At last, football is here.  No longer do we have to imagine what if.  No longer do we have to speculate only.  Now, we can actually discuss what happened on the field.  Here are my thoughts...

1.  Everyone was going to talk about Bortles.  People will look at his stats (3-5 16 yds, no TDs and no INTs) and say it wasn't impressive.  However, he had one drop of an accurate pass that would have been a first down.  Given the way the game was going, I think his underneath throws were appropriate.  Now the reactionaries among us will see Chad Henne's performance and insist he get consideration at starter.  I think the difference between the two, aside from the first team vs second team distinction, is one under pressure to eliminate turnovers to one allowed to play.  Henne played well and attacked downfield.

2.  One of the main things I was looking for is signs of life from the running game.  By the end of the game, I could not be happier.  Over 200 yards rushing!  Fantastic!  The very first play was a 16 yard run by Ivory.  Fournette ran tough inside and scored a TD.  Grant ran wild, and cook got good yardage inside.  The only runs that didn't work were wide runs.  Ran for good YPC?  Check.  Sustained drives?  Check.  Convert short yardage?  Check.  Run the clock down?  Check.  Breakaway runs?  Check.  I actually saw something I hadn't seen in a long time from this team:  push in the running game from the O-Line.  I am very pleased.

3.  Another thing I was looking for was pass rush from the D-Line, with a focus on the DEs Ngakoue and Fowler.  Ngakoue has the look of a very good pass rusher.  He got a sack and several pressures.  On his sack, the T tried to cut him.  Ngakoue kept his balance and footing and closed quickly to get the sack.  The only thing he could have done better on the play is protect his knees.  I did not see Fowler do too much in terms of harassing the QB, but I think he was held on Garoppolo's 1st TD pass.  He also hustled in chasing plays outside.  However, if I had to name an unofficial star of the D-Line it was Sheldon Day.  He didn't have any TFL, but man was he disruptive.  If the G gave him any space at all, he was in the backfield.  He may not ever be a starter for us, but he will be a heckuva role player if he keeps that up.

4.  The third of the main things I was watching was for competent special teams play.  I give them a solid B.  Generally, the special teams was good.  They had good blocking on Greene's 41 yard punt return early in the game.  They covered punts and kicks well and did not allow any excessively long returns.  They did not have any botched blocking assignments that led to any blocked punts.  The only problems were the bobble of the opening kick return, and Jason Meyers missing two FGs.  I know it's early, but I feel much more comfortable about this unit than I have felt in a while.

5.  Rookie Watch:

     A.  Leonard Fournette-as I indicated above, he had a good night with 9 carries and a TD.  He got tough yards inside and should be much better on short yardage than the other backs we had last year.  However, we didn't get to see his receiving ability tonight.  But I'm fine with that, and happy with what I saw from him.

     B.  Cam Robinson-Did not stand out for anything negative.  I did not see any noticeably missed blocks from him.  I didn't see him get beat in pass protection, and lots of the runs were to his side.  I feel more comfortable with him at LT now than I did after the first padded practice.

     C.  Dawaune Smoot-Did not stand out with loads of pressure on the QB, but had a couple of hustle tackles where he chased down runners downfield.  That hustle impressed me.

     D.  DeDe Westbrook-Showed explosiveness in torching Cyrus Jones for a TD.  Also had a nice punt return. 

     E.  Blair Brown-My first real look at him.  Had the personal foul early, but was active overall.

     F.  Marquez Williams-Did not play much and did not seem to stand out.

     G.  Jalen Myrick-Saw him play but he did not stand out.

     H.  Keelan Cole-Went from minicamp/training camp star to legitimate chance to make the roster with a huge game.  Showed explosive speed on both of his receptions, one of which was a 97 yard TD pass. 

      I.  Tim Cook-a big power back who may not make it due to numbers, but showed nice power and ability to move the pile in the 4th quarter, where he got a couple of first downs and helped milk the clock.

6.  Myles Jack was another player I was anxious to see.  While he was active and in on many tackles, there were times he showed weaknesses in his game.  He missed some tackles took at least one bad angle, and appeared to take a false step into a blocker , allowing a cutback into gaps for which he may have been responsible.  Has room for improvement.

7.  One thing that dismayed me about this performance is the persistent inability to cover a TE.

8.  However, the emphasis on discipline seems to be working thus far.  There were very few penalties, especially for the first preseason game.

9.  Bottom line:  There are lots of caveats involved with this game.  First preseason game, starters did not play much, etc.  However, if you are a Jaguars fan, there is lots to be happy about.  There were no offensive turnovers and very few penalties.  The team was able to run the ball effectively in many situations.  There were big plays in the passing game by many players.  The defensive line showed signs of being disruptive.  While far from conclusive, this provides a small glimmer of hope that perhaps things might be a little different.

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Worst to 1st.  Curse Reversed!

Quality post, Bullseye.

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E. Brian Blair Brown-My first real look at him. Had the personal foul early, but was active overall.

FTFY

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"Before you criticize a man, walk a mile in his shoes. That way, if he gets angry, he's a mile away and barefoot."

Since when was the comedian Seth Meyers the K? Just giving you a hard time, excellent post. People are giving Myles are hard time, but I think its a product of todays NFL. They have minimum padded practices, and for a guy who has had no reps in his career at MLB and very few college reps the guy simply needs more reps! I expect him to play much more going forward, he just needs time to get a natural feel for the position and get some bone crushing tackles in. Also, thought the receivers looked great. Greene may of had a very long reception on the one he drew a PI and had a long return, Cole burned the DB in his matchup and came up strong in special teams, and Dede burned his guy and also played well on special. Going to be realllll interesting what happens there. Could see a trade.

Tonight I expected a heavy dose of running to get that O line chem brewing, and thats exactly what they did. Marrone believes in consistency and reps so I expect more of the same. He wants teams to know coming out of preseason you better load that box on LF27, which hopefully helps Blake out.

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  E.  Brian Blair Brown-My first real look at him.  Had the personal foul early, but was active overall.

FTFY

D'oh!

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Worst to 1st.  Curse Reversed!

To add bullseye (not hijack) I think Nathaniel Hackett called a really good game. It's obvious our identity willl be to ground and pound and I'm ok with that but looking at the numbers he called a well balanced game and took the necessary deep shots. Something that was lacking under Olson.

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"Before you criticize a man, walk a mile in his shoes. That way, if he gets angry, he's a mile away and barefoot."

Since when was the comedian Seth Meyers the K? .

D'oh!  Combined Seth Marler with Jason Myers.

Just giving you a hard time, excellent post. People are giving Myles are hard time, but I think its a product of todays NFL. They have minimum padded practices, and for a guy who has had no reps in his career at MLB and very few college reps the guy simply needs more reps! I expect him to play much more going forward, he just needs time to get a natural feel for the position and get some bone crushing tackles in. Also, thought the receivers looked great. Greene may of had a very long reception on the one he drew a PI and had a long return, Cole burned the DB in his matchup and came up strong in special teams, and Dede burned his guy and also played well on special. Going to be realllll interesting what happens there. Could see a trade

Tonight I expected a heavy dose of running to get that O line chem brewing, and thats exactly what they did. Marrone believes in consistency and reps so I expect more of the same. He wants teams to know coming out of preseason you better load that box on LF27, which hopefully helps Blake out.

Re: the receivers, any one of Greene, Benn, Westbrook and Cole could have easily started on our 2011 WR group.

These guys are battling for, at best, 4th WR this year.

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Worst to 1st.  Curse Reversed!

At last, football is here.  No longer do we have to imagine what if.  No longer do we have to speculate only.  Now, we can actually discuss what happened on the field.  Here are my thoughts...

1.  Everyone was going to talk about Bortles.  People will look at his stats (3-5 16 yds, no TDs and no INTs) and say it wasn't impressive.  However, he had one drop of an accurate pass that would have been a first down.  Given the way the game was going, I think his underneath throws were appropriate.  Now the reactionaries among us will see Chad Henne's performance and insist he get consideration at starter.  I think the difference between the two, aside from the first team vs second team distinction, is one under pressure to eliminate turnovers to one allowed to play.  Henne played well and attacked downfield.

There's no chance Henne would attempt those passes in the regular season.

Meanwhile, Allen's deep TD pass was as beautiful as they get.

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'02

Ryan O'Halloran @ryanohalloran

During timeout, ol' Calais Campbell entered offensive huddle (on sideline) for a little motivational talk. Third-and-goal from 1 coming up

8:40 PM · Aug 10, 2017

^^^
Talk about leadership

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"Before you criticize a man, walk a mile in his shoes. That way, if he gets angry, he's a mile away and barefoot."

Re: the receivers, any one of Greene, Benn, Westbrook and Cole could have easily started on our 2011 WR group.

These guys are battling for, at best, 4th WR this year.

As it stands right now, I see six WRs making it...

1. ARob
   
2. Lee
   
3. Benn
   
4. Hurns
   
5. Westbrook
   
6. Coles
   

With two more on the PS... Etta-Tawo and Pinkard


I don't see Greene making the roster unless a spot opens up due to injury, but even if that were occur, it would be a tough call between Greene and Wynn.

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'02

Re: the receivers, any one of Greene, Benn, Westbrook and Cole could have easily started on our 2011 WR group.

These guys are battling for, at best, 4th WR this year.

As it stands right now, I see six WRs making it...

1. ARob
   
2. Lee
   
3. Benn
   
4. Hurns
   
5. Westbrook
   
6. Coles
   

With two more on the PS... Etta-Tawo and Pinkard


I don't see Greene making the roster unless a spot opens up due to injury, but even if that were occur, it would be a tough call between Greene and Wynn.

I hope those WRs aren't how you have them listed on your depth chart..

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"Before you criticize a man, walk a mile in his shoes. That way, if he gets angry, he's a mile away and barefoot."

If I see in the third preseason game what I saw tonight I will be pretty happy. As of now, it's about what I expected. There are things to be optimistic about and quality potential young talent. These games also have the tendency to be deceptive have no significance at all on the season.

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No pain, no gain.

Ngakoue/Day will go a long way toward forgiving DFJ/Yeldon from that class. The Arob/Lee/Linder/Telvin class is already almost problematically good, and all of our picks from round 1-5 this year flashed tonight. I dig it.

Edit: My recollection was off, Yannick and Sheldon were the year after DFJ/Yeldon, guess that's what football season drinking does. Stupid mistake on my part but I'll own up to it. But stoked on our selections 3 out of the last 4 years. Arob, Lee, Linder, Telvin, Ngakoue, Day, Ramsey, Jack, Fournette, Cam, Westbrook, Smoot, Brown...are we almost (God forbid I fall into this trap again) legit?

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1) Cam Robinson had some real nice blocks in the run game. He made the hole for Ivory's run on the first play. In the pass game he was decent too. Lost the leverage battle a few times but recovered well.

2) Patrick Omameh looked very solid too. I feel good with him going forward.

3) Special teams looked great. Huge emphasis placed on it in the offseason. The field position and momentum good special teams play can add in a close game is very valuable.

4) Abry Jones and Sheldon Day looked lively against the backups. Day coming on as a rotational DT is looking like a pretty nice luxury to have.

5) Only 5 penalties. Doug had a huge problem with penalties in Buffalo and they were a consistent theme of Bradley's era here.

6) Keelan Cole is too talented to let go.

7) It's way early but I think the playstyle of our offense is pretty obvious. We're going to run the stones out of the ball , set up the big playaction shots to Arob , Lee , Westbrook etc etc and the rest will be dink and dunk with some screens thrown in.

8) Corey Grant, wheeww. Still only a bit part player because he can't block but he can do some damage on gimmick plays and screens.

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1) Cam Robinson had some real nice blocks in the run game. He made the hole for Ivory's run on the first play. In the pass game he was decent too. Lost the leverage battle a few times but recovered well.  

2) Patrick Omameh looked very solid too. I feel good with him going forward.  

3) Special teams looked great. Huge emphasis placed on it in the offseason. The field position and momentum good special teams play can add in a close game is very valuable.

4) Abry Jones and Sheldon Day looked lively against the backups. Day coming on as a rotational DT is looking like a pretty nice luxury to have.  

5) Only 5 penalties. Doug had a huge problem with penalties in Buffalo and they were a consistent theme of Bradley's era here.  

6) Keelan Cole is too talented to let go.

7) It's way early but I think the playstyle of our offense is pretty obvious. We're going to run the stones out of the ball , set up the big playaction shots to Arob , Lee , Westbrook etc etc and the rest will be dink and dunk with some screens thrown in.

8) Corey Grant, wheeww. Still only a bit part player because he can't block but he can do some damage on gimmick plays and screens.

Agree
Agree
Agree

Grant in the screen game alone could be deadly. Building on from the last 2 games of last season he's definitely solidified his roster spot tonight.

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"Before you criticize a man, walk a mile in his shoes. That way, if he gets angry, he's a mile away and barefoot."

7) It's way early but I think the playstyle of our offense is pretty obvious. We're going to run the stones out of the ball , set up the big playaction shots to Arob , Lee , Westbrook etc etc and the rest will be dink and dunk with some screens thrown in.

It's not too early. If he could Marrone would run the ball on every play. I do think when they pass they won't be dink and dunk, I think they will be going for some big gains. Short out routes just don't work for Bortles and hopefully teams will be loading that box on LF27 to allow the play calling to be creative. Time will tell though. Just for the love of god I hope not to see too many patented "Greg Olsen" bubble screens.

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7) It's way early but I think the playstyle of our offense is pretty obvious. We're going to run the stones out of the ball , set up the big playaction shots to Arob , Lee , Westbrook etc etc and the rest will be dink and dunk with some screens thrown in.

It's not too early. If he could Marrone would run the ball on every play. I do think when they pass they won't be dink and dunk, I think they will be going for some big gains. Short out routes just don't work for Bortles and hopefully teams will be loading that box on LF27 to allow the play calling to be creative. Time will tell though. Just for the love of god I hope not to see too many patented "Greg Olsen" bubble screens.

Way early as in its preseason so everything is going to be vanilla as can be. The running game is mostly a numbers problem so we still need to have enough of a threat passing wise to keep them from stacking 8 in the box every play. Run on 2 high, pass with 8 in the box should be the goal so you might be right.

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Love it Bullseye! I appreciate your reads more so over Johns write-ups.

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1) Cam Robinson had some real nice blocks in the run game. He made the hole for Ivory's run on the first play. In the pass game he was decent too. Lost the leverage battle a few times but recovered well.  

2) Patrick Omameh looked very solid too. I feel good with him going forward.  

3) Special teams looked great. Huge emphasis placed on it in the offseason. The field position and momentum good special teams play can add in a close game is very valuable.

4) Abry Jones and Sheldon Day looked lively against the backups. Day coming on as a rotational DT is looking like a pretty nice luxury to have.  

5) Only 5 penalties. Doug had a huge problem with penalties in Buffalo and they were a consistent theme of Bradley's era here.  

6) Keelan Cole is too talented to let go.

7) It's way early but I think the playstyle of our offense is pretty obvious. We're going to run the stones out of the ball , set up the big playaction shots to Arob , Lee , Westbrook etc etc and the rest will be dink and dunk with some screens thrown in.

8) Corey Grant, wheeww. Still only a bit part player because he can't block but he can do some damage on gimmick plays and screens.

Agree
Agree
Agree

Grant in the screen game alone could be deadly. Building on from the last 2 games of last season he's definitely solidified his roster spot tonight.

The line as a whole didn't look perfect but individually Omameh, Cann, Linder and Cam looked mostly solid, albeit against backups.  

Do you think we'll keep 7 receivers? Arob/Lee/Hurns/Westbrook/Greene/Benn/Cole

At worst you should give Grant the for 5-8 snaps a game just to see what happens.

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Oh I'd also like to add that FB might've been a huge missing piece in our run game this year. The 4th down Fournette run and the long Grant run were also met with equally great FB blocks

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