Tashaun Gipson: Jaguars ‘are the best secondary in the National Football League’

The Jacksonville Jaguars are 1-0. Their defense had a great deal to do with that, generating 10 sacks, three fumbles, and an interception in a 29-7 victory against the Houston Texans.

How much? Enough that safety Tashaun Gipson is ready to declare that the Jaguars’ secondary has no peers in the NFL.

“We’re competitors, but at the end of the day, we know that we’ve got to go out there and back it up’

“If you personally ask me, and I don’t think that that’s an unrealistic thing for me to sit here and say that I feel like we are the best secondary in the National Football League,” Gipson told John Clayton and Pat Kirwan on Movin’ The Chains. “I still say that and I will stand by it. Until somebody shows me otherwise, that’s just truly how I feel. We’re competitors, but at the end of the day, we know that we’ve got to go out there and back it up. And I think that, judging off of last Sunday and moving forward, I feel like we have no problem doing so.”

Gipson, who is anxious to see what his team can do for an encore in another big AFC South showdown against the Tennessee Titans, said the key to success with the Jaguars’ defensive backfield is cohesion.

‘I think that this is the tightest group that I’ve been a part of’

“Realistically, on and off the field, I think that this is the tightest group that I’ve been a part of,” he said. “I’ve played in some solid secondaries, good secondaries. In Cleveland, we had three Pro Bowlers. I think this secondary here has got the chance to be special.

“And you look at it from just the youth. You’ve got (cornerback) Jalen (Ramsey), who’s still young. And I think Jalen is going to come into his own this year and he’s going to be recognized as one of the best corners in the league. I think (cornerback) A.J. (Bouye), the way he took off last year and when I first saw him, I said, ‘This dude is so underrated, I don’t know how he doesn’t get more attention.’ And that goes for (safety) Barry Church as well.”

‘Right now, as an organization, we care about winning’

“Going out there and playing the way we played Sunday, I thought that that was just that confidence boost and just that understanding and that clarification that, ‘Why not us?’ We see all the Seattles and the Denver Broncos, we see those guys get the attention. Right now, as an organization, we care about winning. But why not us? I think we have a chance to be special.”