Jacksonville Jaguars Fan Forums

After the Packers game last week I said on here that I'll judge the Jags based on the San Diego game and it was not good.

 

Let's try and look at some positives first:

Pass rush wasn't bad, Yannick and Fowler each got sacks and Yannicks forced fumble was a good play.

Julius Thomas has shown up this season so far.

Bortles had 34 yards rushing on 3 carries. (Also in negatives).

Corey Grant scored his first NFL TD.

Ramsey played well, he got juked by Gordon on a run but didn't give up much in the air.

Myers still hasn't missed an XP so that's progress.

Nortman and Benn are fantastic special teams players.

 

 

Now for the negatives:

Yeldon has not looked great but he's being dealt a bad hand by the coaches, I'll show more soon.

House is not very good.

Poz matched up with WRs is ridiculous.

Run defense has regressed a lot.

Bortles:

I've been a big Bortles fan but he was bad yesterday, he looked like he did in his rookie year for most part, he throws to every receiver like they're Alan Robinson or Allen Hurns. Not every receiver (Greene/Lee) is capable of incredible highlight reel catches.

I'll give him the benefit of the doubt on the first drive because his first pass attempt was on 2-16 but the second drive was awful. The D had just stopped the Chargers and forced a punt, Bortles has the ball on a 3rd and 4 and he slings and interception to put the Chargers in scoring range. He could have thrown the ball away and had Nortman pin the Chargers back. He said before the season that he needs to stop throwing interceptions but this isn't happening, he's thrown 3 already.

 

Let's look at some of the offensive plays that "changed" the game in that terrible first half.

 

Stop throwing screens so much. It's not working. It's like because they failed last week on that screen they've decided to keep trying it until it works. Let's look at the first drive: 2nd and 16 on the Chargers 10 yard line, Yeldon runs to the outside and the corner moves with him.



Julius Thomas is meant to come over and block for Yeldon. WHY IS JULIUS THOMAS THE BLOCKER?! We signed Thomas knowing he's not a blocker and we have Lewis as the "blocking TE". It's no surprise that the highlighted Chargers player hits Yeldon for a 1 yard loss before Thomas can get near him. I don't understand why Thomas was in on that play. If you're going to throw a screen at least put the correct blocker in to block.

 

Now let's look at the interception. We're 3rd and 4 on our own 19 yard line after the defense made a stop. It's a one score game and we're in the first quarter so the most important thing is to not do something stupid. Blake then does something stupid.



 

Bortles actually look towards to his right after the ball is snapped and nobody is open, he then steps up and turns to his left and nobody is open, instead of looking back to his right (Hurns had gotten himself open at this point as highlighted) Bortles throws it behind Lee and it's intercepted. You don't throw it behind a guy when the defender is behind him. Terrible decision making on the play for Blake. Heck he could have used his legs to get close to the first down.

Next drive we're 3rd and 4 again but this time on the San Diego 35. We're in FG range but we decided to pass it behind the line of scrimmage. This is the scene when Yeldon gets the ball:



So Yeldon receives the ball TEN yards behind the 1st down marker and he has FOUR guys unblocked. Can Blake read the defense? Why are we throwing it 6 yards backwards on a 3rd down attempt? I know you want the get the ball in your playmakers hands but expecting Yeldon to beat a lineman, 2 linebackers and a corner by himself is ridiculous.

 

Next drive we're 3rd and 13. Bortles steps back, instead of looking downfield he's looking at the line and pointing out an unblocked blitzer for Yeldon:



Why is Blake doing Yeldon's job for him? Of course it ends up with Blake paying too much attention to the blitzer and getting hit from the other side, fumbling and causing his second turnover of the game. I'm not really sure who you pin this on. Yeldon for not being able to pick the guy up himself? Bortles for not throwing it away? Bad coaching? Bad play call?

 

Next drive we've just had a nice 22 yard play from Bortles to Thomas. We're up to the San Diego 42. This drive is HUGE because we're down 21 but we get the ball back right after the half and we've got 3 minutes left in the half at this point. A 3 minute drive to score and you're coming out in the second half with the chance to make it a one score game. These are the moments Bortles should have gotten better at by now. Instead of taking our time we run some kind of four verts play, Bortles throws an int and the game is over before half time. This one play was the worst play of the game in my opinion. Terrible play call, terrible throw into triple coverage. That's the kind of play that's only acceptable if time is expiring and you're down by 7. We had some momentum of a decent drive before this play and could have found a way back into the game but this single play killed the entire game before the half.

 

The D makes another stop after Bortles third turnover of the half. We start on the 8 yard line and have a nice start to the drive with gains of 8, 24 and 22 but time is running out thanks to terrible clock management. We're at the San Diego 38 with 1 timeout left and 16 seconds on the clock. Bortles then takes a sack to push us back to the 44 and out field goal range. Why not throw it away? It constantly feels in this half like he has to go for the home run, if he can't do that he either throws an int or takes a sack.

Now we're 2nd and 16 on the San Diego 44 with 9 seconds left and no timeouts. THIS is the time to take a shot down the field. Old gun slinger Bortles. If you're going to chuck it up into triple coverage and hope that ARob comes down with it you might as well do it now.

We line three guys up outside ready for the long one. San Diego is in prevent, they know what's coming...



 

Nah, let's fool the Chargers and throw a screen pass 22 yards behind the 1st down marker with time expiring. That'll show them Chargers for playing prevent.

I can't bring myself to rewatch the second half but this half sums the offense up nicely. The D wasn't all that bad considering we turned the ball over for fun constantly giving the Chargers good field position. The offense stank, Bortles looked awful, Yeldon barely had a chance, we didn't bother throwing it Robinson, we used to the wrong players and plays in key situations and left points on the board.

 

(Split this up to three posts because the 2 image per post limit.)

Well. Good job. Appreciate the effort.

Great analysis. Thanks BritishJag.

Nicely done.

 

BritishJag for HC.

 

With analysis like above, there's no way his team would look as bad as what we are currently seeing out there on the field on game day.

Quote:Nicely done.

 

BritishJag for HC.

 

With analysis like above, there's no way his team would look as bad as what we are currently seeing out there on the field on game day.

Hey man if they want to pay for me to move to Florida I'm down.

On Blake's second INT we had a receiver open behind those 3 defenders (not sure who it was) in the corner of the endzone. Had he thrown it to the back corner it would have been a td. I'm thinking it was a really bad throw going for that spot. Maybe he flat out didn't see him, but I want to believe it just got away from him.

Quote:Hey man if they want to pay for me to move to Florida I'm down.

 


The only way anyone would get me to move back to FL is if I made a salary similar to a HC. That state is the worst. Jax is cool, but FL in general sucks.

Quote:The only way anyone would get me to move back to FL is if I made a salary similar to a HC. That state is the worst. Jax is cool, but FL in general sucks.

You've clearly never been to the north of England!

Good stuff BritishJag!


Excellent posts/pics/common sense analysis.


Bortles really sucked yesterday. Consistently turning the ball over and giving opponents short fields to work with will continue to lead to losses.


I don't understand why some fans want to pin it all on the defense? Yes, the defense has issues, no doubt. But, what in the heck do people expect when Bortles continues to turn it over deep in his own territory?


Then, he takes a critical sack at the end of the first half when they were just about in FG range. That is the #1 No-No for a QB in that sitaution. He had plenty of time,, and still took a sack. Awful.

Quote:Now we're 2nd and 16 on the San Diego 44 with 9 seconds left and no timeouts. THIS is the time to take a shot down the field. Old gun slinger Bortles. If you're going to chuck it up into triple coverage and hope that ARob comes down with it you might as well do it now.

We line three guys up outside ready for the long one. San Diego is in prevent, they know what's coming...



 

Nah, let's fool the Chargers and throw a screen pass 22 yards behind the 1st down marker with time expiring. That'll show them Chargers for playing prevent.

I can't bring myself to rewatch the second half but this half sums the offense up nicely. The D wasn't all that bad considering we turned the ball over for fun constantly giving the Chargers good field position. The offense stank, Bortles looked awful, Yeldon barely had a chance, we didn't bother throwing it Robinson, we used to the wrong players and plays in key situations and left points on the board.

 

(Split this up to three posts because the 2 image per post limit.)

 

Thanks for the analysis. This last play call to end the half was a real head scratcher. I by no means have a gifted football mind, but I am assuming the thought was to get Yeldon enough yards and out of bounds in field goal range. If that's the case, I would say that's not a bad idea, except for the fact our screen play has only worked once this season. Your write-up is clearly showing how our coaches are putting players in situations where they can't possibly succeed.

I was at the game. Trust me...there were no positives.

RE: the screens

 

It's not just how often they are run.  They are executed horribly. They are telegraphed by Bortles and almost always poorly timed throws.  Even if the blockers do get in position, the whole defense has diagnosed the play when the ball leaves Bortles hands.  It was a clown show yesterday.

 

Certain screens are meant to draw pressure with a delayed dump off, but some of these sideline passes are not meant to be so delayed, yet Bortles holds the ball too long on them.  It was really hard to watch.

 

The other type, he makes such an inaccurate throw - it's uncatchable or the TE/RB has to re-direct to catch and run with it. Losing crucial time and steps and allowing the defense to close on the ball. 

Can you guys break down the shallow cross plays? I'd like to see what our defense scheme was against those plays.

Quote:Can you guys break down the shallow cross plays? I'd like to see what our defense scheme was against those plays.

 

I think they call that particular defensive set "utter confusion."  

 

Seriously, anytime they put a "bunch set" of receivers out there the Bradley/Wash zone concepts were exposed as a total failure. 

The bolts exploited the heck out of a big weakness and inability by the defenders to adjust or adapt. 

They literally looked like a three stooges routine before the snap on some of those. 

Quote:I was at the game. Trust me...there were no positives.

I would have asked for my money back.

Screens are meant to counter the blitz, but teams don't need to blitz when Joeckel is on rollerskates

Quote:Can you guys break down the shallow cross plays? I'd like to see what our defense scheme was against those plays.

One reason the crossing route is so effective is that the outside corners are told to play "man" but when their receiver crosses the hash mark to the middle of the field they release him into the next "zone" where he should be picked up by a LB, safety or nickel back. 

 

Commonly, that receiver crosses the hash, no one picks him up because they are keyed on another potential threat and somebody like Posluszny realizes 2 seconds too late that he is stuck chasing down a 190 lb WR that runs a 4.4 forty. 

 

I'll make a gif.

I don't even know why I watched the entire game. Perhaps I was hoping for some semblance of a professional team, that never happened