The Jaguars looked Crisp! But who wasn’t?

I watched only a quarter of the game today.  (But I bought NFL Rewind online and look forward to getting a better analysis after watching the game tomorrow or Tuesday)  And what I saw was impressive.  I managed to watch the Scobee field goal, Denver’s long kick (congrats Prater), and David’s brilliant throw to Kassim Osgood.  Through what I watched and the numbers I’ve been looking at, I’ve come up with one word to describe the Jaguars in week one.  Crisp.

Continue reading to see who was the most crisp!

The Crispest of all Crispies this week – the offensive line + tight ends.  Sure, MJD didn’t break 100 yards (and certainly didn’t put up 230 like Houston’s Foster), but the line looked much better than I anticipated.  The blocking was grand on all sides, even up the middle, and there was definitely running room.  But the big factor was all the time David had to make plays and the one sack (yes, just one) that they allowed.  I was very proud of how they played today!

2nd Crispest – The special teams.  Tiquan Underwood.  Need I say more?  The special teams consistently put the Jags in a position to win this game.  I’ll give you one statistic: 4 kickoffs returned, 137 yards, 34 yard average.

Just as Crispy – David Garrard.  Did you see that throw to Osgood?  Did you see those passes to Lewis?  Did you see his poise?  Did you see his leadership?  Did you see his attitude?  And he did everything today (138.9 passer rating) without giving a single ball to Mike Sims-Walker.  But without that offensive line, nothing would have happened.  But the most impressive drive was that 83 yard movement following the one time the special teams didn’t put the Jags in great field position.  David really showed some poise and leadership by delivering the ball where it needed to be and directing the players just as the leader of the offense should.  Oh so crisp!

3rd Crispest – The Jaguars front 7.  Welcome back pass rush!  Three sacks on the first day?  I’ll take that.  Tyson Alualu getting one for himself?  I’ll take that.  A pick by Daryl Smith?  I’ll take that.  The front seven was outmuscled occasionally, but they made up for it with big plays.  Very very well done!  Rather crisp.

Not so Crispy (soggy) – Derek Cox.  Minus the 3rd round pick from last year, the secondary didn’t look that bad.  But Derek Cox alone let Orton take more than 100 yards from the defense.  He was consistently burned, rarely was he within reach of the ball (or the ball carrier).  For being one of the highlights from last season, this was a poor second year debut.  I don’t want to say it’s a sophomore slump, but it needs to be fixed.  If there was a single soggy performance this week, it was Cox.  Del Rio rightly replaced him late in the game and David Jones performed better than Cox.  If it wasn’t for him, it would all be crisp.  But he was oh so soggy.

– Luke N. Sims