Jags Dodge Bullet (More Like Musket Ball) In Denver
By Staff
Now onto the things that really matter…
Much to my surprise, the Jags looked pretty good in a tough Invesco road win; although they did get a couple of breaks. My fantasy prediction about Brandon Marshall was coming to fruition in the game’s early stages, until he luckily decided to hand the ball to Drayton Florence, and not do anything again until the fourth quarter. Up until that point I really didn’t think the Jags were going to be able to stop Cutler, Marshall, or the rest of that offense, but then the defense settled down and finally decided to play with some cojones. After White Lightning Brandon Stokely came off the field with a concussion (paybackfor Fred Taylor, fools), Denver had some issues moving the ball through the air with ‘Shean and company keeping Marshall on lockdown.
It seems as though Mo-Jo is back to his old self again with a line that actually run-blocks and finally the rest of the Jags’ offense didn’t look like a couple of fairies out there. Garrard outplayed the rising star Cutler; looking comfortable in the pocket and firing darts to open receivers all damn day. The penalty that nullified the Troy Williamson deep ball was obviously disheartening (not only would it have been the Jags’ longest play from scrimmage this year, but it was especially bad for Troy, as he might never do anything that cool with the football again) but fortunately it didn’t come back to bite the Jags in the end. We could also use more of those phantom pass interference calls too.
The one thing I still don’t like is the soft run defense. Even though Michael Pittman keeps beating the Jags up no matter what uniform he’s wearing, the rest of the league is doing their Michael Pittman impression against the Jags’ formerly stout front, averaging 4.5 yards per carry and 110 yards per game this year. That’s something that obviously needs to be addressed to keep this team in playoff contention. Even though Cutler wasn’t sacked, it was good to see this excuse of a pass-rush force a few off-target throws and get in Cutler’s face at least a little bit. Tony McDaniel had a few balls batted down at the line, and Reggie Hayward made a nice play chasing down Cutler and forcing a fumble from behind. Good to see the $25 mil that the Jags ‘donated’ to paying Hayward’s medical bills after ’05 isn’t going completely to waste.
Granted, the Jags did benefit from the absence Tony Sheffler, Eddie Royal, John Elway, Rod Smith, Steve Atwater, Terrell Davis, late-90s’ salary cap cheating executives, and an entire Broncos’ starting defense; but we have more than our fare share of injuries and setbacks so I really don’t wanna hear it from any whiny Broncos fans.
Now we have two weeks to celebrate the W and prepare for the league’s new powerhouse – the Cleveland Browns.