Jacksonville’s Jalen Ramsey was already the league’s best cornerback when he ascended to something much more important in August: the league’s best shit-talker. In an interview with GQ, Ramsey spared few quarterbacks in a lightning round of who “sucks” (Joe Flacco), who does not (Aaron Rodgers), and who is “trash” and a “stupid draft pick” (Josh Allen).
But since that interview, Jacksonville has been the team that “sucks.” After a 3-1 start, the Jags are on a seven-game losing streak that has them at 3-8 and last in the AFC South. They have fallen to many of the quarterbacks Ramsey talked smack about this summer, but none of those defeats have been more embarrassing than the 24-21 loss to Allen and the Buffalo Bills on Sunday, which sparked the team brass to bench Blake Bortles and fire their offensive coordinator. (Not to mention that Ramsey got roasted by the Bills’ Twitter account.)
Three quarters of the way through the NFL season, let’s assess Ramsey’s assessments and see how he and his team fared against the teams he spent so much time shit-talking.
Eli Manning, Week 1
The Quote: “Eli [Manning] ... It’s not really Eli. I think it’s Odell [Beckham Jr.]. I won’t say Eli’s good, I’ll say Odell’s good. And their connection is good.”
The Game: The Jaguars won 20-15. Ramsey shadowed Beckham, who grabbed 11 catches for 111 yards. Manning failed to throw a touchdown and threw only 113 yards to the rest of the team combined.
The Verdict: Exactly correct.
Tom Brady, Week 2
The Quote: “Tom Brady doesn’t [suck].”
The Game: The Jaguars won 31-20, as Brady had one of the worst games of his season yardage-wise, notching just 234. This was one of the few times Brady did suck, as New England managed one touchdown in the first 52 minutes of the game.
The Verdict: Wrong.
Marcus Mariota, Week 3
The Quote: “I think Marcus Mariota is a great quarterback for their team.”
The Game: The Jaguars lost 9-6. Mariota, who Ramsey did not expect would play, completed 12 of 18 passes for exactly 100 yards and led zero touchdown drives.
The Verdict: Mariota was terrible, and the Titans still got the win. Double wrong.
Sam Darnold, Week 4
The Quote: This was the Jags’ lone matchup of the season for which Ramsey didn’t give the opposing team any bulletin board material.
The Game: The Jaguars romped to the tune of 31-12 and held Darnold to 167 pass yards on 34 attempts.
The Verdict: N/A
Bonus Round: Tyreek Hill, Week 5
Ramsey added some midseason spice when he took offense to being asked about the marquee matchup between him and Hill.
The Quote: “[Hill] made All-Pro as a return specialist. Let’s get that right—as a return specialist, his rookie year. He went to two Pro Bowls as a return specialist. A return specialist, two years. I made All-Pro in my position as a corner. I went to the Pro Bowl as a corner. It’s not a wide receiver versus a corner matchup. We can get that out of the way off bat.”
The Game: The Chiefs won 30-14. Hill had 61 receiving yards on four catches, and Ramsey, who earned his lowest game grade on the season thus far from Pro Football Focus, was visibly tired by the end of the fourth quarter.
Since Week 5, when Ramsey went out of his way to call Hill a return specialist, the Chiefs wideout is second in the league in receiving yards (742) and tied for first in receiving touchdowns (eight).
The Verdict: Extremely wrong.
Dak Prescott, Week 6
The Quote: “Dak Prescott, he’s good. He’s all right. He’s OK. I’ll put it that way. [Ezekiel Elliott] runs that team though. Everything runs around Zeke.”
The Game: Dak Prescott had three touchdowns to open the game: a 17-yard rush, a 17-yard pass, and a 9-yard pass that gave the Cowboys a 24-0 halftime en route to a 40-7 drubbing of Jacksonville. Prescott rushed for 82 yards, just 24 yards shy of Elliott’s rushing total. This was the performance after which Ramsey became more subdued in his postgame interviews.
The Verdict: Wrong.
Deshaun Watson, Week 7
The Quote: “Deshaun Watson, he’ll be the league MVP in a couple years. One hundred percent. There’s not even a debate about that. “
The Game: The Jaguars lost 20-7. Watson completed just 12 of 24 passes for 139 yards and a touchdown.
The Verdict: Bad take, bad loss.
Carson Wentz, Week 8
The Quote: Continuing the Deshaun Watson–for-MVP quote: “[Watson] and Carson Wentz, for every year starting now until five to 10 years, it’s gonna be them two. They’re that good.”
The Game: Eagles 24, Jaguars 18. Wentz threw for 286 yards, three touchdowns, and one interception (caught by Ramsey) to spoil one of Ramsey’s best games of the season.
The Verdict: He’s singing in the right church.
Andrew Luck, Week 10
The Quote: “Andrew Luck—I don’t really think he’s that good. Him and T.Y. [Hilton] had a connection in the past that made him stand out a little bit more, but I don’t think he’s good.”
The Game: Luck led the Colts to a 29-26 victory with 285 yards and three touchdowns and one (non-Ramsey) interception that put Indy ahead of Jacksonville in the division. Hilton had 77 yards on three catches; only one catch for 35 yards came against Ramsey, who shadowed him.
The Verdict: Andrew Luck is good, and Jalen Ramsey is wrong.
Ben Roethlisberger, Week 11
The Quote: “Big Ben [Roethlisberger], I think he’s decent at best. … It’s not Big Ben, it’s [Antonio Brown]. Big Ben slings the ball a lot of the time. He just slings it, and his receivers go get it. He has a strong arm, but he ain’t all that. I played him twice last year, and he really disappointed me. He’ll be in the Hall of Fame and all that.”
Bonus Quote: Leading up to this game, Ramsey tweeted the following:
The Game: The Steelers beat the Jags 20-16, despite Ramsey snagging two of Ben’s three interceptions.
Roethlisberger sealed the game with a diving touchdown rush with eight seconds left to play.
The Verdict: Right on all counts. Ben was bad, but the touchdown dive is Hall of Fame stuff in action.
Josh Allen, Week 12
The Quote: The quote that started it all.
“I think [Buffalo Bills draft pick Josh] Allen is trash. I don’t care what nobody say. He’s trash. And it’s gonna show too. That’s a stupid draft pick to me. We play them this year, and I’m excited as hell. I hope he’s their starting quarterback. He played at Wyoming. … He never beat a big school. If you look at his games against big schools, it was always hella interceptions, hella turnovers. It’s like: Yo, if you’re this good, why couldn’t you do better? He fits that mold, he’s a big, tall quarterback. Big arm, supposedly. I don’t see it, personally.”
He doubled down on that during the game.
The Game: Centuries ago (read: January of this year) Jacksonville-Buffalo was a playoff matchup. The Bills won the rematch 24-21, as Allen threw for 160 yards and a touchdown on just eight completions and 19 attempts while adding 99 yards of rushing and another ground score, which happened right in front of Ramsey.
After the game ended, Ramsey sought out Allen for a mea culpa.
The Verdict:
Ramsey’s Record vs. Quarterbacks He Dissed: 1-4
Ramsey’s Record vs. the “Return Specialist” He Dissed: 0-1
Ramsey’s Record vs. Quarterbacks He Complimented: 1-3
Ramsey’s Record vs. Quarterbacks He Didn’t Say Anything About: 1-0
The Lesson: Don’t say anything.
