Jags A.M. Podcast Ep. 99: Mental Toughness Allowed the Jaguars To Secure a Win in Week 5

Welcome to Jagsan today and Nnanni Stevens our first victory Monday of the twenty twenty four NFL season. Brian Textan and John Osier are with me today. We're going to recap all of the stuff for you from yesterday. It was not perfect, but it is a lot more fun to go over things after win. So let's start out

Brian, we talked.

About how impressed we've been with the rookie, but he really was the spark to get things going well.

Listening, Fred Taylor and I were together when he started the route and Fred said, he's going to have a big play here. The most impressive speed I have seen in forever. Fact, Jimmy Smith told Fred after words he thought this guy had a chance to be the fastest Jaguar ever, and that's two of the fastest Jaguars ever. He ran so fast down the field that he eliminated the safety's angle by just outrunning him down The Colt sideline. It was as impressive a play as I can remember.

See. Yeah, he's got a chance to be special. And it's what's interesting to me. I've seen a lot of fast receivers. He does other things well too. He's not just He's capable of doing more than just beating you deep. He looks like a guy. If you get in the ball two yards, he can turn that into nine or ten yards. He's a football player, and he's about to become a really good one.

He's number one guy. He is a legit number one receiver. They haven't had that here.

Since Jimmy Absolute. Let's talk elsewhere on the offense. Fire, we saw a.

Ton of fire out of tank things for yesterday. He talks after the game a little bit about why he was so motivated time the end zone and go up against the Colts all week.

This week finished and I ran out there, Okay, so that I said I won't be gas and I won't I I would scope the little help my team win. Uh that was the biggest thing.

And another thing was like.

Last year con started off with the coats of my career.

I didn't like it.

And uh, I kind of took this game a little person off and uh, like I said, it's just I'm very blessed to be here and I'm blessed.

For his opportunity.

John.

That Colts game early last year was tough for Tank. You know, some of the the ball going off his hands, the return fumble, fumbles, things like that of that nature. That dealt he dealt with all of last season. So he took it personally yesterday and you could tell, Yeah, that was a uh bespectacled Tank. Pigsby right, very wise seen that.

Look h he I thought all last year Tank got kind of a tough uh break or two uh every say he was a fumbler and he wasn't. He wasn't doing things well. I thought he had a couple of bad breaks against the Colts. His season started off poorly. Thing he was talking about with the fumble, the weird fumbling Indianapolis. This guy's really good. And again it goes to show you you cannot judge rookies based on just

You know, I really I can't decide whether I like the nineteen yard touchdown run which was all power, or the sixty five yarder which had a little fred to him because he cut it so hard back and just ran through tackles. It was incredibly impressive. And you know, he had fourteen touches yesterday and Travis Etn had twelve touches. What will be interesting to see is how Doug and Press Taylor will deploy these two guys situationally, how many carries,

Good options to have.

Absolutely, let's do our final big thing this morning, Extinguished. We've talked all the first four weeks of the season how the Jaguars had opportunities to win these games, but they could not finish these games. Friends, the first time we've seen them respond to adversity and get a win.

Well, they made big plays on that final drive. I mean de Ernest Johnson set it up Deanners Johnson with an eight yard carry where he just wouldn't go down. That put the Jaguars ahead of the chains and allowed them to take some chances. And then of course the throw to Christian Kirk, which made it a sub fifty yard field goal for the rookie. Even though we all know that the rookie john has a big leg, he's

This is a huge.

Kick for this kid.

So Kirk's catch set them up, and you know, good for them. They lost a game that way last week, they won it that way this week. The word that I've been asking that I've been talking about resilience. They were resilient yesterday in a big way.

Yeah, I tell you what I was thinking. I was thinking they were going to lose the game if he makes the field goal, because that's what usually happens when you miss in that situation, short field, do you get it? I thought of all the important things having for Trevor Lawrence yesterday, yes hitting the deep balls. I had faith that he was eventually going to hit those deep balls. Sometimes those come and go, and it's like taking a

All right, stay, let's here on JAG's am. We have a bunch of highlights to go over with you in the next block.

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It's kind of been our season so far. That game today, and in moments when we needed it the most, got stepped up and we were able to fight through that adversity. So it just you know, builds confidence, you know that, and moments that we needed we have the guys, We have the people, We have the team.

That can step up and doing it.

So we just got to you know, keep it rolling, you know, use this this momentum to you know, take it over to London and keep accumulating with.

Jack's got their first win of the season. It wasn't easy that fight for it, and I think that makes it a little more worth it. You guys who talked a lot about this team, and finally.

We got some good highlights to go over today.

Let's go.

Let's do this all right. Let's start out early.

This is probably not the best highlight so far of the day because it was something that they've had an issue with, that short completion on third down and then the failed fourth down that they went for.

Instead of taking the points.

That's something we've become accustomed to because of how Doug Pearson rolls. But Brian, I was a little like, here we go again at this point or what.

We're talking about the one to Breton Strange.

Yeah, yeah, and in particular because I think most people saw that Gave Davis was wide open in the middle, and my, my, are we going this way again? Was is the quarterback going to see the field today? Now it turned out he saw the field really well, just not on this particular play.

And I think at this point, obviously we know Doug's going to go for it. I understand that if you get it as it always has been, then it's not an issue.

It's because he didn't get listening.

They won the game, but at that moment, going forward and fourth down just it felt desperate. But that's what Doug likes to do, is to take those chances well.

And later on in the first half went forward on fourth and one in his own territory. Nobody talks about that because it work.

By the way, Trevor on those two fourth down put his nose down, and we've been told that's not what he does well, or he really did it well yesterday.

It worked.

He wasn't going to be denied.

Absolutely. Let's talk about that spark moment. John.

We saw that BTJ touchdown, I mean, the second longest touchdown in Jaguars history, I think is what we heard, and he tracked up to twenty two miles an hour on that he's just so dangerous in this and the fact that I think he talked after the game as well, he saw that the defender's doing the wrong thing and he looked up and thought something.

Else was going on. He said, oh, I got this from here.

Well he it was kind of funny, is quote. First of all, he said he wanted to get his mad and his Madden rating up, which was funny, and then he didn't expect the ball and then all of a sudden, the plays in the end zone. That's the kind of thing that they haven't had happened to them this year. We've been talking all along. Do they have special playmakers? Are those guys going to show up multiple times? Yesterday

Well, they haven't had that kind of a play since December twenty fifteen, when Alan Robinson had a ninety yard touchdown pass in New Orleans. It's been forever. People forgotten that Alan Robinson was even a year And it looked to me yesterday like he looked like he was the same kid at LSU. Oh, this is easy.

The preparation good to see from the rookie. Let's go to the second quarter. Gave Davis catch and fumble. Another moment of adversity. As we've talked about, could have been a backbreaker in a different game, but there was many in this game that they were able to bounce back from. This one was extra tough because to get the PI on it as well, so there would have been a

It was tough. Yeah, it feels I'm sure good now you fumble on a play didn't count, and so I think they need more out of this spot than what they've gotten in the last couple of weeks. With the drop in the end zone two weeks ago or against Houston. You know, I don't think it will happen again. I don't think it's his m O that has to be done.

After this though we did see again fighting back from that adversity, Trayvon getting the strip sack, Josh Hinds Allen able.

To get the ball and he was not even getting an en zone.

I was like, he needs to go down because I don't know if he's gonna make it with time on the clock at that point. But again, a huge play. And it's these kinds of moments where you can go and then kick a field goal after this and get some points before the half. That's when those things add up.

It's kind of Josh's m O, right, I mean he makes plays like that grabbing the ball off the ground, and it was it was so much fun to watch Trayvon Walker yesterday.

Just he was feeling it and you could tell, well.

Mike tom On the last a year called the wrecking ball and when he's right, and it's happening more and more and more in his career. Now he can read games and he certainly did yesterday for the Colts. Huge day for the Colts offensively, but when you're having a day like that against you. Defensively, you have to get a couple of I guess service breaks, and Trayvon Walker got him to the Jazz yesterday.

By the way, this field goal at the end of the half was the moment where I really thought they were going to win because it showed a resilience. Right, there's that word again that we hadn't seen from this team in weeks and able to go in with a.

Lead to halftime was huge for them.

Coming out a little bit not great trying to force the ball to Brian Thomas Junior.

There not a great moment for Trevor.

He didn't have a ton of bad moments yesterday, but that was not a great one.

Yeah, you would think you just we've been told you can't overthrow him.

Try to overthrow well with a great receiver like this, I think it's gonna be a few plays where I don't want to say, be willing Niley with the ball, but when you have a one, which he's gonna be, sometimes you throw it up and see if he can make a play. This was a little you know, and Trevor would say, yeah, John, that wasn't that this was a bad throw, but I don't mind giving this kid a chance these days because a lot of times it works.

Like a punt at that point, and then we know what happened right afterwards on the ensuing series. So it turned out to be just fine.

Let's talk about that ensuing series.

We saw Devin Duvernet with his first big play, kind of flipping the field for them and then setting up what I thought was going to be Tank's best run of the day.

But we'll get to the other one later, but this was huge.

I mean, we haven't seen a ton of it with the new kickoff rules, we haven't seen a ton of breakout plays necessarily, but he was able to do it this time and giving them good field position and where they went from there.

So it was it was nice to see.

And when I say every part of the team kind of contributed in this when they really did well.

We've been waiting, right, We've been waiting for him.

Yeah. Punt returning is one of those thing. If you have three plays like this in the year, you had a good year. Because you flip field, you use your team momentum. It is a big play once every few games position and I thought this was huge in terms of their momentum because it made you field Brien. You had the feeling at the end of the first alley they were going to win. Now of a sudden, you felt like, Oh, they're making plays. It doesn't matter what's

They have an answer for everything. Yeah.

The only downside with that is Devin Dubernet had a hamstring.

We know what those have done to this team.

He did selfish injuries not good.

This play to me was I mean, when you rewatch it, Ezra Cleveland's literally pushing tank into the end zone at this point, even gave Davis' is in on the blocking. That was a I won't be denied here. We are not going to be denied. This is not something where we're gonna stall in the red zone. We're getting this touchdown and you force your way into the end zone. And that's great to see from this team.

Love to see the power.

I love to see Ezra Cleveland pushing even more. The offensive line is coming off two really good games. The quarterback spin on his feet, they've provided all kinds of room in the ground game. It feels like the offensive line is getting their rhythm and John, I mean, I guess you expect it now coming into October with the five of these guys playing together, really the first time they've played this extensively together.

Well, if it's going to happen, this is the way you expect it at I think it's fair for fans to be surprised by it because they haven't had this kind offensive line play in a long time. Been a topic, but as Doug Peterson said, with a little bit of you know, a sort of a vintage Doug, I told you so. He's been talking about continuity of this bunch and how it hasn't had didn't have it at all last year. Now it's got it. Now it's playing well

Didn't see a ton of him in the first half, but again staying prepared, staying ready for when your name is called. That huge catch over the middle he talked after the game, that was the same play we saw the huge play.

From Brian on in the other game. And Christian Kirk can do some things too.

Listen the moment of this was big. We talked about how the Jaguars didn't meet the moment. This is the series that started with a face masking penalty against Ernest Johnson. And on first and twenty five, you throw a little past the game's one yard, so it's second to twenty four and you're thinking, all right, there are many plays where you go for twenty four yards, you know, And yet there they go. And it was a week after

A flipped the field moment picked up second and twenty four, and it felt in that game it felt like they weren't going to pick that up and that the Colts had momentum back. This broke momentum back, and credit to the Jags they did that multiple times on Sunday for the first time this season.

Let's jump ahead a little bit to the fourth quarter. Things got a little wild, so we might as well go over some of that stuff. I told you I thought Tank's nineteen yard run was going to be the best run of the day. He proved me very much wrong with that sixty five yard run that he had, and Tank was not going to be denied today. And he talked in that SoundBite we heard in the A Bloc about you know, I sprinted after practice.

I was not going to get gas and he didn't. It's cool, Brian to see a young player coming into his own and I guess we're seeing with Brian Thomas Junior. But Tank, now his runs are looking so much different than they looked even a day or I mean even a game or two ago. He's doing what he knows how to do. It looks like he's figuring out how to do what his skills set is in the NFL if you follow me, Yeah, and that can be hard. Now he's got confidence. Look, this was a terrific run

Pitch, Fred goes cut it back and immediately the kid cut it back and I went, what right?

But that's the.

Vision that Tank showed us, and we've seen him. It's easy when your vision says, hey, I'll get around the corner and I'll use my speed and get to the sideline. Much more difficult to see that cutback lane coming behind you when you're running to your right. But he did and it was a perfect little jump cut and then he ran through an over a defender and took.

Off for the end zone.

Listen, I don't know how you keep him from carrying the ball twelve to fifteen times a game.

Yeah, it's tough. And I thought after week one they were going to have a good problem in the sense that you don't want to have out not in the game because as he showed yesterday, there were moments early on Sunday you needed and you also needed him in the passing game, like he's got a skill set that helps the quarterback, helps you early get into good down and distance, So you need Travis's presence there, but you

Around that's a problem that will take We haven't had that. I haven't had that much lately.

It'll be good stuff.

I do want to say. It wasn't a perfect game by any means. The Colts came back into this. You have put two touchdowns. I did the postgame interview on the field.

I was like, oh, God's said, it'll be fine. And then eight other things happened.

Colts are back in this game getting two touchdowns, and that's where you need to clean things up.

You need to close the door earlier.

They did do it in the end, so we're going to give him credit for that, but shouldn't have been that close, right, Well, you got.

The sense that if Monterrek Brown had been able to just knock that ball away on that play where Pierce caught it on the ground, it's an amazing catch, right, and that just lit those guys up. Montik, who's played really, really well, seemed to just be off at that point. And the other thing is the second touchdown. The safety play has not been very good. Now you're it's not being consistent, and part of that is Frcisco has not played as well, and he's a guy they're counting on

Yeah, explosive, it seems from our review the safeties of struggle go. Look, this is a league of moments and in fourth quarters. If you learn anything from watching this, if you miss your chance at a closing moment, then the other thing He's probably can get back in it. The Flacco scrambled early where Joe Flacco I think he ran Fredy yard two. When you miss those moments, it almost always bites you because offenses are so good. If you've got third and eight, you don't close it, they're

Just a thought on that Joe Flacco run, they had great coverage down the field, he had nowhere to go and Eric Armstead was thrown into Josh Allen who was close to a sack and knocked him off, got him free. It was just one of those freak moments. And then everybody was back in coverage doing their job and couldn't get to him quick enough.

Jack's did get the ball back, and something we saw them struggle with earlier in this season, able to get a first down get themselves in field goal position and now giving your kicker that opportunity. Doug Peterson talked about they drafted this guy because he wants to take the big kicks. He's ready to do it, and he proved that and I was very nervous for him. I was getting a little sick to my stomach. I was like, this is pressure right out of the gate for this kid.

Yeah, it's funny. I thought the same thing, and before he kicked it, I started writing the score in my story I did. I think Doug said it after the game and I asked him about it. If it's pressure, But Brian, this kid's wired a little differently. I he's a little whack up. I mean, I think he need that for me, but I don't think he necessarily thinks of it as pressure. I think, like Doug said, he embraces it. So I kind of think he's that guy who's going to hit these.

Yeah, well, he clearly he hit.

The real pressure point was and he had to know this too, was the balls at the thirty nine yard line. And if you miss that, then Joe Flacco needs what about thirty five yards and clearly in the fourth quarter Joe could find thirty five yards. That was win it or lose it on that kick, not just win it and maybe if you miss it go tie. Right, that was win or lose and that's even more pressure.

And he came through with a big kick.

Yeah, they were close enough they could have incorporated the rhymes, you know, so yeah, even bigger.

It was a huge at that point, right, talk about the slam of the door as well.

Trayvon had himself a day obviously, sacks com in bungeons, but he was all over the place, very dominant right out of the gate. And to get that sack to end the game, that was the day we needed from Traybon.

Yeah. I mean, look, he's got five sacks this season, fifteen over his last what twenty one games. I said for three years. He's a good, good player.

And it was great yesterday.

That was great yesterday. So credit to him. He's what you need.

Lots of good stuff to go over today.

Say what was here on jag Zam after the break, We'll give you our hot takes after the Jags first win in the season.

Well, I think there's a weight off everybody's shoulders.

There all right, yeah, not just him.

It's a weight off of my shoulders too. Now you guys can get off my tail for at least a week, you know. But you know, listen, it's that's what I told the guys. I mean, if they just continue to stick together and work hard and you know, trust what we're doing, trust each other, and you know by I mean, that's what you're seeing, right, I mean, is it perfect. No, It's never gonna be perfect. But the other thing you

And Peterson talking about the weight being lifted off Tyl Lawrence's shoulders, weight lifted off everybody's shoulders. Victory money's a lot more fun for everybody, I think.

Could you notice when he was answering Mike Derocco from ESPN, you don't really get that sort of relieved smile, and Doug's got that jovial personality. No, he had that serious coaching tone and look on his face all.

The way through that answer.

Yeah, well, look they were owned for Yeah, they need to win. I don't want to say this saves the season because they have to do more to save the season, right, But it's sure gives him a chance to say, but sir, prevents it from being unsavable.

Gives you a chance to catch your breath.

Yeah, I think it's a little more serious with that old school logo on the visor in the shirt too.

Of course, don't even give me started.

It was good.

The throwbacks were and I wasn't crazy, you know, like a lot of people were to see them.

But man, when I saw m I was, I mean, it's I will give my unbiased two cents because I was not around for the originals.

The color just looks better. All of it is better.

And I'm with everybody. I've been converted full time. Let's switch it over.

Yeah, they're awesome.

Let's get to some hot takes. We have a win to talk about, we have stuff to talk about. Brian, what is your hot take for us today?

Sponsored by Firehouse Such well, also watching those guys yesterday, Anton Harrison, Brenton Strange, Tank, big speed, just ventreul Miller. The twenty twenty three draft looks like it could be one of the best, maybe the best in Jaguars's history. When I think about the best, John, I think about ninety six, which gave you Kevin Hardy, Tony Brackens, and Aaron Beasley all starters. And I can jump forward to two thousand and six where you got Mercedes Lewis and

That's really good.

I mean, those guys made lots of place for this team. But when you look and not just at those guys that I mentioned, right, but we expect Cooper Hodges will be a starter. That's five starters from the draft you Syrabdula is a key contributor, so is Tyler Lacy on the defensive side.

I mean, this is a.

Draft that is as deep as any draft the Jaguars had. Can say that clearly, twenty twenty three is as deep a draft as the Jaguars have ever had.

It's early.

It's only the second season, but it's early in the second season and we're looking at all these guys who are making plays, and all I can think is that twenty twenty three draft, which got a lot of criticism unfairly it was too big, the players didn't all contribute as rookies hold type folks. That draft could turn out to be a gem, the gem of all Jaguars drafts.

Yeah, Brenton Strange is turning into a very interesting player because the four or five weeks the season he was the best balker on the offense and the catch the other day. I don't know that he's ever going to be you know, Evan Ingram, ninety catch guy, but he's making plays that they need, which is pretty important.

Right now.

He could be a starter.

You can see it in him right now.

I mean, you have Evn Ingram who's hopefully coming back this week. But the drop off has not been an overall play. He hasn't been that big play.

Gun of guy.

But man, he met a huge catch yesterday. That was a high, hard thought pass coming in from Trevor and he pulled it down.

Yeah, I went with the offensive line. I said, look credit the offensive line. It's a dude. I don't have that much to say. I just felt like we needed to say.

It because this when they're bad, we should give them a.

Year and a half. And you know, up until three weeks ago, I told you the offensive line. You know, so look protected Trevor. They barely breathed on him yesterday. I still don't necessarily get the idea of Brian this is going to be a Hogs type running team where you just know the Ravens or the Lions. But that's sort of a function of the offense. Doug doesn't really run that way. But they need to be effective when they do run, and boy have they been. The last

I feel like you're talking directly to me, because I was the guy who was banging the drum saying, hey, you got two guys you can replace. Replace, and at times neither Cam nor Brandon Jerri were playing at their highest level. However, the last two weeks, the offensive line for continuity's.

Sake, and they didn't make the moves. It's exactly right because they had to see at some point, Hey, we've been talking about continuity. Let's see if let's see if it works in so far now.

They've shut me up because that group right now is playing well and you get the sense that there's another level in it that they can be even better.

For me, it was about the mental game on Sunday. I think that was the biggest play that they made for me. Was because a lot of what we saw from this team this year was them not responding, them being hit in.

The mouth and not knowing what to do.

They were able to have the mental toughness that you need to have in the National Football League.

We talk every week. Every team is good. They're all professional football players. It's a couple plays and it's being.

Mentally sound and mentally tough and saying, I'm gonna win this game. When we get the ball back, we're gonna get a first down. We're gonna put them in field well stair story.

They have this football back.

We're gonna not let them get a chance to score. Travon is gonna get a sack, whatever it might be. You have to know going in that you have a chance. And I think at points they defeated themselves, whether it was Travesy TAM's fumble in the first game, or you know, when they get down in a different game it's like, oh, we're out, or we're taking ourselves out of it and being able to mentally be in that space of we're gonna win it, I'm gonna get the ball back and we're gonna find a way.

They found a way.

They did, and they were mentally tough yesterday. John, I think I'm gonna look at them the next time.

They're in that situation.

Can they carry it through? Right? I don't want to discredit at all. You were home, we would throwbacks. There's a lot of emotion.

Right.

What happens when you're on the road at some point and you face it again? Can you dial that back in? That's what Doug is going to be working now, right. The head coach is also the head psychologist. He's going to be working to make sure that this team can dial it in and be able to call on it when they need it next in a not so friendly environment.

Yeah, I said earlier in the show, I thought the biggest moment for Trevor was the last series, because, as you said, Kai, you felt all game or really for like what the last thirty minutes, for three or four times you feel like they had earned it. Okay, they did it all right, they got that, and all of a sudden they hadn't. So you have to pick yourself back up and then have a calm drive with a couple of big passes. I thought it was a big moment for him and we will see how it carries.

Forward, understanding the job in front of you and executing, and they did that on Sunday.

Stay with us here. We got a lot going on this week before the team. It's to London Jags fans.

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Anything, honestly, and I'm going to continue to do that even when you have a good game. I mean, it's that stuff doesn't matter. You know, you can't listen to the good or the bad. So I do think stuff that does get through and I'm sure there's a lot of questions like what's going on with the Jags?

What's this? What's that? After four weeks?

And good, you know, we'll use that as a chip on our shoulder and have that us against the world mentality and bring us closer together. And I think that that's what good teams do. So but I also think you don't want to let that stuff creep in because it's really about the guys in that building and the work we put in, and you know, it's I'm just proud of the group.

It was a great day quarterback Trevor Lawrence tuning out the noise and got their first win of the season this week, And that's probably a wise advice for.

The whole team.

Listen, he can turn it down a little bit with his play, but you can't eliminate the noise. The league is is what it is today, the lucrative business opportunity because of the interest level, and the interest level creates noise when you're rowing four.

But good for him. He shouldn't be listening to this kind of stuff.

It's all noise.

Yeah right, Well, at least he's not turning to Jag exam. But we are praising him today, Trevor, so we'll tell you about it later. What are you guys looking forward to this week?

Who you're talking to? What's the focus before we head out to Linmon.

Sort of wait and see, we'll see what the weak brains in terms of the storm, right, So basically getting a feel for how they're going to respond to going and then getting a feel for how they respond to this victory, getting the steps toward the right direction.

I'm not a weather man.

Appears though, to be worsening right if you follow the stories, and that affects families, right, These players leave their families behind. So the organization will do the best they can to make sure that everyone is covered right, that everyone has a solution, so that they're not over there worrying, because you can only imagine what that would be like, and not just for them, but for all of us who are supposed to be in London for.

The next ten days.

Yes, weather permitting, everyone stay safe. We'll keep an eye on things, weather permitting. We will have our one hundredth episode of JAGXAM on Wednesday.

You want to tune in for that.

We're going to be giving away some prizes, including those new throwback jerseys.

So tune in for that.

Stay safe, we'll keep you posted as this week goes along, and enjoy to win.