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Touchdown Jaguars!
Touchdown Jaguars!
Episode 122: Jaguars/Bengals Week 2 Analysis - Jaguars Let One Get Away in Cincy
The Jaguars fall to the Bengals 31-27 in a gut-wrenching loss where poor execution and self-inflicted wounds outweighed some promising developments. Despite creating three turnovers and getting strong performances from their running backs, Jacksonville couldn't overcome penalties and struggles in pass coverage.
- Brian Thomas Jr's concerning struggles
- Preventable penalties continue to plague the team with multiple illegal shift infractions
- Tyson Campbell struggling against elite receivers like Ja'Marr Chase
- Travis Etienne and Bhayshul Tuten looking impressive in Liam Coen's offensive system
- Parker Washington emerging as a reliable target (5 catches, 76 yards, 91.1 PFF grade)
- Defense creating turnovers (3 interceptions) but struggling in other areas
- Critical divisional matchup against the Texans (0-2) coming up next week
Join us next week with the full crew as we break down the Texans game and see if the Jaguars can address these issues and get back in the win column.
James Johnson and Phil Barrera bring you the best and most up to date Jacksonville Jaguars news. "Touchdown Jaguars!" is a tribute to the prospective ownership group "Touchdown Jacksonville!" In 1991, the NFL announced plans to add two expansion teams and "Touchdown Jacksonville!" announced its bid for a team, and Jacksonville was ultimately chosen as one of five finalists. In November 1993, the NFL owners voted 26–2 in favor of awarding the 30th franchise to Jacksonville. James and Phil have been fans of the franchise ever since and have had the honor (and sometimes dishonor) of covering the team professionally since 2017. The rest as they say, is history.
Welcome to the New York City City of the New York City City of the Still running and go. That is a goal and two. Touchdown Jacksonville. A hundred and nine yards Incredible Play action. Dittles Upstairs Wide open. Tommy Bohannon Touchdown Jacksonville. Looking for Jimmy in the end zone. Touchdown Jaguars. Touchdown Jaguars. Touchdown Jaguars.
Speaker 1:Welcome to the Touchdown Jaguars podcast. Here are your hosts, james Johnson and Phil Smith. All right, ladies and gentlemen, it is your man, james Johnson, one half of the Touchdown Jaguars podcast, here for a what will be a solo episode where I am burning the midnight oil here. Phil will be missing this week, but we'll get him back next week. So shout outs to my guy, Phil Barrera, my co host, partner in crime. But yeah, I will have to man this one solo, which is kind of hard because it was a gut wrencher, right. So this is one where I kind of wish that maybe I had filled a vent with me. But again, we'll get my guy back on the next episode. And yeah, we were trying to even get some fill in guests maybe to join us, but it didn't go according to plan. But it's all good right. In this podcasting industry it is all about adjusting and adapting on the fly and we will talk about week two's gut wrencher, a heartbreaking loss, as the jacksonville jaguars fell to the Cincinnati Bengals in Cincinnati by a score of 31 to 27.
Speaker 1:Now, this will be one that I do want to make it short, because I'm burning the late night oil, as I already said on this one, and I'm getting a late start on it, and that's because I worked on Sunday so I wasn't able to see the game live when it happened and it's still kind of fresh to me. I just wrapped up watching it and just to give you all a reference here, you know it's what 12 o'clock, 1230 here on Wednesday, and the reason I'm recording it so late is I do want to try and get this up by Wednesday. So hopefully that will go according to plan. But I wasn't able to see the game initially on Sunday just bits and pieces of it, because I was at work. But I have seen the film and it is fresh. So a lot of things I might still be processing as well, but nonetheless we'll get through it. Uh, we will make this a thorough episode and that's kind of why I wanted to watch the um film before I spoke on it, because it is one that needs a lot of detail but at the same time, while making it thorough and giving the detail to this episode that it needs, I also wanted to kind of balance it out to be one of the shorter ones because, again, I'll have to edit this one solo and I got to get it up in a just a matter of a little bit of time so you all can hear it in the morning as you all are going to work, or maybe sometime tomorrow afternoon or tomorrow evening, all right.
Speaker 1:So for those of you who are new, tuning in, welcome to the show. Again, I'm James Johnson and you all will meet my co-host, phil Barrera, on the next episode. This is episode 122. So kind of goes to show you like the time is flying with these episodes. But for those of you who are new, and for those of you who have been here before you all know the drill as well, those who have been here before that you can find our content touchdown jaguarscom in terms of written content, which we haven't put in anything up in terms of blogs or written content in a while. We need to get on it, but it has been a bit of a bit of a busy summer for me and, of course, you can find this podcast on any platform that a podcast is posted, and if we are not there, please feel free to let us know so we can get the podcast on the platform of your choice. But most notably, most notably, we are on Spotify, itunes, apple Podcasts however you want to label it. We're on Amazon and, again, if we aren't there on your favorite platform, let us know, we'll get on there. But we are on most of your favorite platforms and the goal of this podcast is to give you the best jazz coverage over an audio airwave. And we do some video content too. Check out our TikTok. I'll link that and it's also in our bio. But our goal is to give you all the best go-to audio form of a podcast for the Jacksonville Jaguars and the ladies in Jacksonville Jaguars news.
Speaker 1:In terms of our social media handles, you can find us most notably on Twitter. You can find me at sports grind, underscore done. You can find my co-host, phil Barrera, at Phil the Filipino, and you can find our podcast handle at TD Jaguars pod. We're kind of creeping up on a thousand followers. We are at about 840. So anybody who has not followed us yet and all our new listeners. Go ahead and do that and show us some love so we can hit that 1000 follower mark. And then, on those platforms that I mentioned for the podcast, feel free to rate, comment, subscribe and all of that good stuff to put us atop the charts of the analytic charts that are out there for your go-to news and Jaguars media. So, without further ado, we'll get into it.
Speaker 1:In terms of today's show, as I said, the jacksonville jaguars fell to the cincinnati bingles uh, going to one and one. So their 500 um fell by a score of 31 to 27 to the cincinnati bingles at um, I think it's called akershire stadium, or is that the pittsburgh steelers stadium? Paycor stadium, is it? I probably disrespected a lot of Bengals fans there by referring to their stadium as the Steelers Stadium, but I get mixed up. So my apologies on that. But we'll just. First we'll go through the box score and then we'll go through the takeaways, right?
Speaker 1:So, trevor Lawrence, in a game where his counterpart, joe Burrow, actually um, had a toe injury that will sideline him for a very long time. He's gonna be out until December and that's if he um, you know, goes through rehab perfectly. So, um, he had a toe injury that is going to require surgery. I don't know if he's had surgery for it yet. That happened in the first quarter, if I'm'm not mistaken. That injury Prayers for Joe Burrow. We hope him a speedy recovery.
Speaker 1:Trevor Lawrence was 24 of 42. He hit a little bit over 50% of his passes, had 271 passing yards, three touchdowns, two interceptions. Probably could have had more, um, but as we'll get into later, um, a lot of these didn't feel like they were on him. And again, you know I've only seen the film one time, so I'll continue to rehash it throughout the week or maybe I won't like that. That seems like torture, right, so maybe I shouldn't do that.
Speaker 1:But Travis Etienne led the way on the ground. Fourteen carries for 71 yards, had a 30 yard high for his, his longest total on the day. I mean he just continues to look good. We'll get into that later. He continues to look like a number one caliber back and one of the more elite backs in football under this Liam Cohen system. And one of the more elite backs in football under this Liam Cohen system Basial Tootin. Welcome to the league, young man, even though that one is technically his first game. But this is his first game since the Tank Bigsby trade which we mentioned last week on the last episode. But Basial Tootin had a great game himself eight carries for 42 yards. I really show that he's ready to step into that role and fill the shoes of Tank Bixby.
Speaker 1:So they led the way on the Russian in terms of receiving. Parker Washington led the way with five catches for 76 yards and he also had the highest PFF grade on the team. When you look at the PFF scores which I posted on my Twitter, you look at the pff scores which I posted on my twitter and I'm gonna pull them up right here as a matter of fact, because I want to make sure I get the facts straight here. So bear with me on that. And yes, I was right. He had a 91.1, leading the way for the offensive side of the ball. Not too far behind him was johnny munt, tight end, with the 78.8 on offense, and Ezra Cleveland, back-to-back weeks where I believe he's registered over a 70,. He had a 78.5.
Speaker 1:What a turnaround he has made in terms of where he is. In my opinion. A lot of people think he was good last year, but I kind of differ from them on that. But that guy's really showing me that I could could be wrong on him. I love what he's looking like in this new scheme. And then, um, also, while I'm at it, I'll just go through the defensive side, pff grades. Uh, it was devin lloyd leading the way with a 90.4, trayvon walker with a 87.7 we'll talk about him in a little bit. Um, ventrell miller 85.8. Eric murray, that free agent addition that we had mentioned last week, continuing to pile on to how he's looked in terms of looking good 76.8. And then eric armstead looking good under the new scheme at 75.2.
Speaker 1:Now back to the stats. Uh, parker washington led the way for the receivers with 75 yards over five catches. Deami brown had a touchdown catch probably could have had two and um, he had uh one where he dropped it in the end zone. That was a crucial part of the game. We'll talk about that. And he also dropped another one in the fourth quarter, uh, which had a little bit of heat on it. So you know, I have to look at all 22 to see if, like you know, that was on him or just trevor got it on him a little too quick. But he had five catches for 57 yards and the touchdown. And then brian thomas jr who was going to be a big talking point of this podcast. I had four catches for 49 yards, still trying to find his way and trying to get in sync with Trevor Lawrence.
Speaker 1:On the defensive side, jordan Lewis, another free agent addition that we mentioned last week, continues to pile on to the positive impact that he's had on this team eight total tackles led away in tackles. Murray was right behind him with seven, aluakin had seven himself. He continues to look good as well and then josh hines allen has six in terms of sacks. Uh, trayvon walker was able to land one foyer, aluakin was able to um get one. Uh, eric armstead got a sack, so that totaled for three. On the interception end, which there were a lot of turnovers in this game on both sides, but our defense at least, at the very least, is getting it done when it comes to turnovers.
Speaker 1:But one pick from Andrew Winger, another one from Devin Lloyd, who I've been very hard on, but the PFF crates are looking very favorable for him and he does. He has played better, I think, like Anthony Campanile gave him that wake-up call in the preseason where they had to play him in the third preseason of the game. I think that kind of lit a fire under him. Maybe we'll see. And Eric Murray would have picked. So three picks. And then Parker Washington had three returns for 75 yards on the special team and Basial Toon had one for.
Speaker 1:And then, quickly, just to go over the, the bingo stats, we don't really need to go Burrow stat because he was only stats, excuse me, because he was only in there for one quarter. But Jake Browning, who replaced him, was 21 of 32 for 241 yards and two touchdowns. He had three picks. Also Jamar Chase, who just went off, we'll talk about that 14 catches for 165 yards and a touchdown. T higgins with three for 56 and a touchdown and that's 56 yards, by the way. So that's really all the stats we'll go through on their side. Won't really need to go into detail with them because we'll we'll talk about them in just a little bit.
Speaker 1:In terms of the takeaways, that's what we will get into here of the game, my three positives. I guess I'll start with the positives, or should I start with the negatives? I'll start with the negatives. We'll get the bad stuff out of the way first, because they might take a little bit more of my time if I go to rent. But again, I want to make this a quick one now so hopefully we can stick to the script.
Speaker 1:So, with the negatives, we'll start with Brian Thomas Jr, because that's the talking point of this week. Right, and you know there is particularly the route where he was coming across the middle. It looked like he stopped and the opinions have varied on it. Jimmy Smith, who you know watched the game and had have varied on it. Jimmy smith, um, who you know watched the game and had some comments on it, um, you know he even said, you know, quit, being scared to be, you know, to get hit, uh, when catching the ball, and he wasn't, even he didn't. I don't think he made that comment during the brian thomas jr play, who might have been afterwards. But you have to feel like you know it was in reference to reference to the Brian Thomas Jr play and maybe some others. Right, but the talk of this week has been that particular play where it looks like he may have stopped his route and you know it ended up being an interception on Trevor Lawrence's part.
Speaker 1:And now a lot of people are questioning Brian Thomas's drive and passion for the game, are questioning Brian Thomas's drive and passion for the game, and not just because of that particular play, but just it feels like he's tanked out in terms of any time, you know, the ball ends up being incomplete to him, Right, and it's crazy to say because you know he's always been this kind of quiet player, but his passion has never been questioned on the field and he's always showed that fire on the field. Last year, you know, all up in Jalen Ramsey's face, right, you love to see it, you know, and you know there were times he'd get up after you know, a catch with other opponents and you know he'd celebrate, he'd do the little finger-pointing thing which they started penalizing him for, and you know he had to change that. But he still will get up, celebrate, um, get up in the defensive backs face. Get up in the safeties face, whatever the case may be, the cornerbacks face and just kind of show that fire like, hey, I'm here and that is lacking this year. Right, even in his catches it looks like he just he just pulls himself off the ground and he just wants to go to the sideline and just call it a day.
Speaker 1:And I do want to um preface this by saying this if he's going through something personally, um and I said this on twitter positive vibes and power to his way, you know, and prayers and thoughts and all of that um to his way, because you know this world can be tough on you mentally, right. We talk about mental health on this podcast often, so I do want to start by saying that if he's going through something, you know thoughts and prayers to him and you know, I hope that you know he gets the help that he needs in terms of that aspect. If it's that, if it is indeed something that's going on personally, off of the field, because at the end of the day, these are also people. You know, a lot of times we look at them as players getting paid millions of dollars, but they're also people too, with actual feelings, and they deserve to be treated as such. But if it's not a off the field thing and it's not a personal thing and it's a matter of mind over matter right and him needing to get his mind right, um, for the, and the way that I put it on Twitter is, you know, um, and I've been telling you know people that have asked me about it there's also a toughness and a gritty part that comes to being a receiver that the world doesn't see, and I think sometimes even these young players that play the receiver position don't understand that there's a certain degree of toughness when it comes to being that number one guy, to be in number like Jamar Chase and Justin Jefferson and all of those guys you know the complete guys, jefferson, and all of those guys you know the complete guys.
Speaker 1:There comes a degree of toughness and grittiness that comes with a job too, when you want to get to that level. Now, if you just want to be a deep route guy, you know a deep ball threat. Or you want to be, um, just a specific niche type of receiver, um, then you know some of those positions. You can work around the gritty part of being a receiver. But where Brian Thomas Jr was drafted and what the Jacksonville Jaguars want him to be, there are going to come times where, if he wants to be that number one guy and he wants to be a all around receiver, where the toughness aspect comes into play, right, the guys who will stalk block you in the next week, like Terrell Owens, right, everybody remembered Terrell Owens from you know his ability as a receiver, they remember the glamorous side of things.
Speaker 1:But if you go, pop in some tape of Terrell Owens right now know his ability as a receiver, they remember the glamorous side of things. But if you go pop in some tape of Terrell Owens right now, it's times where Terrell Owens just took his man and just straight up, stopped, blocked him to the sideline right when he wasn't getting the ball. Now, yeah, he was a bit of a diva when he wasn't getting the ball, but at the same time he put it all on the line for his teammates, right, and he left his heart out there on the field, whether he had the ball or not in his hand. He had that passion, whether the ball was in his hands or not, and that fire, whether the ball was in his hands or not. And you see it with Jamar Chase and, like I say, with Justin Jefferson, where it's not just all deep routes for them, right, they do it all. They'll catch it in the middle of the field, get down if they need to, or run through somebody's face if they have to, or spin out and turn it up for yards after the catch. Whatever the case may be, they are versatile and I think that's the key with Brian Thomas Jr. And I think that's the key with Brian Thomas Jr is he has to wrap his mind around the versatility aspect that it takes to be a number one receiver.
Speaker 1:And if you look at last year under the Doug Peterson scheme, right, a lot of that scheme and Jacob said this when he was on the podcast was either you're going to come away with a negative play or a, you know, explosive play. It felt like it was no in between, right, right, and I couldn't agree more with him. That's, for the most part, what Doug Peterson's scheme felt like. So a lot of times when we were seeing Brian Thomas Jr thrive right last year it was down the field where he was one-on-one with just him and a cornerback, and you don't really have to worry about the anticipation of getting hit that hard. Right, you don't have to worry about a safety waiting for you, it's just him and the guy one-on-one. Normally the guy's trailing him right, trying to catch up to him.
Speaker 1:And now we're in a scheme, a Liam Cohen scheme, that does kind of put you in the middle, in the interior, of a defense at times, and we saw it in the Steelers game, right, this has been an ongoing trend, you know. We have seen that part of this scheme is, you know, catching balls, uh, where I don't even want to say you're in the line of fire per se, but you do have to anticipate being hit a little bit, and that's just going to come with the job. If brian thomas jr wants to be a all-around wide receiver and he's gonna again you know I hate to keep repeating myself he's gonna have to wrap his mind around that toughness aspect of it, rolling your sleeves up, getting gritty and start blocking these guys in the next week and catching those catches where it may be a linebacker waiting for you or whatever the case may be. And until that happens he won't fulfill his full potential here with the Jacksonville Jaguars, and time will tell if he can get his mind right to get there. But it's clear that this scheme is providing a big adjustment for him. And all of the great ones just simply figure it out, right, regardless of the scheme. All of the great ones that want to call themselves a Hall of Famer or be a Hall of Famer down the road or be a number one current in present day, they have to figure it out, regardless of the scheme. So we'll see if brian thomas jr bounces back.
Speaker 1:I gotta say, man, I'm concerned as to if he will, just because of his energy, after all of these missed or catches or dropped, catches, um, or drop passes, or whatever the case may be, just his energy man is just real, real lackadaisical and I don't want to say like in, like a lazy way, but just the fire just seems to be lacking there. That he had last year where you would see how he would react after catching the ball, or even you know, just all around man, like even when he didn't have the ball in his hand, he had some kind of fire. And remember when Trevor Lawrence got laid out in the Houston Texans game I forget the linebacker's name and I probably shouldn't say his name anyway, but the linebacker's name that laid out, trevor Lawrence, brian Thomas Jr, was sprinting down the field to go fight. Right, I don't see that young man anymore and that's a little bit concerning. It is a little bit concerning. So. So hopefully our OG, jimmy Smith, who said he wants to talk to Brian Thomas Jr, could get through to him, and Liam can. But when it comes to being that guy at wide receiver, you can receive all the pep talks you want. At the end of the day you have to want to be that guy and again, if it's something personal going on, you know positive vibes and prayers to him, you know like, and you know I hope he can get through it in that regard if that's the case. But if it's not something like that, you know again you can. It's going to take more than the OG speaking with you and Liam speaking with you. You, as the wide receiver, as the player, have to want to get there, all right. So next, you know we won't harp on it too much. You know we are we've heard about it enough Right, and that situation will move on to the next negative, which was the penalties man Like and Liam brought it up in his postgame presser man, this has to get fixed and this is part of that last regime stench that's sticking, sticking to this team, right, you always have something or some kind of stench from the last regime that will stick to the present regime that you know they have to eradicate themselves.
Speaker 1:Uh, we saw it in week one where they had a bunch of penalties and it's still continuing. This time it was a lot of illegal shift penalties, man, and you know when, when you're getting penalties like that man like, those are gut punchers, man, those are penalties that could be easily avoided, right. And for it to continue to happen and continue for this team to continue to shoot themselves in the foot is complete and utterly ridiculous and disappointing, and of course it'll be an emphasis in practice this week. You know, and you know Trevor Lawrence even kind of talked about it in the sounds of the game, right as well. But this needs to get cleaned up Quickly and when, looking at the, the whole team stat recap in all the Jacksonville Jaguars had six penalties for 55 yards and, if I had to guess, over half of them yeah, over half of them were illegal shift penalties, right.
Speaker 1:So we can't have that heading forward, especially in a divisional game. Right, where it could be tight, the score might be a little bit closer to the, you know lower twenties. When you look at how good the Texas defense is I know they're on two, but you know, when you're talking about low-scoring games, those penalties especially are back-breaking. The reason it didn't like I mean it killed the Jaguars in the sense that they did not win the game, but the reason it didn't kill them as much as it should have because when you look at them, penalties they should have lost by more than they did is because, of course you know, joe Burrow wasn't in the game. But if Joe Burrow had played that whole game, this, this score would look significantly different and the Bengals probably would have been upwards of thirty five, thirty eight points on us had he been able to continue in this game. So that'll be something to monitor, man, that they can't shake from the Trent Baalke regime. But it's time to it's time for them to get their mind right and stop the silly little penalties, man, because all of the good teams, you know they don't have this problem.
Speaker 1:So, that being said, we'll go to the last takeaway here, and the last takeaway for me is just that Tyson Campbell is kind of falling short of his contract, man, and you know that was the talk going into this season in terms of, when you look at the defensive talking points, will Tyson Campbell fulfill his potential as a second round pick and fulfill his potential of the contract that they gave him? And you know, granted, now he was going against Jamar Chase and T Higgins, which is no easy task, and I even said this in the Bengals number one fans podcast shout outs to them as well for having me on. I very much appreciate that, that those two were going to come back swinging, especially when you look at the game that they had against the Browns week one and I know that they are elite at what they do but also, at the same time, these technical issues that keep showing up with Tyson Campbell and I could tell it was a point of emphasis that the coaches wanted to clear up and that they kind of see the same thing, because Anthony Campanile literally said that he has worked tremendously on fixing his technique and the technical aspect of his game, and he was continuing to work on that and you know he might have even said that. You know that that's one part of the game that he has been emphasizing to Tyson as well. And when it comes to elite receivers, that stuff will flare up if you're not there technically like you need to be, and you know you get the results that we just spoke on, where Jamar Chase is killing the defense for 160 plus yards. And you know also too, it's clear, with that being said, it's also clear that if Travis Hunter is not a number one cornerback, the Jacksonville Jaguars are a team that's loaded with cornerbacks that are going to have a rough day against number one receivers and it's going to be a long season, especially in those games where we play teams with a number one receiver. If you know Tyson, don't get the technical part of his game right. And if you know Travis Hunter, if he struggles, you know we haven't seen enough from him to know like if he can be a number one cornerback and hopefully we'll get to see more of him and eventually it feels like they'll have to see what they have in him because again Tyson is just falling short. But it is early in the season.
Speaker 1:You can always say that Right, but I think at this point in Tyson's career to see the struggles that he's having continue to be a thing. I think we are at a point where it is a cause of concern and maybe he just is what he is Right. But hey, man, he is a Georgia Bulldog. They are resilient. I don't mean to toot my own horn or toot my team's horn there, mean to toot my own horn or toot my team's horn there, but we are resilient and you know time will tell man if he can. You know, step up a little better.
Speaker 1:Nico Collins is coming next week, man, and he's gonna be a guy that's just as hungry as those two guys I just named, higgins and Chase man. They are coming off an 0-2 stretch right now. So we're gonna need Tyson to get right and start performing to his potential and get the technical aspect of his game right, because it's gonna be a long night or a long day, should I say if he does not, with Nico Collins coming into the building, and you know, some people have even suggested at this point, try Travis Hunter out on Nico Collins, which would be an interesting thing. Something we have to keep in mind too is, you know and I don't know if this is necessarily noteworthy or something worth mentioning but monteric brown is coming back soon too, and the reason I'm mentioning him is because he looked like one of the best players during training camp on the defensive side of the ball. So, you know, maybe they get a shot in the arm from him, maybe, but that's a lot to ask for a guy who's a former what six round pick? But you know he can't come back any sooner because we're looking at how Tyson Campbell has performed. At this point, we're ready to start looking at other options and what we have or what we could do in terms of finding that guy, whether it's Travis Hunter or maybe Montero Brown, continue to play like he played in training camp, all right, and then we'll go to the positives here in terms of those.
Speaker 1:Once again, a reoccurring theme I said this in the number one Bengals podcast a reoccurring thing that continues to show consistently for this team and this is why Tank Bixby was traded is the running back position man. I love what I saw out of Travis Etienne. He's looking like he could be, you know, under this scheme, the best running back in football, like in the NFL, and that's crazy to say, right, which he's never been a guy that you look at and say he's not talented. But you know, I don't think the conversation in our mind ever occurred that he could be the best running back in football. He's looking like it really, in my opinion, man, when you look at how he's performed these last two weeks and I really love it for him because you remember last year in game one where he fumbled it and knock on wood that that's not coming down the road and you know that. You know he continues to protect the ball as he has, but he had to fumble and you know some people say he, he was down for a long time after that in the miami game, man, and to see him go from that to this in terms of how he started this season as opposed to last season, man, you gotta love it for him. Man, so happy for travis etn and he's on the contract season too, and he, he's even making us have these thoughts, like, man, we, we might need to keep him, man and um, what you? Because we all know how people feel about the running back position, like, oh, they're easily replaceable, but the way he's playing, you kind of have to consider keeping him if it continues at this route.
Speaker 1:And then with Basial Tootin man, like I said, just stepping into that role to fill the shoes of Tank Bigsby man, he did not disappoint. Into that role to fill the shoes of Tate Bigsby man, he did not disappoint. I mean, I know the stat sheet doesn't say it, but he's sharing the load with ETN. So you know the stats aren't going to look crazy, but when he's getting the ball, man, he's bringing the physicality, he's running over people. Man, he shook one defensive end out of his shoes in the open field for a touchdown. So he's that aspect um to the game as well, in terms of what he can do as a pass catcher and just being shifty man, he is a great all-around weapon for this team and I've had this conversation many times and I've said it.
Speaker 1:When we drafted him and alan, I liked alan better, but basial tootin is showing me why he was drafted in the third round and you know why liam co Cohen really wanted him on his team and I couldn't be happier to see what we can get out of him, etn and Allen as a trio man, so really encouraged by what I'm seeing from them. And you know, if we can get these other mistakes taken care of and those guys in that room continue to be what they can be. Man, the sky's the limit. Man, the sky's the limit. And then you know, of course, btj can get himself together. The sky is really the limit.
Speaker 1:The other positive, parker Washington man, showing his ability and continuing on from his strong training camp performance as well, led the team in receiving, as I said, led the team with the highest PFF grade of a 91.1. And you know the reason his performance is important is because you know after how Brian Thomas you know Brian Thomas performed. There are concerns as to if, like man, will we, at least for me, it's crossed my mind, you know, will we have to be in a situation where Brian Thomas is maybe so tanked out to where we just have to look to other receivers to step up in Deami and Travis Hunter and Parker Washington? And if that's the case, parker Washington is showing that he's more than capable and more than ready to step up in a heightened role or, you know, an increased role and be a bigger contributor for this team if we have to come to that man. So I thought that was worth mentioning.
Speaker 1:And then, lastly, man my last takeaway is actually takeaways turnovers Right as we came away with three, all of which were interceptions, again Dewey, devin, lloyd and, I think, murray as well. And what exciting play out of those safeties. Man Two, you know, they are obviously two guys who aren't named. You know household names in Dewey and Murray, really looking like the best part of that secondary man Putting up good scores on PFF whether you agree with PFF or not, you know and their analytics, but putting up good scores and good performances. I think we all can agree that what PFF is saying about them in terms of their scores is accurate. They are performing quite well. But, you know, three more takeaways to go with what we had last week.
Speaker 1:I forgot the figure and, as of the day, we are ranked third in turnovers defensively. Um, well, second. Actually. We're tied with the falcons, who have three as well, um, and the coats have four. They're number one, and you know um on the side. No, they're not bad at pressuring. Now I do think that they need to be a little bit better at pressuring in the most important moments.
Speaker 1:But all of that, said man, just the turnovers that we are causing because we struggled mightily in that area last year, is a very positive sign and that'll keep you in a lot of games. You know what I'm saying. And when you're not facing elite quarterbacks, like I kind of mentioned the example I mentioned earlier, had Joe Burrow been playing they probably could have gotten ugly. But if you're not playing a lot of elite quarterbacks, you know that can get you a long way. And even when you're playing elite quarterbacks, I guess it can too If your offense shows up right and hold up their end of the bargain and take advantage of those turnovers. So I like where they are there, um, you know, while this is a gut punch um type of game, there are several positives to come away from this um in terms of to build on and to learn from and to help gain positive momentum heading forward. Um.
Speaker 1:But we got a big time game here coming up against the texas division game. You, they are hungry at 0-2. But at the same time they're struggling offensively. You know I wouldn't be shocked if we were in for a low-scoring game, but you know, after what happened and transpired in this game against the Bengals, you know the Jags need to win this one, right, and that would at the very least put them at you know where they'll at least come out of the first four games with two wins. Maybe more We'll have to see in time, we'll tell.
Speaker 1:But as I said, man, I was going to keep this one short and maybe when we have, you know, phil on. You know there'll be a bit longer, but I didn't want to talk everybody's ears off. I wanted to make this one straight to the point but at the same time a little bit in in depth. So to rehash all of our handles and things in terms of that, we need to plug here Touchdown. Jaguarscom is the website you can follow me at, james, excuse me, at sports grind underscore done on Twitter and feel at feel the Filipino, my co-host, phil Barrera, who will be back next week.
Speaker 1:Of course, you know we'll be looking into getting guests on and all that good stuff too, but we just been so busy we haven't been able to do it as of the last few weeks I think the last week or so but we'll be working on that as well. You know where to find a podcast new and old listeners on itunes or apple podcast, and also you can find that on Spotify, amazon Music. Wherever you listen to a podcast, we're there, and if we're not, as I mentioned earlier, let us know so we can get on your favorite platform and give you the latest in Jaguars news on a week to week basis. So in the meantime, everybody, try and stay sane, take care of each other. Let's not do all this bickering on Twitter and let the bots get the best of us on Twitter. Let's stay united as a Jags family and until next time I am signing out. I'm
