As time wears on, I am beginning to wonder again about the talent on offense and its impact on halftime adjustments and second half performances.  Not as a whole, but without one key piece-Julius Thomas.

 

If you notice in the games where the offense bogged down in the second half, the first half, the passing game moved the ball very effectively throwing the ball to the WRs.  But in the second half, the impact the receivers make subsides considerably. 

 

Bortles didn't forget how to read defenses or throw the ball in the second half of those games.  Robinson, Hurns and Lee did not forget how to run routes or catch passes, either.

 

It seems to me the defense made deliberate attempts to take the receivers out of the game.  I think that would have been more difficult to do if Thomas is commanding coverage over the middle.

 

Now you can make the argument that three receivers shouldn't be able to be removed from the game if the Jaguars' coaching staff were able to adjust properly.  But would that be accurate or fair?  I mean there have been plenty of times over the years the Jaguars have lined up in 3-4 WR sets and not gotten any receivers open prior to this year.  Having lots of receivers in a formation does not guarantee they are getting open.  But the guys we have on the roster now are proving they can at least beat single coverage at a reasonable clip.  I think the key is ensuring they get single coverage more often in the second half. (For the record I don't know that double coverage is what is causing the disappearance overall, though I suspect that rolling the coverage to Robinson's side explains the drop off in the second half of the Miami game.  It isn't a stretch to imagine similar adjustments are being made in other games)

 

To a lesser degree , I think the team's inability to run the ball particularly effectively has had an impact on the second half offensive production as well, but I think the lack of Thomas has been a bigger problem.  With a healthy Thomas separating from LBs underneath, he should eventually command safety help, which would take a man away from the other receivers.  I think as soon as he is available to play, the game plan should be to feed him the ball early and establish him as a threat and force the defense to adjust to his presence, which should open up stuff for the receivers outside.

 

To me, this is the one way to fairly evaluate Olsen's/Bradley's ability to make halftime adjustments this season-when he has all of the pieces available.

---