From the department of things I never saw coming:

The Executive Director of the NFL Players Association, Gene Upshaw, has died suddenly of pancreatic cancer. Gene was a Hall of Fame offensive guard with the Oakland Raiders, playing from 1967-1981.  His tenure with the NFL Players Association is marked with highs and lows, going from the failed players strike of 1987 to the very sucessful development of the Salary Cap.  Gene's relationship with Paul Tagliabue gave the NFL over twenty years of labor peace.

Of course, Jaguars fans might not have the highest sense of approval for Upshaw, his insistance on protecting and expanding the players share of team revenue is one of the financial factors that hamper the Jaguars ability to spend on the same level as other teams.  Gene was also unclear about his stance on limiting rookie salaries, something that hits very close to home.

But we'll morn the passing of a Hall of Famer and a man who fought to break the financial stranglehold of league owners.  We might disagree with his tactics and his styles, but his interest was giving the fair share to the players who are on any given snap, one play away from a broken neck.

So today, our hearts go out to the Upshaw family.  Here's to you Gene!

-Chris

Watching the game last night was a terrifying and concerning event for me.  The cognative dissonance of watching the Miami Dolphins look like playoff contenders and the Jaguars look like bottom feeders despite knowing that this team is better than it looks really ruined my night.  That and the eight minutes of "technical difficulties" that the local Orlando broadcast went through in the second quarter.

The Jaguars were awful and they were worse than awful with their starters than anything else.  The passing game was rough, to say the least, with Mike Walker still dropping passes and Troy Williamson accumulating a whopping zero catches.  There was a play when Troy was sent deep, but he did not blow away the coverage and the pass fell incomplete.  Ryan Hoag was our leading receiver, with a 53 yard catch.  You might recall that the Jaguars did an awful lot to improve the recieving corps, yet two weeks into preseason and Ryan Hoag is outperforming everyone else?

But despite all the offensive miscues, the fumble, the missed pass to Mike Walker, nothing scares me more then the unmitigated disaster I saw on defense.  Typically it's considered a bad sign when defensive backs lead the defense in tackles.  When Rashean Mathis makes more tackles than Mike Peterson (5 to 3), you know that there's a problem.

Quentin Groves is learning that his speed is a liability in stopping the run, as he failed to have any sort of real effect on the field.  The rest of the defensive line was a mess, making Chad Pennington look like a real quarterback and even allowing two nine yeard scrambles.  There was no push, no speed, no emotion, it was watching professional athletes go through the motions.  I can only imagine what Gregg Williams is feeling right now as he breaks down film and realizes just how fundamentally awful they played. 

This team is at what can only be the lowest of low points.  The offense is out of synch to a huge degree, partially because the receivers are decimated by injury.  The offensive line is not performing like the powerhouse of last season, again because of injury.  If it's always darkest before the dawn, than I've never seen anything more black and bleak than this game.

Even the bright spot, a nice return game with Brian Witherspoon, is now a problem, as he's suffered from a sprained ankle, one he described as "real bad". 

Enter the Teaching Moment:

I'm sure everyone has used something bad as a point of reference toward making something good.  It's refered to as a teaching moment, a point where a leader can utilize bad results as a chance to correct future behavior.  Sometimes a bad game is just a bad game, they'll look at the film and correct a thing or two and it's not a problem.  A game like last night's debacle is not that type of bad game.  It must be made into an example to the entire team.  It must be driven into their heads that they are not a hyped theam that's playoff bound.  They made the Miami Dolphins look good, and that's disgustingly bad on the Jaguars part. 

This game, this film, this whole encounter with the Dolphins must serve as a teaching moment.  Jack Del Rio has to turn this into a moment where the team comes together and moves on, because if the team of last night is the team of 2008 we'll be thinking about the draft in December, not the Playoffs.

-Chris

One of the more critical decisions the Jaguars have to make during the preseason is the rotation in the defensive backfield.  The Jaguars have a curse of riches when it comes to their cornerbacks and safties, which is a nice change of pace from the injury riddled secondary of last season.  When the Jaguars acquired Drayton Florence in free agency, the team faced the issue of where exactly to play Brian Williams and how Gerald Sensabaugh would fit into the scheme.

Well, wonder no more, Jack Del Rio announced how it will work, and despite it's obviousness, still raises questions about who should really be the starter at Strong Safety. 

When the team is in the nickel defense, Del Rio said that Sensabaugh will play safety, and Brian Williams will be the nickel back. In the base defense, Williams will start at safety, and Sensabaugh will be on the sidelines.

I spoke with Charlie of JagNation last night on their Radio Show about the issue of having Sensabaugh as a situational player when he might be a better pure strong safety than Williams.  One concern is that we have Gerald who is a known quantity as a hard-hitting safety, especially against a running back.  Brian Williams, while not as a Safety, has been pushed aside and stiff armed away from the tackle quite a few times, especially against Willie Parker of the Steelers.  If a running back breaks past the linebackers and has one person between him and the end zone, who do you really want to square up and make the tackle?

For me, the answer is Gerald Sensabaugh.  I've seen so far in training camp and preseason that he's fully recovered from his surgeries and is ready to get out there and lay the wood, so to speak.  Brian Williams as a cover safety gives me no worries, but on an expected running play, as our base defense will cover, B-dub might be a liability.

On the flip side, I'm tremendously excited about what the Nickel package will look like.  That's a bunch of good cover guys, hopefully enough to give Manning and Brady fits.  Sure, Brian might be better on the outside rather than in the nickel corner position, but the trio of Florence, Mathis, and Williams is pretty stout.

Having Gerald at Strong Safety in the 3 CB defense helps reinforce against a play-action run, which is reassuring.  I do have questions about the decision though.  Is this a true "Brian Williams is a better Strong Safety than Gerald" arrangement, or is there the obvious factor that Williams is due to make significantly more money than Sensabaugh and the talent factor comes second.

I've got no doubt that Williams will be a good SS, I just wonder if Gerald is the better choice.

Your Thoughts?

-Chris

Quick Bytes: The daily digest of everything you need to know about the Jacksonville Jaguars (and other things).

This Blog is not Nancy Grace, therefore I shan't engage in "trial-watch" over Matt Jones.  If you're looking for what's going on with his current criminal case, I suggest clicking here. Otherwise, all I have to say on the issue is that he's still fighting for a place on the team and he's got to keep on performing.  Good things are being said about what he's doing so far, but consistancy has not been Matt's strongest point.

: Former first-round pick Byron Leftwich is now playing for the Pittsburgh Steelers.  Yes, that's a Canadian link.  My thoughts are this are as follows.  1. Should Ben Roethlisberger go down with injury, Byron Leftwich is a sitting duck behind that suspect offensive line. 2. Despite wishing Byron well, it would be very interesting to see him play in Jacksonville this season against the Jaguars.  I'm not sure how positive the welcome would be.

: In Harvey-Watch, the Jaguars and CAA started talking again, though there's no sign of any movement.  Harvey, to the Jaguars chagrin, holds all the cards.  A little bird told me that this is going to end sooner rather than later.  Remember, the press conference that welcomes Harvey to the Jaguars will have both sides praising the other for the well-handled negotiations.  There's no reason to be angry at Harvey, just do what I do and blame the JETS.

: Brian Witherspoon is turning heads.  Just hold onto the ball.  Rashean Mathis is no longer the fastest player on the team, now Witherspoon has to show that he's reliable enough to match his speed.

That's all for now.  I'm working on another round of roster predictions for later today!

-Chris

[Note by River City Rage, 08/11/08 9:25 AM EDT ] Our good friend Zach from Throwing into Traffic was kind enough to offer his take on the Jaguars and the AFC South. 

Every other signal caller in the AFC South had to hold their breath just a little when Peyton’s knee surgery was formally announced. Of course, the fact that the best signal caller (and probably player) in the league’s best division would have something to do with that (Jim Sorgi is not putting the fear of God into anybody), but there’s something more in play here. As much as this is a division about wildly talented teams vying for superiority via excellence (as opposed to, say, the NFC West, where "war of attrition" is a generous description), it is also a division revolving around one singularly gifted player and the way he’s influenced his team. Peyton Manning has, along with Tom Brady, come to define what we think of as the elite modern quarterback. Where Brady, however, looms so large outside of the context of sport that he resists definition within it, Peyton has no such alter-ego. Yes, he’s the league’s most marketable personality, but his marketability is firmly rooted in his game. In becoming that kind of game influencing player, Manning has also created a bit of a power struggle, one that, should he show signs of slowing after his knee surgery, would take place this year in a bizarre vacuum of power, because while every team wants to make the AFC South their own, they have each decided to do so, at least in part, by crafting their own quarterback in the Peyton Manning mold.

This discussion must inevitably bring us to David Garrard. True, Vince Young, when on, has that "I force teams to adapt to me" quality that makes Peyton so dangerous, and Matt Schaub has the look of the kind of traditional pocket quarterback that Manning has made his own, but neither of these two has shown that they’re ready to fit comfortably into the well worn daddy pants that Manning has worn. Garrard, on the other hand, has already flirted with the kind of meticulous perfection that Manning makes appear so easy. To talk about it in terms of numbers diminishes the achievement, but it’s important, so let’s do so. 208-325 (64% completion rate). 7.72 YPA. 18 TDs to 3 INTs. A 102.2 passer rating…which was actually BETTER than Manning’s. Furthermore, Garrard has tasted playoff success earlier in his career than Manning, having led his team to a playoff win as road underdogs and fallen just short of beating Tom Brady (who had to have a damn near perfect game to survive) in his first playoff run. That looks so good on paper that it almost goes through the looking glass on making Jack Del Rio look good for picking Garrard over Jacksonville Fats last year, instead making us all wonder what the hell took so long for Garrard to get the job.

But it gets deeper than just the numbers. There’s a nature produced by that kind of methodical perfection, and it may be in this way that David Garrard has established himself as the heir to the throne of signal callers in the AFC South (and perhaps in all of the NFL). Because where everyone in the division has attempted to copy some sort of assertive quality of Peyton Manning (Young’s imposition on gameplans and Schaub’s big pocket arm), only Garrard has managed to exude the passive dominance that is at the heart of Manning’s signal calling. Garrard’s clean, mistake free game does more than just produce great numbers; it slowly, methodically bludgeons teams to death. This is important to notice, because on this team so much of the credit for wearing opponents down has gone to their turf war style of running game, and no attention has been paid to the fact that Garrard is posing his own spirit breaking quandary to opponents. Where the ground game makes teams brace for impact, often to the point of discovering they’re nowhere near ready to outlast the assault, Garrard’s passing game has simply become automatic to the point that opponents are left scrambling to invent solutions to a problem they can’t fully understand (largely thanks to the fact that if they really take the time to attack Garrard’s air game, the aforementioned torture of the run game resumes). New game plans have weaknesses; figure them out and you beat them (hence Vince Young’s struggles in Tennessee). But when it’s nothing new, but instead a brutal mastery of proven techniques that is killing teams, how do you stop it? What new system can you invent to throw off the perfection of the established order? Oh, and can you do it before the Jaguars have eaten 40 minutes off of the clock?

That is what makes David Garrard different than every other signal caller in the AFC South not named Peyton, even as all three have tried to become the "next Manning." Maybe it isn’t the imposition of will so much as the simple embodiment of what is that makes Manning terrifying to play against for opponents. Maybe it’s a bit sad to think that you don’t get to impose your identity on the game, but maybe that’s just the price of becoming "great". Revolutionary players are nice and all, but they come and go and wind up answers to trivia questions; players who master the old wind up with busts in Canton. If that is in fact the case, then it is Garrard’s perfection of a game that has existed outside of himself, rather than his colleagues’ attempts to change the game to their strengths, that will win out in the end, an end that could be coming much sooner than any of us think.

-Zach

Mkristo Bruce: Welcome to the Jacksonville Jaguars

Introduction:

If you went back in time to just before training camp, you'll remember that the Jaguars signed a little known defensive end from the Washington State COUGARS (h/t Mr. Marlow).  Mkristo Bruce, or MK as Jack Del Rio calls him, emerged during the Jaguars preseason game on Saturday where he surprised everyone with 2.5 sacks and made the positional battle for the 5th defensive end spot just a little more interesting.  Since only the most die hard of Pac-Ten football fans and Badger Alumni would have any clue as to what Bruce has been up two since signing with the Miami Dolphins as an undrafted free agent after the 2007 draft. 

Mkristo's NFL career has found himself on a few practice squads but little else.  Miami and Oakland tried him out, but it didn't pan out.  When the Jaguars signed him, the team made it clear that he was picked up as a "backup plan" in case Derrick Harvey held out.  As fate would have it, Harvey is holding out (despite my declaration a month ago that it was "improbable" that he would do so), and MK gets a chance to shine.

Let's take a quick look at who he is, where he comes from, and what sort of chances he has to make the roster.

Video Killed the Scouting Report:

Scout's Take:

Positives:

Productive collegiate defensive end who has improved throughout his career. Has rare size for the position. Better pass rusher than he is a natural football player. Gets an advantage on the offensive tackle and can capitalize with good short-area quickness and strength in his tackling.

Negatives:

Lacks quickness off the snap and acceleration around the offensive tackle. Isn't explosive and makes too many plays down the field. Despite size, Bruce isn't a particularly physical defender and can be knocked off the line of scrimmage.

Notable Quotables:

Jack Del Rio:

“First of all I call him MK because it’s easier to pronounce.  He had 14 sacks one year at Washington State.  He’s got some natural rush ability. He did some good things. We really signed him in case (Derrick) Harvey held out, we were going to give him a chance and we told him when we signed him that ‘look, if Harvey reports tomorrow you’re going to be gone after one day, but we’d like to get a look at you.’ And he was eager to get into camp and he’s done a nice job for himself.  He’s come in here and worked hard.  He’s got some decent size and has a frame that he can grow a little bit and he has done a nice job representing himself taking advantage of the opportunity and given himself a shot to make a favorable impression.  So, we’ll see.  A couple weeks into it, he’s done a nice job working at it.”

Will he make the Roster?

Mkristo took advantage of an opening during the Atlanta game to get noticed and make some noise in the ever important roster battle at the bottom of the defensive end depth chart.  His 2.5 sacks are impressive, but he'll have to show next week that he can keep it up.  The eventual arrivial of Harvey in camp will bring his rising star back to the back burner, of course, but for right now he's a player to watch.

There's something to be said about a player who can recognize when the stakes are high, coming out and making noise against second and third team offensive linemen is good, but securing a roster spot is by no means a sure thing.  Remember, these are the Jaguars who just signed Bo Schobel to replace James Wyche, leaving a mess of guys competing for one spot.

The lesson I've learned through the last week is to never get excited about players who emerge, cause they're all getting injured a week later.  So keep an eye out, but remember, it's just the preseason.

-Chris

  VERSUS 

Who: The Jacksonville Jaguars versus the Atlanta Falcons

Where: Jacksonville Municipal Stadium, Jacksonville Florida, 7:30 PM

Where do I watch it/listen to it:  I'll be watching the game at the Kerr's Winghouse in Daytona Beach, if anyone is interested in joining me.  The game will be broadcast over the radio on WOKV.  On TV, the game should be on these stations:

WTEV 47 (CBS) - Jacksonville
WRBW 65 (MY) - Orlando
WMYG 11 (MY) - Gainesville
WTXL 27 (ABC) - Tallahassee
WSAV DT 2 (MY) - Savannah

(So if you're trying to watch the game in Missouri, for example, you might have to find a sports bar, or watch the rebroadcast on the NFL network.

Game Preview:

It's preseason, why should I care?

Easy really, the first preseason game will be our first chance to see what sort of team the Jaguars will have this season.  Typically, the main goal of the preseason is to challenge players in position battles and keep your starters healthy, but Jack Del Rio has a pretty difficult job ahead of him.  You see, the Jaguars open the season at Tennessee and face the rest of the AFC South in September.  This means that they have to be ready to play November style football in the first week of September.  Del Rio's teams are known to start a little slow, this year there's no time to screw around.

So watch the game, note how long the starters are on the field.  Look at how first team players do against Atlanta's first team.  Look at how the line protects David Garrard, are they working like a tight unit as they did last year or do all the position shifts effect their performance?

Three Burning Questions:

1. What will we talk about on Monday, Injuries or Performance?  I'm starting to get very worried about the Jaguars recent stroke of bad luck in the injury department.  The team is getting to a point where it can not take another serious injury, especially at wide receiver.  Mike Walker and Co. need to do whatever it takes to survive the game and stay healthy. 

2. Speaking of wide receivers, will our question mark receivers step up?  Matt Jones and Troy Williamson are practically the number 2 and 3 receivers on the roster right now, giving the Jaguars freakish speed and no on-the-field results.  These guys are having good camps, but must demonstrate in the preseason games that they've repented for past sins.

3. Is this the week where Justin Durrant replaces Clint Ingram at linebacker?  As we discussed during the long offseason, Durrant and Ingram are fighting for the starting job.  Ingram is nicked up, therefore Justin gets a chance to shine tonight and possibly lock up his spot at the top of the depth chart.

Expectations:

I expect to see the Jaguars hold their fancy playbook adventures on the sideline for at least the first week.  While the Jaguars probably want to see the results of the new Gregg Williams defense, they'd probably like to keep it up their sleeve for as long as possible.  In other words, don't freak out if the Jaguars fail to sack Atlanta more than 12 times. 

I expect everyone to enjoy the fact that finally, after so many months, the Jacksonville Jaguars are taking the field in a vaguely real football game.

I'll be liveblogging the game, but if you're in the Daytona Area, please feel free to drop by the Kerr's Winghouse.  I'll be in a black Maurice Jones-Drew jersey.

-Chris

James Wyche: Another one bites the dust...

The Jaguars have yet another injury that is knocking a young promising player out of action for the entire season.  First it was Fullback Anthony Cotrone, now it's Defensive End James Wyche.  James, as you might have heard, was having a fantastic camp.  His performance is one of the many factors that makes the Jaguars hold such a strong position over Derrick Harvey as the DE corps was holding its own.  Wyche would have probably been the 5th DE on the depth chart behind Spicer, Hayward, Groves, and Harvey, but his performance was starting to turn some heads.

Now Wyche will spend his second season on Injured Reserve, this time with a torn Achillies Tendon, an injury which we know can take two years to recover from.  The "Jar on the Shelf" of Wyche is quicking turning into an injury nightmare.

The Jaguars will have to sign a DE to replace him as a camp body, but the biggest "winner" in this situation is Derrick Harvey, who is now needed on the field as quickly as possible to fill out the DE group.  Kenny Pettway and Undrafted Free Agent Alex Boston also add a few more reps to their resume, with long shots becoming slightly more favored to win a role.

The Jaguars are begining to fail the "stay healthy" part of training camp.  This concerns me greatly.

-Chris