Jacksonville Jaguars - Orange is the New Black

Is there a time machine available such that we can draft Watson or Mahomes instead of Fragile Fournette?

 

He was banged up for one season. But he's been a puss in the pros.

 

I won’t make excuses for him but he’s all we got so I will get behind him. Good guy with limited skill set.

I definitely don’t think we are helping him though. Hackett was trying to get way too cute yesterday. And Parnell was dog shit. Afraid the injuries on OL may add up to be too much to overcome.

 

Good article

https://theathletic.com/576724/2018...hts-from-the-jaguars-meltdown-in-kansas-city/

 

The Jaguars entered Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City on Sunday with the goal of establishing themselves as the team to beat in the AFC. They left with more questions than answers.

Here are five day-after thoughts from the Jags’ 30-14 loss to the Chiefs.

1. Offensive-line woes
Blake Bortles was not adequate by any means Sunday, turning the ball over five times (including four interceptions) in a reality-check defeat that falls largely on his shoulders. But it’s worth mentioning that he was under siege the entire game. The Jaguars offensive line was outmatched, overpowered and dominated from start to finish by the Chiefs’ defensive front.

Jags right tackle Jermey Parnell had a particularly miserable afternoon. Kansas City outside linebacker Dee Ford used his speed around the edge to abuse Parnell snap after snap after snap. Even with Ford nursing a groin injury — he was questionable for the game — Parnell didn’t stand a chance.

We’ll go in chronological order to keep things neat and tidy.

This was on the Jaguars’ opening possession. Parnell is matched up with Ford at the top of the shot.



Ford fools Parnell with a hesitation move and gets pressure on Bortles, who is forced to dump it off to T.J. Yeldon. The pass is off target and falls for an incompletion.

In the second quarter, Ford beats Parnell again on what ended up being a turning point in the game. With the Jaguars trailing 10-0, Tashaun Gipson had picked off Patrick Mahomes and set the offense up in plus territory. Then on the first play of the possession, this happened.



Ford blows right past Parnell and strips Bortles. The Chiefs recover. That was just one of the three sacks Parnell had a hand in.

The other two came on back-to-back plays in the fourth quarter.



There was a clear miscommunication here. With two rushers on the right edge of the offensive line, Parnell presumably has to be responsible for one of them.

On the play below, Ford beats Parnell again with an edge rush, forcing Bortles to step up in the pocket and into pressure. (Ford was ejected after this play for taunting Bortles, which was his second unsportsmanlike-conduct penalty of the afternoon.)



This is only the beginning of the Jaguars’ offensive line problems, however.

Backup left tackle Josh Wells — who’s been starting in place of Cam Robinson (out for the season with a torn left ACL) — suffered a groin injury in the first half. That forced third-stringer Josh Walker into action, and it went predictably poorly.

On Bortles’ much-talked-about helmet interception, when he fired a pass directly into the head of right guard A.J. Cann, Walker was beat on the left edge by — you guessed it — Dee Ford.



Ford had his way with the Jaguars line. The Chiefs finished with five sacks and 11 QB hits. Numbers like that are rarely going to help an already underwhelming offense.

Marrone said Monday that Wells is week-to-week, meaning the Jags could be forced to start a third-string left tackle this coming weekend at the Cowboys. Marrone wouldn’t commit to Walker as the starter, instead saying he would look at several options. Rookie Will Richardson Jr., the Jags’ fourth-round pick this past spring, is certainly in the conversation.

2. Running back conundrum
After Corey Grant went down with a season-ending foot injury on his first carry of the game in the second quarter, the Jaguars were stuck in a precarious position. Leonard Fournette (hamstring) was inactive, leaving Jacksonville with just two active running backs — Yeldon and rookie Brandon Wilds.

Marrone and the coaching staff did not trust Wilds in pass protection. As a result, they played Yeldon an absurd 77 of 83 snaps, even though he’s dealing with an ankle injury and isn’t 100 percent. Wilds played just three snaps.

You rarely see a running back play over 80 percent of the snaps in today’s NFL, with most teams relying on two- and even three-back rotations. Fournette did it only one time all last season. Yeldon played 93 percent on a gimpy ankle.

Wilds simply hasn’t developed enough to understand the intricacies of NFL protections. He was, after all, the fourth running back on the depth chart entering this season. And if everything went according to plan, Wilds wasn’t going to be active for any game this season.

Of course, everything has not gone to plan. And Wilds was forced into action Sunday in passing formations. On a first-and-10 early in the fourth quarter, he botched a protection that led to one of the Chiefs’ five sacks.



At this point, the Jags have to add at least one running back — either via signing or trade. Fournette will likely be out through the the bye week, and at this point, they can’t play Brandon Wilds. So for all intents and purposes, the Jaguars are without a backup running back.

The team worked out Orleans Darkwa and Matt Dayes last week. They are both still on the market.

The Jags have the cap space to take on the remainder of Le’Veon Bell’s contract, but that seems like a far-fetched fix. The Steelers will ask for a haul — reportedly at least a second-round pick AND a “good” player — and I don’t think the Jacksonville front office is willing to give up that much.

But the team will do something this week. That much is certain.

3. Curious play calling
On their first possession of the second quarter, the Jaguars took over at the 25-yard line and marched 72 yards on 11 plays, including 51 yards rushing on six carries. They faced a third-and-2 from the Chiefs’ 4-yard line. And this is the play they ran.



It was a curious play call, considering how successful the Jags had been on the ground on that drive. They went with an empty backfield and attempted to take advantage of the Chiefs in man-to-man with a fade route to Donte Moncrief.

They then went for it on fourth down, only adding more question marks to the third-down call. Why not run it on third down if you know you’re going to go for it regardless?

The fourth-down pass attempt from Bortles was intended for Austin Seferian-Jenkins but fell incomplete.



Marrone provided a lengthy explanation Monday.

“It’s like anything else, you’re always going to look back — and I’m never going to defend something that doesn’t work. I can only give you guys the thought process of going to it. So when we go into third-and-2, we knew it’d probably be Cover 0. We thought about going to a heavy personnel grouping, OK, and going to goal line, basically, out there. And we just didn’t feel comfortable with that personnel group. We didn’t feel that matchup was as good as them going Cover 0 and being one-on-one with Moncrief. So that’s why we made that decision.”

This comes across as a lack of trust in the Jags’ short-yardage package — from the running backs to the tight ends to the offensive line. If Fournette is active, it’s likely they feed him in that situation. But the Jags are not healthy right now, and it’s affecting Nathaniel Hackett’s play-calling.



“You’re always going to look back — and I’m never going to defend something that doesn’t work,” said Jaguars coach Doug Marrone of the team’s play call on third-and-2 from the Chiefs’ 4-yard line. “I can only give you guys the thought process of going to it.” (Jay Biggerstaff / USA TODAY Sports)
4. Another offensive piece goes down
Seferian-Jenkins is being placed on injured reserve because of a serious core muscle injury he’s been battling for the better part of six weeks. Marrone said Monday that Seferian-Jenkins is eligible to return this season. The tight end will have surgery Tuesday morning. Grant was also placed on IR, but his designation is season-ending.

The Jags’ offensive players are dropping like flies. And with an inconsistent quarterback running the show, it’s not clear how the offense is going to improve. The injuries are a major concern.

5. Some positive notes
If you’re in need of silver linings, here you go:

• DJ Chark had by far the best and most productive game of his rookie season, catching two passes for 68 yards, including this 38-yard snag.



Chark did a fantastic job of adjusting his body and finding the ball. With so many players sidelined, an emergence from Chark could be enormous for this offense.

• Logan Cooke might have been the Jaguars’ best player on Sunday. Tyreek Hill, the Chiefs’ All-Pro return specialist, mustered just two punt return yards all game.

This kick early in the third quarter was saucy.



You know it was a bad weekend for the Jags when the punter is getting highlighted.

 

Hays Carlyon put out a incredibly stupid column stating that Todd Wash should be fired immediately. Boselli has been going off on him. It's been great