Jaguars need to be better prepared heading to Tennessee
By David Levin
The loss on Sunday to the Indianapolis Colts showed the Jacksonville Jaguars need to be better coached and prepared next week.
The bottom line from the 33-13 loss to the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday is the Jacksonville Jaguars were not ready to face an AFC South opponent coming off a bye week in a critical game with playoff implications.
You cannot dance around the fact when it matters most, meaning division games, the Jaguars are 2-8 over the last two seasons. Jacksonville does have a game this weekend at Tennessee and then the season finale at home against these same Colts. It will be hard to pick the 4-6 Jaguars in either one of these games as long as the team’s run defense appears to be paper-thin.
The ability by the Colts to run the football at will further illustrate how important the loss of Marcell Dareus is to this roster. A loss next Sunday and this team will essentially be eliminated from playoff contention. Some would argue that has already happened.
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Something must be done. It was 51 weeks ago the Jaguars were 3-8 and offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett was fired for a lack of production. I’m not advocating anyone on the Jaguars staff lose their jobs, but I am looking for something to change. The Atlanta Falcons have won two games in a row after the head coach Dan Quinn made changed assignments on his staff. Just putting that out there.
"“I’m responsible for the way the team plays, I’m responsible for how they get ready to play on Sunday and I’ve got to do a better job at getting this team ready to go,” head coach Doug Marrone said in his post-game comments. “We tried to stop the run a couple different ways and weren’t able to do it. So, we’ve got to take a good look at ourselves and figure that out and then we’ve got to figure out this third down where we can keep those fellas on the field and make some plays.”"
While I appreciate the candor from Marrone, falling on the sword for the reasons why the team lost, this was a game where fingers could be pointed at almost everyone on the field and the sidelines. Nick Foles did not look comfortable out there. The running game was nonexistent. The defensive line was pushed around and tackling proved to be a lost art form.
NFL draft order after 11 weeks:
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) November 19, 2019
1) Bengals (0-10)
2) Redskins (1-9)
3) Giants (2-8)
4) Dolphins (2-8)
5) Jets (3-7)
6) Bucs (3-7)
7) Broncos (3-7)
8) Falcons (3-7)
9) Cardinals (3-7-1)
10) Lions (3-6-1)
11) Chargers (4-7)
12) Jaguars (4-6)
13) Browns (4-6)
14) Raiders (via CHI)
The game was reminiscent of Carolina and Houston where the Jaguars were stymied on defense almost from the kickoff. When you get into that kind of position, it becomes harder to turn things around. Jacksonville’s wins have come against teams that were mediocre at the time they faced each other.
Tennessee is a better team now with Ryan Tannehill under center. I also find it hard to think the Jaguars will be favored in any other the remaining six games besides Tampa Bay and Atlanta. This was supposed to be the start of a new direction for the Jaguars. They had Foles back and a healthy roster. Now, it appears time off from the bye week hurt this team more than helped.
It looks like it will be another long season. Instead of thinking about the postseason, fans are thinking about draft picks and who might be the next head coach. It’s not the best feeling to have given the offseason gave us all hope of better things to come.
That hasn’t happened, yet.