The Jacksonville Jaguars defense is IMPRESSIVE + Is it Caleb Williams’ turn? | NFL Live

The Jacksonville Jaguars defense is IMPRESSIVE + Is it Caleb Williams’ turn? | NFL Live

As for that Jags defense, they’ve been great at producing turnovers. Jacksonville averaging 2.8 turnovers per game this season on pace to be the second most over the last 20 seasons. Only the 2007 Chargers averaged more. And that team went on to the AFC Championship. Those takeaways were front and center on Monday Night Football. When Devin Lloyd took one back for a pick six on Mahomes, he leads the league in interceptions right now. Really fun to see. He he took that personally, too. They don’t pick up the fifth year option. He’s like, “All right, I’m going to show you.” How are they using him in that scheme? So, well, Jac Anthony Campanelli, their defensive coordinator. I was with him for a season in Miami. Jersey guy and he is exactly what you expected to be. Hard nose. You watch them. They fly around. Everybody is punching at the football violently and they want to inflict pain on you. You’re going to look at it right here. When you’re stopping outside zone, it starts with setting an edge. Emanuel Agbar right there setting edge backside smooth being able to run it down. Look at Devin Lloyd in the middle. He comes through and bench presses the center into the running back, breaking glass, and then the pick six that you’re talking about. This was a mix of a Brian Flores type of defense. You’re rushing more than they can block, but you want to get the offensive line to see it. Right now, everybody is sliding to the left, including the center. Once you get them to commit, now you have two guys that pop out. Devin Lloyd is one of those two guys. You pop out with vision on the quarterback. Patrick Mahomes, one of the very best in our game that we’ve ever seen play that position. When you’re fooling him with the defense and you’re getting him to not see a guy popping out because he’s expecting an allout blitz, that goes to show you the call by an Anthony Campanelli and the guys on the field understanding what they’re trying to accomplishment goes a long way. It’s the perfect combo of a defensive player looking for that coordinator and the coordinator who’s looking to unleash a defensive player. Lloyd this season, 180 snaps in the box, 21 snaps at slot corner, and has been on 32 different snaps on special teams. So, they use him in a million different way. He’s your defensive player of the year one month into the season. He leads the entire NFL in interceptions. And if you want to know more about Campy, you mentioned Jersey guy. This is Jersey as it comes. This is Oh yeah, Campy’s been in the league for a while, but before that, he was a Don Bosow defensive coordinator of a high school for many years. What school? Ruckers, baby. Don Bos. Then he went to Ruckers. was coaching at Ruckers. He played at Ruckers and look, his family’s coaching, right? So, this is the first time he’s won in a long time if that’s Don’t say that. He was at Michigan when they were very good with the Packers last year. But his family is cool. Like, this is like a coaching family. His father Mike uh was was coached at Paramis High School. His brother Nunio is the Syracuse quarterback coach and his brother Nikki is the head coach at Depal High School. So, you’ve got all these guys who are coaches and he lives and breathes it. What a great story. And Devon Lloyd, you mentioned four years going around like what? Deon Lloyd’s finally blossoming. Maybe he just needs the perfect coach to get him there. Yeah, there’s some Boston College connections in there, too. Nunio. That’s the first name. That’s his first name. Dan wants to have another child just to name him Nunio. That’s a great name. Nunio Campanelli. Come on. Are you not going to be a high school football coach? They dominate in Jersey, too. They dominate. I hate to break this up, but Seattle will clearly have its hands full with this one. Dan, how can the Seahawks offense combat this on Sunday? Yeah, I think we can confidently say that Seattle has one of, if not the best young tight end duos in football, I AJ Barner and Elijah Aoyo. And the way that they use them, I think is going to give Jacksonville some problems. So you get into that tight end wing, but you always want one of those tight ends to be like that move guy, that motion guy, but you don’t want him to be just the wide receiver, right? And so you get into this offense, the play action, the bootleg, the keeper is such a big deal, but you got to have a guy that’s smooth enough, athletic enough, smart enough to avoid contact, get into flat, there’s nine yards, tough to tackle in space. All right, Aoyo, I would love to have a tight end that I could put out by himself. Information matchup, I want you to watch how physical he is in this one-on-one. You should not be able to throw this ball to that tight end. Get off me. Get off me. That’s third and three. Now, that’s not a push off unless it’s called. That’s not a push off unless it’s called. And then down in the red zone of just the smarts to understand how releases matter. Cooper Cup at the bottom. Tight end matches. I need you to arc release, meaning get width on your release to just set up that nonPI pick by Cooper Cup. And I mentioned that difficulty to tackle in open space. I’m trying to think of a group that tight end wise is young and as good. You know, the Raiders have Brock Bowers and they drafted them early, but they haven’t developed like that. And I’ll tell you, these are that’s a 2024 pick and that’s a 2025 pick. That’s first and second year player. You don’t see production like that. And everyone talks about JSN. These tight ends are having an amazing year. Correct. The JSN, no doubt, but those tight ends, I think, are just as integral for their offense. Welcome back to the NFL live lounge. The most interesting man in the NFL this week is Caleb Williams. The 2024 first overall pick travels to his hometown of Washington DC on Monday night where he will face the Commanders and a familiar foe. 2024 second overall pick Jaden Daniels. See, things couldn’t have gone much different for Caleb and Jaden a year ago. The latter had arguably the greatest rookie season in the history of football, taking one of the worst teams in the league from a year prior all the way to the NFC Championship game, winning the NFL offensive rookie of the year honors and earning a Pro Bowl birth along the way. Caleb. Well, Caleb Williams had some bright moments early on, but those were quickly overshadowed by a brutal string of losses and missed opportunities. How bad was his year? Among all of the first round quarterbacks last year, and there were many, Caleb Williams ranked dead last in quarterback rating, while Jaden Daniels, he was number one last season, October 27th. Both teams still had winning records at the time, and the Bears led 1512 with one play remaining against the Commanders. Jaden Daniels heaved the ball 52 yards. Noah Brown caught it. And the two team seasons and the two players seasons went in completely opposite directions. Washington finished the regular season with wins in six of their final nine games. Then they rattled off two miraculous road playoff victories. The Bears, they would lose eight of their next nine games and they finished with a top 10 pick yet again. Less than a year later, Williams has a boy genius offensive head coach. And the numbers, they don’t lie. He’s been really good. The sacks are way down, the offtarget percentage is way down, and his yards per drop back on deep passes are way up. Caleb is now riding a two-game winning streak, coming off a buy. And there is a city and a fan base that maybe, just maybe, is starting to believe that they finally have their franchise quarterback. The Gonzaga College High School product returns home on Monday. Back where his rookie season went off the rails and where he became the afterthought of the Caleb or Jaden debate. It’s Chicago. It’s Washington. It’s the first pick. It’s the second pick. It’s the scene of the Hail Mary. And another October showdown with both teams looking to make a statement for the rest of the league. Caleb Williams, it’s your turn. Right. Go. Nice. I love it. Caleb. Caleb Williams. Peter is tired of hearing about Jaden Daniels, isn’t he? Come on. Like the ending. Come on, Caleb. Yeah. Well, listen. Maybe we have to do a a uh sequel to this after Monday night and find out what he ends up doing. Can we get another Hail Mary? You’ll be on the side. You know what? You’ll be there. I will be. And I’m on the bear side. And actually, uh Caleb Williams threw a Hail Mary when he was in high school. We have the video for it. We have to show it. I hope it was it was completed. I imagine complete. You will see it on Monday Night Football. Football. We’ll save it for that. Yeah. the business. They called it a business. Dan, the numbers are clearly on the uptick for Caleb. Is the film showing the improvement that the numbers are? Yeah, there’s no question. Everyone going into this season saying he’s got to play on time. He’s got to play in rhythm. He’s got to play on time. He’s got to play in rhythm. The tape says that he is. There’s a lot of examples and it hasn’t been this rocket climb week one. It’s been this steady climb. But when you look at the numbers and you say, “Okay, is he getting rid of the ball faster on first down?” Not really compared to last year. Third down, not really compared to last year. Play extra pass, not really compared to last year. Under pressure, not really compared to last year. Play under center, not not really. And then you go, well, is he under pressure less? Somewhat a little bit. I think the the main thing that we’re seeing is when Caleb’s under pressure this year in comparison to when Caleb’s under pressure last year, totally different player. No mistakes or just confident or just throwing the ball away. Seeing it faster, making better decisions, not Where’s the answer? Is that coaching or just maturity? Hey, year two, they go they go in hip to hip, you know. So, it’s it’s first down, I’m getting pressure. Last year it was runaround, make a play. This year it’s take a take a check down. It’s third and six on the 25 yd line and I’m getting pressure. Last year it’s run around, make a play to Sacramento field range. This time dirt it. We’re kicking three points. That all adds up, right? And so that’s the real line of demarcation that has definitely changed for the positive. Yeah. I I love the fact that you just said take the check down cuz we’ve seen that a ton from him from week one of there’s nothing there. And even when he does scramble around, he still is looking to an outlet to make that pass. I look at this game for him and you’re looking at this Commander defense in the last two weeks. It was a little bit of one week you go look at the Atlanta Falcons game and they’re just getting beat to sleep and they’re matching up the 10-1’s and throwing the ball over Latimore’s head, finding Bobby Wagner and then you saw it this past week against the Commanders where I mean against the Chargers where the offensive line couldn’t protect. They’re getting after Justin Herbert and they couldn’t do anything. I like Caleb Williams when you see manto man in this third down and there’s a gap open in that A or B gap, take off. Use your legs. Put the pressure on the defense from the very beginning. I know everyone’s talking about play on time, get the ball out, play the quarterback position the way it’s supposed to be played. Yes, there are going to be many downs where you need him to do that, but there are also going to be some special opportunities when you see that gap open right up in the middle, take it and make a play down the field. It energizes the entire offense. It makes life easier for your offensive lineman. And I know from a defensive guy, it is hell on you when you know a quarterback can take off and pick up 30 yards. I’m watching the baseball a couple nights ago and it’s game three and Aaron Judge hits that home run and Joe Davis on Fox his call was, “Is it his moment?” It is. I feel that way with Caleb Williams Monday night. Is it your moment? Hometown, you get another shot at this. Last year when they played them on October 27th, they were a winning record team. Like they were good and then the season went off the rails. Lot of people watching, friends and family in the building. Yeah, maybe some luminaries will be in the building with it being DC. We don’t know who’s going to show up or not, but there’s going to be a spotlight and Monday Night Football just hits different and it’s Joe, it’s Troy, it’s Lisa, it’s Laura, it’s all of that and it matters. The entire country is watching. How are you going to answer the call? Yeah. Record-wise, it’s not a must-win. Feelwise, it’s a mustwin for sure. It’s not the same division. You’re not going to play Jaden Daniels every year. Every time they play each other, it’s going to be that. Yes. The last two times Ben Johnson has come off of a buy, 88 points and a thousand yards by his offenses. And you can’t lose to the kid who went after you two games in a row. Yeah, good point. Uh they’ve worked a lot during this bye-week on limiting penalties. That that’s been a huge issue for the Bears. So, we’ll see if it ends up paying off. Well, Jamar Chase also said today he gives the organization credit for trying to get it right because what they were doing wasn’t working. There were systemic failures along the offensive line, the run game, quarterback turnovers all across the board. So, they go out and trade for Joe Flacco, who already has beaten the Green Bay Packers this season. He studied the Packers defense. And that’s why Zack Taylor wasted no time in naming Joe Flacco the starter. Joe Flacco now has the chance to become the first quarterback to beat the same team twice in one season since Jack Kemp did it in 1962 when he beat at one point in time the Titans with the Bills. The Bills waved them. The Chargers claimed him for $100 and then he beat the Titans again. The Titans became the Jets. Some things haven’t changed and now obviously Joe Flacco was trying to become the first quarterback since Jack Kemp to beat the same team twice in one season. What an incredible story. You see a $100. They cleaned for a hundred bucks. $100 1962. That was the waiver fee. They don’t make them like they used to, you know. Adam Jac, how do you expect this to work out for the Bengals? Well, I ain’t paying for I am playing for $100. That’s not No, I’m not I’m not out there doing that. I look at this and you said that Flaco beating the Packers. That was the Browns defense that beat the Packers and they beat up on them. Flaco is an experienced quarterback. I don’t know why he want to do it. I’m not going to play against the Green Bay Packers. I barely know the offense, any of that. Just throw the ball up there to chase. That’s all I’m going to be able to do. And that’s that’s kind of the qu like this is a lifer. This is what he does. And and the fact of the matter is Adam’s right. And Jack Kemp, who also ran for office, Jack Kemp, an esteemed American. Jack Kemp though, 1962. No one’s done it. If they beat the Packers twice in five weeks, are you serious? Joe Flack, that’s a cool note on your resume. Lot of Jack Kemp talk. Can they steal three or four wins over the course of the next eight weeks and hope that Joe Burrow comes back? If not, 2026. Okay. Golly, just stay felt like we said that a few times last year, maybe the last couple years. [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music]

On NFL Live, the team discusses…

0:00 Jacksonville Jaguars takeaways
0:31 Breaking down the Jacksonville Jaguars’ defense
1:51 Thoughts on Anthony Campanile
2:50 What do the Seattle Seahawks need to do against the Jacksonville Jaguars?
4:53 Caleb Williams vs. Jayden Daniels
7:55 Thoughts on Caleb Williams
11:35 More on Ja’Marr Chase Chase, Joe Flacco and the Bengals

✔️ Subscribe to ESPN+ http://espnplus.com/youtube
✔️ Get the ESPN App: http://www.espn.com/espn/apps/espn
✔️ Subscribe to ESPN on YouTube: http://es.pn/SUBSCRIBEtoYOUTUBE
✔️ Subscribe to NBA on ESPN on YouTube: http://bit.ly/SUBSCRIBEtoNBAonESPN
✔️ Watch ESPN on YouTube TV: http://es.pn/YouTubeTV

#ESPN #NFL