Jacksonville Jaguars: Three takeaways from the epic win over the Patriots
By Kathy Clark
It’s time to bask in the glory of the Jacksonville Jaguars defeat of the New England Patriots one more time. No doubt the joyous feeling will last for a while longer but soon we must look ahead to a division matchup with our nemesis the Tennessee Titans.
The game had some surprises that aided in the resounding victory for the Jacksonville Jaguars. Most of these unusual moves relate directly back to the excellent coaching of Doug Marrone and his staff.
Marrone is obviously a student of the game and some of his ideas appeared to come directly from the playbook of Bill Belichick.
Takeaway Number One
It is a well-known fact that the Patriots goal is to take away the best player and make the opponent one dimensional. The Jaguars turned this around and took away Rob Gronkowski. After Tom Brady, he is the Patriots best player. Jalen Ramsey observed early the previous week that “Gronk” doesn’t play as well when covered by a cornerback or safety.
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John Oehser on Jaguars.com reported that our own Tashaun Gipson had a Hall of Fame level game as he held Gronk to 15, yes 15, total receiving yards.
Gipson reported that defensive coordinator Todd Walsh told him during the week before the game that he would be the main cover guy on Gronkowski.
"Gipson added, “All week long on T.V. I saw people saying, “Who’s going to stop him? Nobody ever mentioned me.”"
Kudos to Gipson and Todd Walsh.
Takeaway number two
As stated above the Patriots goal is to take away the opponent’s strength and make the opposing team one dimensional. Obviously, the Patriot’s plan was to take away our running game and force our mediocre quarterback to pass to no-name receivers.
Thanks to Nathaniel Hackett, offensive coordinator, and the stellar play of our second-rate quarterback and unheralded receivers this plan did not work.
Blake Bortles had his best game and our young receivers played like household names.
Thank you, Hackett, Bortles, Keelan Cole, Dede Westbrook, Donte Moncrief, and Austin Seferien Jenkins.
Takeaway number three
Numerous sports articles from a variety of sources state another way to defeat the Patriots is to keep the consistent and constant pressure on Tom Brady.
In a Sports Illustrated article titled “How to Beat the New England Patriots” numerous NFL players made this statement over and over.
The Jaguars defense kept Brady out of his comfort zone during the entire game and Dante Fowler provided the icing on the cake with a strip sack and fumble recovery.
Great job defense!
Memory
Its been a great few days smiling, joking with Patriot fans, and just enjoying this wonderful moment. Now it’s time to look ahead to our next game against the Tennessee Titans.