Travis Etienne on missing all of 2021 with Lisfranc injury amidst all
#Jaguars
drama with Urban Meyer: “If there was any year to miss, I missed a great one.”
#Jaguars
fans will be sad to hear passing of former G Uche Nwaneri at 38, collapsing from a possible heart attack in wife's home in West Lafayette. Uch was one of the coolest cats to ever occupy that locker room. Opinionated and so loveable. What a tragedy to be taken so young.
Source tells me
#ravens
locker room was buzzing Tuesday about trade going down for Ramsey, but all quiet since then. Reports from Baltimore, not ESPN or NFL Network, said Ravens offered a 1, 2 and TE Hayden Hurst, got turned down. If that's true, doubt
#Jaguars
get better offer.
Tip of hat to Angi Bosell, wife of
#Jaguars
impending HOF inductee. She arranged for father-in-law, Tony Sr., 12 days before he died in May, to do video congratulating son on making HOF, then showed it at celebration party after Tony made it to Canton. Hall of Fame move by Angi.
#Jaguars
WR coach Keenan McCardell is moving on to same position with
#Vikings
, where he gets to mentor Justin Jefferson, per NFL sources. Didn't have relationship with Meyer or Bevell and wasn't really in hunt to keep his job that he did really well.
Pederson says him and Trevor disagreed on what play to run on fourth-and-1 on game winning drive. “That’s OK, I get the final say,” Pederson said.
#Jaguars
Josh Allen says
#Jaguars
drafting him at 7 made him go “all in” and is passionate about playing for Jags. Wanted to counter ex-teammates who were critical of franchise. “I hope Duval knows that. I want to leave a big impact on this city.”
Patriots, Jaguars exploring pre-draft trade for
@Ravens
TE Hayden Hurst, but whether it happens will depend on what draft capital teams r willing to part with. Hurst, who Jags we’re going to draft in 2018 ,told me 2 months ago he wants opportunity to catch more passes. Stay tuned
Khan, on Minshew interview at NFL Cimbine with
#Jaguars
brass: “(He said) I know I’m too short, too slow, but I won 11 f——-in games last year.” Khan liked the moxie.
Myles Jack on Ramsey: “I hope and pray that they don’t trade his ass and he stays here the whole time. I hope he stays here through his fifth year and they tag him and he stays here forever. But that’s not my choice. We’ll see what the front office does.”
#Jaguars
NBC says
#Jaguars
game with
@chiefs
had average viewing audience of 34 million, best for NFL divisional round since 2015, peaked at over 37 million in game's final minutes.
Just talked to Calais, says trade to
@Ravens
is both good and bad. Likes opportunity to “chase that ring” with young talented team, but hates leaving
@Jaguars
and “3 most incredible years of my life.”
More Fred Taylor on
#Jaguars
coaching search: "Obviously, Baalke had some say in the Urban Meyer hire, so why didn't Baalke go with him? I don't know Trent that well, but if anyone has anything to do with hiring Urban, they should be out of the building. I don't care who it was."
Can confirm that report about the chaos within
#Jaguars
is accurate. As patient as owner Shad Khan is with head coaches, and he loves Urban, I don’t see how Urban survives this mess.
The inspiring story of
@ravens
TE and Bolles School product Hayden Hurst's recovery from mental health issues and a near-suicide can hopefully help empower kids dealing with similar anxiety problems. My column:
Boselli says he found out about getting into
@ProFootballHOF
at a friend's house when fellow USC alumnus and HOF member Anthony Munoz showed up with NFL Network crew. Wife Angie knew about it for 10 days and kept the secret. Great stuff.
So after
#Jaguars
traded away the most drama-minded cornerback in history to
@RamsNFL
in Ramsey, they sign the most drama-free CB from the Rams in Darious Williams and bring Creekside High guy home. Parents will save thousands of dollars in travel costs as well.
Look for Alex Fudge, 6-8 forward from Riverside (Lee) High and 4-star prospect who signed with LSU, to transfer to Florida under new coach Todd Golden. Fudge had UF among his 10 finalists before signing with Tigers in October, 2020. UF waiting on paperwork.
@GatorsMBK
#Jaguars
are interviewing Jim Caldwell today in person at undisclosed location outside Jacksonville, just as they did last Thursday with Doug Pederson. Likely do same next week with
#Packers
OC Hackett.
The SEC snobs will rejoice over
@UCF_Football
losing, but deep down, they know Knights weren't a pushover. Milton's injury was unquestionably a game-changer. Mack nowhere near in his league as a passer.
A
#Jaguars
fan before takeoff to KC asked flight attendant if they could say over PA: “Thank u for flying American. It was always the Jags.” Got a polite no.
#Jaguars
prez Mark Lamping gets some applause on the food portion of his presentation, saying if “local vendor sells burger in their restaurant for $6.99, then they must sell same burger in stadium for $6.99.”
When asked about the frustration of this
#Jaguars
season and heading back to another coaching search, Josh Allen replied: "I just want to get to the point where we can just focus on football."
Most telling stat on why
#Jaguars
turned their 2022 season around: Trevor Lawrence completed just 34% (13 of 38) of red zone passes with 8 TDs, 3 INTs in first 8 games (each pick big factor in Ls), then completed 66.6% (34 of 51) RZ passes with 15 TDs, 0 INTS in last 11 games.
At this point, Scott Stricklin has no reason to keep his Mississippi St. buddy. Team quit on him tonite, $12M buyout reasonable by SEC standards and bunch of assistants on expiring contracts. Timing good to pull plug on Mullen era. Not sure he wants to stay anyway.
@GatorsFB
#Jaguars
Doug Pederson may not have won NFL Coach of Year (went to NYG's Brian Daboll), but this was best coaching job in team history since Tom Coughlin in 1996.
Owner Shad Khan says a renovated stadium is critical not just for
#Jaguars
, but for both Florida-Georgia game and having a venue worthy of hosting expanded CFP. "There's no reason we can't have Jacksonville get into the mix of it."
Tebow calls Meyer video “frustrating and heartbreaking” on ESPN, added he hurts for Shelley and his kids. Tebow definitely shaken on air just talking about it.
#Jaguars
Corey Peters,
#Jaguars
DL brought in after Week 1 tells me nothing etched in stone, but “I think I’m pretty much done” playing football. “It’s been a good run for me.” At 34, he loved his time in Jax and was solid contributor once he got playing time.
When I asked Yannick Ngakoue what kind of message
#Jaguars
would send to NFL by knocking off KC Chiefs, he replied: "S---, we'll see them in the AFC Championship game. That's all I got to say." Well, I'd say that about covers it.
#Jaguars
FA acquisition DE Jihad Ward: "Everybody wants to think Jacksonville is going to be an easy win. No, when you go up against Jacksonville, you better think twice. Watch your mouth when you come to us. . . . You'll see."
NFL player's father and
#Jaguars
fan said something interesting to me that has a kernel of truth to it: "The Jaguars have good players, but they don't necessarily have playmakers."
NFL will announce tomorrow that
#Jaguars
will play Bears In away game Oct. 13 at Tottenham Hotspur, then host
@Patriots
at Wembley on Oct. 20. Browns were early favorite, then rumors of possibly Jets, but NFL settled on Pats
#Jaguars
game with
@chiefs
will be officiated by referee Adrian Hill and his crew. A Hill crew has been assigned 5 previous Jags games and Jags are 0-5. Last game was 21-17 defeat against Denver in London. Jags have 36 penalties for 288 yards in Hill games as referee.
Spoke with Tony Dungy Friday and he says same thing I’ve thought all year:
#Jaguars
will soon have best QB situation in division and will win more games than any AFC South team over next 5 years.
In all my years covering football, never quite seen a defensive player at HS level as versatile as
@Bolles_Football
prospect Jack Pyburn. Don’t care about Gators signee 3-star rating. He will in time play above that.
#Jaguars
DC Caldwell says crowd energy for his defense was a huge advantage in win over
@Titans
and expects to see the same thing Saturday against
@chargers
Two questions for Randy Moss -- 1. What does Jax's crime rate have to do with Urban Meyer coming here as the
#Jaguars
coach; 2. Do other NFL cities like, say, Chicago, not have crime problems?
Not sure which is worse for
#Jaguars
: giving Trent Baalke final say on personnel matters (if that's what it turns out to be) or letting Keenan McCardell walk out the door?
Mayor Deegan says as soon as
#Jaguars
stadium deal is approved by NFL owners at October 15-16 meetings, her hope is city would be able to pivot “very quickly” to reaching deal on entertainment district around EverBank Stadium.
About 1,000 seat tickets left for
#Jaguars
playoff game against
@chargers
. Pretty cool halftime music entertainment in works as well. Announcement coming on that.
Hey,
#Jaguars
fans, time to put all your angst and anger aside. You finally have a coach in Doug Pederson who provides real hope, not the fool's gold of his predecessor. My column:
So imagine if
#Jaguars
had taken Derrick Henry in 2nd round of 2016 draft instead of Myles Jack, then no need to take Fournette the following year and they grab QB Watson. Isn't hindsight great?
Look for
@GatorsMBK
to also sign 6-6 guard Riley Kugel from Dr. Phillips HS. He originally committed to Miss. St. But bowed out when Coach Howland got fired. Korey McCray was MS assistant who recruited Kugel and he’s now on UF staff. Golden putting together solid class quickly.
Patric Young, former
@GatorsMBK
star and Jax native paralyzed in June 29 car accident, bares all in exclusive interview about not canceling wedding plans, future hope to be inspiration for others, how accident happened, rehab process.
#Jaguars
DE Ngakoue on Pro Bowl snub: "I've been getting underrated since I came into the league, third-round pick, guys that got drafted ahead of me, where those guys at? At end of day, I got to keep proving guys wrong. If I don't the recognition, I'm gonna just go take it."
42 years ago today, I started my working career in Jacksonville at the old Jax Journal, an evening paper in same office as T-U. Appreciate editor Dave Baker hiring me. Never dreamed it’d be this long, but northeast Fla. is a hidden gem. Meeting my wife here big incentive to stay.
This might be the most embarrassing performance of Doug Marrone's 3-year tenure, considering what was at stake. Flat out an abomination on every level.
#Jagu
Pro Bowl snub of
#Jaguars
RB Robinson is hard to accept for this reason: Nick Chubb getting nod is right due to 5.6-yard average, but Josh Jacobs getting in with a 3.7-yard avg. and only 2 runs of 20+ yds is ridiculous. J-Rob had a 4.46-yd avg and 163 more yards, 5 less carries.
Matt Stafford is a good QB, better than good some of the time, but hearing some people thinking he deserves HOF consideration after winning SB is absurd. His starter record is 86-95-1. Come on, man. That’s insulting to HOF voters. Win 2 more, then talk.
Doug Pederson will likely have his coaching staff assembled by end of week and while that is important, winning in NFL is about the players.
#Jaguars
getting better ones in FA, draft matters more to their future and always will.
It's hard to imagine how the
#Jaguars
fan base would feel about this season had Gardner Minshew been a backup QB who went through normal growing pains. A 6th-round draft pick is making 2019 incredibly interesting. He's becoming the face of the franchise in just one month.
Spoke with Josh Allen about the possibility of
#Jaguars
season-ending game with
@titans
being flexed to Sunday night or Saturday night, he was fired up about that prospect. As for the Bank crowd, he said: "Hopefully, it'd be packed with our people."
If
#Jaguars
are gonna do contract extension for Cam Robinson, they better pick up Josh Allen 5th year option or fan base might explode. Probably do it by Sunday.
The clown show environment with
#Jaguars
that Urban Meyer has fostered is coming undone. Hard to fathom a scenario where he can recover. Was warned by previous employee in January that UM wouldn’t be good fit in NFL. He was spot on.
The way
@colts
and Philip Rivers are getting shredded by NFL media, you'd think they just lost to an FCS team instead of a division rival that had beaten them 5 consecutive times in Jacksonville before yesterday.
#Jaguars
About 20 minutes before kickoff of
#Jaguars
game with
@titans
, there will be videoboard acknowledgment of the passing of Uche Nwaneri, much like the team did for Judy Coughlin in November.
Marrone unofficially confirms
#Jaguars
did complain to league about Clooney not being flagged for two offsides and the PI calls on Jack and Josh Jones.
USC quarterback Caleb Williams on the 18th fairway at
@ThePlayers
, following Rory McIlroy all day. The projected No. 1 pick in NFL draft has never played golf, but was encouraged by USC coach Lincoln Riley to become a fan. He’s training in Jax with QB whisperer Denny Thompson.
Pederson believes WR Calvin Ridley will be cleared by NFL and ready to start getting fully indoctrinated into the
#Jaguars
Way on April 17 when off-season program begins.
Rather than try to get ahead of a story that has yet to reach a finish line, I can confirm this: Byron Leftwich 4-5 hour interview with
#Jaguars
went well.