This week, I sat down for conversations with Jacksonville defensive end Calais Campbell, our writer Jenny Vrentas, and Eagles beat writer Jeff McClane. Campbell talks about how his career has taken off playing on the loaded Jaguar defensive front, why the Jaguars and Seahawks played such a chippy game, and why he thinks Seahawk Michael Bennett might have submarined the …
Twice this season, the Jacksonville Jaguars have recorded 10 sacks in a game. The season opener against the Houston Texans led the team to re-brand itself as the Sacksonville Jaguars (on Twitter), a name that has stuck ever since the Jags sacked Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton 10 times a few weeks later. New Twitter name.#WinToday #Sacksonville pic.twitter.com/xvQGfj2W0e — #Sacksonville (@Jaguars) …
Calais Campbell has repeated it after every loss the Jacksonville Jaguars have suffered this season.
“Good teams don’t lose two in a row,” he said. “You have to bounce back.”
Boy, have his teammates listened. The Jaguars have responded with big victories after each of their four losses, including last Sunday’s 30-10 rout of the Indianapolis Colts at EverBank Field. That ability to rebound from a loss is just as responsible for the team battling for first place in the AFC South as their top-ranked defense.
Malik Jackson had his hands on Indianapolis quarterback Jacoby Brissett and couldn’t quite get him to the ground.
Yannick Ngakoue also had an opportunity in the backfield and barely missed his chance to register a sack.
But there was no stopping Calais Campbell.
Continuing what has been a dominant first season with the Jaguars, Campbell set the franchise single-season sack record (12 1/2) when he wrangled Brissett to the turf for a loss of 10 yards late in the first quarter of a 30-10 victory Sunday at EverBank Field.
When Calais Campbell scoped up a fumble and went 10 yards for a touchdown early in the fourth quarter, he thought his homecoming would end exactly the way he hoped.
But instead of enjoying their fifth consecutive victory, Campbell and the Jaguars suffered their first loss since Oct. 15 when Phil Dawson kicked a 57-yard field goal with one second remaining to give the Cardinals a 27-24 victory on Sunday.
For Campbell, it was his first return to Arizona to play his former team after signing a four-year, $60 million free agent contract with the Jaguars in March. He had played nine seasons with the Cardinals.
Calais Campbell has two things he wants to bring back from Arizona: An eighth victory and Larry Fitzgerald’s No. 11 jersey.
One is much more important to him than the other.
Campbell will return to the place where he spent the previous nine seasons when the Jacksonville Jaguars (7-3) play the Cardinals (4-6) on Sunday. While he’s looking forward to seeing close friends, former teammates and ex-coaches, the veteran defensive end hopes to make keep his homecoming as low-key — and successful — as possible.
On Sunday, Calais Campbell goes back to the place where he started his NFL career.
And Campbell is not quite sure how he will be received on his first return to Arizona since signing a four-year, $60 million free agent contract with the Jaguars this past March.
Whether he hears cheers or boos for his homecoming, it makes no difference.
As his players were heading toward the team bus following their season-opening victory against the Houston Texans, Jacksonville Jaguars coach Doug Marrone congratulated defensive end Calais Campbell on his franchise-record four sacks.
“I said, ‘That is one hell of a day you had today,'” Marrone said. “He said, ‘I couldn’t have done it without the people in the back end with their coverage.’ I think that says more about it than anything else.”
“I like this trade a lot,” Campbell said. “I’ve studied [Dareus’] game since he came into the league [in 2011]. I always thought of him as a great player. He’s really good against both the run and the pass. One thing that I think is underappreciated is that he’s always around the ball in the run game. He has been clogging up holes and handling business for years.”
The Jacksonville Jaguars bring their alternate teal jerseys back next Sunday against the Cincinnati Bengals. To get fans hyped about the #ForeverTeal movement, the Jags recently released an epic video with Calais Campbell modeling the new look — and it just might give you chills.
