And I think they have to get over that happy to be here thing a little bit, because yes, they should beat a lot of these teams. They can win these games. They're perfectly able. If I thought that they the roster was bad, I'd be like, yeah, I'm happy they won some of these games too, but they can be better. It's a matter of being disappointed because they need to want that for themselves a little bit too.
Well, they've got a perfect example to learn to hate losing because they've done it.
Three times in a row.
Yes, if they don't hate it, I will hate it for them. But they should learn that for sure. All right, say with us, we'll come up and preview a little bit of what we're going on the rest of the week as we get ready to head to Tampa Bay on a Christmas Eve. Tags fans, if you want customiz Jaguars furniture for your home, check out ziphare dot com to browse all the customizable options. Zip Chair is furniture
for fans. They also want to take a moment to thank Jee's frontline teams for the critical services they provide to this community. Today, we'd like to recognize jea's Frontline Team of the game winners and a special thanks to jea's Storm Outreach team for their dedication to restore our community and keep customers informed after major storms. So thanks to them. It's going to be quite a week we're getting ready for. We're heading to Tampa on Christmas Eve. It's a four pm game, a little bit of a
primetime game, if you will. But we don't know who's going to be out there, necessarily certainly behind center.
No, we don't.
I'm gonna chase down outside linebackers coach Bill Shoey, who coaches Josh Allen and Trayvon Walker, because those guys are gonna have to have a big day and create opportunities like we talking about takeaways and short fields and extra possessions. Josh is obvious right what he's doing right now. Trayvon two, you know, he's playing really good football. That was a big sack last week, and anyone who watched the game knows that the Sunday Night Football crew featured him a
couple of different times. The way he chased down Lamar Jackson.
He's coming.
You can feel this kid is coming, and it couldn't come at a better time.
So I'm anxious to find Schee. We had talk about it.
I think they have nineteen sacks between him. That's a pace to finish about twenty one or twenty two. So yeah, I mean they've been a strength when this defense has played well, which is most of the season.
Played well the other night. I thought those two have played well.
And everyone wants to make the eight and Hutchinson comparison, and they always will, with him hunching six and a half sacks, dragon his six. So be careful how quickly you throw the baby out with the bathwater.
We'll keep an eye on everything this week. We'll preview the game against the Bucks coming up tomorrow on jags Am. We will see then