Many Jaguars didn’t even play. That is not really a shock considering it was the last preseason game and they already proved themselves against Tampa. Fred Taylor, Maurice Jones-Drew, Paul Spicer, John Henderson and Reggie Hayward were among the men who had not dressed out. However, David Garrard trotted out onto the field for the first series.

The Jaguars’ first attempt to bring the ball down the field fell short. After a nice Adam Podlesh kick, the Redskins found themselves on their own 18 yard line. They were coming out to try to recover after their crushing defeat against Carolina. Unfortunately for them, Mike Peterson found himself running back toward the Jaguar end zone after Rashean Mathis tipped the ball. After a few failed run attempts by Greg Jones and a nice catch by Matt Jones, Reggie Williams caught a touchdown pass. Of course, Scobee’s extra point was good and the Jaguars were up 7 – 0. 

The Redskins tried to regain their footing after a Scobee kick off. The Jaguars’ first string defense was in and they had no chance. After losing a time out due to a failed challenge, the Redskins punted the ball away. Garrard threw a nice pass to Matt Jones (who kept on going). Jones looked fantastic all day and you could see that Garrard really trusted him. In fact, Garrard trusted him so much that they went for a long ball and Garrard got intercepted. The safety for the Redskins saw the ball lopped high and long in the air and got to it quickly. It was a good play on his part but it wasn’t necessarily a pass Garrard had any right throwing. He did get hit after he threw it so maybe he was a bit rushed. Thanks, offensive line.

Despite the offensive line letting Garrard get knocked up, the defensive line played amazingly. The Redskins suffered another three and out and Cleo Lemon came in. Lemon got the advantage of once again playing behind the first string offensive line so the Jaguars could really see what he was made of. Two passes to Mike Walker had the Jaguars driving down the field. Troy Williamson got his first catch of the preseason (it was the first game he really played, Viking fans) and continued the assault on the Redskins. A Lemon pass to Greg Estandia insured a touchdown and the Jaguars were up 14 – 0. Unfortunately, Mo Williams suffered a sprained right knee on this drive. Uche Nwaneri replaced him.

Colt Brennan came in for the Redskins at this point and drove it down the field enough for the Redskins to get their first and only points: a field goal. The Jaguars got the ball back to eat down the final minutes of the first half. This is the point where Chauncy Washington started to shine. Scobee kicked a field goal and put the Jaguars up 17 – 3. 

At the end of the half, Lemon had a 122.9 passer rating. Washington ran for 42 yards on six carries and also had 32 yards receiving. Todd Bouman came in after another failed drive by the Redskins in the start of the second half. 

From Vic’s in-game blog:

8/28/08 at 8:42 PM

Derrick Harvey is in the game.

8/28/08 at 8:42 PM

He’s at left defensive end. I think that’s noteworthy.

8/28/08 at 8:43 PM

Now he’s at right end. I think that’s noteworthy, too.

8/28/08 at 8:45 PM

Now he’s at left end. By the way, has anyone seen Quentin Groves?

8/28/08 at 8:45 PM

Now he’s out of the game.

8/28/08 at 8:48 PM

Harvey is back in.

Richard Collier ruined the Jaguars drive with more than one flag against him. Not good considering he is fighting the starting job. The game itself actually became a flag fest at the end. Nothing too remarkable happened. Oh. Wait. No. Troy Williamson caught an awesome 51 yard pass by Bouman for another Jacksonville touchdown! Yay Williamson. Jacksonville won the game 24 – 3.

Jaguar fans should be excited about the preseason. Fans were spelling out doom and gloom when the Dolphins marched all over us. However, the defense is looking much better than they did last year and there is a lot of depth there. The passing game isn’t secure but the run game still looks great. Reggie Nelson has been fantastic. Matt Jones has really stepped up. The team looked ready to play next week against the Tennessee Titans. They better be. Besides the fact that it is a divisional game, the Titans deserve to be crushed. Screw you, Jeff Fisher.

Here’s a wrap up:

Maurice Jones-Drew came out swinging but it took a little bit longer for David Garrard (4/10 for 45 yards) to warm up. Garrard did run well, though. He had one run for 21 yards and then a quarterback sneak for a touchdown.

Neither Fred Taylor nor Troy Williamson suited up.

Reggie Nelson, however, was all over the place and totally owning everyone he came in contact with. He and Drayton Florence got an amazing interception to stop a Falcon’s drive.

Matt Jones did really well. He missed one catch of note but it was because it wasn’t thrown that well.

Mike Walker, on the other hand, was a little iffy. He probably caught as many passes as he dropped and he missed a sure touchdown pass from Cleo Lemon. You can’t blame the guy, though. He hasn’t played a game in almost two years. He is probably rusty.

It was hard to judge Lemon’s performance because he was up against second stringers. He looked solid enough. Compared to the other quarterbacks, he had the best performance of the night with 6/10 passes completed and 46 yards. Did I mention we ran the ball a lot?

Now for the run: Chauncy Washington took a little to warm up but he got himself moving eventually. He got one touchdown, his longest run was 6 yards and he totaled 33 yards for the night.

The guy who accumulated the most amount of yards for the night was Greg Jones.  He ran for 39 yards on five attempts. I have always liked Greg Jones and we signed him to an amazing (for him) contract in the off season.

The story of the night is Brian Witherspoon, an undrafted free agent. That kid is FAST. If he hadn’t fumbled a return he would be the talk of the entire game.

Josh Scobee had some amazing kick offs. The kick hung in the air for a while and then landed on the third yard line. He also nailed his field goals. He did much, much better compared to Jason Elam who missed two field goals.

The tackling was awful. Quentin Groves, however, got a nice sack and a good stop against the Falcon’s running back.

Jackson De Ville is apparently not allowed anywhere near the field when the ball is in play. He sustained a hefty fee last year and afterward stood in a cage for the rest of the season. I guess that has carried into this season. Too bad, he is an AWESOME mascot.

The game ended as the Falcons drove down the field for a touchdown. In the last few seconds of the game, D. J. Shockley threw an interception to Pierson Prioleau in the endzone to end the game. It was a pretty exciting end to a preseason game.

Again, it is hard to judge based on preseason. With the first preseason game of the year, everyone is a bit rusty. Mike Smith looked good as the coach and picking up Matt Ryan looks like it will benifit the Falcons. Next week we take on the Dolphins. I cannot wait.