Grading the Jaguar Game

We put on a good show ... providing we were a Capers coached girl scout troop.

WR - Grade=B+. Can't complain. Mistakes were made but, Walter and Anderson were good. Davis lost his concentration a couple of times and premier receivers don't do that.

TE - Grade=B+. Daniels is excellent and we just need to utilize him more and especially in the red zone. (Repeat comment from last week!)

Oline - Grade=D. True colors are coming out and the team is reaping its lack of attention to the weakest part of this team.

QB - Grade = C-. Missed 2 receivers in the end zone. If DC had this game last year EVERYBODY would be destroying him. Schaub is better but, the lack of talent around him is starting to take its toll on him. Hmmm.....

RB - Grade=C-. Green is okay and Gado looked better than Dayne has and that's not saying much.

FB - Grade=D. Non-factor.

DLine - Grade=D-. Good start and then disappeared.

MLB - Grade=D. Too many tackles 5-9 yards down field. (Repeat of last week's comment)

OLB - Grade=F+. Just one mark above horrible.

CB - Grade=B-. Robinson is our best defender and the others were not too bad.

S - Grade=D. We just don't have the talent here.

ST - Grade=B-. Kris Brown is having a great year and Turk is good, too. No returns to speak of and our coverages were good.

Coaching - Grade=F. No more excuses. We have no continuity on offense. I know you will blame our injuries but, on our very first drive we come out throwing (a miracle in itself) and move right down the field by passing the ball. Then we get a 1st and goal inside the 5 and we RUN the ball 3 consecutive times!!! This is PATHETIC play calling. Then, at the end of the 1st half we have a 3rd and 9 deep around our 25 and we RUN the freakin' ball!!! PATHETIC play calling. MEMO TO COACHING STAFF: This team CANNOT run the ball especially in crucial times so DON'T TRY because you are not fooling anybody but yourselves. We are still too passive on offense.

And the defense is WORSE. Obviously we are playing not to give up the big play so teams are just driving our defense into oblivion! We are just slowly but, surely playing to lose games. When we actually do blitz our scheme/technique is bad. We need to be agressive on defense. By mid-way thru the 2nd quarter our defense is exhausted from long drives and has lost its effectiveness. If we are agressive and give up the big play, at least it gets our defense off the field and our offense on the field. Plus, we would have more chances to make big plays on defense and create turnovers. With our passive approach we have little chance to make big plays and create turnovers and we just methodically lose games.

I do think we can bounce back and beat the Titans this next week ...... especially if VY is out.

This game was very dissappointing but, I'm still looking at a positive 7-9 or 8-8 year with a significantly improved team over last year.

Okay that's my take on it, what's yours?

And I forgot to say that we tackle like girl scouts, too!

Man, that was a frustrating game to watch.
I've been a Kubiak's guy... but to see the team so ill-prepared... things they do to "spice up" the running game... things they work on to improve the redzone offense... how we couldn't counter the Jags' adjusment in the second half on both sides of the ball.

This time, I'll have to agree with McClain on a failing grade for the coaching staff.

When you can't score a TD in 5 posessions inside or very near to the redzone (3, 10, 19, 16, 23 - not to mention the INT on the 32), it's unacceptable... and for that I have to give most if not all on the offensive side an F as well, particularly MS, for he's the QB.

Why even bother to fix the redzone blues.
Just have Gado running into the back of the O-linemen 3 times on each posession, kill some clock, and kick the FG. (LOL, I'm ranting here, because it's just...)

I don't know if we should even bother grading the players. I might rewatch the game; however, to see how we failed to adjust in the second half, especially on defense, when the Jags stayed away from the pressure with short passes and running all over the place, mostly to the right or up the gut.

(When they hardly try any pass deep, the back four can't look too bad, now can they?)

It was frustrating. This team is what they are though. Not very good on their worst days and very good on their best days.

Mike

Coaching was a huge weakness in this game. The offensive playcalling in the redzone is horrible. And the play calling after the fumble was bad too. Thats what let jville hang around. No reason why we didnt have a 17-0 lead. 2 runs and a very predictable QB draw? Freakin pathetic. How about a freakin naked boot? Or a play action to the FB, which works more times than not for a yard. Or a tight end screen? Or anything that is NOT a dive right at the strength of the defense. I almost lost my lunch pon this game, because Jacksonville is not a better team than us. Its close, but not 37-9. I dont even count the other touchdown. Just awful.

It's really hard to judg playcalling on offense.

Because if something works...its a good play no matter what formation the defense is in. The Jags could stack 8 guys in the box, and pinch in...and we can run a running play inside...usually it wouldn't work because the defense called the right play...but what if Ahman breaks two tackles and goes for 10 or more yards...then everyone says good play.

I think the QB draw play in the endzone was a good play, it was just poorly executed. Schaub should have walked in but the DTs on the Jags were just better than our interior lineman.

That's why coaches say it doesn't matter if they know what you are about to do if you execute well. If we would have executed well we would have left the 1st qtr with a good lead. If our Oline would have pushed their line Green could have got a TD, if they blocked better Schaub could have walked in, and then if Andre Davis just walks in the endzone...execution and not many people would blame the offensive playcalling. I don't ever see a 15 yard gain and someone says "Oh wow...that was a bad playcall...bad decision."

Now the defensive playcalling is different. Because you have to execute...but guys have to be in the right place. Guys dropping back in Zones when the offense is going to throw a screen pass is good for 5 yards. Our guys on defense sometimes do not seem to be in the right place.

The special teams deserves an F for that onside kick. That was embarassing.

Bad preparation:

When you have that many players missing assignments, late to get to the point of attack (or wherever he's supposed to be - and not the fact that they were outplayed by the guy on the opposite end), hitting the wrong guy... game after game, it's the coaching.

When the pulling guard (Pitt and Weary) get to the hole late for several reasons, including running into another lineman.

Or the FB or the TE fail to recognize that they have to pick up certain defensive players (missing the block is different, that's on the player).

When the QB is not fully aware of a defensive player who was optioned (game after game)

At least once, when the QB and the ball carrier (including on reverse) are not in tune on the exchange after a third of the season had gone by.

Questionable play calling:
(in the redzone to be specific)

Why do you go away from what you have been doing succesful to get there.
Sure, there's limited space to work in the RZ.
But where's the TE, the FB or the RB in a pass play?

I don't have the game film of this one, but I watched other games, and my observation is that MS is still lacking in this area, he had some options, but fail to chose the right one a little more than I would like.
He needs to improve here.

Let's look at this comparatively.
(I may miscount, but the general idea is there).

MS in the redzone 4 times:
7 running plays + a sneak
5 passes to the WRs, 2 to the TEs
zero TD

SR in the RZ one time:
1 running play + 1 sneak
3 passes to the TEs, 1 to the FB
1 TD
(SR did complete once to Walter on 1-10 on the 26 for 6 yd.)

How much is definite play calling?
How much is QB option?

Leahmic223 said:

It's really hard to judg playcalling on offense.

Because if something works...its a good play no matter what formation the defense is in. The Jags could stack 8 guys in the box, and pinch in...and we can run a running play inside...usually it wouldn't work because the defense called the right play...but what if Ahman breaks two tackles and goes for 10 or more yards...then everyone says good play.

I think the QB draw play in the endzone was a good play, it was just poorly executed. Schaub should have walked in but the DTs on the Jags were just better than our interior lineman.

That's why coaches say it doesn't matter if they know what you are about to do if you execute well. If we would have executed well we would have left the 1st qtr with a good lead. If our Oline would have pushed their line Green could have got a TD, if they blocked better Schaub could have walked in, and then if Andre Davis just walks in the endzone...execution and not many people would blame the offensive playcalling. I don't ever see a 15 yard gain and someone says "Oh wow...that was a bad playcall...bad decision."

Now the defensive playcalling is different. Because you have to execute...but guys have to be in the right place. Guys dropping back in Zones when the offense is going to throw a screen pass is good for 5 yards. Our guys on defense sometimes do not seem to be in the right place.

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I liked the call of a QB draw, but a play before. 2nd down it would have been a little more suprising. The part about it that got me was that a friend of mine and I were watching the game and called it in an instant. Too predictable. We arent a good enough team to be that predictable. NE can do that to ya because there really freakin good. The Colts tell you the play before the snap and you cant stop it. We cant do that. We have to finagle favorable match-ups. We have to use a little trickery. And we have to use passing plays like a run game because we cant line up and enforce our will. Its just simpley true. The truth is we had so many chances to make them play down by 20 points and we didnt. As stated before, we arent good enough to miss oppertunities and still win.

DiehardChris said:

The special teams deserves an F for that onside kick. That was embarassing.

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The announcer said it works 80% of the time when it's run unexpectedly and in the middle of a game like that. I don't really blame our players. I think a new rule is in order: you can't do an onside kick without declaring it first.

An 80% success rate is rediculous, and the only people on our team that I'm mad at about that is our coaches for not doing it and doing it often themselves.

The kicker booted the ball nice and easy and followed it for 10 yds., and fell on it. I'm sorry, but that's just STUPID for the league to allow that when the receiving team's front line is falling back to block and has no way of even suspecting it. They ought to at least say the kicker can't receive his own freaking kick, when nobody else has touched it yet. Next they'll be letting QBs throw one yard passes to themselves at the goal-line. They'll shatter the touchdown passing records by miles.

PS-Props to Del Rio for doing it, even though it's just stupid unfair. I'm sure most coaches would say it's not worth the risk, it's not a wise move, etc., etc.

HJam72 said:

The announcer said it works 80% of the time when it's run unexpectedly and in the middle of a game like that. I don't really blame our players. I think a new rule is in order: you can't do an onside kick without declaring it first.

An 80% success rate is rediculous, and the only people on our team that I'm mad at about that is our coaches for not doing it and doing it often themselves.

The kicker booted the ball nice and easy and followed it for 10 yds., and fell on it. I'm sorry, but that's just STUPID for the league to allow that when the receiving team's front line is falling back to block and has no way of even suspecting it. They ought to at least say the kicker can't receive his own freaking kick, when nobody else has touched it yet. Next they'll be letting QBs throw one yard passes to themselves at the goal-line. They'll shatter the touchdown passing records by miles.

PS-Props to Del Rio for doing it, even though it's just stupid unfair. I'm sure most coaches would say it's not worth the risk, it's not a wise move, etc., etc.

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dude...how long you been watching football? On a kickoff, it's a free ball, always has been after ten yards. There is no way that the announcers 80% number was researched....I find that hard to believe...I've been watching football or participating since the early 70's and on-sides kicks just aren't recovered at that kind of clip.

If it was 80%..

1) More teams would be doing it.

2) More teams would be wary of it.

The simple fact is that the Jags were playing well and catching a lot of breaks. The Texans on the other hand, were playing poorly and without focus, leading to almost nothing breaking their way.

I don't think he meant onside kicks in general; i.e. the expected ones when the other team knows it's coming.

80% sounds about right when the other team is not expecting and all front line blockers have their backs turned and are running away from the ball.

I'm mad we didn't think of it. Being the Offense geniuses we are.

I've read a couple of places, and they say overall, the number is in a low 20%.

The number for a surprise kick is about 60% (but it also said that the sample was small).

Nevertheless, Kubiak said that shouldn't have happened.

DiehardChris said:

The special teams deserves an F for that onside kick. That was embarassing.

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I dunno.... Dreessen almost took it to the house!



We would have won that game if we could have capitalized in the RZ. I agree that it was a failure by the coaching staff.

That onside kick was absolute perfect timing. The Jags basically got 3 offensive series in a row. That will wear out your D and take you Offense out of rhythm.

Er, you can throw out 80% or any stats you want.

The reason they tried the onside kick is because they watched game film and saw the Texans front line on kick returns were beginning their 'lean' or backpedal a step or two earlier than they should have been. Now that it's happened, I'm sure they won't do that anymore. The special teams have been GREAT this season so far - so that's one blemish amongst a lot of great work... still, it was a coaching mistake to not catch on to that trend.