Game Notes Defense

Again I like to mention that I can't comment on the first five minutes of the game, because of CBS showing the OT game between the Giants and Bungles. Defensively I am seeing a lot of improvement, especially in the area of rushing the passer. The Jags put a lot of pressure on Manning forcing bad throws, and interceptions. Unlike Vic Ketchman who believes Manning is in decline because of a few bad throws especially the one overthrown to Marvin Harrison, I totally disagree. On that throw to Harrison, Manning was forced out of the pocket, and had to throw the ball running up the field. I am amazed that he put the ball where he did which was just out of the reach of Harrison by inches.  Anytime you are running forward with 300lbs guys chasing you from behind, and you have to put it just right with a guy running full speed straight down the field with a defender almost stride for stride. You are going to put just a little bit more velocity on the throw. I am not sure what game Vic was watching but I saw some perfectly placed throws to clark , Wayne, and in that last drive an incredible throw to Gonzalez . I am mentioning all this because I don't believe the Jags defense was bad but rather that Manning and his WR core is just that good. The difference in this game then in previous is that the Jags D was able to put a lot of pressure on Manning. There were some very well timed blitzes that forced bad throws, and one by Darayl Smith which resulted in a sack. I think as the D gets more and more comfortable with Gregg Williams scheme, the sacks will start piling up.

I watched everyone on the D-line, and one guy really stood  out. Dereck  Landry is just so quick at shooting the gap, that he continually disrupted plays. The whole line had a good day, except for a few plays. The plays where Addai ran in the middle of the Jags D for gains was due to the outstanding play of the Colts center, Jeff  Saturday. The Randy Cross the announcer for the game called him out a couple times for his outstanding play. Saturday isn't a perennial pro bowler for nothing.

The LB unit played well except against the patent stretch play. I think they really missed Durant's speed  because that play requires a very fast LB to defend it. Smith had the best game of the LB's, chasing down RB's, and blitzing Manning causing a sack.

The secondary had its moments facing a very talented receiving core. Much of the game was played in the nickel, and overall did a good job. The one knock is Mathis just can't seem to cover Harrison. Harrison must really know how to exploit Mathis, because he makes Mathis look bad every time they face each other. Lets keep in mind that the rules favor the offense, and its very hard to cover any WR one on one, and shut them down completely.

The big difference in this years coverage is that under Gregg Williams they played a lot of man coverage. No more exploiting the soft spots time after time in zone coverage. Manning is so good at finding those areas and making it look all too easy.The secondary manned up, and played well.

Now everybody just seems to remember that last drive where Manning marched all the way down the field, slicing and dicing the D, and scoring the go ahead TD. At that point in the game the secondary lost two valuable players to injuries in Nelson and Starks. Nelson was having a fantastic game defending the run and pass, so losing him was costly. On that last drive Manning threw a laser to Gonzalez who made an incredible leaping grab with Florence tight in coverage. Florence had him covered it was just an incredible pass and catch. Next they picked on William James who was in the game covering Harrison due to injuries. Then the Colts  lined up Harrison and Wayne  side by side to the left, and  crisscrossed  each other causing Mathis and I think Williams to bump into each other. Manning had thrown the ball before Wayne was even open, knowing full well what was going to happen before the play even began. It was just a very well executed drive that Manning has done a million times before.

The obvious glaring weakness of this team is the passing game. Not being able to score points in the red zone due to not having any balance on offense, where defenses can load up the box to stop the run, and not having a WR good enough to exploit it. Garrard as well needs to stop locking on to one target which is either the backs or Matt Jones. This team is good enough in all other areas to be a very good team, but unless the Jags find a receiver that can stretch the field, and start putting up points. I just don't see this team as being anything but average.

The Jags in my opinion won't be able to win against the Texans just running the ball. The Texans are a lot better at stopping the run, and are weak defending the pass. Like the Colts were the perfect  team to get the running game going, the Texans are the perfect team to get the passing game going.