With the public sessions of camp winding down to the final few, the Jaguars have been adding new wrinkles to the practices in an effort to continue to adding layers to their play book. 

The team took the field shelled tonight, but contact was still kept to an absolute minimum.  The humidity was up a bit, and the practice was a little bit more spirited than we have seen in recent days, with the blitz packages and defensive schemes becoming more complex and aggressive as they prepare for the upcoming pre-season game against Atlanta.

The players that did not participate in practice tonight included the usual list of suspects: Chad Nkang, Jeremy Mincey, George Wrighster, Jerry Porter, Reggie Williams, Derrick Harvey, and Brad Meester. 

Porter did some running and stretching exercises before heading back to the locker room.  Meester was in a sling, and appeared to be in pretty good spirits, agreeing to talk to the press after practice tonight.  Reggie Hayward did not participate tonight, more than likely to allow him to rest the hamstring that has been giving him some issues over the past few days.

Clint Ingram was carted off with a left ankle or foot injury before the team even started stretching.  It did not appear to be too serious, but they took every precaution in order to get him back to the locker room quickly to evaluate the injury.  The same thing happened with Theo Horrocks later on in the practice session as he rolled his right ankle during 7 x 7 drills.

After all that set up, let’s get to the drills.

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2 x 1 passing drills (Red Zone):

Mike Walker showed uncharacteristically suspect hands during the drill, dropping the first pass, and allowing Gerald Sensabaugh to reach in on another one to bat the ball away.  Once he got the yips out of the way, he stepped up his efforts and had a solid practice.

David continues to have consistency issues with throwing an effective fade route.  He was not alone in his struggles as Cleo Lemon also had sporadic difficulty with the fades as well.  Garrard and Lemon did hit a few, but the level of consistency was not where it needs to be for either player.

Troy Williamson looked solid in the drill, making a great adjustment on one particular play where he was covered by Rashean Mathis.  It was one of the good fade passes that Garrard threw, putting the ball up and over the top of coverage.  It was to the wrong shoulder, but Williamson made a great adjustment to go up and get the ball over Mathis.

Garrard also hit Matt Jones on a couple of fades, including one that was identical to the touchdown that Matt caught in the scrimmage on Friday night.  Drayton Florence must have thought he was living through one of those déjà vu moments.  He was tight in coverage, but the ball was up and over his back shoulder where only Matt was going to catch the ball. 

John Broussard showed some nice route running when he cut hard on a slant over the middle, getting enough separation from Brian Williams to catch a touchdown pass from Garrard.

Ryan Hoag showed some nice route running skill during the drill, but on a team that is as deep as this one is when healthy at the wide receiving spot, it does not seem likely that he is going to get an opportunity to make the roster.  He will get plenty of time to get some good film during the preseason though.  During this drill, he made a nice catch on a little post route from Cleo Lemon, taking the pass in front of Rashod Moulton for a TD.  Later, he made such a good cut going across the middle in the end zone that he shook Brian Witherspoon, causing him to stumble. 

Cleo Lemon was victimized on several plays by the defense.  So was David Garrard as the defensive backs really stepped up in the drill to try to limit the receptions.  During the drill, Trae Williams, Gerald Sensabaugh, Scott Starks, Reggie Nelson, Brian Witherspoon, Michael Grant, Rashod Moulton, Brian Williams, and Drayton Florence all batted away passes in the end zone.  Gerald Sensabaugh topped all of them by snatching a quick interception against Cleo Lemon on a fade route that Lemon overshot his intended target, Mike Walker.

The receivers also managed to get their fair share of nice catches during the drill. 

D’Juan Woods made a nice corner grab with Rashod Moulton in tow, tight in coverage. 

Troy Williamson hauled in two more touchdown grabs, one on a fade route thrown by Cleo Lemon over Rashod Moulton, and the other a Garrard pass on a quick slant in front of Drayton Florence, who was blanketing Williamson. 

Matt Jones showed some of the old, going over the middle on a slant in front of Scott Starks, and then snatching a well thrown pass from David Garrard.  Once he caught the ball, Starks stuck a hand in and knocked it loose before Jones could bring the ball into his body.

11 x 11 (helmet free):

This was more or less a running drill where we saw the first wrinkles of the night. 

If you plan on watching the Atlanta game on Saturday, pay close attention to where your receivers are, especially if they are the fleet footed guys on the roster. 

End-arounds were being practiced pretty heavily, especially with Troy Williamson and Dennis Northcutt as the recipients of the handoff. 

In each instance, the play went for solid yardage as the speedy receivers were able to get around the corner on the defense and turn the ball up field. 

11 x 11 (2 minute drill):

Cleo Lemon struggled with the sideline out patterns in the 10-15 yard range with the blitzes coming hard.  On three occasions when he went to the sideline, twice to John Broussard and once to D’Juan Woods, he overthrew his targets pretty badly.  It probably had something to do with the fact that Gregg Williams was throwing some pretty interesting formations at Lemon.  During this drill, the defense displayed wrinkle number two, running a 3-3-5 defense and blitzing from just about everywhere.  The pressure was constant, and really got to Lemon at times, especially when the pressure came from outside of the guards and the pass was intended to go outside.

He did hit Clyde Edwards, Jeron Harvey, and John Broussard on short slant patterns that did move the ball and generate a couple of first downs.  However, when he tried to force a pass to Charles Davis, he was picked off by Gerald Sensabaugh on the play.  The defense lined up in the 3-3-5 for the play, but instead of blitzing, they kept eight guys back in coverage and only brought three on the rush.  Lemon tried to force a pass into the middle of the field where Davis was running a crossing pattern, and Sensabaugh jumped the pass.

When David Garrard took over the offense, he immediately went to Maurice Jones-Drew on two swing passes that went for short gains. 

He then hit Marcedes Lewis going over the middle in front of Isaiah Gardner for another short gain.  Lewis made a great play in traffic to haul the pass that was thrown slightly behind him in, and then generate a couple of extra yards after the catch.

David went deep to Mike Walker on a nicely run route by the receiver.  Walker appeared to be running a straight up post pattern, but cut off his route and headed to the outside about 20 yards down field.  Garrard went over the top of Drayton Florence in coverage with the pass, and Walker went up and caught the ball, getting both feet in bounds before falling away. 

After making a few more short receptions hitting Fred Taylor, Matt Jones, and Fred again, David missed on an out pattern to Troy Williamson. 

D’Juan Woods then took a nice one away from Garrard, dropping a pass over the middle that hit him in the hands.

Matt Jones came back on the next play and snagged a touchdown grab in front of Jamaal Fudge.

Field Goal Drills:

Josh Scobee got an opportunity to boot some field goals during practice, going 5/6 during the drill.  Josh hit from 34, 41, 49, 31, and 39 yards, but missed from 50 yards. 

7 x 7:

David missed Jeron Harvey on a deep corner route, coming up short on the pass play.

Ryan Hoag struggled to hang on to a couple of passes during the drill.  On one play, he muffed a Cleo Lemon pass that would have gone for a short gain over the middle.

Cleo Lemon hit Dennis Northcutt on an out pattern that went for about 20 yards.  Northcutt made a nice catch before being shoved out of bounds by Scott Starks.

Todd Bouman attempted to hit Jeron Harvey on a deep sideline pass, but Gerald Sensabaugh and Brian Witherspoon both were in tight coverage.  Sensabaugh was able to make an athletic play, getting a hand up to tip the pass away.

Cleo Lemon dropped a pretty pass deep down the sideline between Michael Grant and Isaiah Gardner, hitting Greg Estandia in stride as he was exploiting a hole in the coverage. 

Estandia and Todd Bowman connected a few plays later on another post route where he made a solid catch in traffic. 

Maurice Jones-Drew showed that he is indeed human, rolling out of the back field and streaking down the sideline, getting open over Brian Iwuh.  Todd Bowman threw the ball to the inside, and when Maurice tried to adjust for the ball, momentum would not allow him to make the catch cleanly, allowing it to fall incomplete.

11 x 11 (Part III):

David went back to the short game, hitting Maurice Drew on a swing pattern to the left.  Once Drew had the ball, he hit the burners and took an otherwise short pass and made a big gain on the play.

Matt Jones was victimized once again by Scott Starks, who had a great practice tonight.  Jones and Garrard connected on a deep crossing pattern.  Matt made a nice grab on the play, but Starks was able to sneak a hand in and knock the ball out, forcing a fumble that the defense recovered.  When the play ended, there was a short shoving match involving Jones and Starks, but it ended as quickly as it began.

David ran a fake end-around that set up a screen pass to Maurice Jones-Drew that went for a big gain as the second team defense bit on the fake. 

Garrard connected with Troy Williamson on a deep slant with Brian Iwuh in coverage.  Williamson made a nice play to pull the pass that was thrown slightly in front of the intended target.

Final Impressions:

With a few new wrinkles and the defensive players getting a little more aggressive, it is clear that the Jaguars need to hit someone.  The first preseason game against Atlanta will almost certainly debut the more attacking style defense, and without a doubt, there will be a lot of happy players.  They clearly want to start hitting, and this will be their first opportunity to go all out with their contact against the Falcons.

For the offense, I'm sure that the quarterbacks are looking forward to not having to deal with a defense that is constantly coming at them from every possible angle.

More later!