Jacksonville Jaguars Fan Forums

Quote:When you've got Andre Branch and Chris Clemons as your pass rush guys, you're in trouble. 

 

There were plays yesterday where all you'd see was Branch trailing plays by a good 5 yards.  Clemons would manage to get close enough to be in the camera shot on some plays.  Neither guy was a factor.  They're basically on the roster to help the Jags burn some of that cap space they have to unload.  They're pathetic.  

 

While coaching certainly deserves some of the blame here, it's still up to the players to make plays.  Defenders were taking horrific angles, not wrapping up tackles, and getting caught completely out of position way too much yesterday.  We got almost no QB pressure when it mattered.  I'm convinced a team could have 3rd and 99 and they'd be able to convert.  3rd and long is usually a time when defenses pin their ears back and go after the QB.  Not our guys.  They fall asleep after rolling out the red carpet.

 

The defense is a concern, but some of the issues should be resolved with injured players like Fowler and Marks returning next year.  Still, the team needs more talent on that line because our depth is not good enough right now.

 

Sure the team needs more talent. Every team needs more talent. The Jags are (now) 30th in opposing points, playing against most backup QBs and rookies, and patchwork OLs. Do you really think there are 29 teams with better defensive personnel?


 

Face it, the coaching sucks. Babich has never been any good, why is he still the DC? Bradley chose to hire him in spite of his pathetic record, and chose to keep after each poor showing by the defense.
 I'd hope that Bradley could get a top ten result if he had the '85 Bears in their prime, but I'm not sure he would. After all, they don't fit the Seattle scheme.

The real problem is John Oesher.

Quote:I just wanted to say Spider 2 Y Banana

Quote:It seems some people here don't want to put any blame on Gus.


Some want to blame him for everything.


If it's just the players, then what job does a coach actually have? Oh that's right, game plan and put his players in the best place to succeed. Olsen basically takes care of the offense and look at that, killing it.


Gus and Babich take care of the defense and look at that, getting killed.


Some on here really want to give Gus another year? Based on what? He literally has done nothing as a coach. 11 wins... What an absolute joke. 11 wins in 3 years is the absolute best record we could have with the talent on this team. No way that's true.


Gus seems like a good guy and the players are playing hard but let's be honest, it's not just about playing hard. You have to actually get the most out of your guys and I don't think he's doing that.

It's hard to argue against what you are saying.  11 wins in 3 seasons is enough to get most coaches fired.  While to me there are arguments for keeping Bradley around, my main concern about keeping him is that this is a year where there appear to be lots of good coaching candidates available, and I don't want the best coach to go elsewhere if Bradley is NOT the long term guy.

 

My argument is about the defense.

 

The defense is getting killed. 

 

But is it possible that, unlike the offense, they don't have the players necessary to successfully implement Bradley's schemes?  The influx of talent on the offensive side of the ball in 2014 was impressive:  Bortles, Lee, Robinson, Linder, Hurns.  It was bolstered this offseason with Yeldon, Cann, and Julius Thomas in free agency.

 

But the defense has not had a similar influx of talent.  Yes, there have been free agency expenditures, but no elite catalysts.  Most, if not all of the guys on that side of the ball have been second tier players at best.

It's amazing how much Marks impacted this defense.

 

We stunk while he was on PUP, were good when he came back, and now stink again when he goes to IR.

Quote:2) Not to try to answer a question with another question but.. How can this defense allow only 13 points to the tacks just two weeks ago and give up 42 to them yesterday?!? I'd like to say he realized his scheme was blown after the first TD given up or when tack receivers started to chew up yards by the arseload.. But I don't think he's smart enough to figure that out..


3) I'd say he was pretty comfy with the scheme going into the game knowing that the defense held that god awful tack team to 13 previously.. His whole problem is he doesn't make adjustments.. Or he does, and he's making the wrong adjustments.. Either way, it's totally unacceptable in this league and this is the problem we've been having all season..

If you recall, we faced the tacks the first time on a short week, and they had to travel to us.  That means less time to prepare.

 

Considering this was a normal week, maybe it does speak to comparative coaching abilities.

 

On the other hand, the tacks have some excellent defensive coaches in Ray Horton and Lebeau.  Their defense gave up 19 when we played them (and 10 of them were point blank range after Greene's punt return and the fumble), and they allowed 6 TDs as well.

 

I guess the point is that sometimes games go in different directions.

Quote:Sure the team needs more talent. Every team needs more talent. The Jags are (now) 30th in opposing points, playing against most backup QBs and rookies, and patchwork OLs. Do you really think there are 29 teams with better defensive personnel?


 

Face it, the coaching sucks. Babich has never been any good, why is he still the DC? Bradley chose to hire him in spite of his pathetic record, and chose to keep after each poor showing by the defense.
 I'd hope that Bradley could get a top ten result if he had the '85 Bears in their prime, but I'm not sure he would. After all, they don't fit the Seattle scheme.

 

 

At key spots...maybe...especially DE/edge rusher

 

Look at the Chargers last three weeks.

 

vs. Kansas City they lost 33-3.  Kansas City has at least one good pass rusher, maybe two in Tamba Hali and Justin Houston.

vs Jacksonville, the Bolts won 31-25.  Jaguars have no viable pass rushers and could not exploit the Bolts' injuries along the OL.

vs. Denver, they lost 17-3.  Denver has a strong pass rush and a good secondary.

 

You are right on Babich.  But there is only so much a defensive coach can do without the talent.

Quote:At key spots...maybe...especially DE/edge rusher

 

Look at the Chargers last three weeks.

 

vs. Kansas City they lost 33-3.  Kansas City has at least one good pass rusher, maybe two in Tamba Hali and Justin Houston.

vs Jacksonville, the Bolts won 31-25.  Jaguars have no viable pass rushers and could not exploit the Bolts' injuries along the OL.

vs. Denver, they lost 17-3.  Denver has a strong pass rush and a good secondary.

 

You are right on Babich.  But there is only so much a defensive coach can do without the talent.

I think Babich is a problem, but as I've said many times echoing what Gus said...there's only so much scheme we can do. If players aren't able to win their respective match-ups, it doesn't matter.

Quote:I think Babich is a problem, but as I've said many times echoing what Gus said...there's only so much scheme we can do. If players aren't able to win their respective match-ups, it doesn't matter.

Please give us Muhammad Wilkerson to replace Odrick, and a return to health for Fowler and Marks, and the D-Line is fixed-save another pass rusher added in the draft.

 

Then, add a LB in FA (maybe Irvin) and another in the draft.

 

the front seven would be certainly upgraded, if not completely fixed.

Quote:There you have it Jags fans.  Bradley has finally cracked, and now he does not know what to do.  If I were Khan, I could not have my coach not know what to do about his team.  He should be removed immediately because if Gus feels this way, so do the players.  It will turn into a cancer.  I thought it was bad, but that quote makes it quite obvious we need a new coach next year.

 

 

He's not saying he doesn't know what to do. He was talking specifically about getting to Mariota with the pass rush and was simply saying they pulled out all their tricks to try and get to him. In the end they sacked him four times, although at one point their attempts backfired when a kitchen sink blitz led to a monster TD run by the Mariota. Some of your guys are taking these words out of context and totally misconstruing what we meant by the comment.

Quote:At key spots...maybe...especially DE/edge rusher

 

Look at the Chargers last three weeks.

 

vs. Kansas City they lost 33-3.  Kansas City has at least one good pass rusher, maybe two in Tamba Hali and Justin Houston.

vs Jacksonville, the Bolts won 31-25.  Jaguars have no viable pass rushers and could not exploit the Bolts' injuries along the OL.

vs. Denver, they lost 17-3.  Denver has a strong pass rush and a good secondary.

 

You are right on Babich.  But there is only so much a defensive coach can do without the talent.

 

 

On Babich, it's just I'm not seeing an ability to adjust. Young qbs look like great qbs against us, and great qbs look like elite qbs doing whatever they want. Their tackling fundamentls are poor... their coverage overall is lacking.... their pass rush is non-existent... their red-zone and short yardage packages can't stop anyone... and every week there's one player on the opposing offense just having a field day. In this game it was DGB, last week Gates, Delanie Walker before that...and it keeps happening... Decker... Hopkins... Doug Martin... etc.

I'll go back and read this entire thread, but I just gotta put in my 2 cents...

 

The talent level is lacking on the D.  Each corp, the D Line, the LB's and the Secondary has weakness in it.

 

The weakest corp is the Line, with really no true play maker.  Our LB's have strenghts and weaknesses.  Smith is a beast.  Poz is great against the run.  But the LBs overall cannot play cover zone to save thier lives...  As for the Secondary, House is good. Colvin is also pretty good.  But our Safeties kills us.  

 

I just re-watched a 3rd down play from the 1st tack TD drive.  If anyone still has the game on DVR, go to 5:40 of the 1st Quarter.  It's 3rd and 5.  Cyp is at the LOS, #12 comes in motion, and all of a sudden the entire play get's confused.  Cyp moves back into a center field safety position and is telling Colvin to go cover the spot he just vacated.  Colvin is lost in coverage as the ball is snapped and Poz is left in no-mans land trying to cover his location in the soft zone.  It's an easy pitch and catch for Mariotta for the first down.

 

Cyp vacated the spot that would have blown up the play.  The entire D looked confused once #12 for the tacks went into motion.  It's like the D still hasn't figured out this scheme.  Yes, there are talent issues.  But after 3 years, and we still see confusion on certain plays, it just makes you wonder what the heck they do in practice...

 

Oh, and the first TD pass by Mariotta....  Ugh...  The zone D just isn't working.

Quote:The ultimate irony was the Mariota run. Gus is so hesitant to blitz as it is with this defense, but he eventually gave in and said, ok, let's send the hounds on an all-out blitz...it's kitchen sink time. He does, but MM realized he had space in front to run and takes off... and just keeps going. It was so surreal to watch. You just know Gus was saying, "and that folks is why I'm so cautious about blitzing." You can just picture him slapping his forehead.

No let just sit back and let a rookie QB pick us apart with that nice zone defense.

Here's the other thing...  Why put Poz in Zone coverage on blitz plays?  

 

11:02 of the 2nd Quarter.  It's 3rd and 7.  Jags Blitz, leave Poz as the only covering LB...  Why not use Smith as the coverage guy and let Poz blitz?  That way, you have your most athletic LB in coverage and you unleash POZ to disrupt the line and pressure the QB.  It's win/win.

 

But it seems like we never do that.  We put Poz in positions and situations where he's not good in coverage.  How can we be "doing everything we can" when we constantly put players in situations that they are suck at?

Quote:Here's the other thing... Why put Poz in Zone coverage on blitz plays?


11:02 of the 2nd Quarter. It's 3rd and 7. Jags Blitz, leave Poz as the only covering LB... Why not use Smith as the coverage guy and let Poz blitz? That way, you have your most athletic LB in coverage and you unleash POZ to disrupt the line and pressure the QB. It's win/win.


But it seems like we never do that. We put Poz in positions and situations where he's not good in coverage. How can we be "doing everything we can" when we constantly put players in situations that they are suck at?

You assume they can put players in a position to not suck. I dont think they can.

Prior to yesterday's game, we had one of the better run defenses in the league.  Clearly the lack of pressure is this team's Achilles heel as we seem to be able to get in 3rd and medium or long situations well enough, but just as often can't get off the field on 3rd down.  We had a short span of mental breakdowns that turned what should have been a stop into a long TD scramble and then followed that with a high snap which resulted in a defensive TD.  Despite the missed extra points and giving up a TD right before the half (which by themselves would likely have cost us the game against a good team), we were still very much in control of the game up until those breakdowns in the 4th quarter.  It's another very frustrating game that we should've and could've won, but ended up beating ourselves. (How many is that this year?)  We're not that far away.  If Fowler is who he is supposed to be and comes back 100% and if we are able to get a few more upgrades along the defensive line in the offseason, I think we will be very good next year and will win these games we keep letting go of.  Admittedly those are still big IF's though.

We dont have the talent

 

Our best 2 defensive players or out for the year, Colvin was hobbled 

 

We need another DT, two more pass rushing De's, another LB and a play making CB and a FS and maybe SS, but if we have the other things Cyp may look better

2nd Quarter:  5 seconds before half.  The ball is on the 1/2 yard line.

 

It's a goal line play.  Our defense looks lost...  There are literally 3 players touching shoulder pads 5 yards off the line of scrimmage.  LOL, once the ball is snapped, those 3 players are screwed and knock eachother out of the play.  It's a joke, you guys.

 

It's a total joke.  The tacks were lined up all at the LOS.  There was maybe 2 players that might have been able to flare out for a pass.  But to have 3 guys not knowing what to do and 2 of them knocking into eachother just proves how poorly coached this is.

 

Again, the talent isn't there in key positions.  But the play was ridiculous.  It's just lazy coaching.  I mean, if your players cannot recognize down, distance, time, and formation, what the heck are you doing during the week???

Most of the starting defense would be backup players on most teams.

Quote:We dont have the talent

 

Our best 2 defensive players or out for the year, Colvin was hobbled 

 

We need another DT, two more pass rushing De's, another LB and a play making CB and a FS and maybe SS, but if we have the other things Cyp may look better

Put Cyprien on a talented D like the Bengals, he would be a pro bowler and would be on ESPN highlights with his ferocious hits.