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From studio three at buzz TV. It’s the Horse’s Mouth with Tom McManus. Hi. Welcome to another edition of The Horse’s Mouth here at Lynch’s Irish. Pubs and pubs. Multiple pubs. All right. Welcome to another edition of The Horse’s Mouth here at Lynch’s Irish Pub in Jacksonville Beach. Brought to you by our good friends at Aldridge Services of Southeast Jacksonville. Great to have them on board and great to have my guests on board like we do pretty much every week here on the show talking about my favorite subject. And that’s football. Coach Mark Duffner joins me here at the bar. Coach how are you man man doing great. Great to see you again. See you. Thanks so much. Yeah. Thank you. You’re doing a great job on the radio, by the way. I’m listening. I don’t know about that. It’s fun, isn’t it? I love it. Breaking it down and watching them. And I appreciate the opportunity to be with you, to be with the Jaguars. It’s been a great experience. All right. Let’s start with, uh, the O line. What a disappointment. And not just last week two weeks. Last week was really bad. The week before wasn’t as bad, but you could tell there was something going on first four weeks. Physical opening holes, running game’s going good, Trevor being clean, but now it’s changed. What do you think has changed? Well, what do you think? I don’t know, I think maybe the injury to Hainsey, you know, the center right now, I think in a lot of ways probably was the glue for that group. And like most centers are, and he’s most familiar with the scheme, having been with Liam and Tampa. So him getting hurt I think okay, you know, was a factor and maybe just, uh, communication. Yeah. Yeah. Operational communication that went in and played pretty well. That’s a great you know he did actually that’s a great point because you’re sitting there going, man Ezra was physical all year and he wasn’t physical. And then Walker you know he’s been okay. But then he wasn’t physical then. And you’re like, well, wait a minute. So you got me thinking now, were they thinking too much? Because the calls might have been late. Different, I don’t know. You know, monheim early, like he’s a rookie. Hainsey knows what’s going on when you know confidently what to do every play. Maybe you play a little more aggressive. Yeah. No, I think it’s like if you know you as a middle linebacker, when you’re in there, you’re you’re controlling the whole thing and the defense gets used to your leadership in there and your control. Yeah. Same thing with with Hainsey in the front or the offensive line when he’s out there there there’s maybe some disconnection going on. Okay. So I think that was part of the issue. Yeah. Well it showed. Yeah seventeen quarterback hits on our QB coach. Yeah I tracked those things every week on another show I do I’ve never seen that high. Not even close to that high. Well it certainly hadn’t been that way this year that’s for sure. Oh I know the first snap of the game is a sack. Yeah, I know whoever gets fired. So Seattle came in with the intent to affect the quarterback like everybody does. Yeah. But they hit did seventeen hits, I think seven sacks. Anyway, whatever it was, I mean. Yup. And then all kinds of penalties that that, you know that again, we keep shooting ourselves in the foot. I mean, Anton had a had a couple of, you know, misalignments right now, things to just break up your your ability to really execute and be thorough. I think what initially concerned me just about after the game and then rewatching it, we were outmuscled. Oh yeah, we were out physical and we haven’t seen that with Liam Coen’s team yet until last week. You know, we got shoved. I mean you know that’s where the game is won. Their D-line dominated us on the offensive line, that’s for sure. And really we we didn’t play as well as the defensive line against them. So yeah uh they came out uh, understand the game is one between the, the trenches right there. And they, they put forth the effort to do it. And Mike McDonald, he’s a good coach. But you and I both know when you go on the road, if you can be as physical or more physical, you have a chance to win that game. It’s all about that, right? And they establish it, like I said from the first play throughout the game. And then there was no letup on that. All right. Let’s talk. Trevor Lawrence, um, I know you’ve been watching him. Covering him. It’s amazing how the different, you know, like he’s this or he’s great or he’s not. I think he’s somewhere in the middle, and I think you can win with him. I’ve always said that. Um, how do you get him? Better. Like I feel like. Coach. It’s like fifth year. Like you can’t go over the line of scrimmage. The delay of games isn’t all his fault, but he can’t. Audible late. Um, his bros. I feel this is what my theory on his throws are when they’re a little bit late, or when they’re a little bit off. He’s late. He waits till they’re open. He doesn’t throw them open. Correct. Do you agree with that kind of stuff? I do agree with everything you just said. And there’s just too much inconsistency in his play. You’ll see a series where he lights it up. Lights it up. You don’t believe he’ll throw as good as anybody in the league? Totally better. But then you’ll also have a series or two or three of miscues where you you scratch your head and you say, you’ve got to be kidding me in terms of easy throws that he’s got that he’ll force or he’ll panic on a little. Yeah. And so I think, you know, again, it’s a true work in progress. It’s constantly repetition. Repetition. Yep. It’s constant. Uh, having him going through his progressions, it all starts again with protection. He’s got for sure comfortable back there. And you know, and that’s what this uh this Darnold is become accustomed to in Seattle. Right. A guy that struggled early on in his career. Yep Baker Mayfield struggled early in their career. That’s hitting their groove right now about the same time period. And it’s part of it’s because they’re feeling more comfortable in their drops or footwork in terms of their protection. All those things are gelling. This has got to start to happen here. I saw on Sunday a couple times Trev went back to the flat footed throws like that pressure. And it does listen for the record it happens to every athlete every like you get this. Like then you start thinking all craziness, all your technique goes to crap. Try fighting in a ring like your legs go cement you like, can’t breathe. You can’t think like you’re just surviving. You get into those kind of modes when you’re under pressure as a quarterback. Speaking of pressure, coach, um, Josh Hines-allen, um, has had a good year, but he hasn’t had a great year. Let me ask you, from a coaching perspective, I know you care about sex, right? We all do. But do you care about sex? Really? If my defense is disrupting that quarterback regardless of forgetting him on the ground, not as much when it when we’re affecting the quarterback. In other words, if we can whatever it is, it’s a batted pass. It’s a hurried throw. All those things come into play. And if you’re putting pressure on the quarterback, those are outcomes that you want. Yeah, sacks are big. Those sack fumbles are bigger. Bigger. Yeah. And so you know I, I think he’s due right now to start you know connecting finishing at the top of the rush and really making a sack and a sack fumble that we’re looking for. No Devin Lloyd this week. They’re going to miss him. Jeez I know I mean again what he’s done both in run game coverage and also in in punching holes in in the protection of the offensive line has been outstanding. And and they and they they’re missing that right now. You know he’s brought an impetus of energy and production that you know he had a void with. So uh somebody else that’s next man. Up until he comes back Trayvon with one arm, it’s like he can’t even do anything out there. Well, it’s so hard. It’s very hard. You know, you think about it, put an arm in a fight. I mean, we’re talking major league hand-to-hand combat. Yeah. And this guy is as good as there is in terms of his effort, his energy, his production. So I’m hopeful that at some point he’s going to get a little more grasping ability in this casting situation. They’ve got I mean, right now it’s just a ball. I mean, yeah, it’s very, very hard. Nobody can do it. So back to the offense real quick. I’ve been talking about this on helmets and hills on Titan XL. Why don’t we go back to those bread and butter plays that Trevor and his receivers are really good at? You know which one I’m talking about, coach. It’s that seven to ten yard out pattern on the sideline when you throw it on time in the perfect spot. It’s you can’t defend it. And we were doing that. And then last week we didn’t do it once. And you’re sitting there going don’t you want to get if you get Trevor into that kind of rhythm I think he can do even more. And by the way, Dyami can do it. Brian Thomas junior can run that route and Travis Hunter can run that route. So mix it up and give him those opportunities. They’re all capable of that. And, you know, even the screen game early on was something that we’ve used, like you said, these quick outs. Yeah. Uh, to get a guy to get a quarterback in a rhythm or in a groove, you’ve got to do those things. I think we got so enamored by the fact that they were beat up in the back end in the secondary that, you know, they were thinking, come out, let’s come out. Let’s try to take advantage. Right? Right. Yeah, sure. And I and we needed to start throwing some shots to yeah, in some gold balls, but it got too much of our focus where as you said, hey, let’s let’s dance with what brung, so to speak. And, you know, the running game, getting that established, the play action, the boots, the rollouts, the press outs that you’re talking about, all those things move the chains right and you start to get in your groove. It took us to the third drive before we got into our groove. That’s right. And you can’t by that point you were behind, right. So that you can’t play, you know, catch up ball doing that. Uh, what I want to see out of Travis Hunter is more offense. And if they put him on defense, fine. My here’s my tell me I’m I know you tell me I’m wrong if you feel that way. Yeah. I feel like if he’s going to play corner, then he’s got to be the corner. That takes the best number one or number two out of the game. Follow him around, press man to man, whatever it is. And but I want him more on offense because if he’s just going to play zone on defense and just play one side, I don’t know how effective he’s going to be. He’s a good corner. He can make plays, but he’s dynamic with the ball in his hands and they’re foolish not to get him more opportunities. And I know Liam said this week he’s going to be a focal point getting the ball to Travis Hunter on offense. Well, I think the coaching staff recognizes the same things you do. This guy’s a bomb waiting to go off. Yeah, I mean, every time they’ve gotten him the ball and he’s had people try to tackle him, he’s made the first one or two people miss. I mean, he’s showing that kind of that jamaar chase, that rare ability to make big plays. He’s a big play guy and he can set the tone in the game. So getting the ball to him like, I’m with you, I would get the ball to him as much as possible, make the opponents fear him. Yeah, right now he’s still kind of because he’s a part time player. They don’t fear him as much. No, we got enough weapons right now. Starting with him to make people fear you. And now you get them back on their heels. That’s right. They’re not sure what’s going on. We got it. That’s when you run the ball, right? That’s exactly right. Okay, as we wrap up, coach on our weekly visit. Uh, let’s play GM for a minute. They just cleared up some cash. Uh, converting Greg Newsome’s salary into a signing bonus. So he gets that which players love? Yeah, they’ll get that money right away. Opens up some spending opportunities. What position, if any. If you were the GM, would you try to work a trade? Whether it’s a player swap or for picks and money, whatever it is, what position group would you pick if you had to pick one? That’s a great question, Ryan. I hadn’t I hadn’t really hadn’t thought a whole lot about that. You’ve always I would be concerned about a left tackle. I would always look at the offensive line. Okay. And again, because first and foremost, if your quarterback’s not protected, you’re in trouble. That’s right. All you got to do is look at any team in the league. That’s right. Back that up. I also would look you know, we’re talking about a game we just lost because of the trenches. I would look again at where people can affect the quarterback in the run game on defense. Okay. Defensive line. Okay. So not trying to be o line or d line. You saying an attraction? Yeah. And I would look at both of those immediately. Yeah. Uh, I think we’re pretty solid at receiver. I think we’re pretty solid at what? Running back. Yep I like I like when we get strange back. I like the tight end situation, the back end as we as we now. Uh, I like to I’ll tell you the way Buster Brown’s playing right now. I, like Buster would put that sucker in there more and more because all he does is go out and make plays. No doubt he’s not a stand around. He’s a go getter. By the way, the, uh, the second pass breakup that he did on, uh, Enigma was unbelievable. It was unbelievable the way he drove on that the first one, he came like. Like it was a late throws he’d been. He hustled and knocked around. But that second one, he read the break. Boom. He hit that foot and bang he was in there and we’re talking. He’s incredible. J’sun is probably one or two of the most explosive players in the NFL right now. No, I know that Buster had no worry about that. He went right at it, right at his throat I love it. Yeah, I love that. But we all know you gotta have pressure to go with coverage. Great. And when they were pressuring the QB, we were leading the league in takeaways. We still are. We’re close to it, but we got to get that consistent pressure back. Yeah, and I think I really believe Anthony, you know, in retrospect, as all coaches do, you kind of go through a post game thought situation and review. Yeah, I think he he realizes that that, you know, that the pressure applied, you know, hopefully in a timely way. Yeah. Uh, is something that’s going to help us continue to help us. And I think they got away from it a little bit in this last game. I suspect you’ll see it coming up against a very, very good Rams team. All right. Final word coach. Do they win the game Sunday. I believe they win the game. Close game. It’s going to be a close game because Johnny likes Seattle I think it’s going to be a lot like Seattle. Well the Rams are almost a mirror image. I know on both sides of the football. So you’re going to play a similar team. Yeah. Now Liam’s familiar with them. They’re familiar with them. There’s some of that give and take. Yeah but I, I see it being I like it because the fact there is similarity now lets us execute better, clean up the stuff that we have to clean up because we’ve got some. Right. And now go out and be productive. Let’s do it. Let’s come on with a W. Hey, great to have you, my man. That’d be great, wouldn’t it? Alright, that’ll do it for us this time around. Every week we sit at the bar, me and Coach Duff and talk about our great Jaguars. We’re hoping nothing but a victory over in London and bring that W home to Jayville. Till next time y’all stay safe out there. Y’all be cool man. And we’ll see you right here on the horse’s mouth. Cheers. Cheers. At all Dry services. We’re not just here to clean up water. We’re here to help guide you through it. That’s why all Dry Services is available twenty four over seven for water damage, mold and more. We bring transparency, expert service and real care fast. Don’t wait until the damage is done. Save our number now. 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