Jacksonville Jaguars vs. Kansas City Chiefs: Pro Football Focus Recap

You don’t need advanced metrics to breakdown just how poorly the Jacksonville Jaguars played in their opening game of the 2013 regular season, but we’re going to go ahead and look at how the Jaguars lost so decisively to the Kansas City Chiefs with the help of our friends at Pro Football Focus. Blaine Gabbert and the offense were horrific, failing to move the ball past the 50 yard line (sort of) let alone into scoring range. The defense wasn’t very good, but they had to deal with the Chiefs’ offense consistently getting great starting field position. No player stood out in a positive way, but the onus for this loss has to go on Gabbert and the offensive line.

Gabbert was running for his life on Sunday. Rob Foldy-USA TODAY Sports

Best Overall Offensive Grades:  Justin Forsett (+0.6), Clay Harbor (+0.5), Jordan Todman (+0.2)

The pickings were really slim on offense, as only one player managed to crack a score higher than 0.5. Justin Forsett built his grade mainly from his contribution in the passing game – 4 receptions on 5 targets with 43 yards after the catch. A disturbing side note is that Forsett only logged 22 yards receiving in the game because all 5 of his targets were behind the line of scrimmage. Jordan Todman has a similar story, getting 32 YAC despite only 20 yards receiving. Clay Harbor only got a positive grade because of his run blocking. The grades here truly reflected just how inept the Jaguar offense was – the best players were two running backs that got all their yards on check downs and a tight end for blocking.

Sep 8, 2013; Jacksonville, FL, USA; Jacksonville Jaguars wide receiver Cecil Shorts III (84) during the second half of the game against the Kansas City Chiefs at EverBank Field. Mandatory Credit: Melina Vastola-USA TODAY Sports

Best Overall Defensive Grades:  Mike Harris (+1.2), Alan Ball (+1.1), Josh Evans (0.0)

The Jaguar defense fared slightly better than the offense, but they only managed two players with a positive grade. Alan Ball got picked on early in the game but he still ended up with a good grade thanks to a pass defense and limiting yards after the catch. Mike Harris had two pass defenses and only allowed one reception all day. After Harris and Ball, the grades were all 0.0 or negative, so there really isn’t anyone else to highlight here.

Most Disappointing Grades: Blaine Gabbert (-4.4), Will Rackley (-2.4), Cecil Shorts (-2.1), Roy Miller (-2.6), Tyson Alualu (-2.0), Jason Babin (-1.4)

I could have made that list a lot longer, but there’s only so much awful play from this game that’s worth analyzing. Blaine Gabbert’s stat line (45% completion, 121 yards, 2 INTs) reflected in his PFF grade, but it probably didn’t help that 10 of his 35 attempts were behind the line of scrimmage. Gabbert only threw 7 passes farther than 10 yards and completed just 1. Cecil Shorts didn’t help the matter – he contributed on Gabbert’s first interception of the game and only caught 3 of the 10 passes thrown in his direction. The offensive line also didn’t help Gabbert out very much, and Will Rackley ended up with the lowest grade for a lineman by allowing a sack and a hurry. The defense didn’t put very much pressure on Alex Smith, and unsurprisingly the bottom of the grades is populated by mostly defensive lineman. The only player with a  positive pass rush grade was Jason Babin, but his run defense and pass coverage dragged his grade down.

Other notes:

• The entire starting offensive line combined for a grade of (-6.1), but the most disappointing grade was Eugene Monroe’s (-1.3). It was against one of the best pass rushing tandems in the NFL, but Monroe had a rough day after dominating the preseason. He needs to be better for this offense to have any chance of being even mildly effective.
• Bryan Anger had a (+4.7) rating for punting, but honestly who cares. He didn’t look that good live anyway, as he seemed to be giving the Chiefs plenty of room to return punts.
•  The Jaguars had 8 missed tackles, with Johnathan Cyprien and Will Blackmon each contributing 2.

– Daniel Lago

Yell at me on Twitter @dlago89