When Gus Bradley was fired, Jalen Ramsey and Tayshaun Gipson trashed the Jaguars defensive coaches for not putting them in position to make plays. 

http://www.espn.com/blog/afcsouth/post/_...eme-needed

There were some that felt the players were out of line for publicly airing their critiques of the scheme.

However, if the results are any indication of a shift in schematic approaches, then Ramsey and Gipson may have been right.

Last season, the Jaguars defense all of THIRTEEN (13) turnovers for the entire year.  For us non math majors, that's less than a turnover a game.

After five games this year, the Jaguars defense has produced FIFTEEN (15) turnovers, including FIVE (5) INTs just yesterday.

Now I readily admit I am not privy to any adjustments made or not made between the past 2-3 years.  Furthermore, I acknowledge experience and the addition of additional talent like Bouye, Church, and Campbell also plays a role.

But I maintain that even though the coaching remained largely the same, some scheme tweaks has contributed to increased turnover production.  For instance, the Jaguars announced they would use a more traditional 4-3 approach rather than the hybrid approach that required the "big" DE.  Gone were guys like Jared Odrick and Tyson Alualu who contributed little to the pass rush.  I think the change in scheme has helped Fowler become more a more productive pass rusher, even though he is a "part time player."  Right now he has four sacks in five games, after getting four sacks all of last year.  He has two forced fumbles to go along with that.  I think the switch to a more conventional 4-3 approach has enabled Ngakoue to remain productive, and has enabled Campbell and Fowler to become more productive pass rushers.

I think this has also reflected in INTs, as the Jaguars now lead the league with ten.  Jacksonville had seven INTs all of last year, nine in 2015, and six in 2014.  Undoubtedly some is a result of again, better personnel in the secondary.  Undoubtedly, some is a result of the increased pressure.  My guess is they have made tweaks to the pass coverages, in accordance with the critiques of Ramsey and Gipson, and that has contributed to the increase in INTs.

I think having a coaching staff that plays to the players' strengths and values the input of the players is important to a team's success.  It seems under Marrone, the defensive staff has implemented changes that is enabling the defense to be more productive and the team to be more successful overall.

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Worst to 1st.  Curse Reversed!

I love what Wash has done to make this defense more aggressive.
And I really love that they are more adaptable to individual opponents and have the ability to disguise zone coverages more effectively.

Obviously the run defense needs to get back on point and there's some trade-off taking place, but they are playing to the strengths of their defensive playmakers now.

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From what Marrone just stated in his last interview, the back end has a certain amount of freedom to roam or improvise. Right now that is working and there doesn't appear any reason to reel them in just yet.

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We still play predominantly Cover-3 but they've starting switching up who the deep safety is in certain occasions.

When teams are going run heavy they have the run side CB play FS and put Gipson switch to CB.

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Cyp is not there anymore. Huge difference too.

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Cyp is not there anymore. Huge difference too.

Huge, and Gip is playing like his 2014 season when he mad the probowl

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It may be premature to call Jalen Ramsey elite, depending on your definition of the word, but it will be extremely difficult to name 6 CBs in the AFC who are better than him when we can vote for Pro Bowlers.

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From what Marrone just stated in his last interview, the back end has a certain amount of freedom to roam or improvise. Right now that is working and there doesn't appear any reason to reel them in just yet.

Do you have a link to that?

Taking this at face value, it would seem the guys back there do their share of film study and have good instincts. 

In many cases, if a member of the defense freelances, disaster follows.

But it hasn't seemed to hurt this team too badly thus far-at least in pass coverage.

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Worst to 1st.  Curse Reversed!

From what Marrone just stated in his last interview, the back end has a certain amount of freedom to roam or improvise. Right now that is working and there doesn't appear any reason to reel them in just yet.

Do you have a link to that?

Taking this at face value, it would seem the guys back there do their share of film study and have good instincts. 

In many cases, if a member of the defense freelances, disaster follows.

But it hasn't seemed to hurt this team too badly thus far-at least in pass coverage.

Because we often put Ramsey against #1 and the other corner at #2 last season I kept thinking we usually play man defense and expected the same this year. Apparently Bouye has been covering the #1 guy more often than Amukamara did because he is a major upgrade at the position. I will gladly stand corrected if my logic is off base.

Colvin seems to be on the field a lot but rarely mentioned by the commentators. Am I missing something?

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One thing that I noticed yesterday, but didn't take any notes regarding it...  it seems that the Jaguars play a lot more man coverage than zone.  I did notice that when they went into a zone type of coverage, Pittsburgh was able to complete some passes.  When they are in man coverage, good defensive plays happened.

It's a pretty aggressive approach to play man coverage, and I think that's what happened more often than not.

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There are 10 kinds of people in this world.  Those who understand binary and those who don't.

One thing that I noticed yesterday, but didn't take any notes regarding it...  it seems that the Jaguars play a lot more man coverage than zone.  I did notice that when they went into a zone type of coverage, Pittsburgh was able to complete some passes.  When they are in man coverage, good defensive plays happened.

It's a pretty aggressive approach to play man coverage, and I think that's what happened more often than not.

When you've got 2 corners like Ramsey and Bouye, you can do almost anything you want on defense.

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One thing that I noticed yesterday, but didn't take any notes regarding it...  it seems that the Jaguars play a lot more man coverage than zone.  I did notice that when they went into a zone type of coverage, Pittsburgh was able to complete some passes.  When they are in man coverage, good defensive plays happened.

It's a pretty aggressive approach to play man coverage, and I think that's what happened more often than not.

One thing that I noticed yesterday, but didn't take any notes regarding it...  it seems that the Jaguars play a lot more man coverage than zone.  I did notice that when they went into a zone type of coverage, Pittsburgh was able to complete some passes.  When they are in man coverage, good defensive plays happened.

It's a pretty aggressive approach to play man coverage, and I think that's what happened more often than not.

When you've got 2 corners like Ramsey and Bouye, you can do almost anything you want on defense.

Ding ding ding. We have a winnah!

Having those CBs is part of the reason Denver was so effective on defense these past few seasons.

Going back further, the Raiders of the 80s with Hayes and Haynes were one of the best CB tandems in history, and enabled them to play fantastic defense.

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Worst to 1st.  Curse Reversed!

One thing that I noticed yesterday, but didn't take any notes regarding it...  it seems that the Jaguars play a lot more man coverage than zone.  I did notice that when they went into a zone type of coverage, Pittsburgh was able to complete some passes.  When they are in man coverage, good defensive plays happened.

It's a pretty aggressive approach to play man coverage, and I think that's what happened more often than not.

When you've got 2 corners like Ramsey and Bouye, you can do almost anything you want on defense.

Ding ding ding.  We have a winnah!

Having those CBs is part of the reason Denver was so effective on defense these past few seasons.

Going back further, the Raiders of the 80s with Hayes and Haynes were one of the best CB tandems in history, and enabled them to play fantastic defense.

To go along with that.  To play man coverage against a team like the Steelers is pretty bold.  That overall signals "belief" in the defense by the coaching staff rather than try to "cover up" any deficiencies.

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There are 10 kinds of people in this world.  Those who understand binary and those who don't.

Ding ding ding.  We have a winnah!

Having those CBs is part of the reason Denver was so effective on defense these past few seasons.

Going back further, the Raiders of the 80s with Hayes and Haynes were one of the best CB tandems in history, and enabled them to play fantastic defense.

To go along with that.  To play man coverage against a team like the Steelers is pretty bold.  That overall signals "belief" in the defense by the coaching staff rather than try to "cover up" any deficiencies.

Astute observation there.

That is a good WR corps-quite possibly the best in the league.

To play consistent man coverage against these guys would be suicide for most teams.

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Worst to 1st.  Curse Reversed!

One thing that I noticed yesterday, but didn't take any notes regarding it...  it seems that the Jaguars play a lot more man coverage than zone.  I did notice that when they went into a zone type of coverage, Pittsburgh was able to complete some passes.  When they are in man coverage, good defensive plays happened.

It's a pretty aggressive approach to play man coverage, and I think that's what happened more often than not.

Logically, man should be more effective than zone because the #1 CB is right there with the #1 WR. Ramsey did not have to run from five yards away where the QB can't see him. It was clear in the Packers/Cowboys game when Green Bay played zone, Dallas had no problem moving down the field.

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Colvin seems to be on the field a lot but rarely mentioned by the commentators. Am I missing something?

The announcers were commenting that Colvin seemed to be everywhere yesterday. He played an excellent game.

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It's not even just those guys. Our defense as a unit is more opportunistic. It was a relief seeing someone on our team deflect a pass at the line. Just like the Jets did the previous week their QB got rid of the ball very quickly. We're only 16th in overall defense. 5th against the pass and 31st against the run (LA Chargers). But most importantly we lead the league in sacks and takeaways. If the front 7 can be more active against the run we will be an elite defense. Our defense becomes more opportunistic when we have a solid lead and the opponent becomes one dimensional.

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No pain, no gain.

It's not even just those guys. Our defense as a unit is more opportunistic. It was a relief seeing someone on our team deflect a pass at the line. Just like the Jets did the previous week their QB got rid of the ball very quickly. We're only 16th in overall defense. 5th against the pass and 31st against the run (LA Chargers). But most importantly we lead the league in sacks and takeaways. If the front 7 can be more active against the run we will be an elite defense. Our defense becomes more opportunistic when we have a solid lead and the opponent becomes one dimensional.

Regarding the part in bold, playing with a lead period is what this team is about.  If the team falls out of the lead and is playing from behind by more than 1 score, that's when the "meltdown" and mistakes happen.

Although some of this could be the officiating crew, there was not nearly as much yellow thrown yesterday.

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There are 10 kinds of people in this world.  Those who understand binary and those who don't.

It's not even just those guys. Our defense as a unit is more opportunistic. It was a relief seeing someone on our team deflect a pass at the line. Just like the Jets did the previous week their QB got rid of the ball very quickly. We're only 16th in overall defense. 5th against the pass and 31st against the run (LA Chargers). But most importantly we lead the league in sacks and takeaways. If the front 7 can be more active against the run we will be an elite defense. Our defense becomes more opportunistic when we have a solid lead and the opponent becomes one dimensional.

Regarding the part in bold, playing with a lead period is what this team is about.  If the team falls out of the lead and is playing from behind by more than 1 score, that's when the "meltdown" and mistakes happen.

Although some of this could be the officiating crew, there was not nearly as much yellow thrown yesterday.

LOL Not triggering yellow laundry doing good for us because we came into the game ranked #4 in penalties, but if they go against the opponents, I want to see more of it.

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It's not even just those guys. Our defense as a unit is more opportunistic. It was a relief seeing someone on our team deflect a pass at the line. Just like the Jets did the previous week their QB got rid of the ball very quickly. We're only 16th in overall defense. 5th against the pass and 31st against the run (LA Chargers). But most importantly we lead the league in sacks and takeaways. If the front 7 can be more active against the run we will be an elite defense. Our defense becomes more opportunistic when we have a solid lead and the opponent becomes one dimensional.

We're tied for 2nd in fewest points given up per game. That's the most important stat.

We're 4th in points scored too, and some of those are defensive scores.

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