MNF: Jacksonville hosts Cincinnati

JT: Well of course we are going to touch on the Houston Texans game as well

And I thought the Bills Mafia were the biggest whiners in NFL fandom. I can only assume Texans fans wanted to win something, anything, after that Trevor Lawrence clinic on their home turf. I personally wouldn’t want “biggest fanbase of whiners” as my blue ribbon of choice, but it seems crying about the refs is a favorite pastime of Texans fans. I wasn’t even aware that babies were cognitively developed enough to understand the intricacies of the NFL, but it seems that those who cheer for Houston, at the very least, have overdeveloped tear ducts. I only have a few things to say about this game. CJ Stroud is the real deal and played one hell of a game against JAX, but Trevor played a little bit better. Both of those things can be true at the same time. Two other topics and then we are moving on to the Bengals. The first being the refs. Winners don’t complain about calls. I’m not talking about the winners of the particular game in question. I’m talking about winners in general. Winners in life. Winners don’t complain. Winners overcome. Your team, the actual professional players, will overcome. Some of you Houston fans however, seem as though you’ll be on the struggle bus for awhile. The refs called the game (or didn’t make the correct calls) both ways. No favoritism. Though I am impressed with both the skill, and evidently amount of wasted time, some Texans fans have in order to produce these hilarious AI pics I’m seeing on “X.” I assume we are all calling it “X” now and not still “the artist formally known as Prince.” You guys truly have some artistry skills and time on your hands. Finally, let’s talk about DPIs. Maybe, just maybe, and I might be reaching here. Maybe the fact that your team is well known for defensive pass interference, so much so, that you are the second most penalized team in the entire NFL for that particular infraction, maybe you can’t blame the refs when they call a DPI? Maybe you should blame your DBs. Maybe they aren’t as good as the wide receivers they play against. I’m just saying, maybe because our receivers are that much better than your DBs, cheating ensues, and it’s two minutes in the sin bin for the bad guys. You’re building a great team in Houston, even you would admit you’re not quite there yet, maybe you need to strengthen a few positions. But what do I know? It’s probably just that Roger Goodell suddenly wants the Jaguars to be the new face of the NFL. I guess Tay Tay turned down the honor. And when you start talking about Swifties, it signifies a time to move on.

Ladies and Gentlemen, it won’t be the match-up we were all hoping for, as Joe Cool is riding pine, but it will be Monday Night Football in Duval. So we won’t see Trevor against Macaulay, but at least we have CJ Stroud against Trevor Lawrence, which will be a great match-up, twice every year, for at least the next decade. Yes, I do wish that Carolina’s owners/decision makers were even a teeny bit football savvy, as they surely would have taken CJ Stroud number one overall in the draft. As it is, they are the NFLs new Daniel Snyder. Not much winning coming to Charlotte anytime soon (‘cept when they play the Texans evidently (imagine all the crying after that “L”). But I digress. The Bengals will be coming to The Bold Coast (which is turning into the cold coast. If you’re here you know) for an 8:15 match-up this Monday night. At the helm for Cincy will be 27 year old Washington Huskies alum, Jake Browning. Who, you ask? Well, so did we. A quick search on Lougle (name the movie) and we find that in 2023, Jake has racked up 295 yards, 2 tuddies, 1 int, and has a QBR of 29.5. The Bengals are coming off of three straight losses. Houston beat them 30-27 (I imagine that even though they were happy tears, none-the-less, a plethora of crying occurred in Houston that day). Baltimore beat them 34-20 and then Pittsburgh beat them 16-10. Now, this is the NFL, and anything can happen in the NFL (see for example trading away your future to draft Bryce Young over CJ Stroud), so it is conceivable that Cincy might be able to keep this game close. But, in the dark, in The Bank, with a blackout, on Monday night, I just see the Jaguars defense going off. Yes Sir! Josh and Travon, Lloyd and Oluokun are shutdown linebackers. JA#41 is getting paid this season. Walker is very quietly becoming a screaming good player. Lloyd has made the biggest sophomore jump on the team and Oluokun is, well, Oluokun. I’d also like to point out that Montaric Buster Brown ain’t too shabby in Campbell’s absence but Tyson and DaVon Hamilton will be returning for this Bengals game (maybe. I hope. This is more my wish list than breaking news. I’ll defer to the team docs, but if I were Dougie P. I’d start them both). I’m just saying that our defense is not who we expected to carry this team and they are not only carrying Jacksonville they are propelling the Jags. It was the defense that beat the Texans (Oh god, here comes the crying. I mean, of course it was actually the refs, but after them, it was the Jags defense). If not for the defensive dawgs sacking, pressuring, and hurrying CJ Stroud, a different outcome may have occurred (obviously, no matter what, a different outcome would never have occurred because, you know, the refs).

I would also like to point out how fortuitous it was that Trent Baalke recently traded for offensive guard Ezra Cleveland. Did he know something we didn’t? Could he see the future? Did he know Cam Robinson would end up on IR with a knee injury? Do I need to give Baalke actual credit? I can’t say enough about the job the offensive line did against Houston’s defense (who, collectively, were too busy pass interfering to think about properly rushing T-Law). It was plug and play. Walker Little slid over to left tackle, where he is a better player anyway (not better than Cam, necessarily, but better than he, himself, is at guard). Cleveland jumped into the game at guard, where he ran, like, 40 yards downfield to lead block for D’Ernest Johnson on a huge screen play for JAX (it’s tough to pass interfere on a screen play ‘cause presumably you don’t realize it’s a screen until it’s too late. Which is what happened on this particularly humongous Houston defensive breakdown). I just can’t let it go. Forgive me. I’ll push this dead horse to the side now. This offensive line kept Trevor safe and untouched all game long in Houston and seems not to have skipped a beat with Cam going down. A lot of talking heads are saying that the O-line will be missing a bit of nastiness that Cam brings to the group, but I say Little is better at tackle than guard and Cleveland is better at guard than Little. Plus many have said that Little is the best tackle on the team, so the only way I see that our O-line is worse with Cam injured is because we have no more starting depth. If another starter goes down, we will be in big trouble. As long as this O-Line stays healthy then the Jags offense should keep humming along. Another important and positive cog in the wheel for the Jags O is the return of Big Play Zay. He may not make the big plays but he surely draws attention away from C-Rid, who, when he isn’t dropping perfectly thrown touchdown passes from Trevor Lawrence (I can say that because he made up for it and we ended up winning…cue the Houston tears), is making some very big plays of his own. Having Zay on the field opens up every other wide receiver on the team because Jones demands coverage. If you leave Zay Jones open he will make you pay. Every. Single. Time. Turns out if you cover him, he will make you pay too. Zay is healthy and thus our offense is firing on all cylinders. Earlier I mentioned D’Ernest Johnson’s name, let’s continue to have to do that please. #25>#4. All. Day. Long. As for One Six, what can I say? Second best passing game of his career (like only a few yards short of his best ever). Threw for two TDs (only one was caught though, sorry Calvin) and ran for one. Trevor’s internal pocket clock was on point and working this game. He didn’t hold anything for too long. He didn’t take a sack. He threw it away when he needed to and he scrambled when necessary. Trevor Lawrence was a great, what’s it called? Oh yeah, “game manager,” right Richard Sherman? How ‘bout we actually watch a game or two, Richy, ‘cause Trev was brilliant in the Houston game, while your commentating is ranking down there around the Skip Bayless basement level.

Folks, It’s the Jags against the Bengals on Monday Night Football. If you can’t get excited about this game then it just doesn’t matter how many little blue pills you take. Breaking news: I LITERALLY just heard on “The Insiders” that Bengals WR, Tee Higgins, has a chance to be back on the field this Monday night against Jacksonville. That should certainly help Cincy. I really hope I’m not providing too much actual, legitimate football information in these columns. That would be disastrous and place an undo amount of stress on my shoulders when writing future articles. Thankfully all three of my readers are family and they’ve said they’ll love me even if I phone it in like Skip and Sherman. After running into The Frangie Show at Island Wing last night, I’m gonna tag them on “X” when I post this column, let’s see if those good people from 1010XL read and comment. Also, why does their show always get cut short by Jaguars Happy Hour? And finally, if someone, in his parent’s basement, can track Elon Musk’s private plane all over the world, then somebody in JAX has to be able to tell me who is calling the plays for the Jags and when. I need to know whether or not to hate Press Taylor. Is this too much to ask? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below.