JACKSONVILLE – Foyesade Oluokun likes what he sees this week.
That's because he sees no panic – and sees no reason to panic. The Jaguars are 4-3 and despite two consecutive losses, the eighth-year veteran sees what he calls an "energized" team entering the second "half" of the 2025 season.
"There's a lot of season left," he said.
Oluokun, a veteran linebacker and Jaguars defensive captain, joined senior writer John Oehser for this week's Week 9 O-Zone Podcast. He discussed multiple topics, including the importance of perspective following a two-game losing streak before this past Sunday's Week 8 2025 bye.
"They say November is when important football is starting," said Oluokun, the Jaguars' leading tackler in 2022 and 2023 and the AFC's Defensive Player of the Week this season following a Week 1 victory over the Carolina Panthers.
"Really in the beginning of the season, you just want to get ahead of the count. We're above .500 right now. You have to keep learning and understanding how to win the close games at the end.
"It's a good starting point, but you definitely have to finish better than you started."
The Jaguars established themselves as a physical team early in the season, an identity Foye said the team must continue to embrace.
"We're a very physical, gritty team – kind of just always fighting," said Oluokun, who signed with the Jaguars as an unrestricted free agent from the Atlanta Falcons in the 2022 offseason. "That's been kind of our m.o. since I came here as a Jaguar: We just fight to the end.
"This year, we have a lot of talent that plays well together. We just have to keep playing well together and doing the little things within every play. That's what we have been learning these past weeks – that when we can match that grit and that physicality up with some detail and good football, then I think we'll start flying."
And while Oluokon said back-to-back losses to the Seattle Seahawks (20-12) and Los Angeles Rams (35-7) before the bye qualifies as adversity – "You lost two in a row; nobody wants to lose one," he said – he also said this is a team that can handle difficult circumstances.
"Everybody, especially after that bye week, did some reflection and said, 'How can I come back better?''' Oluokun said. "Coaches came out and said that about themselves as well, but I think the players really took it upon themselves, 'Let's play better and instill confidence in one another to go on and play better team football, because that's what we need right now.'
"We want success for everybody on the team. You're happy for whoever goes off that game, which is rare – especially in a young team. The win is more important than everything for us right now.
"We're a very close-knit team and that's definitely a genuine thing."
To listen to the entire O-Zone Podcast with Oluokun, tune-in below. For more interviews on the O-Zone Podcast, click HERE.
