Blown Out Again! Was anybody Crisp?
By Luke Sims
Last week was such a disappointment that I gave up on even attempting to find enough crispness to fill a small article such as this. But despite this latest loss, I believe that there were some crisp plays and players. But once again, we had a rather soggy performance, so. Let’s take a look at who was crisp:
The Crispest of the Crispies: Terrance Knighton. He posted a sack and a half, two tackles, and an assist. His play was clean, and he benefited from Alualu playing well and Kampman coming off the edge. He broke into the pocket and hit Vick a few times. He had to be respected and was able to draw blockers to him. His play was oh so crisp!
2nd Crispest: Jack Del Rio calling the defensive plays. I watched the defensive plays twice just to see how he was doing after I found out he was in charge of the defensive side of the ball for the game and not delegating the job. He called the right plays and I believe they would have worked very well. He made the right calls and kept Vick from using his legs too much. Now if we had some talent in the backfield to compliment Mathis…
3rd Crispest: Maurice Jones-Drew. 88 yards isn’t too hot, but it isn’t that good either. Yes, he averaged four yards a carry and didn’t score. Sure he didn’t make the leaderboard for fantasy, but his cuts were looking good. With some decent blocking from Smiley in the middle and a bigger push from Nwaneri (who I was thoroughly, yet surprisingly, unimpressed with) MJD could have been a dominant force in this game. Despite the bum ankle and lack of production, when he gets that ball in his hands he looks very crisp!
Not So Crisp (Soggy): Dirk Koetter’s play calling. I do not like his offensive scheme at all. It’s a mismatch of elongation, tight end usage, and running. He has stated that he believes in Mike Thomas and Mike Sims-Walker, but doesn’t commit to deep passes to them. He says that he believes in MJD (as we all do), but doesn’t give him a chance to succeed by committing to the run. He wants to get the Tight Ends involved but the wide receivers don’t stretch the field enough to open anything up underneath and MJD hasn’t been going well enough to allow short slants that feature the tight ends. Not to mention that he isn’t helping David Garrard by running a lot of hooks and outs. The opposing defense is stacking the box, call some slants and let our possession receivers make plays! Give David short, high percentage passes to make that aren’t screens or dumps to running backs (Though David has checked down a lot lately). I am very very aggravated by his plays and don’t enjoy the lack of success the Jaguars have had offensively as a result. He is not performing his duties well. I am not impressed. Very soggy.
– Luke N. Sims