And he holds too! Source:  Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

I suppose we’re really stretching it when looking for ways to highlight our punter as a superstar, but the Jacksonville Jaguars haven’t exactly had the best player development in recent years.  NFL.com pushed out their “All-Under-25 Team” and Bryan Anger has continued to bring a good name to Jacksonville.  In the preface, writer Elliot Harrison writes, “There is a dark horse or two, a Jacksonville Jaguar and at least one dude you might not have heard about.”

I suppose all press is good press, right?

Anger beat out all other punters below the age of 25 to land on the team.  If you’re scratching your head trying to figure out which other NFL punters are under 25 with 20 or more punts, I looked it up for you: Johnny Hecker (St. Louis, 23), Drew Butler (Pittsburgh, 23), Brad Nortman (Carolina, 23), Shawn Powell (Buffalo Bills, 24).  If that isn’t a prestigious list then I don’t know what is.

- Luke N. Sims

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Justin Blackmon, WR, Round 1 Pick 5

• PFF Take: “His second half was much improved over his first, and the Jaguars really tried to get him the ball as he was targeted at least 10 times in each of the last four games.”
• My Take:  Blackmon’s second half of the season was substantially better than his first half.  He won the rookie receiving title largely due to a big game against the Houston Texans in week 11.  PFF hit it on the head that the Jags tried to get him the ball a lot.  Some of those throws may have been better directed toward other players considering Blackmon dropped eight balls.

Branch struggled to get my blockers all season long.  Source: US-Presswire

Andre Branch, DE, Round 2 Pick Pick 38

• PFF Take:  ” The Jaguars’ yearly search for an edge rusher led them to Branch, but it was a difficult start to his career. He picked up only 14 pressures on his 259 rush attempts…”
• My Take:  Branch was horrendous at worst and underwhelming at best during his rookie season.  His inability to generate pressure led to the Jags picking up Jason Babin after the Philadelphia Eagles abandoned him.  Branch was less than stimulating for a defensive line that desperately needs good talent.

Bryan Anger, P, Round 3 Pick 70

• PFF Take:  “Anger had a nice start to his career, ranking as our eighth-best punter at +22.0 including a net average of 41.3 that ranked ninth.”
• My Take:  The Jaguars will forever be questioned about the Anger selection, especially after the emergence of quarterback Russell Wilson five picks later.  Anger’s stats will be even better when his coverage unit is finally revamped to reflect stronger special teams.  He is a premium talent at a non-premium position.

Mike Harris, CB, Round 6 Pick 176

• PFF Take:  ”Harris saw 288 of his 538 snaps in the slot, where his 1.01 Yards Per Cover Snap ranked 14th out of the 40 qualifying slot cornerbacks.”
• My Take:  Outside of Blackmon and Anger, Harris was easily the highlight of the Jaguars’ rookie class.  He outplayed free agent acquisition Aaron Ross, long-tenured Rashean Mathis, and William Middleton to finish the year starting opposite Derek Cox.  Harris could be a very good corner over the coming years and did well both in the slot and outside.

Jeris Pendleton, DT, Round 7 Pick 228

• PFF Take:  “Pendleton played all 33 of his snaps in the last four games that saw him finish with a +1.1 grade against the run.”
• My Take:  Unlike Harris, Pendleton was unable to move up behind Terrance Knighton, Tyson Alualu, and C.J. Mosley.  He played decently, especially considering his draft position, but was nothing special.

Mike Brewster, G, UDFA

• PFF Take:  ”Brewster was forced into action due to injuries up front and he looked overmatched at times. He ranked dead last among the top 72 qualifying guards in PRP at 93.8, as he gave up 27 pressures on 339 pass block attempts.”
• My Take:  Brewster was not a very good guard during 2012 but was better than a lot of the guys in front of him, including former second-round selection Eben Britton.  Brewster is the microcosm of the Jags’ problems: talent deficiency   It was apparent the team was putting an inferior product on the field, and an UDFA who could still improve but was the worst guard in the league beat out the people in front of him.

The Jags also had a number of other undrafted free agents play snaps, but most of them were inconsequential and may not be with the team following the disastrous 2-14 season.

- Luke N. Sims

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You can also find me on Twitter @LukeNSims

Josh Scobee had another good season on field goals, but the special teams unit on the whole was mediocre at best.  Source: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

Over the past week we have been through the Jacksonville Jaguars 2012 roster to try and find the problems that led to the franchise’s worst-ever record: 2-14.  There were so many problems with this team that it goes well beyond one article. So, for the sake of simplicity, we took it one position at a time.  Now, we’re onto our final look at how the Jags finished an abysmal 2-14.

This time: special teams.

Here are the other parts of the series: QB, OL, WR, TE, RB, DT, DE, LB, CB, S

Special teams isn’t really a position, but doing individual pieces solely on Josh Scobee, Bryan Anger, and kicking/punt coverage may bore more than one person.  So, dear reader, we have put it all into one post.

The Jags have two very big legs in Scobee and Anger.  Say what you will about drafting Anger in the third round (and you should say a lot) but the Jags do have premium talent at both kicker and punter.

Josh Scobee has made a name for himself in Jacksonville as a very reliable kicker.  In the 2011 season he hit on 92% of his kicks and this season he nailed an impressive 89.3%.  However this tied him with Arizona Cardinals’ Jay Feely at just 13th. Scobee only hit one of two kicks beyond 50 yards, and just 84.6% (11 of 13) of kicks between 40-49 yards.  Fortunately for the Jags, Scobee was able to bring it home by hitting every kick from 1-39 yards (13 of 13).  This was Scobee’s third highest percentage of kicks made in his career (92% in 2011 and 92.3% in 2007).

While Scobee isn’t exactly a superstar, he is one of the better known Jaguars in the league.  Source: Rob Foldy-USA TODAY Sports

Scobee also doubles as the place kicker on kickoffs for the Jags.  Here he struggled in 2012.  Scobee averaged only 66.1 yards per kickoff (24th in the league) and had just 26 touchbacks (24th).  Only 39% of Scobee’s kicks were touchbacks which allowed a greater chance for teams to burn the Jags’ poor coverage, as we’ll see later.  Despite the poor coverage, Scobee’s average starting position for the opposing teams was the 22 yard line (21.8 yard average).  His leg was hardly the root of the Jags’ problems on kickoffs, however.

Poor Bryan Anger will probably never live down being picked before Russell Wilson in the third round of the 2012 draft.  But for a rookie punter with a chip on his shoulder, Anger did pretty well.  Anger tied for the second longest punt of the season with a beautiful 73 yarder in week nine.  Anger also did well with his punt average of 47.8, good for seventh in the league.  Just 44%of Anger’s punts were returned (17th in the league) to go with his generally long punts.  A large part of this was due to Anger punting 6% of his punts out of bounds.  Further, 32 of Anger’s punts were within the opponents’ 20 yard line (eighth in the league).  To further prove Anger’s worth, he finished 10th in the league in net yards with 41.3 despite having the most return yards in the league.

Which brings me to the worst part about the Jags’ special teams: kicking and punting coverage.

The Jags were generally atrocious in punt coverage.  Despite Anger booting the ball downfield the second most times in the NFL (91), keeping up a consistent average of 47.8 yards per punt, and forcing just 44% of punts to be returned, the Jags allowed the most punt yards returned in the league.  The other top five punters with returned yardage all had at least 52% or more of their punts returned.  This problem is partly due to the Jags punting far too many times, but it also has to do with the coverage.  Arizona’s Dave Zastudil punted the most in the NFL (112) and had a low 42.9% of his punts returned and finished sixth in yards returned.  The Jags simply could not cover punts.  This hit an all time bad when Montell Owens was starting at running back against the New England Patriots and they returned 75% of Anger’s punts for over ten yards per punt return.

Major offenders on kicking and punting coverage were undrafted rookies Antwon Blake and Kevin Elliott who tied for third in the league with five missed tackles a piece.  In fact they tied with the Giants, Ravens, and Texans with the third most missed tackles on returns (25).  For Josh Scobee who had 56.5% of his kickoffs returned, this was a major problem.

But the Jags return game is surely their saving grace, right?

Wrong.

No returner (of which the Jags had 10, not counting DE George Selvie and TE Zach Potter) had a return longer than 32 yards and the average return was just 21 on kickoffs and 7.3 on punts.  The Jags’ best punt returner, Quan Cosby, was mediocre at kick returns and was only with the team for two games.  Not surprisingly, the Jags did not return a kick or a punt for a touchdown during the 2012 season.

What the Jaguars have on special teams is a mixed bag.  The specialists, Scobee and Anger, are quite good while the rest of the players are not very good.  Coverage failed time and again (especially against the Tennessee Titans in the season finale).   Unfortunately for the Jags, they just weren’t good enough to in other phases of the game to make up for it.

- Luke N. Sims

Feel free to leave comments on here or visit us at Facebook or Twitter!

You can also find me on Twitter @LukeNSims