The River City Report: Week 3

It wasn’t pretty but we’ll take it.  With the victory in Indianapolis, the Jaguars have now won three consecutive games against the Colts for the first time in franchise history.  That certainly feels nice.  While it wasn’t a complete victory and we are clearly still a team that needs time to grow and improve in all areas of the game, we are at least one win away from making ESPN look stupid for picking us to win one game all season.  Blaine Gabbert came up big at the end of the game like in Week 1.  Unlike that game against the Vikings, however, the defense held strong enough to win the game.  Here’s what we saw in the Week 3 victory over the Colts 22-17:

• The defense still has some progress to make – First of all, Russell Allen needs to calm down.  I love the entheusiasm. But seriously, his two late hits on Andrew Luck (only the second one was actually called) put the Colts in a position to win the game.  Easy does it, homie.  Aside from that, the defense was tackling better than they were in the first few weeks and the front line was getting a more consistent push throughout the game.  The problem with that is Luck had wide open running lanes when Posluszny got picked up by a blocker.  I still believe Aaron Ross cares more about how he looks than making a tackle.  We get it, you look good in your uni, now make a play!  After halftime the defense made the appropriate adjustments and held the Colts offense in check and allowed the offense to get back into the game.  It will be interesting to see if they can carry that over to next week when we play a much better offense in the Bengals.
• The Blaine Train loves the final bell – The first half was full of missed blocks, errant passes, and punts.  Gabbert showed in the 4^th quarter that he is much more mentally tough than many thought.  Regardless of the opponent, a win is a win and the best way to boost a young QB’s confidence.  The Jags’ next opponent is the Bengals, who have shown weaknesses in their defense and hopefully the Jaguars will be able to exploit those deficiencies in Week 4.
• Can a team leader please stand up?! – We looked flat.  Absolutely uninspired.  The Colts are not a good team so we should have won, but we should have played better from the get go.  We have had trouble getting things going in the first half, especially the second quarter, and that is due to leadership.  Maybe the absence of Maurice Jones-Drew in the preseason is hurting us now.  Maybe Blaine Gabbert isn’t as ready to take the helm of an offense as we had hoped.  Maybe the coaches aren’t as focused and inspiring as they need to be.  Whatever the reason, the Jags have looked uninspired, unprepared, and unwilling to wake up for most of this season.  Thank the football gods for Cecil Shorts and get your asses back to Jacksonville and GET YOUR S**T TOGETHER!!!  There is still time to make this season something special and we have the ability to do that, as are one play away from being 2-1, but it needs to happen soon.

-Lionel Joel