This time: safety.

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

The safety position has become more secure for the Jaguars since 2011 due to the arrival of Dwight Lowery and Dawan Landry at free and strong safety, respectively.  The safety position is a last line of defense and need to be sure tacklers.  Landry and Lowery were very good in their first year with the team, but with Lowery out for seven games this season it was tough for Landry to pick up the slack.  This is largely due to poor play from backup free safety, Chris Prosinski.

Perhaps the worst part of it all is that so much of the Jags’ safety play is dictated by the good partnership that Lowery and Landry make up.  Lowery finished the year as the 16th ranked safety (free and strong) according to Pro Football Focus, while his replacement, Prosinski, finished as the 79th ranked safety.  There is a clear drop-off in Landry’s play from week five (when Lowery was out with an ankle injury) when Prosinski was in for Lowery.

The typical Prosinski tackle.  Source: Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports

A particularly poor part of Prosinski’s game was his tackling.  Prosinski had 10 missed tackles on 684 defensive snaps in 2012 compared to Landry’s 10 on 1,156 snaps.  Lowery was a much more sure tackler with just four missed tackles in 557 snaps.

Another part of the game that saw a significant drop-off due to Prosinski replacing Lowery was pass coverage.  Lowery had the fourth lowest QB rating for safeties when thrown against (30.6) compared to Prosinski’s second worst (137.8).  To say that this didn’t affect the play of the entire defense – especially Landry – would be an oversight.  Lowery allowed only 44% of passes coming his way to be caught compared to Prosinski allowing 82.6% of passes his way to be caught.

A lot of the poor play in both pass coverage and tackling was a result of increased playing time for a below average backup, Prosinski.  It was a major theme for the Jaguars, especially on defense, that handicapped the team from being competitive.

- Luke N. Sims

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While safety Dwight Lowery will not be playing against the Raiders, the team can definitely use some more stability in the second level of the defense.  If Smith can get back this could do wonders for the Jags since his ability to play outside linebacker is unmatched on the team.

With the return of Austen Lane this past week and the potential return of Smith, the team could actually have two things they have lacked all season: a pass rush and good linebacker play.

-Luke N. Sims

In the three home games this season, the Jaguars have lost by a combined score of 105-20. We don’t even average a single touchdown at home!  That is unacceptable from a collection of 53 men that call themselves professional football players.  I don’t care as much about road games, but losing home games like that is extremely embarrassing.  We want The Bank to be a place that opponents fear!  A place that they prepare an extra week in advance for because the home team always plays above their abilities every time and find ways to win for their raucous home crowd foaming at the mouth to add another visiting victim to the slew of paupers graves we toss their mangled remains into.

Instead it is a daycare center that visiting teams use to get healthy, pad their stats, and give backups and rookies large amounts of playtime.  It is an automatic victory for everyone that comes into our home!  This atrocity cannot stand.  There is only one way to fix it.  SELL OUT EVERY HOME GAME.

The Jaguars need to sell out every game.  I don’t want to see a single untarped seat empty.  Buy all the Jaguars apparel you can afford (I can’t believe how expensive that stuff is btw), come out in droves, tailgate your face off, and stay until the 4^th quarter clock strikes 0:00.  And Boo.  Boo until you go raspy and then boo some more.  Stay absolutely silent when the other team is on offense.  Go absolutely nuts when the offense is out there.  Do not give this Jaguars team a single moment’s peace.  If they are going to hose us, we’ll hose them right back.  This is the best way to get the results we want. Why, you may ask?

If the Jags suck and no one goes to the games, we’ll be LA bound in hot minute.  We need to support the IDEA of the Jaguars.  We need to let Khan, the other 31 owners, Goodell, and ESPN know that Jacksonville is a hell of a place for NFL football.  We need to get the point across that the product on the field is no longer acceptable.  Fans must band together, arm in arm, and rise up as one to fix this abysmal situation we have on the field.  Force major changes and they will come.

VIVA LA REVOLUTION!!!!

-LJ