Tom Mcmanus Says The Jaguars Will Win

It’s almost unbelievable how they’ve turned it around from a three-win team to go the AFC Championship game. The common denominator has to be Tom Coughlin but it also has to be Doug Marrone. They’re two in the same. They are committed to winning. They’re different personalities but they see that at the end of the day in the NFL that’s all that matters.

Blake said it this week, winning wasn’t always in the forefront of what we do around here, but now it is. It’s all about winning.

I had two years with Tom Coughlin at Boston College. Jack Bicknell, my first coach at BC was tough, but he let you handle business. Tom came in and controlled everything. Class, study hall, eating, discipline, lifting, everything, the whole deal.

I never threw up so much in my life than in the winter of 1991. Tom was weeding out the guys who weren’t going to stick around. I hated it, but stuck it out. Nine of 25 guys who were redshirts with me and had graduated came back to play. The rest said, “No way.” It was too tough

I spent training camp in 1993 with the Saints before they cut me and in 1994 I had a weekend tryout with the Redskins. But nothing happened. So I got a job in Boston. That’s when Steve Szabo, my linebackers coach at BC called to see if I was interested in playing. He hadn’t seen me in two years. He was going to be on Tom’s staff for an expansion team and wanted to work me out. I told him I was in shape, but I wasn’t, and luckily I had two months to get there. I went to my parents place in New Smyrna Beach to work out for eight weeks and showed up in Jacksonville for the workout. They signed me and I eventually made the team. I was injured a bit but played on some Jaguars playoff teams. The playoffs are incredible; you almost can’t put it into words. Exciting, the anticipation, it’s packed. It’s different. But it’s great.

What I like about this team this year is it’s toughness. You never see anybody loafing. You never see anybody just jogging over. You never see anybody take a play off.

The kind of guys they brought in are tough guys, Calais, A.J. Jalen, they’re all tough guys. They really care about their performance. They’re all trying to get a hit on somebody. They can score at any time.

They feel like they have nothing to lose this week against New England. If you play like that you have a chance. The negative is they’re playing against a dynasty. They’re good enough to put up fifty. That’s more of the mystique. They’re not going to put that up on this defense.

I think they’ll pound the rock this weekend. They have a chance to win this game and in fact I think they’re going to win. You’ve got to make sure you stay in Brady’s face. I’d put Ramsey on Cooks and I’d put Myles Jack on Gronk. I think he can do it. He’s fast enough and big enough to get the job done.

They’re rewriting history in Jacksonville, they want to better the old guys like me. I think it’s great, and it’s time.

I’ll find a way to be in Minneapolis in two weeks. Hope to see you there.