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Alan Schmadtke | Sentinel Staff Writer
Posted August 28, 2006
Nowhere in the Jacksonville Jaguars locker room is there any justification that Miami, Carolina and Tampa Bay represent some of the stronger defenses in the NFL, so preseason offensive struggles shouldn't be so surprising.
Just this: "They're really solid defenses. They're good tests for us down the road," Jags C Brad Meester said. "This will make us better."
The hard truth from Saturday night's 29-18 exhibition triumph over the Buccaneers is the Jags' offense is supplying more questions than answers.
And the first-team offense isn't scheduled to play much Thursday night at Atlanta, the final tune-up prior to a regular-season opener that appears daunting.
Forget T.O. The first-team defense of the Dallas Cowboys, who come to Alltel Stadium on Sept. 10, has allowed only three points in three preseason games.
That sounds familiar: the Jags' first-team offense has scored only three points in three games against opposing No. 1s.
On one hand, the Jags rushed for 149 yards against Tampa Bay.
On the other, they gave up five sacks. Byron Leftwich went down four times behind the first-team line, running his preseason total to seven.
"Things happen, and we learn from them," G Vince Manuwai said. "Four of us [on the line] have been together four years . . . and we were 12-4 last year. I don't think we're going to panic. Last year we gave up six sacks at Indy and when Indy came here they had no sacks."
This isn't dump time on the line. The circle of accountability is a wide one.
On the first series of the game, Fred Taylor ripped off runs of 5, 6 and 6 yards -- nothing fancy -- and the Jags looked fine. Then Leftwich fumbled when he failed to protect the ball scrambling away from trouble.
Leftwich did throw a touchdown pass to Matt Jones, that against the Bucs' backups.
"You always want to play well your third game. We didn't do that," said Leftwich, who is 23-for-36 passing for 319 yards, 2 touchdowns and 1 interception in preseason.
"I don't know how long we're going to get [against Atlanta], but hopefully we take advantage of the time we're out there. [But] I personally think we're a better football team than we were last year."
"Football is a team game and requires good blocking, good ball-handling, good crisp routes, the ball thrown on time -- all those things," Coach Jack Del Rio said. "We weren't in sync. . . . It's never as bad as it looks or as good as it looks."
With the regular season 13 days away, Jacksonville would like to have a chance to see what sustained good offense looks like.
Nice snare
Jacksonville's most extraordinary catch came courtesy of LB Nick Greisen, a one-handed interception he credited to countless hours of playing boyhood receiver for his quarterback brother.
LINK
Posted August 28, 2006
Nowhere in the Jacksonville Jaguars locker room is there any justification that Miami, Carolina and Tampa Bay represent some of the stronger defenses in the NFL, so preseason offensive struggles shouldn't be so surprising.
Just this: "They're really solid defenses. They're good tests for us down the road," Jags C Brad Meester said. "This will make us better."
The hard truth from Saturday night's 29-18 exhibition triumph over the Buccaneers is the Jags' offense is supplying more questions than answers.
And the first-team offense isn't scheduled to play much Thursday night at Atlanta, the final tune-up prior to a regular-season opener that appears daunting.
Forget T.O. The first-team defense of the Dallas Cowboys, who come to Alltel Stadium on Sept. 10, has allowed only three points in three preseason games.
That sounds familiar: the Jags' first-team offense has scored only three points in three games against opposing No. 1s.
On one hand, the Jags rushed for 149 yards against Tampa Bay.
On the other, they gave up five sacks. Byron Leftwich went down four times behind the first-team line, running his preseason total to seven.
"Things happen, and we learn from them," G Vince Manuwai said. "Four of us [on the line] have been together four years . . . and we were 12-4 last year. I don't think we're going to panic. Last year we gave up six sacks at Indy and when Indy came here they had no sacks."
This isn't dump time on the line. The circle of accountability is a wide one.
On the first series of the game, Fred Taylor ripped off runs of 5, 6 and 6 yards -- nothing fancy -- and the Jags looked fine. Then Leftwich fumbled when he failed to protect the ball scrambling away from trouble.
Leftwich did throw a touchdown pass to Matt Jones, that against the Bucs' backups.
"You always want to play well your third game. We didn't do that," said Leftwich, who is 23-for-36 passing for 319 yards, 2 touchdowns and 1 interception in preseason.
"I don't know how long we're going to get [against Atlanta], but hopefully we take advantage of the time we're out there. [But] I personally think we're a better football team than we were last year."
"Football is a team game and requires good blocking, good ball-handling, good crisp routes, the ball thrown on time -- all those things," Coach Jack Del Rio said. "We weren't in sync. . . . It's never as bad as it looks or as good as it looks."
With the regular season 13 days away, Jacksonville would like to have a chance to see what sustained good offense looks like.
Nice snare
Jacksonville's most extraordinary catch came courtesy of LB Nick Greisen, a one-handed interception he credited to countless hours of playing boyhood receiver for his quarterback brother.
LINK