Welcome to “The Horse’s Mouth” with Tom McManus, live from Lynch’s Irish Pub. Sponsored by All Dry Services of SE Jacksonville, The Horse’s Mouth is a unique talk show where Tom’s guests sidle up to his bar to discuss the intersection of sports, business, and life. On today’s show, Tom talks with Coach Mark Duffner
Speaker 1
From Studio Three at Buzz TV, it’s The Horse’s Mouth with Tom McManus!
Speaker 2
All right, once again, it’s The Horse’s Mouth here at Lynch’s Irish Pub in Jacksonville Beach, brought to you by our good friends at All Dry Services of Southeast Jacksonville. My man at the bar is Coach Mark Duffner, and we’re going to talk a little ball — which is my favorite subject of all time. So let’s get into it with the coach.
Hey, Coach, how are you doing? Good to see you, man. You’re all over the place and I love it. You do a great job out there with media.
Speaker 3
I appreciate that.
Speaker 2
You do a great job. You got a level head. Were you always level-headed as a coach? Like, was that even keel, or what are we talking?
Speaker 3
You know, I think there’s a lot of emotional enthusiasm in football, and I tried to bring that. But I think your players have to see you stay cool in situations — so they know how to react. And that’s when you do your best work.
Speaker 2
So your forte — linebacker coach, now I mean, yeah, that stands out. Just read and react, man?
Speaker 3
Are you kidding me? I loved it. Had the ability to go smash.
Speaker 2
Smash them!
Speaker 3
Yeah. No question about it.
Speaker 2
Who were your linebackers when you coached here in Jacksonville?
Speaker 3
I had Paul Posluszny, Mike Peterson, Darryl Smith… oh my, I mean those were all great players.
Speaker 2
They were incredible.
Speaker 3
They’re probably three of the top five tacklers ever.
Speaker 2
Darryl Smith — he was a great player. He shouldn’t be underrated because he was incredible.
Speaker 3
Oh no, he was always tough as nails. Smart guys, all of them. Productive players. Mike Peterson…
Speaker 2
Oh, M.P.
Speaker 3
P was my all-time leader until I think Darryl broke his record in terms of tackles. And maybe now it’s Paul — I don’t know.
Speaker 2
I remember Mike Peterson — I’ll never forget this play. We were playing Baltimore at home and Jamal Lewis gets a screen — open field — and Mike Peterson comes up and stones him. Jamal was a big dude!
Speaker 3
Oh yeah.
Speaker 2
He ran and he dropped him. I was like, “Whoa!” That’s a beast right there.
Speaker 3
Mike was a real one — show love and active player. Former quarterback in high school. But hey, talk about a guy that was productive — made plays sideline to sideline. Great player.
Speaker 2
Such a great guy. All those guys — great guys off the field. Isn’t that the best, Coach? The better the gentleman off the field, the tougher they are on it. They can handle anything — and then when it’s game time, they’re animals.
Speaker 3
They’re like my sons. I’m still in touch with them actively. Pete’s coaching with the Gators right now, doing a great job with their defense. Paul’s here in town working and doing great. So yeah — how lucky was I?
Speaker 2
No doubt. What a great group. Fire, Jags two and one, Coach — feel good to be two and one at this time going into the season?
Speaker 3
You know, I didn’t know. Early on there was some concern — they had that one intrasquad practice where they couldn’t get lined up — and Coach addressed it right away. But after that, each preseason game showed improvement. And geez, Pete, I think you’ve seen in the games so far — they’re 18 seconds from being 3–0.
It’s been a team effort too. The offensive line has played better than a lot of people thought. Running backs are doing a tremendous job. Defense is stacking up week after week, making plays.
Speaker 2
And we haven’t even got the QB and receivers going yet. When that clicks? Look out.
Speaker 3
And we will. Look at the success Brian Thomas Jr. had last year — unbelievable production. And then Parker Washington, Brown (though he’s hurt now), and add the rookie into that group — are you kidding me? That’s a good bunch.
Speaker 2
I think they’re resilient. They showed a lot of grit last week.
Speaker 3
That’s probably the best description of what they did. A lot of teams would have folded when that interception occurred late. But they didn’t. They went right back and got the ball back — twice. Defense stepped up. Offense scored when they had to — QB to Brian Thomas, ran the ball in. Great job.
Speaker 2
Great to see. They’ve got their hands full with San Fran, but every team is beatable. On the road, you have to be physical. If you’re not physical, you’re gonna have a tough time.
Speaker 3
No question. They’ve got to set the tone from the start. That’s established at the line of scrimmage. Defense has to knock them back. Let ‘em know — we’re here to win this game. Same on offense.
Speaker 2
What would you say to a guy who’s in a slump? I know what I’d say — check if he’s okay off the field. Is there anything going on I need to know about? Beyond that, it’ll work itself out. Agree?
Speaker 3
Absolutely. First thing — “What can I do to help you?” Let’s talk. Everything okay off the field? When people know you care about them, they respond — and usually in a really good way. Then, as a coach, you show them plays they’ve made in tough situations before. Reignite that memory of who they are.
Speaker 2
And a coach is like a big brother. Like when I was young, my older brothers and their friends always had my back. That’s what you want from your coach. When a player knows that, they’ll do anything for you.
Speaker 3
That’s the secret to life. When people know you care, they won’t let you down. That’s coaching and teaching. It’s about building a relationship — more than just a 9-to-5. When a player knows the coach cares about them — and vice versa — they’ll go to the ends of the world for you.
Speaker 2
How you feel about them going out to San Fran? They should feel confident at 2–1.
Speaker 3
I feel good about it. They’ve got to come out saying, “We’re not going to be denied.” In the game against Houston, they beat a lot of demons — record-wise and otherwise — that they should’ve conquered earlier.
Now they’re playing a team like San Francisco — they’ve faced adversity too. They’re short on players, but found ways to win. From a defensive standpoint, we’ve got to stop a couple key people — McCaffrey, Purdy, the wideouts.
On offense — Bosa’s a big factor. They’re 6–12 without him, and 58–28 with him. That’s a plus for us. So we just have to go out and establish fundamentals, play fast and physical, run the ball, control the clock. On defense — tackle. Don’t let McCaffrey get yards after contact.
Speaker 2
That’s right. He’s very good. And San Francisco will be rocking.
Speaker 3
Oh gosh.
Speaker 2
Let’s wrap up with this. The last drive of the offense last week against the Texans — to me, that was everything. You put the past behind you and got it done. Ran the ball. Trevor scrambled. Great play-action. Wide open guys. How do you bottle that for the next game?
Speaker 3
Tony, I would go back to that 50-yard interception — whatever the miscue was. I’d show that play to the whole team. And then show them what they did after. Because that’s them. That’s their grit. That’s their fight. They came back, defense got the ball, offense scored — convincingly. No words — just show them who they are. That’s their guts. Let’s do it again.
Speaker 2
That’s beautiful. We winning Sunday?
Speaker 3
What do you think? We’re winning — absolutely. Perfect timing. And we don’t get many of these. Let’s go out and get it.
Speaker 2
Why don’t you end it with a face goal?
Speaker 3
Hey man — start to finish. Old school. Start to finish.
Speaker 2
Good to have you, my man. Always a pleasure. Great to have Coach Duffner here on The Horse’s Mouth talking about my favorite subject — football. I want to thank Lynch’s Irish Pub and everybody here for enjoying the show and letting us be here.
Speaker 2
Until next time — y’all stay safe, y’all be cool, and go Jags in San Francisco.
We’ll see you next time right here on The Horse’s Mouth. Truth and…
Speaker 4
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