Scouting Jaguars offense
What type of offense are the Patriots facing Saturday night against the Jaguars?
Here is a look at how Jacksonville utilized its skill-position personnel in Saturday night's win over the Steelers:
QB David Garrard -- 54 of 54 snaps
TE Marcedes Lewis -- 49 of 54
WR Ernest Wilford -- 42 of 54
WR Dennis Northcutt -- 33 of 54
FB Greg Jones -- 33 of 54
RB Maurice Jones-Drew -- 29 of 54
WR Reggie Williams -- 27 of 54
RB Fred Taylor -- 24 of 54
TE Richard Angulo -- 23 of 54
WR Matt Jones -- 4 of 54
TE Isaac Smolko -- 3 of 54
ANALYSIS: The most dangerous weapons are at running back with Fred Taylor and Maurice Jones-Drew. The Jaguars used the hard-charging Taylor more early in the game to establish the run, before turning to Jones-Drew almost exclusively in the second half. ... Jones-Drew is the the most dynamic player on offense and he's a challenge to handle on multiple fronts: 1) At 5-foot-7, he is hard to locate at times behind his big lead blockers; 2) His low center of gravity means defenders must be disciplined in their tackling technique; 3) He is a dangerous threat coming out of the backfield catching the ball, especially when matched up against bigger linebackers. ... More than half of the Jaguars formations came with a lead fullback (Greg Jones). ... Top tight end Marcedes Lewis, a 2006 first-round pick who at 6-6, 270 adds to the bulk up front, is not much of a threat in the passing game. ... The Jaguars also don't have any receivers that truly threaten the outer edges of the field, so much of the game was played between the hash marks and close to the line of scrimmage (David Garrard had just 9 completions). ... That plays to the strength of the offensive line, which is a tough, oversized unit and sets the tone for the running game.
The most telling part about this is "David Garrard had just 9 completions". What's our coach's MO? Take away what they do best. We will go up on them early and force Garrard to throw the the ball. The last time we saw them in the playoffs, we beat them 28 - 3. I'm expecting something similar in terms of point differential. We will most certainly cover the spread. They will have to blitz to get pressure and #12 will have them for supper. It will be tough but the Patriots are used to it. They've been playing at playoff tempo for about a month now.
Didn't somebody on the Jags go off in a cart on Sat? What's the injury situ for them?
How is Nick Kaczur doing?
The Jaguars weakness on the offensive line are the two tackles (Barnes and Pashos). If we can get them in 3rd and long situations where we can attack those two their offense will struggle.
In looking at the Jags receiving corp of Wilford, Northcutt, Williams and, Jones-Drew...they all averaged over 10 yards per catch during the season. If you look at their TEs (led by Lewis) they too averaged over 10 yards per catch. In Sunday's game their WRs averaged well over 15 yards per catch. Beyond that Garrard uses his receivers to make first downs. Garrard, during the season, completed 64% of his passes. Versus the Steelers he was considerably worse than that at 42%.
This team will give the Pats the test they need to prove their mettle. If the Pats win the stakes and difficulty factor will go up in the next round.
Methinks the best defense will be the Patriots offense.
Ya Patriots betta eat yar clam chowda or baked beans, because the Jaguars are gonna throw ya in the watta just like the Baston Tea Paddy. And it'll be wicked awesome! Then we'll have a pawdy pawk and throw dawts at ya. ha ha ha
Don't the Patriots have a lot of problems with "over-sized offensive lines"?
I expect a ton of problems.
What really amazed me about the stats, is the total number of offensive plays (of which I'm sure some were truly offensive ;-). I am so used to seeing the stats of the Pats' games with 65 - 68 plays being executed. While they may have a 50/50 split on run/pass, it seems to me that the Jags won't have enough opportunity to stay in this.
Mike Allen, you're posting something negative every week against the Patriots. Really guy, you need to get a life. And it's rooting for a team that makes sports fun, rooting against a team is just petty and childish. This will be a good game. The Pats should score 40+ pretty easily, weather permitting. It'll be interesting to see how the Pats defense tries to stop a good running game. Garrard isn't scary as a passer but is much better than the other guy they had.
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