Speaker 1: Welcome to Jags Am today.
Speaker 2: I'm Kindannie Stephens, John Sex, John Oser, Brian sexsoner with
Speaker 2: me today.
Speaker 1: I'm almost there. I'm almost there, you guys, I'm a
Speaker 1: I'm a little off. All right.
Speaker 2: We're gonna start things over. Let's go for our big things.
Speaker 2: They're all about quarterbacks today. We're gonna start off with
Speaker 2: our first big thing, which is our quarterback and that
Speaker 2: revolves around Trevor Lawrence. He's in the concussion protocol as
Speaker 2: we know, and things are a little more complicated than
Speaker 2: just trying to play through an injury, which he's done
Speaker 2: earlier this season. And Doug Peterson is taking that into account.
Speaker 3: And CJ does a great job of preparation. You know,
Speaker 3: he knows the situation. It's the life of a backup,
Speaker 3: you know, spent eight years behind a guy that he
Speaker 3: never knew. You know, he gets hurt, but bounce back
Speaker 3: and see him to play the next week, you know,
Speaker 3: And so I get it, and it's tough, but you know,
Speaker 3: the guys know, I think you know. Then they prepare
Speaker 3: no differently, Ran.
Speaker 2: It's a little bit different than trying to play with
Speaker 2: then knee injury and ankle injury. Obviously, the kercushion protocol
Speaker 2: will play out as it will, But I mean, CJ
Speaker 2: better has to be ready no matter what.
Speaker 4: Well, there's no doubt that he will be. And I
Speaker 4: asked the question, is there an advantage to just naming
Speaker 4: him the starter this early in the week, John, Because
Speaker 4: the last time that Trevor Lawrence missed an entire week
Speaker 4: of practice was the week of the Browns game, and
Speaker 4: he had a tough day and through a couple of interceptions.
Speaker 4: You know, koters to him for playing on a bad wheel,
Speaker 4: but you know, now you're talking about knee ankle and
Speaker 4: concussion and missing the whole week, And I'm just wondering
Speaker 4: it's at some point it makes more sense, even though
Speaker 4: you'd like to have your starter in, to just go
Speaker 4: ahead and name the backup and then see what happens.
Speaker 5: Well, my inclination from just sort of listening to guys
Speaker 5: in the locker room yesterday, I think this is more
Speaker 5: of a case where they're pretty sure CJ is going
Speaker 5: to go. I don't think they expect Trevor to ride
Speaker 5: in on the white horse, so to speak, because this
Speaker 5: is one of those cases. It's the only injury in
Speaker 5: the NFL really where you really just don't know. You know,
Speaker 5: you can't get your way through this because the entire
Speaker 5: system is set up for Trevor not to try to
Speaker 5: be a hero. So I think it's less of a
Speaker 5: factor of that sort of letdown. But I do think
Speaker 5: if Friday rolls around and all of a sudden he's
Speaker 5: out of the concussion protocol, I still think even with
Speaker 5: what you're talking about Brian, that you know he's the starter,
Speaker 5: he's the dynamic one, and I think they feel like
Speaker 5: he still probably gives them a better chance overall to win.
Speaker 4: I get it makes sense. You know it's a big game.
Speaker 4: You want to win it, so it's just a consideration.
Speaker 2: Yes, I don't know if we'll get to that point though,
Speaker 2: because our big thing, Number two is our backup quarterback,
Speaker 2: Tja beat there. He'll be prep to go, and as
Speaker 2: we mentioned, with concussion protocol, you never know. But Beth says,
Speaker 2: this is something he prepares for every single week, and.
Speaker 6: You're just preparing the same way. You're not getting over excited.
Speaker 6: You're just trying to do the best that you can
Speaker 6: to help help us win the next game, whether it's
Speaker 6: today in practice, tomorrow in practice, or being out there
Speaker 6: on Sunday, whatever that is. I know practicing today will
Speaker 6: help us win on Sunday, even if.
Speaker 1: It's not me and they're playing, but.
Speaker 6: To some extent, it's going to help us, you know,
Speaker 6: get a victory on Sunday. So that's I take pride
Speaker 6: in that for sure.
Speaker 2: John, How helpful is it that Bethard's been around. He
Speaker 2: understands this offense and he knows what they want to
Speaker 2: do well.
Speaker 5: It certainly helps in terms of knowledge of the offense.
Speaker 5: He's been He has seen everything that Trevor has ever
Speaker 5: seen here. He's been his backup. He saw the bad
Speaker 5: year in twenty twenty one. He has seen this offense.
Speaker 5: I think something he also mentioned on Wednesday, he's practiced
Speaker 5: more this year than at any point since he's been here,
Speaker 5: because Trevor has had the two weeks where it didn't
Speaker 5: look like or it was un certain if he would play.
Speaker 5: So I do think he has more reps than usual
Speaker 5: with the first team, getting used to working with Calvin Ridley,
Speaker 5: just sort of those moments on task, if you will.
Speaker 5: I think all those things add up to him being
Speaker 5: more prepared. And frankly, when he played against it was Cincinnati,
Speaker 5: late it looked okay, So I think the team does
Speaker 5: have confidence in him. It has been a league of
Speaker 5: backup quarterbacks this year, and there's something to me that
Speaker 5: makes me think players see that and they see other
Speaker 5: backup quarterbacks have done this. So it's less of a hey,
Speaker 5: well we can't go in with our backup. There's more
Speaker 5: of a case of why not us.
Speaker 4: I think the Texans Titans game last week where case
Speaker 4: Keenum went into the ball game and started in place
Speaker 4: of CJ. Stroud and was able to pull out a win,
Speaker 4: was because the defense kept it close.
Speaker 3: Right.
Speaker 4: It was a sixteen to sixteen ball game, and he
Speaker 4: was able to go in and get that thing done.
Speaker 4: That's what this defense is going to have to do
Speaker 4: if Bethard is the starter guy to keep this game close.
Speaker 4: Because you're talking about Baker Mayfield coming up here, who's
Speaker 4: coming off of a really big gay.
Speaker 2: We've seen quite a few backup quarterbacks be very successful
Speaker 2: so far this season, so.
Speaker 1: Why not us. Our final big thing.
Speaker 2: This today, I should say, is their quarterback Baker Mayfield.
Speaker 2: He's coming off one of the best games of his
Speaker 2: career for touchdowns and the Pearson talked a little bit
Speaker 2: about their game plan.
Speaker 3: He's gotten better as the season's gone on some of
Speaker 3: his you know, statistical numbers. He's getting the ball out
Speaker 3: of his hand extremely fast. It does slow down pass
Speaker 3: rush when you can do that, you know, especially in
Speaker 3: the third and short medium range. And you know, he's
Speaker 3: trusting his guys you know, down the field and they're
Speaker 3: making plays for him. So and he's not turning the
Speaker 3: ball over, you know. So all those things are in
Speaker 3: his favor and are helping and he's playing playing good.
Speaker 2: Brian, the defense didn't have too much trouble that. You
Speaker 2: actually played Lamar Jackson pretty well last week. But this
Speaker 2: is a different situation with Baker. He's still playing quite
Speaker 2: well for Baker Mayfield so far this season, but different
Speaker 2: kind of quarterback.
Speaker 4: First vision quarterback to go into lambeau Field and post
Speaker 4: a one to fifty eight point three perfect passer rating,
Speaker 4: four touchdowns, three hundred and eighty one yards. But here's
Speaker 4: the impressive part.
Speaker 1: He was still.
Speaker 4: Sacked five times and put up that kind of a day,
Speaker 4: which means that he's mentally tough too. He didn't let
Speaker 4: it get to them. The Jaguars defense is gonna have to
Speaker 4: be on point.
Speaker 5: John, Yeah, it is. At the same time, he's having
Speaker 5: a good season. He also I don't think he's gonna
Speaker 5: have two hundred and fifty eight point three games in
Speaker 5: a row. He has been vulnerable in the past. He moves,
Speaker 5: he doesn't move as well as Lamar Jackson, and he
Speaker 5: depends on that mobility a little bit. I just can't
Speaker 5: help think that the Jaguars defense, the way they play,
Speaker 5: the way they create turnovers, I think maybe they can
Speaker 5: bring Baker down to earth a little bit. That's certainly
Speaker 5: the hope for the Jaguars this week.
Speaker 1: It's definitely gonna be the plan. Stay with us.
Speaker 2: We're gonna talk to our Buccaneers inside a little bit
Speaker 2: about Sunday's matchup. Welcome back to jags Am, presented by
Speaker 2: Fields Auto Group, Jacksonville. You can step up to luxury
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Speaker 2: December twenty. First, if I can get the days right
Speaker 2: today on a Thursday, as well as we're preparing for
Speaker 2: that matchup with Tampa on Christmasy, we want to talk
Speaker 2: to our Buccaneers insider, Scott Smith, senior writer and editor
Speaker 2: with the team. Scott, you guys are kind of in
Speaker 2: your own division race, division race, but in a different direction,
Speaker 2: because you guys have won three straight. We've lost three straight,
Speaker 2: So things must be feeling good in Tampa, I would
Speaker 2: imagine for you guys right now.
Speaker 7: Yeah, we had to pull out of tailspin there. We
Speaker 7: lost six to seven games and we're all the way
Speaker 7: down to four, four and seven. But Coach Bowles told
Speaker 7: the team before our Week thirteen game against Carolina that
Speaker 7: in eight days that could be in first place. That
Speaker 7: required wins over Caroline in Atlanta, and that came to pass.
Speaker 7: And then last week's big winning, green Bay has in
Speaker 7: a pretty good position. It didn't seem possible three weeks ago,
Speaker 7: but now the Buccaneers are really in the thick of
Speaker 7: it and probably well, we control our own destiny in
Speaker 7: terms of winning the division.
Speaker 2: Scott, we talked a little bit about it. But what
Speaker 2: was it like to see Baker's big day in Lambeau
Speaker 2: Because obviously for him to have a performance like that
Speaker 2: was impressive.
Speaker 7: Well, well, it was very heartening for all of us
Speaker 7: because I could tell you this, Baker Mayfield has won
Speaker 7: everybody over, from players to coaches to staff. Everybody loves
Speaker 7: the guy his play, But what he does off the field,
Speaker 7: so to see him have such a performance, he was
Speaker 7: in control the Packers played. The Packers decided to play
Speaker 7: almost completely zone coverage, mostly cover free looks, and Baker
Speaker 7: and offensive coordinator Dave Canalis had answers for that, and
Speaker 7: Baker was decisive and he was accurate and when he
Speaker 7: wasn't pressured. I heard you guys talking about that earlier.
Speaker 7: He took five sacks, but he also threw twenty three
Speaker 7: passes where he wasn't pressured and was almost flawless on
Speaker 7: those plays, just because we had the answers for it.
Speaker 4: If you can take five sacks and still post a
Speaker 4: perfect passer rating, you're a mentally tough guy. I mean
Speaker 4: that just stands out. Timmy, did you see this coming
Speaker 4: from him? I mean, when you're four and seven and
Speaker 4: have lost six of seven, did you still see the
Speaker 4: quarterback making progress in his first year in Tampa? Obviously,
Speaker 4: it takes time to develop those relationships in the timing
Speaker 4: with receivers. You never expect a one fifty eight point three,
Speaker 4: But did you see this coming in a sense?
Speaker 7: Yeah, I mean that's only a third one we've ever
Speaker 7: had in our team history, so we certainly didn't see
Speaker 7: it coming, and as you mentioned, it was the first
Speaker 7: one for a Disney in Lambeau, so I don't think
Speaker 7: you could have bet any money on that happening. But
Speaker 7: he's had enough games this year where he's been sharp.
Speaker 7: You know, There's been some up and downs, and I
Speaker 7: think that's largely because we have a new offensive coordinator
Speaker 7: and we're still developing this scheme and find out what
Speaker 7: we do best, what works best, what doesn't, how can
Speaker 7: we fix the little issues that we've had. And we
Speaker 7: didn't have a very effective run game for most of
Speaker 7: the season. So now that that's turned around a little
Speaker 7: bit the last month, the running game has been very good.
Speaker 7: That has really kind of helped it all come together.
Speaker 7: And then you see on last Sunday in Green Bay
Speaker 7: what it's capable of and what Baker can do in
Speaker 7: this system when everything is clicking will.
Speaker 4: Be flip the field on you real quick. Because we
Speaker 4: had a conversation yesterday with Travis Etn the Jaguars running
Speaker 4: game has not been clicking, and the conversation turned to
Speaker 4: Vitaveya in the middle of that defense. We don't see
Speaker 4: a lot of Bucks games over here. Understand what Vita
Speaker 4: is a big man with quick feet. Can he give
Speaker 4: us a sense of what he means in the middle
Speaker 4: of that defense to how Todd Bowles runs the Bucks defense.
Speaker 7: Yeah, if you look at our more advanced stats every
Speaker 7: single year that Pete has been here, when he's on
Speaker 7: the field and when he's off the field, the difference
Speaker 7: in the yards per carry that we allow and how
Speaker 7: soon the running back gets hit after the line of
Speaker 7: scrimmage is remarkably better when he's on the field. Some
Speaker 7: of that has to do with him commonly taking up
Speaker 7: double teams. He's strong, he's hard to move, and he
Speaker 7: was very, very questionable before last week's game in Green Bay.
Speaker 7: Has a toe injury. He's still dealing with that now.
Speaker 7: Tried it out for the game. They decided he could go,
Speaker 7: and the Buccaneers held a pretty decent Packers rushing attack
Speaker 7: to sixty yards. They got a couple big plays early
Speaker 7: and then after that they shut him down. And I
Speaker 7: think Vita had an awful lot to do with that,
Speaker 7: So it was really it was really good news for
Speaker 7: the Bucks when he was fourth game.
Speaker 1: Scott, thank you so much for joining us.
Speaker 2: We look forward to seeing you on Christmas Eve and
Speaker 2: Hopefully things go well for both teams.
Speaker 1: I guess, but one of us will go to win.
Speaker 1: So we'll see you on Sunday.
Speaker 7: Thank you, my pleasure.
Speaker 1: Thanks all right, stay with us.
Speaker 2: We're going to go over who we think might be
Speaker 2: some game changers for the matchup against the Bucks on
Speaker 2: Christmas Eve. Jag Zam brought to you by Suttith, Florida's
Speaker 2: trusted and reliable moving company. Suttith is proud to be
Speaker 2: the official moving partner of the Jacksonville Jaguars. You can
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Speaker 2: We're back here on jag Zam getting in our final
Speaker 2: previews of the match against the Buccaneers. A very important game,
Speaker 2: so we're kind of looking at who we think will
Speaker 2: make a big difference in that one because they need
Speaker 2: a win in the worst way.
Speaker 4: I'm going with Calvin Ridley. You know, I was out
Speaker 4: in the practice field yesterday at the end of practice
Speaker 4: getting ready to do with some radio interviews, and it
Speaker 4: was his birthday, and the way that the whole team
Speaker 4: reacted to him and saying him happy birthday, and the
Speaker 4: guys in the locker room were saying happy birthday. There
Speaker 4: was an energy about him anyway. But I think and
Speaker 4: watching him walk off the field with CJ. Bethard, I
Speaker 4: think he's really dialed in. I think he's grabbed a
Speaker 4: hold of this role of having to be the guy
Speaker 4: and especially to help the backup quarterback. So I think
Speaker 4: he'll have a big day. I don't know that it
Speaker 4: will necessarily translate into one hundred plus yards or three touchdowns,
Speaker 4: but I think he'll make catches that make the difference.
Speaker 4: And I think he might be, you know, in the
Speaker 4: mode of one of those show me games, right, I
Speaker 4: mean everybody that you talk about, they're like Calvin Ridley.
Speaker 4: We thought he'd do more based on training camp, so
Speaker 4: good where is he. I think he's got big games
Speaker 4: in him down the stretch here challenge to prove it,
Speaker 4: and I think he might.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I still think he's very underappreciated by fans. I
Speaker 5: get that there's been some miscues and the production hadn't
Speaker 5: been there. I can also point to three or four
Speaker 5: games and I'm not sure they win if he's not
Speaker 5: on the field, and I think this might be one.
Speaker 5: You're right, and we're both thinking sort of the same way.
Speaker 5: Brian looking for something offensively that they can count on,
Speaker 5: So I went with tight end Evin Ingram. He will
Speaker 5: be critical to the game plan because there's really no choice.
Speaker 5: You have to use both him and Calvin and have
Speaker 5: him integral, not that he already hasn't been, but without
Speaker 5: Zay Jones and Christian Kirk, the passing game has to
Speaker 5: run through those two. He won't have big yards down field.
Speaker 5: That really hasn't been his role this year. To me, guys,
Speaker 5: it feels like they have almost substituted some of their
Speaker 5: lack of running game with short passes. Devin Ingram. There's
Speaker 5: been many cases where I felt like second and not
Speaker 5: and it's been a here Evan, get us seven and
Speaker 5: get us back around the sticks. And he's been incredibly
Speaker 5: valued for incredibly valuable to that he might be the
Speaker 5: guy in the red zone this week when they really
Speaker 5: need points that they have to depend on. He started
Speaker 5: that he has three red zone touchdowns in the last
Speaker 5: three games, so he started moving in that direction. They
Speaker 5: need somebody to step up. So it's either my guy,
Speaker 5: Evan or Brian's guy Calvin Ridley.
Speaker 4: And you know that the Bucks defense is gonna be
Speaker 4: looking at both of those guys. So indeed, it may
Speaker 4: be another player. I mean, it could be Parker Washington,
Speaker 4: it could be Elijah Cooks, whoever they put on the field.
Speaker 4: Those two guys are gonna have to make some plays,
Speaker 4: but someone else is gonna step up to Do you
Speaker 4: have that person? Is that yours?
Speaker 2: I'm going defense because I think they are gonna need
Speaker 2: a big effort from the defense and some help from
Speaker 2: the defensive side of the football if they want to
Speaker 2: win this game. And I'm going with Josh Allen because
Speaker 2: he's a game rerecor in every game, so I think
Speaker 2: he's gonna actually get the sack record this week. That's
Speaker 2: something that's been kind of over his head the last
Speaker 2: couple of and I know he says he doesn't focus
Speaker 2: on it, but then it won't be over his head
Speaker 2: for the rest of the season going forward once he
Speaker 2: gets to that point, and I think he might be
Speaker 2: able to will this team to a win with his presence.
Speaker 2: When he's on, he can just really wreck a quarterback's day.
Speaker 2: And as you mentioned, Baker Mayfield sacked five times in
Speaker 2: their last matchup, so Josh can certainly get to the quarterback.
Speaker 2: I'm hoping that either a strip sack some sort of
Speaker 2: turnover force turnover will help get some short field and
Speaker 2: make things a little bit easier on this offense. All right,
Speaker 2: stay with us after the break, we're gonna go over
Speaker 2: our predictions for this Christmas Eve matchup and what else
Speaker 2: is going on the rest of the week. Jags fans,
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Speaker 2: We also want to recognize our Florida Lottery High School
Speaker 2: Scholar Athlete of the Month, Kyle Brown. He's a proven
Speaker 2: academic excellence, dedication to the community, and demonstrated leaderships. The
Speaker 2: Bright Future Scholarship program is primarily funded by the Florida Lottery,
Speaker 2: assisting students in pursuing post secondary education and career goals.
Speaker 2: Skyle is a AP and duel enrollment scholar is hoping
Speaker 2: to wrestle in college as well.
Speaker 1: So congrats to him.
Speaker 8: How we gotta go, We gotta go?
Speaker 4: Yeah, Yeah.
Speaker 8: First third down of the game from Baltimore, third down ten,
Speaker 8: maybe about nine and a half.
Speaker 4: He dropped the throw looking he's getting it.
Speaker 8: Hits that's an excellent play by Josh. I mean, that's
Speaker 8: an excellent rush come home.
Speaker 2: That was Josh Allen miked up against the Ravens. DiDia
Speaker 2: anybody going? I swear he's just like right, John's ready
Speaker 2: to run through a brick wall right now.
Speaker 4: He was great in the locker room yesterday too. You know,
Speaker 4: he was great on the podium Monday when when he
Speaker 4: was asked about how you work your way through tough
Speaker 4: stretches and leadership and uh, he's my pregame interview in
Speaker 4: the first hour of radio on Sunday afternoon, and he
Speaker 4: was just terrific. I just almost handed the micts to
Speaker 4: just talk about whatever you want.
Speaker 1: Yes, you can definitely just handle for sure.
Speaker 5: And he's been reliable this year. I mean, you saw
Speaker 5: I didn't have a sack, and we're so sack centric,
Speaker 5: think where was he?
Speaker 2: Uh?
Speaker 5: He impacts games even when he doesn't have sacks this year.
Speaker 1: And drive sacks Trayvon's way. He got a sack in
Speaker 1: that game against three. Yeah, and those two.
Speaker 4: I mean I was talking with Bill Shouey yesterday and
Speaker 4: those two are coming right. I Mean, Trayvon is starting
Speaker 4: to get it. It's clicking for him, and you've got
Speaker 4: nineteen and a half sacks between the two of them
Speaker 4: with three games to play. They are formed combination, and
Speaker 4: you just you think that's a base to build this
Speaker 4: defense on.
Speaker 2: All right, I don't think any of us know for sure,
Speaker 2: but let's go over our picks for Sunday. What do
Speaker 2: we think is gonna go down?
Speaker 4: Well, I mean, you've got a team that's lost three
Speaker 4: going to a team that's won three. You got a
Speaker 4: team that's probably gonna be playing with a backup quarterback,
Speaker 4: and you got a quarterback coming off his best game
Speaker 4: of his career. Right, I don't know how you go, Yeah,
Speaker 4: JAG's got this one. But if the defense plays well
Speaker 4: and create short fields, extra possessions. C. J. Bethard is
Speaker 4: more than capable and this defense can do that, so
Speaker 4: you know it's fort the coin. Can they do that.
Speaker 4: If they do that, the Jags can win.
Speaker 5: Last year's team was remembered for the five game losing streak,
Speaker 5: I mean a five game winning streak at the end.
Speaker 5: If you're gonna make the playoffs in this league, you
Speaker 5: should have some memorable games that you look back on
Speaker 5: in five years and think that was that was impressive.
Speaker 5: That was special. This should be one of those games
Speaker 5: if you're gonna make it. Hey, remember the time they
Speaker 5: went down to Tampa with a backup quarterback and went
Speaker 5: and won, went and got one that you didn't expect.
Speaker 5: It needs to be that kind of a game where
Speaker 5: somebody steps up that you're talking about in four or
Speaker 5: five years as that was their game.
Speaker 1: Uh.
Speaker 5: I can't predict that they have a chance to It's
Speaker 5: only a one point spread, so you know, t people
Speaker 5: believe this is gonna be close. I don't love it,
Speaker 5: but it has to be that kind of a game.
Speaker 5: So I'm gonna pick that they They're not gonna get it,
Speaker 5: but it it's not like I thought they had very
Speaker 5: little chance against the Ravens cause the matchup this one's
Speaker 5: not that it's just tough without Trevor.
Speaker 2: It's a winnable game. We've certainly seen what backup quarterbacks
Speaker 2: can do. We've been the victim of it. The This
Speaker 2: team has been the victim of a couple backup quarterbacks
Speaker 2: so far this season. So it can be done. Here's
Speaker 2: hoping they can figure that out. Either way, We'll be
Speaker 2: back here on jag Dam next week to go over
Speaker 2: what goes down and of course enjoy your holiday as well.