Episode 45 – Super Bowl Week from Atlanta
Tom and Sam have seen just about everybody associates with Pro Football this week in Atlanta.
Entries by Sam Kouvaris
The HOF Case for Tony Boselli
As noted in this column two weeks ago, 2019 is the third consecutive year former Jaguars Tackle Tony Boselli has been named a finalist for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. And for the 24th year, I’ll be the Jacksonville representative on the Selection Committee and again I’m charged with presenting the case for Boselli’s […]
How The Patriots Do It
In the past eighteen years, the New England Patriots have won sixteen AFC East titles. They haven’t had a losing season. They’ve played in twelve AFC Championship Games including eight in a row from 2011 to 2018—and won eight of them. How is it that New England has that kind of sustained success that most […]
Pro Football Hall the Toughest
This is my 24th year on the Selection Committee for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. It’ll be the third straight year I’ve presented Tony Boselli’s case as a candidate for induction into Canton. This year, 102 former players were nominated for the Class of 2019. That list was sent to the 48 members of […]
Episode 40 – Quiet Time Doesn’t Nothing’s Happening
NFL Playoffs bring out the best, and worst in teams. And Clemson will be around as long as Dabo is running the show.
Episode 39 – Culture Change Starts at the Top
As they move into the off-season, the Jaguars are trying to change the locker room culture. They can’t do much before they make a decision on the quarterback.
Jaguars “Can’t Miss” Offseason
Last week’s column about the Jaguars future elicited the full gamut of responses. From “I agree” to “stop drinking and writing,” fans are clearly passionate about what the team should do going forward. A friend of mine once said, “When the reader agrees with you, they’re brilliant. When they disagree, you’re an idiot.” My favorite […]
Bortles, Marrone Should Stay
There will be changes to the Jaguars for 2019; the question is, how many? There’s a lot of strange stuff that happens early in the offseason, so despite what you might have read or heard, I don’t think any decisions have been made about the Jaguars near future. Every NFL roster turns over about 20 […]
A Pro Stop in North Florida Can lead to a Lifetime in Jacksonville
As the Christmas season unfolds, families will gather this week, many of them coming to North Florida for the holidays. A professional stop for Navy veterans and football players in Jacksonville often has led to those two groups staying here, living here and raising families here. “It starts with the friendship of the people in […]
Players Know Change is Coming
Like any other group, a football team is made up of a lot of different individuals. Guys come from the city, the suburbs, farms and ranches, from all kinds of different backgrounds. The common thread is that they’re all tremendous athletes and have supreme self-confidence in their athletic skill. They need both to get to […]
Episode 33 – Early Discord Scorched the Jaguars
Lonnie and Tom agree with Sam: Locker room issues were a problem early and never got fixed.
Wrong Tone Early Sinks Jaguars
Again this week, Jaguars Head Coach Doug Marrone was asked if he was “coaching for his job.” It’s the kind of question that’s asked with some regularity when your team is suffering though a disappointing year. “Every day. Same as last year,” Marrone answered with an unusually clipped response. Any different than last year? “I […]
Something Magical About High School Football
This season both Mandarin and Raines made it to their state high school football championship games. While this weekend’s appearance in Orlando is a crowning achievement for those teams, it also marks a swift and sudden end to many players’ football careers. “I know how special it is,” Mandarin Head Coach Bobby Ramsey said this […]
An Encounter with President George H.W. Bush
Sitting in the men’s locker room in the early ‘90’s at Marsh Landing Country Club, there was a steady stream of guys coming through as usual or a weekday afternoon. I knew most of them and we exchanged the normal pleasantries as they passed through. It’s not unusual to see guys in all levels of […]
In Retirement, Poz Still Knows
So what happened? Last year’s Jaguars team was, according to Vice President of Football Operations Tom Coughlin, “one whistle away” from going to the Super Bowl. And with virtually the same players, some free agents and draft picks sprinkled in, the Jaguars fell on their face in 2018. “Aren’t you going to fill other pieces […]
Episode 28 – It’s Over, What Happened?
Lonnie, Tom and Sam dissect what happened to the Jaguars and what happens next.
Jacksonville Gets a Team, 25 Years Later
Friday, November 30th will mark twenty-five years since the NFL awarded Jacksonville the league’s 30th franchise. It’s still an amazing, improbable story: Mayor Jake Godbold realized, in the 1970’s, that the people in town didn’t think much of themselves or the city. He believed a pro sports team could change that. As a reporter following […]
Missing Poz, and a Lot More
To hear Jaguars Head Coach Doug Marrone’s comment about replacing players, it sounded eerily similar to Tom Coughlin’s answer to a similar question in 1995. “You’ve got to see if someone you put in there is going to be better,” Marrone said when asked about lineup changes, particularly at quarterback. “You can’t just replace people […]
Episode 27 – Team, Not Self
Lonnie, Tom and Sam solve all the Jaguars problems. If they’d only listen! Seriously, there are some good solutions here. Happy Thanksgiving!
Episode 26 – Whatever You Do, Be A Pro!
A look at the Jaguars mistakes and how to be a pro. Plus Sam and Tom Discuss the team/coach/player/media relationship.
Social Media a Fact of Life in Pro Sports
Walk into the Jaguars locker room during the “media availability” time on any given day and there will be a smattering of players arrayed in front of their lockers in various positions of repose with one thing in common: They’re all on their phones. Not talking on their phones, not texting, but looking at their […]
Episode 25 – Problems in River City
Tom and Lonnie give the best analysis you’ll hear on the nuts and bolts of the Jaguars issues. And some locker room talk as well!
Only the Jaguars Can Stop the Slide
At 3-6, this Jaguars team doesn’t resemble last year’s squad at all. It doesn’t feel like the ’96 team that was also 3-6 but made the playoffs. That team was young and playing with a bunch of exuberance that carried them through the second half of the season. It doesn’t even feel like some of […]
Bortles is the Right Guy
It seems not a day goes by without somebody asking about Blake Bortles. Is he the guy? Will the Jaguars address the QB position right away? Wait ‘till the draft? Eli Manning? Teddy Bridgewater? Buehler? Anyone? But here’s the truth: Blake is the right guy for this team. Built to play defense and run the […]
Episode 24 – A Run Starts With One
Sam and Tom compare this year’s team to the ’96 squad that was also 3-5 through 8 games. Tom reveals how they did it.
Episode 23 – We’re Fired Up! It’s Election Day and the Day the Jaguars Make Changes!
Sam, Lonnie and Tom talk a little Election Day and how the Jaguars need to be honest with themselves.
Episode 22 – Jaguars must work in their craft
Tom and Sam talk about how the bye week can benefit the team very specifically.
Jaguars Could Take a Lesson From the Blue Angels
There’s a big difference between a group of people and a team. Being a team is pretty simple: Everybody doing their job well toward a common goal. The whole is greater than the sum of the parts. Lately, the Jaguars are the opposite of that. The whole is lesser than the sum of their parts. […]
Episode 21 – Can the Season Be Saved?
Tom and Sam think the season can be salvaged. But only if the “look hard in the mirror.”
Jaguars in London Pretty Routine
In the five years the Jaguars have played in London, they’ve tried all kinds of different things to figure out how to give themselves the best chance to win. One year the team left directly after a game from Cincinnati. Dinner at the Montgomery Inn on the river, then a special TSA check, bus by […]
Episode 20 – GA//FL from RV City! Jags in London, Bortles Expectations
Lonnie, Tom and Sam are live in RV City downtown talking Gators and Dawgs plus what they expect from the Jaguars in London.
Frustration, Expectations Dog Jaguars
Among the questions that will need to be answered for the Jaguars before they go to London is about the starting quarterback. It’s nearly unheard of to take a QB out of the game because things aren’t going well. Yet Doug Marrone yanked Blake Bortles when things went south early in the second half against […]
Episode 19 – Jaguars in Freefall
Sam and Lonnie break down the Jaguars loss to Houston at home. Where do they start to fix this?
Episode 18 – Must Win?
Sam and Tom agree it might not be but it sure feels like a “must win” for the Jaguars vs Houston at home Sunday.
Georgia Florida is a Big Deal
Working in Charleston I got a chance to come to Jacksonville to cover the Gator Bowl in the late ‘70’s a couple of times. After the 1978 game between Clemson and Ohio State (the one where Woody Hayes famously punched Charlie Bauman on the sidelines) I asked an usher on the way out, “What else […]
Episode 17 – Jaguars: Get Your Act Together
Sam, Tom and Lonnie say the Jaguars are good enough. The problem might be they believe it.
Jaguars Need a Fix Fast
It’s pretty simple math. Last year the Jaguars were 3-3 at this point in the season and finished 10-6. That means for the final 10 games of the year they went 7-3 and won the division. But even Head Coach Doug Marrone knows this year is different. “When you look back and we were 3-3 […]
Kicking Is A Mental Game
Even though he’s not superstitious, I know I shouldn’t be writing about Josh Lambo and kickers this week. Lambo hasn’t missed since last year, either a PAT or a field goal so if he misses today, it’ll be my fault. Kind of like talking to a pitcher who’s throwing a no-hitter. Nonetheless, Lambo has something […]
Episode 16 – Jaguars in Transition
Sam and former NFL Quarterback Matt Robinson discuss the Jaguars offensive problems and the stop gap measures they’re taking.
Jaguars: More Questions Than Answers
It’s fair to say the Jaguars are a good team looking for answers. Sunday’s loss to Kansas City exposed some of their flaws and gave a blueprint to the rest of the league of the game plan that beats them. Four interceptions usually sinks a team’s chances for winning but when they needed a stop, […]
Charity
