JACKSONVILLE – This has been crazy.
"It's definitely been a whirlwind," Walker Little said.
That has been true for the Jaguars, who have won six consecutive games to go from a four-game deficit in the AFC South to one of NFL eight teams still playing. It has been equally true for Little, a December reserve and a January starting left tackle.
What a difference a month makes.
"I haven't totally had a chance to kind of grasp everything that's been going on because as soon as you play one game, you roll into the next," Little said told senior writer John Oehser on this week's Divisional Playoff O-Zone Podcast. "But it has been a really special end of the year and beginning of the new year.
"This team has been so much fun to be a part of and I've been really happy to play a role in it."
The AFC South Champion Jaguars (10-8) will play the AFC West Champion Kansas City Chiefs (14-3) in an AFC Divisional Playoff at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium Saturday at 4:30 p.m. The have earned their way there not only with six consecutive victories, but by winning in historical and memorable fashion.
Walker's role in the run has been critical – and somewhat unexpected. A second-round selection in the 2021 NFL Draft, Walker started three games as a rookie and spent the first 14 games of the 2022 season as a swing tackle.
He has started at left tackle the past four games in place of veteran Cam Robinson, who sustained a season-ending injury in the Jaguars' 40-34 overtime victory over the Dallas Cowboys on December 18.
"It's the nature of the job," Little said. "There are challenges to being a starter and there are challenges to being a backup. That's one of the challenges that come along with being a backup – keeping your mind in the right headspace of, 'Hey, you have to be serious about your preparation,' because you may not get the game reps, but you have to keep improving as the team improves."
The Jaguars have rallied in seven of their last eight victories. They twice rallied to win from 17-point regular-season deficits. They rallied from 10-0 down in a 20-16 winner-take-the-AFC South victory over the Tennessee Titans in the regular-season finale, then rallied from 27-0 down in a 31-30 victory over the Los Angeles Chargers in an AFC Wild Card Playoff this past Saturday.
"We definitely realize we're doing a lot of things right," Walker said. "I don't know that we quite have a chance to get the full grasp of it. When you're in it, it's hard to see the whole picture. You're kind of laser-focused on that opponent all week, then you flush it and you move on pretty quickly to the next week.
"I know at the end of the season we'll look back and realize how special it is. But we're trying to make a run here. For us, the job's not finished. We have the utmost we can win any game we play in."
Listen to the entire O-Zone Podcast with Little below. For more episodes of the O-Zone Podcast, click HERE.
