CB Aaron Ross allowed receivers to catch 100% of balls thrown at him in three games in 2012, including once against the Texans.  Source: Phil Sears-USA TODAY Sports

Over the next week or so we will be going 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’ll take it one position at a time.

This time: cornerback.

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

Like many positions for the Jaguars in 2012, cornerback was shorthanded.  Long-tenured Rashean Mathis was brought back to compete with free agent acquisition Aaron Ross for the starting position opposite young Derek Cox.  Neither Ross nor Mathis showed starting caliber play and were ultimately replaced in favor of sixth-round rookie Mike Harris.  Unfortunately, Jacksonville’s “shutdown” corner, Cox, struggled with a hamstring injury (again) and the poor play of William Middleton (one of the NFL’s run stopping CBs in 2011) wasn’t good enough to replace him.  The Jags had six different cornerbacks start at least one game this season, the depth was absolutely horrendous.  Passing against the Jags must have been a breeze.

Here are the Jags’ cornerbacks numbers, ordered by games started:

Ross and Mathis, when compared to Cox on the opposite side and Harris who replaced them, were underperforming despite winning the training camp battle.  This may have been a result of Mel Tucker not noticing Harris’ potential by limiting the competition, or it may have been an absolute oversight and misevaluation.  Middleton lost his all-but-secured nickelback position with the arrival of Ross and return of Mathis who were “rewarded” after losing their starting spot with the nickelback position.

Now, inherently there are different skill sets for an outside “starting” corner and the nickelback.  Unfortunately, the Jags simply were not well equipped, outside of Cox, for the positions.  Back in May I thought the Jags were going to be stacked at corner, but I was proven wrong by abysmal play.  I was almost hoping Ashton Youboty would make another appearance on the field just to end the misery.

Middleton’s game against Green Bay was his worst of the season, but was still better than many games that Mathis and Ross had.  Source: Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports

The oddity of it all is that Middleton and Harris, who were defending the pass much better than Ross and Mathis saw the field on only 199 and 538 snaps each.  Ross and Mathis were on the field for 486 and 682 snaps each.  When your corners are underperforming, it seems counterintuitive to not give the better corners opportunities over them, especially someone like Middleton who has a proven track record of decent play at the position.  This misevaluation of talent hurt the Jags and contributed greatly to the Jags falling from the eighth ranked passing defense in 2011 to 22nd in 2012.

With the poor play of the defense’s front seven, the Jags’ corners were being called on to do much more than usual.  A big part of this was tackling and the need to generate stops.  Stops, as defined by Pro Football Focus, are tackles that limit the offense to getting less than 40%, 60%, and 100% of required yardage on 1st, 2nd, and 3rd/4th downs respectively.   The Jags were run over by opposing teams and needed every hat to the ball on multiple occasions to stop the offense.  Unfortunately, the Jags’ cornerbacks were not exceptional at this either.  The best on the team was Harris with a stop percentage of 2.41%.

The Jags were unable to be an effective pass defending team largely due to a misevaluation of their talent.  While Ross was expected to help the Jags push toward even better pass defense, he ended up being a problem.  Mathis and Ross both contributed in limiting the amount of time Middleton and Harris had on the field, which is a shame because the Jags had two decent corners who could have stepped in and helped earlier in the season.

Next up we’ll look at safety.

- Luke N. Sims

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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

Middleton has been good, but he was absolutely decimated by Joe Flacco and Torrey Smith in the third preseason game.  While Christian Ponder is no Joe Flacco, Percy Harvin or whomever lines up opposite Middleton may get a lot of looks early to see if the cornerback has recovered from the punishment he took two weeks ago.

I think Middleton will rebound, but only time will tell.  If Christian Ponder is looking good against Middleton then the Jags may have reevaluate his use on the outside.

- Luke N. Sims

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You can also find me on Twitter @LukeNSims