The Jacksonville Jaguars Defense Is For Real
By Luke Sims
The title of this article is a bold claim. In fact, based on the first few games of the season, it’s a very bold claim. However, after three very stout performances by the Jaguars’ defense and one impressive first half performance in week one, I think it’s time to recognize that this defense is in fact for real. The Jacksonville Jaguars have a defense everyone!
Before we get ahead of ourselves let’s address one thing: the quarterbacks the Jaguars have faced the last few weeks are not premium talent quarterbacks. Peyton Manning may very easily shred the Jaguars’ defense and if Philip Rivers was on the schedule again then the Jaguars should be very wary. That week 12 rematch against the Indianapolis Colts should have the team eager to prove it can do much better against quarterbacks like Andrew Luck. For as good as Brian Hoyer, Charlie Whirehurst, and Ben Roethlisberger are (or aren’t, in Whitehurst’s case) they aren’t having superb seasons and have some limitations. Roethlisberger is easily the best of the bunch and he is having a streaky, inconsistent season in 2014.
Yet the Jaguars have found some really good success in recent weeks. It doesn’t matter that they aren’t the best quarterbacks in the league currently, they are still NFL caliber quarterbacks and NFL caliber offenses.
For the third week in a row the defense has held the opposition below 20 points. In fact, the defense held the Steelers and Browns to 10 points or below (the Steelers had an interception return for a touchdown). That’s a major improvement over weeks one through four. The defense had some great stands against the Browns when Cleveland was driving for points and deep in Jaguar territory this week. It was reminiscent of the first half against the Philadelphia Eagles in week one.
It’s that first half against the Eagles that makes me believe this defense is for real. In that game the Jaguars made stands, they flocked to the ball, they knew where they were responsible and had good fundamentals. Everything was clicking. The next 14 quarters felt like that unit had been shoved into a blender and left punch drunk when they finally came back out. That first half had the fan base excited but we were all ultimately let down.
Now things are coming back together.
The flash of potential in week one was legit. The defense in the following 14 quarters were impostors. Welcome the real Jaguar defense back now.
Because the first game was rather Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde we’ll compare weeks two, three, and four averages versus weeks five, six, and seven averages.
Average yards allowed: 462 vs 309
Average points against: 39 vs 13
Average turnovers: 0 vs 1.3
Average first downs allowed: 26 vs 16
That’s pretty impressive. The Jaguars have managed to improve drastically over the last three weeks. The potential was obviously always there, but now it is coming to the surface. The Browns game in particular was a complete game by the defense, finding ways to force the opposing offense to abandon its game plan and fail to move the ball when one-dimensional. This defense has had the potential all season. If they can keep this up then the Jaguars will be much more competitive for the final nine games. I think that this defense is for real.