00:00:02
Speaker 1: This is Jaguars Post Game presented by GEHA. Join Brian Sexton, Mike Dempsey, and Pride of the Jaguars Fred Taylor as they break down today's game. Jaguars Post Game is brought to you by Farrah and Farrah, the University of Florida, Whataburger, and by Everbank. Jaguars Post Game presented by GEHA starts right now.
00:00:27
Speaker 2: All right, welcome in, everybody.
00:00:29
Speaker 3: Jaguars postgame brought to you by GEHA Government Employees Health Association. Benefits for federal employees and retirees. Mike Dempsey and the coach Mark Duffner here with you. Coach, always better to win. We're live in the Hyundai studios and some good performances. Some guys trying to make the 53-man roster tonight.
00:00:48
Speaker 4: There really was. I mean, really a dominant performance by our team. Defense played well. Offense played well. A lot of special teams, geez, 61-yard field goals. So everybody contributed to really a dominant win.
00:00:59
Speaker 2: All right, just getting underway here.
00:01:01
Speaker 3: Jags winning, of course, 19-0. The Jaguars radio network presented by UF Health, the official health care partner of the Jacksonville Jaguars. You know, Coach, all the talk this week is about bubble guys, who is on the bubble, who's not on the bubble. And I think one guy we're going to talk about throughout the postgame tonight is Brian with a Y. Brian Thomas Jr., the other Brian Thomas Jr., the other BTJ, which is a fair nod to our wide receiver here. But this undrafted rookie, Brian Thomas Jr., came in tonight. And if you needed a performance to cement the spot on the 53-man roster, Coach, how does two and a half sacks sound to you?
00:01:42
Speaker 4: He was loud with his play. No question about it. I mean, five tackles in the game, two and a half sacks, as you just mentioned, four quarterback hits. He had a special teams tackle, too. So you talk about really a tremendous effort by this young man. You know, there's been a buzz about him, but, boy, he put it on the line tonight in a productive way.
00:02:01
Speaker 3: Yeah, and I'll give it to T.J. Bowlers as well, who had a sack and a half. He split that last sack with Brian Thomas, Jr. But, I mean, Coach, you know, a lot of talk, like, is he the 53rd man? Is he the 7th defensive end? Is he even the 6th defensive end? So as I'm watching tonight, I'm like, okay– Are you playing him to see if he shows up and rises to the occasion? Because I know there was some fear in this building that if they try to wave him and get him on the practice squad, that they're not going to be successful.
00:02:29
Speaker 2: Well, after tonight, it's over. It's over. You've got no chance to get him on the practice squad.
00:02:34
Speaker 4: No, he demonstrated tremendous play tonight. And so he let the NFL know that he's a young man to be reckoned with as a rookie and a productive player.
00:02:43
Speaker 5: So, yeah.
00:02:44
Speaker 4: I think he's on his squad.
00:02:45
Speaker 3: All right, well, when we come back, we'll have Kai Stevens with Liam Cohen, some of the players down at the Everbank Vault. Final score, 19-0 as the Jags wrap up the preseason with a win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. This is Jaguars Postgame on Jaguars Radio.
00:03:03
Speaker 4: Frank Franzen here for Coil & Sons Fencing.
00:03:05
Speaker 2: Jacksonville is full of memorable sports memories.
00:03:07
Speaker 3: Remember Morton Anderson missing a chip shot field goal that launched the Jags into the playoffs in 1996?
00:03:13
Speaker 2: You know who doesn't miss?
00:03:14
Speaker 3: Coil & Sons Fencing. If you're in the market for a new fence, I recommend calling Coil & Sons today at 904-356-4821.
00:03:19
Speaker 6: That's 904-356-4821.
00:03:19
Speaker 2: Or visit coiljacks.com.
00:03:20
Speaker 4: That's C-O-I-L-E, jacks.com.
00:03:21
Speaker 2: Coil & Sons, keeping your business and home safe for nearly a century.
00:03:34
Speaker 6: Azar Sausage, serving Jacksonville and family owned and operated since 1954. Find their locally made product at your favorite grocery store or restaurant or call 904-358-2354 to find out where you can purchase their product. Whether it's mild smoked, chorizo, or Italian, they have all your sausage needs. Visit azarsausage.com to learn more about their products.
00:04:03
Speaker 7: It's here that a tiny newborn has the heart surgery needed to save her life. It's here that a first grader learns to speak clearly and confidently. It's here that a 12-year-old athlete builds the strength to run full speed again. It's here at Wolfson Children's Hospital that answers are found, courage is shown, and odds are beaten every day. Wolfson Children's, always here. Visit WolfsonChildrens.com.
00:04:32
Speaker 8: Federal employees keep our country going, and GEHA is proud to keep them going with health plans exclusively for them. We were started by postal employees in 1937, and today we offer all federal employees a network of 1.7 million providers and a health plan for every stage of life. That's why we've been trusted by millions of federal employees and retirees across the country since 1937.
00:04:55
Speaker 7: GEHA.
00:04:55
Speaker 8: Find your federal health plan at GEHA.com.
00:05:14
Speaker 3: Jaguars postgame continues. Mike Dempsey and Mark Duffner from the Hyundai Studios. Today's game presented by Wilson Children's Hospital, the official children's hospital of the Jacksonville Jaguars. We'll coach some superlatives we gave out to Brian with a Y. in the opening segment of the post game. How about Michael Wortham tonight? Five punt returns averaged over 24 yards of return, including the 63 yard touchdown and chipped in with three catches for 47 yards. I don't know if there's a spot for him on the 53 yards, But, man, when you look down at that practice squad, if you have an issue, an injury to Parker Washington, you need a return guy. Look, I get Josh Cameron, heralded return guy in college. Michael Wortham showed everybody something tonight. And you and I have talked about him out there on the practice field watching from the sideline. The map doesn't work in his favor, but number zero put on a show tonight.
00:06:07
Speaker 4: Well, statistics work in his favor. I'm going to tell you right now, that was an electric punt return. I mean, it lit up the place. and all this guy does is continue to make big plays.
00:06:16
Speaker 3: All right, we'll talk more about Michael Worthen coming up. DJ Dallas also had an impact on this game, and Kai Stevens is standing by with the Jaguar running back.
00:06:24
Speaker 5: Sure did. DJ, a little frustrated on the front of that. Before you got the actual touchdown, you felt like you were in there already. It must have felt like you scored three times in that.
00:06:34
Speaker 2: Oh, yeah.
00:06:36
Speaker 9: They tell us not to reach the ball. I was just trying to get in there, man, but... Yeah, I was tired. I was about to throw up and some more stuff.
00:06:45
Speaker 5: Are you happy they at least called the fake run to the pass so you can get your score in?
00:06:49
Speaker 2: Man, no.
00:06:49
Speaker 9: I was wanting Carter to get in on that QB sneak. Man, I felt bad. I hit him so hard to try to get him in the end zone. When he come up out of the foul, I'm like, oh, man, dang.
00:07:01
Speaker 2: I missed my boy.
00:07:02
Speaker 5: You might have hurt your own guy.
00:07:03
Speaker 9: Yeah, no doubt.
00:07:05
Speaker 2: I feel like that's it.
00:07:06
Speaker 5: A trait for the whole room. You guys are so selfless. You don't care who scores or who it is.
00:07:10
Speaker 2: That's what it is.
00:07:11
Speaker 9: As Jaguars running back with Coach Morton and the crew, we try to be as selfless as possible, put the team over ourselves.
00:07:22
Speaker 2: I didn't care.
00:07:23
Speaker 9: A touchdown is a touchdown is a touchdown.
00:07:26
Speaker 5: How much fun has that room been? You've got some young guys and then you've got Amir Abdul who's been around forever and ever. Has it been a fun group to work with so far? The guys....
00:07:36
Speaker 9: I mean, now being an old head a little bit, they keep me kind of going, you know, with LaQuint especially.
00:07:45
Speaker 2: Yeah!
00:07:47
Speaker 5: Chad Morton, very impressed.
00:07:49
Speaker 9: Yeah, with LaQuint, I just see a lot of my traits as a younger player when I was a younger player in him. So, yeah, they keep me going.
00:07:58
Speaker 5: How do you keep LaQuint on the rails?
00:08:01
Speaker 9: Shoot, man, he keep me on the rails. He'd keep me on the rails. He'd keep me straight. He just pushed me to be my best self every day. So, yeah, I enjoy him. I enjoy our room. It's been fun. I had fun this camp. This has probably been one of my most fun camps, even with last game, you know, fumbling or whatever. They all kept me up. Yeah, it's been fun. I had a good time.
00:08:27
Speaker 5: How much does the joint practices help you guys? You guys get to get a little, you know, you get competitive, but you're going against each other. When you have so many joint practices, you finally get to go against someone else.
00:08:35
Speaker 9: Oh, man, this camp. So in my career, I've never done like three joint practices, like back-to-back-to-back weeks. And, man, I'll tell you, it's been, this is probably the most fun I've had, you know, because camp can get kind of tedious, you know what I mean, and going against each other. That's fun and all, but when you get to hit somebody else on another team, that's even more fun. So, yeah, I've had a great time, honestly.
00:09:03
Speaker 5: Congrats on the touchdown. Congrats on the win.
00:09:05
Speaker 9: I appreciate it.
00:09:06
Speaker 2: All right. There you go.
00:09:07
Speaker 3: That was a Kai Stevens with DJ Dallas and the Everbank bolt Everbank advantage. You make the most out of your money at everbank.com slash Jaguars. We're going to take a quick time out, come back and hear from head coach, Liam Cohen, final score, 19 to nothing. The Jaguars over the Buccaneers. This is Jaguars post game on the Jaguars radio network. Jaguars postgame continues. Mike Dempsey, Coach Mark Duffner here, brought to you by GEHA, Government Employees Health Association, benefits for federal employees and retirees. Coming up in a moment, Kai Stevens with Head Coach Liam Cohen, the head coach interview presented by GEHA, Government Employees Health Association, benefits for federal employees and retirees. So in a moment, Coach Duffner, will go down and hear from Coach William Cohen, who I will see. You know, like you and I were remarking earlier, his comments on Sunday were interesting to us because we thought Joey Aguilar had such a great performance last week against Carolina. And then William's like, yeah, he probably could.
00:10:10
Speaker 2: Have been 10 out of 10. Like, all right. You know, and I think that's probably a good thing.
00:10:15
Speaker 3: No matter how successful you are, set the bar just a little bit higher and keep achieving or keep striving.
00:10:21
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think he wanted to just let him know, hey, you're not Joe Namath yet.
00:10:24
Speaker 2: Haven't gotten it done yet.
00:10:26
Speaker 4: But boy, terrific start. We can talk about him for a lot tonight. That's for sure.
00:10:31
Speaker 3: Okay, we're going to hear from William Cohen in just a moment here. Aguilar, again, a very efficient night throwing the football. So we'll have plenty of time to get into him and how Carter Bradley played as well. He did throw that touchdown to DJ Dallas and a great, you know, attitude from DJ. And, you know, even if you think guys are saying the right thing to be politically correct, they are saying the right things, right? They're putting out this aura of, man, it doesn't matter if it's me, if it's that guy, if it's the next guy. As long as we're having team success, we all thrive off of that.
00:11:01
Speaker 4: Mike, there's a lot of team first in this group. I'm telling you right now. You hear it in the way they talk. I watch it. You see it in the way they practice. You've got the O-line picking up players downfield. A lot of good stuff.
00:11:11
Speaker 2: All right. Here's Kai Stevens with head coach Liam Cohen. Kai?
00:11:15
Speaker 5: Coach, we'll keep it quick. This has been a long training camp, long preseason. When you look back, do you feel like you got what you needed out of those joint practices and now this final game?
00:11:23
Speaker 10: I do. I think that the experience and the opportunity to coach in those joint practices, we cannot simulate with just going against each other. And I really do think that they were beneficial moments for us. And maybe one have truly been exposed if we would have played these guys for maybe a drive or two in a game. And, you know, when you have to go through 50, 60 play joint practice, there's just so much more film that we can really coach off of and things that we can improve on. And then you go out and finish the preseason with a physical outing, especially on the defensive side of the ball, and really kind of dominate that. That was exciting to see.
00:12:07
Speaker 5: We talked earlier this week about BJ Green's preseason game number three last year kind of really solidified his spot on a roster. I have to imagine Brian Thomas Jr. was trying to do the same thing this year. How impressed were you with him today and through training camp?
00:12:21
Speaker 10: Extremely. He has a gift of rushing the passer and that's rare, right? So many guys can win maybe the first part of the down and the finishing aspect of rushing the passer is a gift. And I think he plays with our play style. He knows how we want to play the game. I thought he had some good reps in the run game as well. And so Yeah, he's definitely made his mark and I would be shocked if he wasn't a Jag.
00:12:52
Speaker 5: I think it's like 16 days until the first game. That's a little bit longer than normal. Are you excited to have a little bit more time to game plan or are you just itching to get out there already?
00:13:00
Speaker 10: No, I think it's going to be good for us. I think that our players have some confidence right now coming off especially the last two joint practices and having some momentum coming from those while still knowing that there's work to be done, that there's A lot of things that we can continue to clean up and that we need to continue to clean up heading into Cleveland. And all eyes have been on Cleveland really for the last few days. And in our game planning and off the field when we have some time, that's what coaches have been doing. You know, I met with the entire offense today that didn't play in the game, and we watched a 50-play Cleveland cut up today. That's kind of been where we're headed. Now the focus does turn to them, but we have to continue to focus on ourselves and clean up the things we need to clean up.
00:13:49
Speaker 5: Just last one from me. I know you talked a lot about having the veterans kind of working with the younger guys and making sure you're playing Jaguars football. It feels like that showed up today.
00:13:57
Speaker 2: It did.
00:13:58
Speaker 10: I was very pleased with the effort from the guys out on the grass and the energy from the guys on the sideline. That was really cool to watch. to be a part of, to have those guys that were playing feel the vets and to feel those guys that they cared about it. They had a standard for how we wanted to play tonight. And they went and put it on tape. And that's what it's all about. And the chemistry, the continuity seemed there tonight in a lot of ways. And these guys are helping forge our 2026 season. There's no question about it. And the way that they came out and performed tonight only solidified that.
00:14:33
Speaker 5: All right, congrats on the win. We'll see you in the regular season.
00:14:35
Speaker 10: Thank you.
00:14:35
Speaker 2: All right, there you go, Liam Cohen.
00:14:37
Speaker 3: I had to laugh, Coach Duff, as he said, I'll be shocked if he's not a Jaguar.
00:14:43
Speaker 2: Does Liam Cohen know he has a pretty big say?
00:14:46
Speaker 4: He has a big say. He has a very, very big vote. There's no question about that.
00:14:51
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, look, he cemented it, slammed the door shut on any doubt, whatever you want to say, superlatives.
00:14:57
Speaker 2: Here's what I love from my untrained eye watching Brian Thomas Jr., okay?
00:15:02
Speaker 3: You're a guy who's coached. linebackers, pass rushers, all these guys. The first sack is a classic around-the-end bend, right? He's going outside the tackle, and he's low to the ground, getting as parallel to the ground as he can. The next one is an inside swim move. So he's already showing you he's got a little bit of a repertoire here. Oh, no question about it.
00:15:23
Speaker 4: And the fact that not only does he have the pass rush tools, but he knows when to apply them. He wanted the top of the rush you're talking about. We call that bending the edge. And then he set the guy up to beat him back inside. And he has the ability athletically to twist and bend, which is part of it too. You've got to have ankle flexion. You've got to be flexible to do what he did. Highly impressive in terms of what Brian Thomas did in this game.
00:15:44
Speaker 3: 50-play cut-up for the offensive players who were not playing tonight for the Cleveland Browns.
00:15:49
Speaker 2: William Cohen notes what the goal is.
00:15:50
Speaker 3: The goal is not to beat the Tampa Bay Bucs in Week 3 of the preseason, although they handled that. The goal is to open the season 1-0.
00:15:57
Speaker 4: I love it, and I'm sure that happened in the defense room and also on special teams, so they're on it. There's a darn good plan right now in terms of every day making progress towards the Cleveland Browns in this season moving forward.
00:16:10
Speaker 3: All right, Coach Duffner, Mike Dempsey here with you. Folks, bring home the W like the Jags did tonight. When the Jags win, you win a free Whataburger.
00:16:18
Speaker 2: How about that? All right, we will come back and we'll talk.
00:16:21
Speaker 3: About some of the standout performers in this contest. Jags win it 19 to nothing in their final preseason outing. This one against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. This is Jaguars postgame on Jaguars Radio. Jaguars postgame presented by GEHA. Mike Dempsey, Mark Duffner from the Hyundai Studios. Glad you're along with us. Jags win it 19 to nothing. It is only the preseason. Better to win than lose. It's more about the performance than the final score. All that stuff, coach, is true. But I think the players still feel better coming off and getting that W headed to the locker room.
00:16:57
Speaker 4: No question about it. When you finish preseason like that with a shutout and an impressive outing by all three phases of the game, it's a great effort.
00:17:05
Speaker 5: All right.
00:17:06
Speaker 3: Third quarterback position. These kind of things you talk about in the third week of the preseason. By all accounts, Nick Mullins is the backup.
00:17:14
Speaker 2: On this team, right?
00:17:15
Speaker 3: We heard Liam Cohen a couple weeks ago express his trust in Nick.
00:17:20
Speaker 2: Yes, he played a little bit tonight, but he started. They got him out.
00:17:23
Speaker 3: Had a pretty effective quarterback rating for the second week in a row. Okay, so we assume that that is locked in. Nobody else at the quarterback position on the active roster. Maybe they keep both on the practice squad, but coach, if it comes down, To Carter Bradley and Joey Aguilar, where does Coach Mark Duffner come down?
00:17:39
Speaker 4: Well, first of all, I've got to say, Carter Bradley, I love the competitiveness of him. I love how smart he is, how he runs the offense. He pulled Tampa Bay off two times with his cadence, doing a great job of varying that. But I have to say, I really like Joey Aguilar. I mean, he's 7 for 9 tonight. You know, this season, Mike, he's 17 for 20, in my math, somewhere around 220 yards. I mean, the guy is out there. He's got command. He's got poise. He's able to get the ball out quickly. He's got escapability. I think he's a developmentally ascending player. And under Liam's tutelage here, I think this guy can be something.
00:18:19
Speaker 3: Something you and I talked about this week, putting a high-volume offense, right? Which means he can process quickly. He can handle a lot of info coming in. He can, you know, when things are swirling, he can play at a high tempo. And I think with that, he gets rid of the ball. When he sees it, the ball is out. And that's one thing. Like, you know, look, is he going to be completing 90% of his passes in his NFL career?
00:18:43
Speaker 2: I would think not.
00:18:44
Speaker 3: But he's very decisive when it comes time to release the ball.
00:18:49
Speaker 4: He's decisive, Mike, and I don't see any panic in the guy, not at all. I mean, like you just said, at Tennessee, he goes from Appalachian State to Tennessee, and he runs the most prolific tempo offense in the country. And so you've got to have something on the ball a lot in terms of smarts and communication and poise and leadership to do that. And he's coming in and done that from the very beginning.
00:19:11
Speaker 3: You know, his guy in the first couple of games had been Trevor Pena, right?
00:19:15
Speaker 2: And so that, you know, I'm sure.
00:19:16
Speaker 4: Fling and cling.
00:19:18
Speaker 2: Yeah. Look, that's a... Did you just come up with that?
00:19:21
Speaker 4: Yeah, I did.
00:19:22
Speaker 2: Thank you. Not that bad right there. Thank you.
00:19:24
Speaker 3: But, you know, in all seriousness, like tonight... A little bit more Michael Wertham. We saw from Wertham in the return game, like Trevor Pena, I'm not going to knock what he's done because he's made some big catches in the first couple of weeks. He had that drop in the first game and came back, which showed a lot, you know, with that 43-yard catch. Had a big game last week. When you look at these two guys, Coach, I think they'd like to have them both, Pena and worth them on the practice squad um but just as a pure receiver which one of those guys has the edge in your mind oh.
00:19:56
Speaker 4: Boy i i i kind of if i had to make a decision i probably would go with pena i think but but i think they're both valuable they both return kicks i mean you're getting value here getting two for players guys that can help move the offense, help in special teams. I mean, I think they're both exceptionally worthy players. I hope like heck we can keep him on the practice.
00:20:16
Speaker 3: Yeah, Wertham almost popped two in the return game tonight. He had the one and he was upset with himself for getting tackled. And Jeff Logman, if you heard him on the broadcast, it's like nobody's fair catching that in the preseason.
00:20:27
Speaker 2: He's right.
00:20:27
Speaker 3: I mean, this is your opportunity to go out and make a play. We saw the Bucs return man catch a punt at the one-yard line. I don't blame him, Coach. You're not going to get any points for letting it bounce into the end zone.
00:20:37
Speaker 4: Again, you've got to show up loud with your play, and that's what these guys do.
00:20:41
Speaker 3: All right, we've made it this far, and we just haven't even casually mentioned that Cam Little pounded another 60-plus yarder.
00:20:48
Speaker 4: So I watched him in pregame, and this sucker was hitting him from almost maybe like 70, and he wasn't even trying to do it. I mean, it was unbelievable how strong his leg is. And to get that done tonight, special teams, tremendous. I mean, they hit that 61-yarder, the big punt return, 20 yards plus it. punt return average. I mean, geez, it really production.
00:21:07
Speaker 3: If you're a golfer, you had like that one yard draw on it. I mean, right down the center of the fairway. And what a weapon that is. What a luxury that is. When you're the coach, you can.
00:21:17
Speaker 2: Do all kinds of things. We saw.
00:21:19
Speaker 3: The first instance, we saw Liam Cohen decide to pooch punt. So here's Logan Cook pinning them at the four-yard line. So, like, the special teams, the specialists, we know Mattisik is an all-pro. The kicker-punter aspect of this team is as good, I think, as probably any combo in the league.
00:21:35
Speaker 4: I think it is, absolutely. And like I said, when you look at even last year's statistics, and they're heading that direction now, a top-10 scoring defense, a top-10 scoring offense, and special teams at the top. I don't know another team that can boast that.
00:21:48
Speaker 2: All right.
00:21:49
Speaker 3: We got more superlatives that we will check off throughout the course of the postgame tonight. But when we come back, we'll get into a little bit of a stats check here for you and see exactly what the final numbers looked like. with an Everbank stats check coming up. Folks, PRI Productions, the official event production company of the Jaguars, has everything you need to bring your next idea to life. Visit PRIProductions.com. Final score, 19-0 Jacksonville over Tampa Bay. This is Jaguars postgame on the Jaguars Radio Network. Jaguars postgame presented by GEHA. Mike Dempsey, Mark Dumpner from the Hyundai Studios. Coach, let me take a look at the numbers here with an Everbank stats check. Quarterbacks tonight threw for one. 63. Officially, when you factor in the sack yardage, the Bucs had 31 passing yards in this game. When you subtract the sack yardage from the actual passing yardage, the actual passing yardage was 64.
00:22:49
Speaker 4: There was pressures there. We had four sacks, I believe. That's Russian coverage working together with a backup group of players. Excellent effort.
00:22:56
Speaker 3: We had Braswell and Muhammad both out there tonight, maybe battling for one roster spot. Might both make it. We don't know what they're thinking math-wise. But we saw Christian Braswell have a pass breakup early. And then Jabbar Muhammad had one over the middle. It was incomplete off the receiver's hands. He didn't get credit for the pass defense, but he was in good position.
00:23:15
Speaker 4: Mike, you've got excellent eyes, I'm telling you, because those are notes that I wrote down. You just said them verbatim, and you weren't looking at my paper.
00:23:21
Speaker 2: I swear I can't see your paper.
00:23:23
Speaker 4: No, no, I cannot see that paper from here. No, that's excellent. Very good. Yes, sir.
00:23:27
Speaker 2: All right, quarterbacks for the Jags.
00:23:28
Speaker 3: Carter Bradley, 8 of 15 for 77 yards and the one-yard touchdown pass to DJ Dallas. Nick Mullins goes 5 of 7 for 62. Joey Aguilar, 7 of 9 for 57 yards. Overall, 20 of 31, 163. A touchdown, no interceptions. Jag quarterbacks were sacked four times. overall passer rating of 92.9 all three of the jaguar quarterbacks were over 90 in that category so good job there uh jamari taylor came in had a couple of bruising runs 12 carries for 44 yards led the way for the jaguars dj dallas kind of bottled up a lot of tough yards for him 15 for 34 looked uh to all the world.
00:24:06
Speaker 2: To me coach like he had that touchdown.
00:24:07
Speaker 4: I thought so too again i didn't you know i'm on the press box a long way away but it looked like a touchdown to me but Ultimately, we got in the end zone, and that's what counts.
00:24:15
Speaker 3: Hunter Long led the Jags. They're tied for the lead with Michael Wortham with 47 yards. I would have loved to have seen Hunter Long get the chance to play more tonight because in the pregame, Jeff Logman was very adamant that this team is keeping four tight ends, and he thinks Quentin Morris is the last one. Now, Quentin Morris may not have played tonight if Hunter Long doesn't go out with the rib injury. He came in with the one catch, but— long look good catching the ball and I've noticed him more as a pass catcher but that might not be what the Jags are looking for in that fourth tight end spot yeah I.
00:24:49
Speaker 4: Don't know all I do know is that like you said he started out blazing I mean the 34 yard catch he had in the first drive he had another next series had a 13 yard catch the one he got hurt on I mean I think they were trying to feature him a little bit in the passing game to see his production and he came through when he had The call was to him, you know?
00:25:08
Speaker 3: And people are probably listening and going, wait a minute. What do you mean they want a tight end who doesn't catch the ball? I'm not saying they don't want a tight end who can catch the ball. They may be looking more for the physical blocking and special teams aspect where Quentin Morris is thought to have the edge there. If you're looking for more of an offensive weapon, Hunter Long might profile more that way. But anyway, it's just a shame that he had to go out early tonight. Michael Wortham, the three catches for 47. Austin Trammell caught three for 36. Three catches for Trevor Pena for 19. Chandler Brayboy had a couple for 17. Patrick Herbert caught two for 12. DJ Dallas caught a couple out of the backfield. Jamari Taylor, Brady Boyd, and Quinton Morris each had a solo catch tonight. Defensively, Coach, Jalen McLeod. He's around the football a lot. One solo, six assists, tackle for loss, a quarterback hit. Here's another guy on the proverbial bubble heading into the weekend.
00:26:01
Speaker 4: He was active. You're 100% correct. He was productive, especially in the first half. I mean, he was all around the ball. That tackle for loss was an excellent play in the flat where he made a great tackle on the receiver in the flat. So again, I was impressed with him. And by the way, he was actually making the defensive call in the huddle quite a bit. So he was Hearing the call from the coach on the sideline and making the call, another positive thing.
00:26:23
Speaker 3: No doubt. Brian Thomas, come on. What a night for him. Five total tackles, three solos plus on special teams. He had another one, two and a half sacks, two tackles for loss, four quarterback hits.
00:26:34
Speaker 2: He had a pass breakup. I mean, what do you want out of this guy?
00:26:38
Speaker 4: And a special teams tackle.
00:26:39
Speaker 5: Right.
00:26:39
Speaker 4: Just spectacular. He did everything but get popcorn and play in the band.
00:26:44
Speaker 3: If he was on the– like if he was maybe number 54, and I don't know, maybe he was already on the team, right? But if he was number 54 coming into the night, he might have jumped up to like number 44 in that performance.
00:26:54
Speaker 4: And, you know, he's been consistent. I mean, he's been the talk of the camp often all the way through. So he's had a very good camp. It's not like this is a surprise late in the down. You know, he's been that way all along. I gained a lot of respect in how he's played this camp.
00:27:08
Speaker 3: All right, a few more stats coming up, but let's quickly pause 10 seconds here for station identification on the Jacksonville Jaguars radio network. All right, Coach, other noteworthy performances on the defensive side. I mentioned T.J. Bowler's had a sack and a half tonight. Amari Burney also chipping in. Overall, the Jags get five sacks in the game on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Jags have 14 first downs tonight to only six for the Bucs, 249 to 87 in total yardage. I mean, it was complete domination. Again, we're not... getting two out of our heads here we understand most of the players on the box field are not going to be playing on Sunday afternoons this fall but that's the same for the Jags and what you're trying to do coach is you're trying to have that that culture right you want a culture from top down that permeates everything you do the standard that's what they've been talking about this all season whatever the Jaguar standard is you've got to match that you've got to live up to it and you You know, I think it's permeated throughout this roster. That doesn't mean it's the greatest roster in the NFL or history or anything like that. But the mental aspect of what it means to be a Jag, I think Liam Cohen has done as much in that area to turn that around as anything he's done with his X's and O's.
00:28:30
Speaker 4: No doubt about it. I mean, the response of this team. So in the Carolina game, we had a very good joint practice. Didn't play as well in the Carolina game overall. It was some areas we wanted to get better at. We had a dominant performance against Tampa Bay in the first joint practice and carried that into this game with a dominant performance, a shutout production like you saw on offense, defense, and special teams. So they're understanding the message right now that, hey, we've got to take advantage of it. We've got to eat our best each and every opportunity we have.
00:29:01
Speaker 2: All right, though. There you go.
00:29:02
Speaker 3: Your Everbank stats check. And we'll continue along. Jags win it 19 to nothing. When we return, the always popular Jaguars Radio Network player of the game voting.
00:29:13
Speaker 2: 19 to nothing. Jags over the Buccaneers. This is Jaguars postgame on Jaguars Radio.
00:29:21
Speaker 3: Jaguars post game brought to you by GEHA government employees, health association benefits for federal employees and retirees. Mike Dempsey with Mark Duffner in the Hyundai studios.
00:29:32
Speaker 2: All right, coach. We like to.
00:29:33
Speaker 3: Gin this up, create some drama, but we we don't have a third voter tonight. So usually in front of Taylor, someone subbing in for him, we'll have the vote and a half, but I think we agree on who the player of the game will be, but let's go through some of.
00:29:47
Speaker 2: The candidates first. Okay.
00:29:49
Speaker 3: Um, I think it's certainly worth mentioning, at the very least, that T.J. Bowler's had a great game. He had a sack and a half, man.
00:29:56
Speaker 4: Sure did.
00:29:57
Speaker 3: You know, this is probably the most I've talked about T.J. Bowler's all training camp, but good for him.
00:30:02
Speaker 4: Very, very good.
00:30:03
Speaker 3: For going out there and getting it done. Cam Little always raises an eyebrow. And when it was 3-0, I'm thinking, well, there's your play of the game, your player of the game, all that stuff. But 61-yarder, worth noting. But we got two guys at the top. We got Brian Thomas with a lie. Brian Thomas Jr. Two and a half sacks. Four quarterback hits. Two tackles for loss. Pass breakup. Five total tackles. Outstanding night. But then we have Michael Wertham, who caught three for 47. And what he did in the return game was spectacular. Five punt returns. 124 yards. A long of 63 that went to the house. Almost took another one to the end zone. That would have been two, obviously. 24.8 average on punt returns.
00:30:48
Speaker 5: So.
00:30:50
Speaker 3: I think I saved the best two for last. Who do you see as the Jaguar Radio Network player of the game?
00:30:55
Speaker 4: Well, I'm going to go with Mr. Obvious here, Brian Thomas. I mean, he just had too much production, whether it's affecting the quarterback, special teams hits, passes broken up. I mean, quarterback, like sacks, quarterback hits, just too active. But that game by Wortham was really noteworthy. I mean, he's an electric little player. I'll tell you that right now.
00:31:15
Speaker 3: Coach, let me ask you this. I don't have any say over this, obviously, right? I... I know what the depth chart looks like. I know what the pecking order looks like.
00:31:24
Speaker 2: Other than B.J. Green, I'm more excited about Brian Thomas Jr.
00:31:28
Speaker 3: Than any of the other edge rushers that are behind Josh Hines-Allen and Trayvon Walker.
00:31:33
Speaker 4: Well, he's been productive as heck. I mean, he's made plays, and he's made plays when we need him a lot of times. So, I mean... The production, those things, that doesn't lie. So I'm with you.
00:31:42
Speaker 3: Wesley Williams flashed on a couple of plays tonight. He was around the ball, had the fumble recovery.
00:31:47
Speaker 4: Had the fumble recovery.
00:31:48
Speaker 2: And Strigo, we know, can play ball in the NFL, right?
00:31:51
Speaker 5: Yep.
00:31:52
Speaker 2: Zach Durfee is the mystery.
00:31:53
Speaker 3: Was he held out tonight because they have seen enough, or was he a little bit banged up? And that gets all into roster breakdown and composition. And, you know, they can designate a couple of guys to return on IR. They might place another one or two on season ending. We just don't know. We don't know what they're going to do with the math. But yeah, Brian Thomas, man. I mean, really, I feel like the last couple of weeks, he's got more word of mouth buzz than any other player on this team.
00:32:22
Speaker 4: Well, you know what? Kudos have to go to the personnel department, too, because you mentioned B.J. Green and Strigo. Both of those guys, college-free agents a year ago, not only make the team, but play in games this past season. And as already mentioned, Strigo and Green picking up where they left off. Now you've got Brian Thomas, and there's other players. Whirtham, Pena.
00:32:41
Speaker 2: Yeah, a lot of them.
00:32:42
Speaker 4: You're finding guys that are college-free agents that were probably draftable players, but they didn't get drafted, but Our staff went out and got them and brought them in here with guys. I mean, it's a great thing. The team can say to the rest of the league, you come here as a college free agent, you're going to play and have an opportunity to make our squad.
00:33:00
Speaker 3: Yeah, and sometimes you look and you go, well, these guys are so great. Why didn't they just draft them? Well, sometimes, as you know, the draft is– Who you like, but also who you think might not make it through.
00:33:11
Speaker 2: The seventh round.
00:33:12
Speaker 3: Is there, you know, Zach Durfee had a little buzz coming into the draft. If we don't grab him now, there's a good chance he won't be available for us to sign him as an undrafted free agent. So you got to, you know, they've done a good job, I think, kind of assessing which players are going to slide through the seventh round.
00:33:27
Speaker 4: An excellent job. And really, that's when you're getting great value in your roster player acquisition. When you can get guys that are not drafted that can make your team plus the draft picks he got, they make the team. That's excellent value. And, again, kudos to personnel staff in terms of what they're doing.
00:33:44
Speaker 10: Dang.
00:33:44
Speaker 3: Kudos to Brian Thomas Jr. with a Y tonight for the game he had with the two-and-a-half sacks, our Jaguar Radio Network player of the game. Folks, from the backyard to the beaches, the Ford F-150 with available Pro Power onboard. Gives you the power of a mobile generator. Ford, proud partner of the Jacksonville Jaguars. See your local Ford dealer today. Coming up next, the UF health injury report. Jaguars knock off the Bucs 19-0. Some injured pride maybe on the Tampa Bay sideline. This is Jaguars postgame on Jaguars Radio. Jaguars postgame presented by GEHA. Mike Dempsey, Mark Duffner from the Hyundai Studios. Time now for the injury report presented by UF Health, the official healthcare partner of the Jacksonville Jaguars.
00:34:32
Speaker 2: Coach, you know, they don't have to.
00:34:34
Speaker 3: Tell us anything about injuries in the preseason. So there may have been a guy or two who got nicked up. Like Carter Bradley, I thought, got hit in the ankle maybe early. But he didn't come out or anything like that. But Hunter Long, as we mentioned, took a shot in the ribs. didn't return to action tonight. So the one injury that I'm definitely aware of tonight.
00:34:54
Speaker 2: Anybody else?
00:34:55
Speaker 4: Not that I saw. And even Hunter, I was watching him from the press box. I mean, I know he wasn't going back in, but he was moving around. I think that's a minor one. I hope so.
00:35:03
Speaker 2: Let's hope so. Well, the more important thing is.
00:35:06
Speaker 3: Which of these injuries that we're not quite sure even what some of the nature of the injuries are will clear up over the course of the next 16 days until the Jags play their opener against Cleveland. You got Laquan Allen, who we know has been ruled out for the preseason, which opens the door potentially for Amir Abdullah to be on this team. And maybe he just makes the 53 outright. He didn't dress tonight, which is a good sign for him.
00:35:31
Speaker 4: Correct.
00:35:31
Speaker 2: Patrick McCary. Don't know.
00:35:33
Speaker 3: You said you saw him moving around doing normal human being stuff pretty well.
00:35:38
Speaker 4: Which is a little bit different than offensive line play.
00:35:40
Speaker 2: Right.
00:35:40
Speaker 3: So it's tough to assess with these guys. A back, you don't know unless you're experiencing it.
00:35:48
Speaker 4: Absolutely. And the position he plays where you're straining a lot. I mean, that's something we've got to be aware of.
00:35:56
Speaker 3: I think at a minimum, Coach, it's... and this is pure speculation on my part, is the short-term IR version, you know, missed the first four games of the season. I think possibly IR and out for the year is in play. But again, we're not privy to these discussions, but he's a guy to watch. Chuma Adoga didn't play tonight. Been a little bit nicked up, but, you know, it doesn't seem like it's anything too serious.
00:36:20
Speaker 4: No, I don't think so.
00:36:21
Speaker 2: Mentioned Zach Durfee, maybe a candidate to kind of stash and develop.
00:36:26
Speaker 4: It's going to be interesting to see what goes on, that's for sure. I will say this, our training staff and medical staff, I mean, a week ago we were concerned about the health of the offensive line. That's kind of now gotten in the rear view mirror. They do a tremendous job of getting players back. We're happy about that.
00:36:42
Speaker 2: On that front, you mentioned Cole Van Lannen dressed.
00:36:44
Speaker 4: Yeah, he dressed.
00:36:45
Speaker 2: He went through warm-ups tonight.
00:36:46
Speaker 4: Yeah, which I thought was great.
00:36:47
Speaker 3: I don't think there was ever a chance he was going in the game, no matter what happened, right?
00:36:50
Speaker 4: No, not a chance.
00:36:51
Speaker 2: But just to have him, he's got to take these steps to get ready.
00:36:54
Speaker 4: It's part of the acclimatization process, and I think they did a great job doing that for him.
00:36:58
Speaker 3: Jack Kaiser, kind of a mystery to what– extent this is that could be another guy who could be ticketed for ir and then you've got the two receivers at the top is great speedy return for parker washington with seemingly no ill effects fantastic jacoby myers we saw him a week ago with the wrap on his thumb hasn't practiced since they're they're downplaying the significance of it but you know still like to know that he's going to be okay and of course brian thomas jr who had the spectacular uh big catch against the Buccaneers to start the joint practice and then hurt his shoulder and another rep or so and he came out and but he did show up the next day in a non-contact jersey at least catching the football.
00:37:40
Speaker 4: Yeah he was catching routes routes versus air catching the ball looking good not favoring anything he had a you know red jersey on which made no contact but I like what I saw as far as that's concerned and here's what it's done too when those guys are sitting on the sideline going through rehab you're getting Josh Cameron you're getting Williams, those guys are getting snaps in two minutes. They're getting snaps in that very first quarter of the last game against Carolina. opportunities present themselves.
00:38:05
Speaker 3: Well, and you look at those guys, Cameron and C.J. Williams not playing tonight. So you think that means they're safely ensconced on the 53-man roster.
00:38:14
Speaker 2: And I think that will be the case.
00:38:16
Speaker 3: But then, man, you look at it and you're like, I would have liked to have seen one game where they went off like Michael Wortham in the first couple of preseason games. But I do think the top five receivers are pretty good.
00:38:27
Speaker 2: And that's not including Travis Hunter, you know, who has a foot in both worlds.
00:38:31
Speaker 5: Correct.
00:38:31
Speaker 2: Obviously so uh well you know let's.
00:38:34
Speaker 3: See let's keep them healthy now i think the one guy we got to mention again jalen mcleod coming back from injury you know he hasn't had a chance to be on the football field for the jacksonville jaguars much at all since.
00:38:45
Speaker 4: He was drafted well and that's that's a factor for sure you know again being durability is a factor how good how healthy are you to play But he was out there tonight and made the most out of it in terms of a very productive outing for him.
00:38:58
Speaker 3: Well, they think he has some special skills hunting the.
00:39:02
Speaker 2: Quarterback, right? And he just hasn't had a chance to show it.
00:39:05
Speaker 3: So for him, even though he didn't get the sack tonight, he had a quarterback hit.
00:39:09
Speaker 2: He had the tackles. He was active.
00:39:11
Speaker 3: He was around the ball. We'll see where that ends up putting him as final cut down comes Sunday at 6 p.m.
00:39:19
Speaker 2: Eastern time.
00:39:20
Speaker 3: All right, folks, coming up next, we'll preview the bye week, coach. We got a nice weekend off. We'll talk about what the Jags will do over the next couple weeks. to get ready for the Cleveland Browns. Mike Dempsey and Mark Dunker from the Hyundai Studios. And, of course, the Jacksonville Jaguars winning this one by a score of 19 to nothing. Stick around for some final thoughts on the Jaguars radio network. Jaguars postgame brought to you by GEHA, Government Employees Health Association, benefits for federal employees and retirees. Mike Dempsey and Mark Duffner from the Hyundai Studios. As we get ready to wrap things up, Coach, I'm kind of kidding saying we're going to preview the bye week, but the Jags now will have two weeks, you know, cut down Sunday. They'll know who the team is. They'll know who the roster is. Your experience, you've been in the league, but it's different. You didn't used to have that week gap in there. So from a coaching standpoint, how do you expect the first of these two weeks to be handled?
00:40:24
Speaker 4: Mike, that's a great question, and I really think that this staff will focus still on fundamentals and technique, continue to clean up things that they need to, you know, whether it's false starts, touchdowns, jumping off sides, the little things that get you beat. I think they'll really work hard on trying to clean up the penalties, which they did, in fact, tonight, a better job. But I think they'll work on that in terms of the execution. And then anything they thought that they liked that maybe they want to see a little bit more of, maybe in the running game or something in the passing game, a concept or two that they maybe didn't get enough snaps or a better look at, that'll come into play too. Real good emphasis on special teams. That'll happen too in terms of putting into, again, some of the drills that are in terms of inside and front coverage drills, a lot of fundamental work, I believe.
00:41:12
Speaker 3: And I think for this team, their attitude is that they're here to win football games every single week, right?
00:41:18
Speaker 2: And that seems obvious, right?
00:41:20
Speaker 3: But there are teams in different stages of development where, you know, I saw Miami, Jeff Halfley said, I think earlier today, look.
00:41:27
Speaker 2: We're probably not going to be in position to win a.
00:41:30
Speaker 3: Ton of games this year. This year is about development. That's not the case. Once we get to the regular season.
00:41:35
Speaker 9: Oh, no.
00:41:36
Speaker 3: This becomes about the Cleveland Browns and the next opponent and the next opponent, one after another.
00:41:41
Speaker 2: The development coach has a lot of it's taken place.
00:41:46
Speaker 3: And for these young guys who are good enough, fortunate enough to make the 53, they've just got to take advantage of all the reps because they're going to just be a reduced amount. They're not going to get as many opportunities going forward now.
00:41:56
Speaker 4: No question about it. And the fact that they've gotten them, and the good news is they have gotten a lot of reps. A lot of it now is going to be walkthrough and mental reps. And they've got to take advantage of those. They've got to prepare. each and every week like they're starting the game. They can't get lazy and say, well, I'm not going to play very much or something. No, they've got to prepare like they're the starter because, again, anything can happen. Sharpen the edge every single day.
00:42:17
Speaker 3: And we heard earlier when Liam Cohen was talking with Kai Stevens that Liam said that, hey, I took the offensive players today who I knew were not playing tonight, and we sat and watched film with a 50-play Cleveland cut-up to get them ready for what Cleveland's going to try to do to you defensively. So you're juggling a lot of things right now as a head coach. You're trying to prepare for tonight. You're preparing for your game in a couple weeks. You're preparing for roster cutdowns. And maybe a lot of that work is already done, but you're preparing for the week of practice and all the plan for each day.
00:42:48
Speaker 2: So, you know, a lot of balls in the air right now.
00:42:50
Speaker 4: Oh, my gosh. I promise you, the coaching staff right now, they're working on scouting reports. They're working on teach tapes. They're working on installation in terms of a lot of it. based on the game plan they're going to put together for Cleveland. They're looking at their personnel. They've been studying the preseason games. They've been looking at Baltimore's offense from last year. So Atlanta's defense, where Rudy came from, their defensive coordinator up there. There's been a lot of study going on in preparation for this opening game.
00:43:16
Speaker 3: All right, this one's in the books, folks, and that does it for Jaguars postgame. For those on our flagship station, 1010XL in Jacksonville, stick around. The scoreboard show coming up next. Of course, Mark Duffner is going to stick around with me for that. For those on the network outside of Jacksonville, you can join us on Jaguars.com or the Jaguars YouTube channel.
00:43:35
Speaker 2: For Mark Duffner, I'm Mike Dempsey.
00:43:37
Speaker 3: And, of course, our entire crew, Linda Fortunato, Donna Murphy, Max Hockman, and all the rest... We say goodnight to you. The final score, 19-0 the Jaguars over the Buccaneers on the Jaguars Radio Network.
Speaker 1: This is Jaguars Post Game presented by GEHA. Join Brian Sexton, Mike Dempsey, and Pride of the Jaguars Fred Taylor as they break down today's game. Jaguars Post Game is brought to you by Farrah and Farrah, the University of Florida, Whataburger, and by Everbank. Jaguars Post Game presented by GEHA starts right now.
00:00:27
Speaker 2: All right, welcome in, everybody.
00:00:29
Speaker 3: Jaguars postgame brought to you by GEHA Government Employees Health Association. Benefits for federal employees and retirees. Mike Dempsey and the coach Mark Duffner here with you. Coach, always better to win. We're live in the Hyundai studios and some good performances. Some guys trying to make the 53-man roster tonight.
00:00:48
Speaker 4: There really was. I mean, really a dominant performance by our team. Defense played well. Offense played well. A lot of special teams, geez, 61-yard field goals. So everybody contributed to really a dominant win.
00:00:59
Speaker 2: All right, just getting underway here.
00:01:01
Speaker 3: Jags winning, of course, 19-0. The Jaguars radio network presented by UF Health, the official health care partner of the Jacksonville Jaguars. You know, Coach, all the talk this week is about bubble guys, who is on the bubble, who's not on the bubble. And I think one guy we're going to talk about throughout the postgame tonight is Brian with a Y. Brian Thomas Jr., the other Brian Thomas Jr., the other BTJ, which is a fair nod to our wide receiver here. But this undrafted rookie, Brian Thomas Jr., came in tonight. And if you needed a performance to cement the spot on the 53-man roster, Coach, how does two and a half sacks sound to you?
00:01:42
Speaker 4: He was loud with his play. No question about it. I mean, five tackles in the game, two and a half sacks, as you just mentioned, four quarterback hits. He had a special teams tackle, too. So you talk about really a tremendous effort by this young man. You know, there's been a buzz about him, but, boy, he put it on the line tonight in a productive way.
00:02:01
Speaker 3: Yeah, and I'll give it to T.J. Bowlers as well, who had a sack and a half. He split that last sack with Brian Thomas, Jr. But, I mean, Coach, you know, a lot of talk, like, is he the 53rd man? Is he the 7th defensive end? Is he even the 6th defensive end? So as I'm watching tonight, I'm like, okay– Are you playing him to see if he shows up and rises to the occasion? Because I know there was some fear in this building that if they try to wave him and get him on the practice squad, that they're not going to be successful.
00:02:29
Speaker 2: Well, after tonight, it's over. It's over. You've got no chance to get him on the practice squad.
00:02:34
Speaker 4: No, he demonstrated tremendous play tonight. And so he let the NFL know that he's a young man to be reckoned with as a rookie and a productive player.
00:02:43
Speaker 5: So, yeah.
00:02:44
Speaker 4: I think he's on his squad.
00:02:45
Speaker 3: All right, well, when we come back, we'll have Kai Stevens with Liam Cohen, some of the players down at the Everbank Vault. Final score, 19-0 as the Jags wrap up the preseason with a win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. This is Jaguars Postgame on Jaguars Radio.
00:03:03
Speaker 4: Frank Franzen here for Coil & Sons Fencing.
00:03:05
Speaker 2: Jacksonville is full of memorable sports memories.
00:03:07
Speaker 3: Remember Morton Anderson missing a chip shot field goal that launched the Jags into the playoffs in 1996?
00:03:13
Speaker 2: You know who doesn't miss?
00:03:14
Speaker 3: Coil & Sons Fencing. If you're in the market for a new fence, I recommend calling Coil & Sons today at 904-356-4821.
00:03:19
Speaker 6: That's 904-356-4821.
00:03:19
Speaker 2: Or visit coiljacks.com.
00:03:20
Speaker 4: That's C-O-I-L-E, jacks.com.
00:03:21
Speaker 2: Coil & Sons, keeping your business and home safe for nearly a century.
00:03:34
Speaker 6: Azar Sausage, serving Jacksonville and family owned and operated since 1954. Find their locally made product at your favorite grocery store or restaurant or call 904-358-2354 to find out where you can purchase their product. Whether it's mild smoked, chorizo, or Italian, they have all your sausage needs. Visit azarsausage.com to learn more about their products.
00:04:03
Speaker 7: It's here that a tiny newborn has the heart surgery needed to save her life. It's here that a first grader learns to speak clearly and confidently. It's here that a 12-year-old athlete builds the strength to run full speed again. It's here at Wolfson Children's Hospital that answers are found, courage is shown, and odds are beaten every day. Wolfson Children's, always here. Visit WolfsonChildrens.com.
00:04:32
Speaker 8: Federal employees keep our country going, and GEHA is proud to keep them going with health plans exclusively for them. We were started by postal employees in 1937, and today we offer all federal employees a network of 1.7 million providers and a health plan for every stage of life. That's why we've been trusted by millions of federal employees and retirees across the country since 1937.
00:04:55
Speaker 7: GEHA.
00:04:55
Speaker 8: Find your federal health plan at GEHA.com.
00:05:14
Speaker 3: Jaguars postgame continues. Mike Dempsey and Mark Duffner from the Hyundai Studios. Today's game presented by Wilson Children's Hospital, the official children's hospital of the Jacksonville Jaguars. We'll coach some superlatives we gave out to Brian with a Y. in the opening segment of the post game. How about Michael Wortham tonight? Five punt returns averaged over 24 yards of return, including the 63 yard touchdown and chipped in with three catches for 47 yards. I don't know if there's a spot for him on the 53 yards, But, man, when you look down at that practice squad, if you have an issue, an injury to Parker Washington, you need a return guy. Look, I get Josh Cameron, heralded return guy in college. Michael Wortham showed everybody something tonight. And you and I have talked about him out there on the practice field watching from the sideline. The map doesn't work in his favor, but number zero put on a show tonight.
00:06:07
Speaker 4: Well, statistics work in his favor. I'm going to tell you right now, that was an electric punt return. I mean, it lit up the place. and all this guy does is continue to make big plays.
00:06:16
Speaker 3: All right, we'll talk more about Michael Worthen coming up. DJ Dallas also had an impact on this game, and Kai Stevens is standing by with the Jaguar running back.
00:06:24
Speaker 5: Sure did. DJ, a little frustrated on the front of that. Before you got the actual touchdown, you felt like you were in there already. It must have felt like you scored three times in that.
00:06:34
Speaker 2: Oh, yeah.
00:06:36
Speaker 9: They tell us not to reach the ball. I was just trying to get in there, man, but... Yeah, I was tired. I was about to throw up and some more stuff.
00:06:45
Speaker 5: Are you happy they at least called the fake run to the pass so you can get your score in?
00:06:49
Speaker 2: Man, no.
00:06:49
Speaker 9: I was wanting Carter to get in on that QB sneak. Man, I felt bad. I hit him so hard to try to get him in the end zone. When he come up out of the foul, I'm like, oh, man, dang.
00:07:01
Speaker 2: I missed my boy.
00:07:02
Speaker 5: You might have hurt your own guy.
00:07:03
Speaker 9: Yeah, no doubt.
00:07:05
Speaker 2: I feel like that's it.
00:07:06
Speaker 5: A trait for the whole room. You guys are so selfless. You don't care who scores or who it is.
00:07:10
Speaker 2: That's what it is.
00:07:11
Speaker 9: As Jaguars running back with Coach Morton and the crew, we try to be as selfless as possible, put the team over ourselves.
00:07:22
Speaker 2: I didn't care.
00:07:23
Speaker 9: A touchdown is a touchdown is a touchdown.
00:07:26
Speaker 5: How much fun has that room been? You've got some young guys and then you've got Amir Abdul who's been around forever and ever. Has it been a fun group to work with so far? The guys....
00:07:36
Speaker 9: I mean, now being an old head a little bit, they keep me kind of going, you know, with LaQuint especially.
00:07:45
Speaker 2: Yeah!
00:07:47
Speaker 5: Chad Morton, very impressed.
00:07:49
Speaker 9: Yeah, with LaQuint, I just see a lot of my traits as a younger player when I was a younger player in him. So, yeah, they keep me going.
00:07:58
Speaker 5: How do you keep LaQuint on the rails?
00:08:01
Speaker 9: Shoot, man, he keep me on the rails. He'd keep me on the rails. He'd keep me straight. He just pushed me to be my best self every day. So, yeah, I enjoy him. I enjoy our room. It's been fun. I had fun this camp. This has probably been one of my most fun camps, even with last game, you know, fumbling or whatever. They all kept me up. Yeah, it's been fun. I had a good time.
00:08:27
Speaker 5: How much does the joint practices help you guys? You guys get to get a little, you know, you get competitive, but you're going against each other. When you have so many joint practices, you finally get to go against someone else.
00:08:35
Speaker 9: Oh, man, this camp. So in my career, I've never done like three joint practices, like back-to-back-to-back weeks. And, man, I'll tell you, it's been, this is probably the most fun I've had, you know, because camp can get kind of tedious, you know what I mean, and going against each other. That's fun and all, but when you get to hit somebody else on another team, that's even more fun. So, yeah, I've had a great time, honestly.
00:09:03
Speaker 5: Congrats on the touchdown. Congrats on the win.
00:09:05
Speaker 9: I appreciate it.
00:09:06
Speaker 2: All right. There you go.
00:09:07
Speaker 3: That was a Kai Stevens with DJ Dallas and the Everbank bolt Everbank advantage. You make the most out of your money at everbank.com slash Jaguars. We're going to take a quick time out, come back and hear from head coach, Liam Cohen, final score, 19 to nothing. The Jaguars over the Buccaneers. This is Jaguars post game on the Jaguars radio network. Jaguars postgame continues. Mike Dempsey, Coach Mark Duffner here, brought to you by GEHA, Government Employees Health Association, benefits for federal employees and retirees. Coming up in a moment, Kai Stevens with Head Coach Liam Cohen, the head coach interview presented by GEHA, Government Employees Health Association, benefits for federal employees and retirees. So in a moment, Coach Duffner, will go down and hear from Coach William Cohen, who I will see. You know, like you and I were remarking earlier, his comments on Sunday were interesting to us because we thought Joey Aguilar had such a great performance last week against Carolina. And then William's like, yeah, he probably could.
00:10:10
Speaker 2: Have been 10 out of 10. Like, all right. You know, and I think that's probably a good thing.
00:10:15
Speaker 3: No matter how successful you are, set the bar just a little bit higher and keep achieving or keep striving.
00:10:21
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think he wanted to just let him know, hey, you're not Joe Namath yet.
00:10:24
Speaker 2: Haven't gotten it done yet.
00:10:26
Speaker 4: But boy, terrific start. We can talk about him for a lot tonight. That's for sure.
00:10:31
Speaker 3: Okay, we're going to hear from William Cohen in just a moment here. Aguilar, again, a very efficient night throwing the football. So we'll have plenty of time to get into him and how Carter Bradley played as well. He did throw that touchdown to DJ Dallas and a great, you know, attitude from DJ. And, you know, even if you think guys are saying the right thing to be politically correct, they are saying the right things, right? They're putting out this aura of, man, it doesn't matter if it's me, if it's that guy, if it's the next guy. As long as we're having team success, we all thrive off of that.
00:11:01
Speaker 4: Mike, there's a lot of team first in this group. I'm telling you right now. You hear it in the way they talk. I watch it. You see it in the way they practice. You've got the O-line picking up players downfield. A lot of good stuff.
00:11:11
Speaker 2: All right. Here's Kai Stevens with head coach Liam Cohen. Kai?
00:11:15
Speaker 5: Coach, we'll keep it quick. This has been a long training camp, long preseason. When you look back, do you feel like you got what you needed out of those joint practices and now this final game?
00:11:23
Speaker 10: I do. I think that the experience and the opportunity to coach in those joint practices, we cannot simulate with just going against each other. And I really do think that they were beneficial moments for us. And maybe one have truly been exposed if we would have played these guys for maybe a drive or two in a game. And, you know, when you have to go through 50, 60 play joint practice, there's just so much more film that we can really coach off of and things that we can improve on. And then you go out and finish the preseason with a physical outing, especially on the defensive side of the ball, and really kind of dominate that. That was exciting to see.
00:12:07
Speaker 5: We talked earlier this week about BJ Green's preseason game number three last year kind of really solidified his spot on a roster. I have to imagine Brian Thomas Jr. was trying to do the same thing this year. How impressed were you with him today and through training camp?
00:12:21
Speaker 10: Extremely. He has a gift of rushing the passer and that's rare, right? So many guys can win maybe the first part of the down and the finishing aspect of rushing the passer is a gift. And I think he plays with our play style. He knows how we want to play the game. I thought he had some good reps in the run game as well. And so Yeah, he's definitely made his mark and I would be shocked if he wasn't a Jag.
00:12:52
Speaker 5: I think it's like 16 days until the first game. That's a little bit longer than normal. Are you excited to have a little bit more time to game plan or are you just itching to get out there already?
00:13:00
Speaker 10: No, I think it's going to be good for us. I think that our players have some confidence right now coming off especially the last two joint practices and having some momentum coming from those while still knowing that there's work to be done, that there's A lot of things that we can continue to clean up and that we need to continue to clean up heading into Cleveland. And all eyes have been on Cleveland really for the last few days. And in our game planning and off the field when we have some time, that's what coaches have been doing. You know, I met with the entire offense today that didn't play in the game, and we watched a 50-play Cleveland cut up today. That's kind of been where we're headed. Now the focus does turn to them, but we have to continue to focus on ourselves and clean up the things we need to clean up.
00:13:49
Speaker 5: Just last one from me. I know you talked a lot about having the veterans kind of working with the younger guys and making sure you're playing Jaguars football. It feels like that showed up today.
00:13:57
Speaker 2: It did.
00:13:58
Speaker 10: I was very pleased with the effort from the guys out on the grass and the energy from the guys on the sideline. That was really cool to watch. to be a part of, to have those guys that were playing feel the vets and to feel those guys that they cared about it. They had a standard for how we wanted to play tonight. And they went and put it on tape. And that's what it's all about. And the chemistry, the continuity seemed there tonight in a lot of ways. And these guys are helping forge our 2026 season. There's no question about it. And the way that they came out and performed tonight only solidified that.
00:14:33
Speaker 5: All right, congrats on the win. We'll see you in the regular season.
00:14:35
Speaker 10: Thank you.
00:14:35
Speaker 2: All right, there you go, Liam Cohen.
00:14:37
Speaker 3: I had to laugh, Coach Duff, as he said, I'll be shocked if he's not a Jaguar.
00:14:43
Speaker 2: Does Liam Cohen know he has a pretty big say?
00:14:46
Speaker 4: He has a big say. He has a very, very big vote. There's no question about that.
00:14:51
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, look, he cemented it, slammed the door shut on any doubt, whatever you want to say, superlatives.
00:14:57
Speaker 2: Here's what I love from my untrained eye watching Brian Thomas Jr., okay?
00:15:02
Speaker 3: You're a guy who's coached. linebackers, pass rushers, all these guys. The first sack is a classic around-the-end bend, right? He's going outside the tackle, and he's low to the ground, getting as parallel to the ground as he can. The next one is an inside swim move. So he's already showing you he's got a little bit of a repertoire here. Oh, no question about it.
00:15:23
Speaker 4: And the fact that not only does he have the pass rush tools, but he knows when to apply them. He wanted the top of the rush you're talking about. We call that bending the edge. And then he set the guy up to beat him back inside. And he has the ability athletically to twist and bend, which is part of it too. You've got to have ankle flexion. You've got to be flexible to do what he did. Highly impressive in terms of what Brian Thomas did in this game.
00:15:44
Speaker 3: 50-play cut-up for the offensive players who were not playing tonight for the Cleveland Browns.
00:15:49
Speaker 2: William Cohen notes what the goal is.
00:15:50
Speaker 3: The goal is not to beat the Tampa Bay Bucs in Week 3 of the preseason, although they handled that. The goal is to open the season 1-0.
00:15:57
Speaker 4: I love it, and I'm sure that happened in the defense room and also on special teams, so they're on it. There's a darn good plan right now in terms of every day making progress towards the Cleveland Browns in this season moving forward.
00:16:10
Speaker 3: All right, Coach Duffner, Mike Dempsey here with you. Folks, bring home the W like the Jags did tonight. When the Jags win, you win a free Whataburger.
00:16:18
Speaker 2: How about that? All right, we will come back and we'll talk.
00:16:21
Speaker 3: About some of the standout performers in this contest. Jags win it 19 to nothing in their final preseason outing. This one against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. This is Jaguars postgame on Jaguars Radio. Jaguars postgame presented by GEHA. Mike Dempsey, Mark Duffner from the Hyundai Studios. Glad you're along with us. Jags win it 19 to nothing. It is only the preseason. Better to win than lose. It's more about the performance than the final score. All that stuff, coach, is true. But I think the players still feel better coming off and getting that W headed to the locker room.
00:16:57
Speaker 4: No question about it. When you finish preseason like that with a shutout and an impressive outing by all three phases of the game, it's a great effort.
00:17:05
Speaker 5: All right.
00:17:06
Speaker 3: Third quarterback position. These kind of things you talk about in the third week of the preseason. By all accounts, Nick Mullins is the backup.
00:17:14
Speaker 2: On this team, right?
00:17:15
Speaker 3: We heard Liam Cohen a couple weeks ago express his trust in Nick.
00:17:20
Speaker 2: Yes, he played a little bit tonight, but he started. They got him out.
00:17:23
Speaker 3: Had a pretty effective quarterback rating for the second week in a row. Okay, so we assume that that is locked in. Nobody else at the quarterback position on the active roster. Maybe they keep both on the practice squad, but coach, if it comes down, To Carter Bradley and Joey Aguilar, where does Coach Mark Duffner come down?
00:17:39
Speaker 4: Well, first of all, I've got to say, Carter Bradley, I love the competitiveness of him. I love how smart he is, how he runs the offense. He pulled Tampa Bay off two times with his cadence, doing a great job of varying that. But I have to say, I really like Joey Aguilar. I mean, he's 7 for 9 tonight. You know, this season, Mike, he's 17 for 20, in my math, somewhere around 220 yards. I mean, the guy is out there. He's got command. He's got poise. He's able to get the ball out quickly. He's got escapability. I think he's a developmentally ascending player. And under Liam's tutelage here, I think this guy can be something.
00:18:19
Speaker 3: Something you and I talked about this week, putting a high-volume offense, right? Which means he can process quickly. He can handle a lot of info coming in. He can, you know, when things are swirling, he can play at a high tempo. And I think with that, he gets rid of the ball. When he sees it, the ball is out. And that's one thing. Like, you know, look, is he going to be completing 90% of his passes in his NFL career?
00:18:43
Speaker 2: I would think not.
00:18:44
Speaker 3: But he's very decisive when it comes time to release the ball.
00:18:49
Speaker 4: He's decisive, Mike, and I don't see any panic in the guy, not at all. I mean, like you just said, at Tennessee, he goes from Appalachian State to Tennessee, and he runs the most prolific tempo offense in the country. And so you've got to have something on the ball a lot in terms of smarts and communication and poise and leadership to do that. And he's coming in and done that from the very beginning.
00:19:11
Speaker 3: You know, his guy in the first couple of games had been Trevor Pena, right?
00:19:15
Speaker 2: And so that, you know, I'm sure.
00:19:16
Speaker 4: Fling and cling.
00:19:18
Speaker 2: Yeah. Look, that's a... Did you just come up with that?
00:19:21
Speaker 4: Yeah, I did.
00:19:22
Speaker 2: Thank you. Not that bad right there. Thank you.
00:19:24
Speaker 3: But, you know, in all seriousness, like tonight... A little bit more Michael Wertham. We saw from Wertham in the return game, like Trevor Pena, I'm not going to knock what he's done because he's made some big catches in the first couple of weeks. He had that drop in the first game and came back, which showed a lot, you know, with that 43-yard catch. Had a big game last week. When you look at these two guys, Coach, I think they'd like to have them both, Pena and worth them on the practice squad um but just as a pure receiver which one of those guys has the edge in your mind oh.
00:19:56
Speaker 4: Boy i i i kind of if i had to make a decision i probably would go with pena i think but but i think they're both valuable they both return kicks i mean you're getting value here getting two for players guys that can help move the offense, help in special teams. I mean, I think they're both exceptionally worthy players. I hope like heck we can keep him on the practice.
00:20:16
Speaker 3: Yeah, Wertham almost popped two in the return game tonight. He had the one and he was upset with himself for getting tackled. And Jeff Logman, if you heard him on the broadcast, it's like nobody's fair catching that in the preseason.
00:20:27
Speaker 2: He's right.
00:20:27
Speaker 3: I mean, this is your opportunity to go out and make a play. We saw the Bucs return man catch a punt at the one-yard line. I don't blame him, Coach. You're not going to get any points for letting it bounce into the end zone.
00:20:37
Speaker 4: Again, you've got to show up loud with your play, and that's what these guys do.
00:20:41
Speaker 3: All right, we've made it this far, and we just haven't even casually mentioned that Cam Little pounded another 60-plus yarder.
00:20:48
Speaker 4: So I watched him in pregame, and this sucker was hitting him from almost maybe like 70, and he wasn't even trying to do it. I mean, it was unbelievable how strong his leg is. And to get that done tonight, special teams, tremendous. I mean, they hit that 61-yarder, the big punt return, 20 yards plus it. punt return average. I mean, geez, it really production.
00:21:07
Speaker 3: If you're a golfer, you had like that one yard draw on it. I mean, right down the center of the fairway. And what a weapon that is. What a luxury that is. When you're the coach, you can.
00:21:17
Speaker 2: Do all kinds of things. We saw.
00:21:19
Speaker 3: The first instance, we saw Liam Cohen decide to pooch punt. So here's Logan Cook pinning them at the four-yard line. So, like, the special teams, the specialists, we know Mattisik is an all-pro. The kicker-punter aspect of this team is as good, I think, as probably any combo in the league.
00:21:35
Speaker 4: I think it is, absolutely. And like I said, when you look at even last year's statistics, and they're heading that direction now, a top-10 scoring defense, a top-10 scoring offense, and special teams at the top. I don't know another team that can boast that.
00:21:48
Speaker 2: All right.
00:21:49
Speaker 3: We got more superlatives that we will check off throughout the course of the postgame tonight. But when we come back, we'll get into a little bit of a stats check here for you and see exactly what the final numbers looked like. with an Everbank stats check coming up. Folks, PRI Productions, the official event production company of the Jaguars, has everything you need to bring your next idea to life. Visit PRIProductions.com. Final score, 19-0 Jacksonville over Tampa Bay. This is Jaguars postgame on the Jaguars Radio Network. Jaguars postgame presented by GEHA. Mike Dempsey, Mark Dumpner from the Hyundai Studios. Coach, let me take a look at the numbers here with an Everbank stats check. Quarterbacks tonight threw for one. 63. Officially, when you factor in the sack yardage, the Bucs had 31 passing yards in this game. When you subtract the sack yardage from the actual passing yardage, the actual passing yardage was 64.
00:22:49
Speaker 4: There was pressures there. We had four sacks, I believe. That's Russian coverage working together with a backup group of players. Excellent effort.
00:22:56
Speaker 3: We had Braswell and Muhammad both out there tonight, maybe battling for one roster spot. Might both make it. We don't know what they're thinking math-wise. But we saw Christian Braswell have a pass breakup early. And then Jabbar Muhammad had one over the middle. It was incomplete off the receiver's hands. He didn't get credit for the pass defense, but he was in good position.
00:23:15
Speaker 4: Mike, you've got excellent eyes, I'm telling you, because those are notes that I wrote down. You just said them verbatim, and you weren't looking at my paper.
00:23:21
Speaker 2: I swear I can't see your paper.
00:23:23
Speaker 4: No, no, I cannot see that paper from here. No, that's excellent. Very good. Yes, sir.
00:23:27
Speaker 2: All right, quarterbacks for the Jags.
00:23:28
Speaker 3: Carter Bradley, 8 of 15 for 77 yards and the one-yard touchdown pass to DJ Dallas. Nick Mullins goes 5 of 7 for 62. Joey Aguilar, 7 of 9 for 57 yards. Overall, 20 of 31, 163. A touchdown, no interceptions. Jag quarterbacks were sacked four times. overall passer rating of 92.9 all three of the jaguar quarterbacks were over 90 in that category so good job there uh jamari taylor came in had a couple of bruising runs 12 carries for 44 yards led the way for the jaguars dj dallas kind of bottled up a lot of tough yards for him 15 for 34 looked uh to all the world.
00:24:06
Speaker 2: To me coach like he had that touchdown.
00:24:07
Speaker 4: I thought so too again i didn't you know i'm on the press box a long way away but it looked like a touchdown to me but Ultimately, we got in the end zone, and that's what counts.
00:24:15
Speaker 3: Hunter Long led the Jags. They're tied for the lead with Michael Wortham with 47 yards. I would have loved to have seen Hunter Long get the chance to play more tonight because in the pregame, Jeff Logman was very adamant that this team is keeping four tight ends, and he thinks Quentin Morris is the last one. Now, Quentin Morris may not have played tonight if Hunter Long doesn't go out with the rib injury. He came in with the one catch, but— long look good catching the ball and I've noticed him more as a pass catcher but that might not be what the Jags are looking for in that fourth tight end spot yeah I.
00:24:49
Speaker 4: Don't know all I do know is that like you said he started out blazing I mean the 34 yard catch he had in the first drive he had another next series had a 13 yard catch the one he got hurt on I mean I think they were trying to feature him a little bit in the passing game to see his production and he came through when he had The call was to him, you know?
00:25:08
Speaker 3: And people are probably listening and going, wait a minute. What do you mean they want a tight end who doesn't catch the ball? I'm not saying they don't want a tight end who can catch the ball. They may be looking more for the physical blocking and special teams aspect where Quentin Morris is thought to have the edge there. If you're looking for more of an offensive weapon, Hunter Long might profile more that way. But anyway, it's just a shame that he had to go out early tonight. Michael Wortham, the three catches for 47. Austin Trammell caught three for 36. Three catches for Trevor Pena for 19. Chandler Brayboy had a couple for 17. Patrick Herbert caught two for 12. DJ Dallas caught a couple out of the backfield. Jamari Taylor, Brady Boyd, and Quinton Morris each had a solo catch tonight. Defensively, Coach, Jalen McLeod. He's around the football a lot. One solo, six assists, tackle for loss, a quarterback hit. Here's another guy on the proverbial bubble heading into the weekend.
00:26:01
Speaker 4: He was active. You're 100% correct. He was productive, especially in the first half. I mean, he was all around the ball. That tackle for loss was an excellent play in the flat where he made a great tackle on the receiver in the flat. So again, I was impressed with him. And by the way, he was actually making the defensive call in the huddle quite a bit. So he was Hearing the call from the coach on the sideline and making the call, another positive thing.
00:26:23
Speaker 3: No doubt. Brian Thomas, come on. What a night for him. Five total tackles, three solos plus on special teams. He had another one, two and a half sacks, two tackles for loss, four quarterback hits.
00:26:34
Speaker 2: He had a pass breakup. I mean, what do you want out of this guy?
00:26:38
Speaker 4: And a special teams tackle.
00:26:39
Speaker 5: Right.
00:26:39
Speaker 4: Just spectacular. He did everything but get popcorn and play in the band.
00:26:44
Speaker 3: If he was on the– like if he was maybe number 54, and I don't know, maybe he was already on the team, right? But if he was number 54 coming into the night, he might have jumped up to like number 44 in that performance.
00:26:54
Speaker 4: And, you know, he's been consistent. I mean, he's been the talk of the camp often all the way through. So he's had a very good camp. It's not like this is a surprise late in the down. You know, he's been that way all along. I gained a lot of respect in how he's played this camp.
00:27:08
Speaker 3: All right, a few more stats coming up, but let's quickly pause 10 seconds here for station identification on the Jacksonville Jaguars radio network. All right, Coach, other noteworthy performances on the defensive side. I mentioned T.J. Bowler's had a sack and a half tonight. Amari Burney also chipping in. Overall, the Jags get five sacks in the game on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Jags have 14 first downs tonight to only six for the Bucs, 249 to 87 in total yardage. I mean, it was complete domination. Again, we're not... getting two out of our heads here we understand most of the players on the box field are not going to be playing on Sunday afternoons this fall but that's the same for the Jags and what you're trying to do coach is you're trying to have that that culture right you want a culture from top down that permeates everything you do the standard that's what they've been talking about this all season whatever the Jaguar standard is you've got to match that you've got to live up to it and you You know, I think it's permeated throughout this roster. That doesn't mean it's the greatest roster in the NFL or history or anything like that. But the mental aspect of what it means to be a Jag, I think Liam Cohen has done as much in that area to turn that around as anything he's done with his X's and O's.
00:28:30
Speaker 4: No doubt about it. I mean, the response of this team. So in the Carolina game, we had a very good joint practice. Didn't play as well in the Carolina game overall. It was some areas we wanted to get better at. We had a dominant performance against Tampa Bay in the first joint practice and carried that into this game with a dominant performance, a shutout production like you saw on offense, defense, and special teams. So they're understanding the message right now that, hey, we've got to take advantage of it. We've got to eat our best each and every opportunity we have.
00:29:01
Speaker 2: All right, though. There you go.
00:29:02
Speaker 3: Your Everbank stats check. And we'll continue along. Jags win it 19 to nothing. When we return, the always popular Jaguars Radio Network player of the game voting.
00:29:13
Speaker 2: 19 to nothing. Jags over the Buccaneers. This is Jaguars postgame on Jaguars Radio.
00:29:21
Speaker 3: Jaguars post game brought to you by GEHA government employees, health association benefits for federal employees and retirees. Mike Dempsey with Mark Duffner in the Hyundai studios.
00:29:32
Speaker 2: All right, coach. We like to.
00:29:33
Speaker 3: Gin this up, create some drama, but we we don't have a third voter tonight. So usually in front of Taylor, someone subbing in for him, we'll have the vote and a half, but I think we agree on who the player of the game will be, but let's go through some of.
00:29:47
Speaker 2: The candidates first. Okay.
00:29:49
Speaker 3: Um, I think it's certainly worth mentioning, at the very least, that T.J. Bowler's had a great game. He had a sack and a half, man.
00:29:56
Speaker 4: Sure did.
00:29:57
Speaker 3: You know, this is probably the most I've talked about T.J. Bowler's all training camp, but good for him.
00:30:02
Speaker 4: Very, very good.
00:30:03
Speaker 3: For going out there and getting it done. Cam Little always raises an eyebrow. And when it was 3-0, I'm thinking, well, there's your play of the game, your player of the game, all that stuff. But 61-yarder, worth noting. But we got two guys at the top. We got Brian Thomas with a lie. Brian Thomas Jr. Two and a half sacks. Four quarterback hits. Two tackles for loss. Pass breakup. Five total tackles. Outstanding night. But then we have Michael Wertham, who caught three for 47. And what he did in the return game was spectacular. Five punt returns. 124 yards. A long of 63 that went to the house. Almost took another one to the end zone. That would have been two, obviously. 24.8 average on punt returns.
00:30:48
Speaker 5: So.
00:30:50
Speaker 3: I think I saved the best two for last. Who do you see as the Jaguar Radio Network player of the game?
00:30:55
Speaker 4: Well, I'm going to go with Mr. Obvious here, Brian Thomas. I mean, he just had too much production, whether it's affecting the quarterback, special teams hits, passes broken up. I mean, quarterback, like sacks, quarterback hits, just too active. But that game by Wortham was really noteworthy. I mean, he's an electric little player. I'll tell you that right now.
00:31:15
Speaker 3: Coach, let me ask you this. I don't have any say over this, obviously, right? I... I know what the depth chart looks like. I know what the pecking order looks like.
00:31:24
Speaker 2: Other than B.J. Green, I'm more excited about Brian Thomas Jr.
00:31:28
Speaker 3: Than any of the other edge rushers that are behind Josh Hines-Allen and Trayvon Walker.
00:31:33
Speaker 4: Well, he's been productive as heck. I mean, he's made plays, and he's made plays when we need him a lot of times. So, I mean... The production, those things, that doesn't lie. So I'm with you.
00:31:42
Speaker 3: Wesley Williams flashed on a couple of plays tonight. He was around the ball, had the fumble recovery.
00:31:47
Speaker 4: Had the fumble recovery.
00:31:48
Speaker 2: And Strigo, we know, can play ball in the NFL, right?
00:31:51
Speaker 5: Yep.
00:31:52
Speaker 2: Zach Durfee is the mystery.
00:31:53
Speaker 3: Was he held out tonight because they have seen enough, or was he a little bit banged up? And that gets all into roster breakdown and composition. And, you know, they can designate a couple of guys to return on IR. They might place another one or two on season ending. We just don't know. We don't know what they're going to do with the math. But yeah, Brian Thomas, man. I mean, really, I feel like the last couple of weeks, he's got more word of mouth buzz than any other player on this team.
00:32:22
Speaker 4: Well, you know what? Kudos have to go to the personnel department, too, because you mentioned B.J. Green and Strigo. Both of those guys, college-free agents a year ago, not only make the team, but play in games this past season. And as already mentioned, Strigo and Green picking up where they left off. Now you've got Brian Thomas, and there's other players. Whirtham, Pena.
00:32:41
Speaker 2: Yeah, a lot of them.
00:32:42
Speaker 4: You're finding guys that are college-free agents that were probably draftable players, but they didn't get drafted, but Our staff went out and got them and brought them in here with guys. I mean, it's a great thing. The team can say to the rest of the league, you come here as a college free agent, you're going to play and have an opportunity to make our squad.
00:33:00
Speaker 3: Yeah, and sometimes you look and you go, well, these guys are so great. Why didn't they just draft them? Well, sometimes, as you know, the draft is– Who you like, but also who you think might not make it through.
00:33:11
Speaker 2: The seventh round.
00:33:12
Speaker 3: Is there, you know, Zach Durfee had a little buzz coming into the draft. If we don't grab him now, there's a good chance he won't be available for us to sign him as an undrafted free agent. So you got to, you know, they've done a good job, I think, kind of assessing which players are going to slide through the seventh round.
00:33:27
Speaker 4: An excellent job. And really, that's when you're getting great value in your roster player acquisition. When you can get guys that are not drafted that can make your team plus the draft picks he got, they make the team. That's excellent value. And, again, kudos to personnel staff in terms of what they're doing.
00:33:44
Speaker 10: Dang.
00:33:44
Speaker 3: Kudos to Brian Thomas Jr. with a Y tonight for the game he had with the two-and-a-half sacks, our Jaguar Radio Network player of the game. Folks, from the backyard to the beaches, the Ford F-150 with available Pro Power onboard. Gives you the power of a mobile generator. Ford, proud partner of the Jacksonville Jaguars. See your local Ford dealer today. Coming up next, the UF health injury report. Jaguars knock off the Bucs 19-0. Some injured pride maybe on the Tampa Bay sideline. This is Jaguars postgame on Jaguars Radio. Jaguars postgame presented by GEHA. Mike Dempsey, Mark Duffner from the Hyundai Studios. Time now for the injury report presented by UF Health, the official healthcare partner of the Jacksonville Jaguars.
00:34:32
Speaker 2: Coach, you know, they don't have to.
00:34:34
Speaker 3: Tell us anything about injuries in the preseason. So there may have been a guy or two who got nicked up. Like Carter Bradley, I thought, got hit in the ankle maybe early. But he didn't come out or anything like that. But Hunter Long, as we mentioned, took a shot in the ribs. didn't return to action tonight. So the one injury that I'm definitely aware of tonight.
00:34:54
Speaker 2: Anybody else?
00:34:55
Speaker 4: Not that I saw. And even Hunter, I was watching him from the press box. I mean, I know he wasn't going back in, but he was moving around. I think that's a minor one. I hope so.
00:35:03
Speaker 2: Let's hope so. Well, the more important thing is.
00:35:06
Speaker 3: Which of these injuries that we're not quite sure even what some of the nature of the injuries are will clear up over the course of the next 16 days until the Jags play their opener against Cleveland. You got Laquan Allen, who we know has been ruled out for the preseason, which opens the door potentially for Amir Abdullah to be on this team. And maybe he just makes the 53 outright. He didn't dress tonight, which is a good sign for him.
00:35:31
Speaker 4: Correct.
00:35:31
Speaker 2: Patrick McCary. Don't know.
00:35:33
Speaker 3: You said you saw him moving around doing normal human being stuff pretty well.
00:35:38
Speaker 4: Which is a little bit different than offensive line play.
00:35:40
Speaker 2: Right.
00:35:40
Speaker 3: So it's tough to assess with these guys. A back, you don't know unless you're experiencing it.
00:35:48
Speaker 4: Absolutely. And the position he plays where you're straining a lot. I mean, that's something we've got to be aware of.
00:35:56
Speaker 3: I think at a minimum, Coach, it's... and this is pure speculation on my part, is the short-term IR version, you know, missed the first four games of the season. I think possibly IR and out for the year is in play. But again, we're not privy to these discussions, but he's a guy to watch. Chuma Adoga didn't play tonight. Been a little bit nicked up, but, you know, it doesn't seem like it's anything too serious.
00:36:20
Speaker 4: No, I don't think so.
00:36:21
Speaker 2: Mentioned Zach Durfee, maybe a candidate to kind of stash and develop.
00:36:26
Speaker 4: It's going to be interesting to see what goes on, that's for sure. I will say this, our training staff and medical staff, I mean, a week ago we were concerned about the health of the offensive line. That's kind of now gotten in the rear view mirror. They do a tremendous job of getting players back. We're happy about that.
00:36:42
Speaker 2: On that front, you mentioned Cole Van Lannen dressed.
00:36:44
Speaker 4: Yeah, he dressed.
00:36:45
Speaker 2: He went through warm-ups tonight.
00:36:46
Speaker 4: Yeah, which I thought was great.
00:36:47
Speaker 3: I don't think there was ever a chance he was going in the game, no matter what happened, right?
00:36:50
Speaker 4: No, not a chance.
00:36:51
Speaker 2: But just to have him, he's got to take these steps to get ready.
00:36:54
Speaker 4: It's part of the acclimatization process, and I think they did a great job doing that for him.
00:36:58
Speaker 3: Jack Kaiser, kind of a mystery to what– extent this is that could be another guy who could be ticketed for ir and then you've got the two receivers at the top is great speedy return for parker washington with seemingly no ill effects fantastic jacoby myers we saw him a week ago with the wrap on his thumb hasn't practiced since they're they're downplaying the significance of it but you know still like to know that he's going to be okay and of course brian thomas jr who had the spectacular uh big catch against the Buccaneers to start the joint practice and then hurt his shoulder and another rep or so and he came out and but he did show up the next day in a non-contact jersey at least catching the football.
00:37:40
Speaker 4: Yeah he was catching routes routes versus air catching the ball looking good not favoring anything he had a you know red jersey on which made no contact but I like what I saw as far as that's concerned and here's what it's done too when those guys are sitting on the sideline going through rehab you're getting Josh Cameron you're getting Williams, those guys are getting snaps in two minutes. They're getting snaps in that very first quarter of the last game against Carolina. opportunities present themselves.
00:38:05
Speaker 3: Well, and you look at those guys, Cameron and C.J. Williams not playing tonight. So you think that means they're safely ensconced on the 53-man roster.
00:38:14
Speaker 2: And I think that will be the case.
00:38:16
Speaker 3: But then, man, you look at it and you're like, I would have liked to have seen one game where they went off like Michael Wortham in the first couple of preseason games. But I do think the top five receivers are pretty good.
00:38:27
Speaker 2: And that's not including Travis Hunter, you know, who has a foot in both worlds.
00:38:31
Speaker 5: Correct.
00:38:31
Speaker 2: Obviously so uh well you know let's.
00:38:34
Speaker 3: See let's keep them healthy now i think the one guy we got to mention again jalen mcleod coming back from injury you know he hasn't had a chance to be on the football field for the jacksonville jaguars much at all since.
00:38:45
Speaker 4: He was drafted well and that's that's a factor for sure you know again being durability is a factor how good how healthy are you to play But he was out there tonight and made the most out of it in terms of a very productive outing for him.
00:38:58
Speaker 3: Well, they think he has some special skills hunting the.
00:39:02
Speaker 2: Quarterback, right? And he just hasn't had a chance to show it.
00:39:05
Speaker 3: So for him, even though he didn't get the sack tonight, he had a quarterback hit.
00:39:09
Speaker 2: He had the tackles. He was active.
00:39:11
Speaker 3: He was around the ball. We'll see where that ends up putting him as final cut down comes Sunday at 6 p.m.
00:39:19
Speaker 2: Eastern time.
00:39:20
Speaker 3: All right, folks, coming up next, we'll preview the bye week, coach. We got a nice weekend off. We'll talk about what the Jags will do over the next couple weeks. to get ready for the Cleveland Browns. Mike Dempsey and Mark Dunker from the Hyundai Studios. And, of course, the Jacksonville Jaguars winning this one by a score of 19 to nothing. Stick around for some final thoughts on the Jaguars radio network. Jaguars postgame brought to you by GEHA, Government Employees Health Association, benefits for federal employees and retirees. Mike Dempsey and Mark Duffner from the Hyundai Studios. As we get ready to wrap things up, Coach, I'm kind of kidding saying we're going to preview the bye week, but the Jags now will have two weeks, you know, cut down Sunday. They'll know who the team is. They'll know who the roster is. Your experience, you've been in the league, but it's different. You didn't used to have that week gap in there. So from a coaching standpoint, how do you expect the first of these two weeks to be handled?
00:40:24
Speaker 4: Mike, that's a great question, and I really think that this staff will focus still on fundamentals and technique, continue to clean up things that they need to, you know, whether it's false starts, touchdowns, jumping off sides, the little things that get you beat. I think they'll really work hard on trying to clean up the penalties, which they did, in fact, tonight, a better job. But I think they'll work on that in terms of the execution. And then anything they thought that they liked that maybe they want to see a little bit more of, maybe in the running game or something in the passing game, a concept or two that they maybe didn't get enough snaps or a better look at, that'll come into play too. Real good emphasis on special teams. That'll happen too in terms of putting into, again, some of the drills that are in terms of inside and front coverage drills, a lot of fundamental work, I believe.
00:41:12
Speaker 3: And I think for this team, their attitude is that they're here to win football games every single week, right?
00:41:18
Speaker 2: And that seems obvious, right?
00:41:20
Speaker 3: But there are teams in different stages of development where, you know, I saw Miami, Jeff Halfley said, I think earlier today, look.
00:41:27
Speaker 2: We're probably not going to be in position to win a.
00:41:30
Speaker 3: Ton of games this year. This year is about development. That's not the case. Once we get to the regular season.
00:41:35
Speaker 9: Oh, no.
00:41:36
Speaker 3: This becomes about the Cleveland Browns and the next opponent and the next opponent, one after another.
00:41:41
Speaker 2: The development coach has a lot of it's taken place.
00:41:46
Speaker 3: And for these young guys who are good enough, fortunate enough to make the 53, they've just got to take advantage of all the reps because they're going to just be a reduced amount. They're not going to get as many opportunities going forward now.
00:41:56
Speaker 4: No question about it. And the fact that they've gotten them, and the good news is they have gotten a lot of reps. A lot of it now is going to be walkthrough and mental reps. And they've got to take advantage of those. They've got to prepare. each and every week like they're starting the game. They can't get lazy and say, well, I'm not going to play very much or something. No, they've got to prepare like they're the starter because, again, anything can happen. Sharpen the edge every single day.
00:42:17
Speaker 3: And we heard earlier when Liam Cohen was talking with Kai Stevens that Liam said that, hey, I took the offensive players today who I knew were not playing tonight, and we sat and watched film with a 50-play Cleveland cut-up to get them ready for what Cleveland's going to try to do to you defensively. So you're juggling a lot of things right now as a head coach. You're trying to prepare for tonight. You're preparing for your game in a couple weeks. You're preparing for roster cutdowns. And maybe a lot of that work is already done, but you're preparing for the week of practice and all the plan for each day.
00:42:48
Speaker 2: So, you know, a lot of balls in the air right now.
00:42:50
Speaker 4: Oh, my gosh. I promise you, the coaching staff right now, they're working on scouting reports. They're working on teach tapes. They're working on installation in terms of a lot of it. based on the game plan they're going to put together for Cleveland. They're looking at their personnel. They've been studying the preseason games. They've been looking at Baltimore's offense from last year. So Atlanta's defense, where Rudy came from, their defensive coordinator up there. There's been a lot of study going on in preparation for this opening game.
00:43:16
Speaker 3: All right, this one's in the books, folks, and that does it for Jaguars postgame. For those on our flagship station, 1010XL in Jacksonville, stick around. The scoreboard show coming up next. Of course, Mark Duffner is going to stick around with me for that. For those on the network outside of Jacksonville, you can join us on Jaguars.com or the Jaguars YouTube channel.
00:43:35
Speaker 2: For Mark Duffner, I'm Mike Dempsey.
00:43:37
Speaker 3: And, of course, our entire crew, Linda Fortunato, Donna Murphy, Max Hockman, and all the rest... We say goodnight to you. The final score, 19-0 the Jaguars over the Buccaneers on the Jaguars Radio Network.
