Defense is key for the Jaguars to beat the Colts
by Alfie Crow on Dec 17, 2010 7:26 AM EST
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While the Jacksonville Jaguars will need to sustain long, time consuming touchdown drives as Brian Levenson wrote, the Jaguars defense will also need to play a vital role if they wish to dethrone the Colts and take hold of the AFC South. In their last meeting, Peyton Manning threw for 352 yards and two touchdowns. Wide receiver Reggie Wayne has 15 catches for 196 yards. While Manning and the Colts offense are going to get theirs on Sunday, there are a few key things the Jaguars can do defensively to seal a victory.
In their first match up, the Jaguars were +2 in the turnover margain, and that realistically was the difference in the ball game. Then starting safety Anthony Smith was able to intercept a deflected ball and return it 47 yards. The ball was intercepted inside the 5-yard line, virtually taking points off of the scoreboard. Later in the game and in the fourth quarter, Anthony Smith forced a Reggie Wayne fumble that was recovered by then safety Gerald Alexander at the 10 yard line and returned 43 yards.
Those two plays potentially took 6-14 points off the board for the Colts, allowing the Jaguars to win on a 59-yard field goal by Josh Scobee.
Despite the down swing by the Colts the past few weeks, their passing attack is still likely to shred a Jaguars secondary that just gave up 300+ yards to Jason Campbell against the Oakland Raiders last week. In the first match up, Manning shredded them as well, and that was when Aaron Kampman wasn't on injured reserve. The pass rush was only able to hit Manning twice in the last match up, and one of those hits was on a blitz by linebacker Kirk Morrison.
Another key for the Jaguars defense this week is getting off the field on third down, obviously. In the first match up, the Colts were 7 of 10 on third downs. Four of their nine drives ended in a score, and without the two turnovers in the redzone it's likely it would have been six of nine. The Jaguars have shown they can go blow for blow with a team and come back from a deficit, as they did last week against the Raiders, but it's not a habit they'd like to get into. The defense is going to have to limit the Colts scoring opportunities while the Jaguars offense matches their scores.
While the offense does in fact need long sustained touchdown drives, the defense is going to have to make a play or two for this team to win on Sunday.
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We can have all the long TD scoring drives we like, but we our D cannot stop the Colts from scoring we will likely lose. We need QB pressure, turnovers and defensive stops to help us out.
The front seven(and the D-line) must have
MUST HAVE a big day on Sunday for the win.
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by Zoltan from Budapest on Dec 17, 2010 7:44 AM EST reply actions
I don't know how huge the defense must be...
they just have to keep the recievers in front of them, and make tackles. It would be nice to get a sack or two, and of course we hope for turnovers, but not giving up big plays is really the only key.
Was there not a dropped INT Thta would have sealed the game too.....
As far as our D goes, I think that the secondary is better than it was in week 4 (assuming Mr. Greene can play), and though AK was a huge force, he was matched with Harvey in that game, and I am not sure that the Lane / Mincey team is just as effective, if not more than the Kampman / Harvey team of week 4 (thanks to the non-productivity of Harvey). The way I see it, our D and O is better than it was in week 4, and their O is not as good. I am not saying this is not going to be a very tough game, but in my opinion, the Colts are by no means superior to the Jags, and I think both the Jags, Colts, and their fans know it!
I agree.
it seems like our defense has gotten slightly better, and they are now without Dallas Clark. I think Clark is the most important player in their offense. They are definitely weaker on offense than they were back when we won last time (although they are still a good offense, since they have 18). I am beginning to believe we will win handily.
Tamme (replacing Clark)
is actually pretty good. He’s going to surpass the all of the stats Dallas was on pace for. I’m sure your guys are game planning for him as well.
Plus, if Collie comes back, he’ll be in the slot and take his shots in the middle. The kid has like an 81% catch rate as of now.
My worries about this game are OUR D. They have not been tackling well. One of the will wrap up a guy and the tackle gets broken…just when we think we’ve made a stop, the WR or RB gets a first down. Very disappointing.
"I throw, you catch. It's NOT that hard!"
Peyton Manning, SNL, 2007
by peytonsthebest on Dec 17, 2010 10:48 AM EST up reply actions
We deal with that at times also.....
Just when you think our D has tackling down again, we miss another opportunity to get our defense off the field!
Well said Alfie, the turnover ratio is soooooo key..
We need to win the turnover ratio, its pretty much why we won the first meeting, the interception that was going to brody eldridge, and reggie wayns fumble, i remember them vividly, because without those turnovers, we probably dont win the game. The second thing for me is pressure on manning, we need pressure to cause turnovers. Mincey, who is a starter now, sacked manning last game. We certainly cannot let manning have a hay day with his receivers as he has both garcon and collie playing with the usual wayne (who rips us up).
Another key
Is we started David Jones at right corner. The coaches were still holding out Derek Cox for confidence concerns or whatever (which made me want to personally go kick whoever was making the decision in the ass ). Derek isn’t the greatest, but he’s a heck of a lot better than David Jones.
He has really seemed...
to come around as of late. I am happy what what I have seen the last few games. Maybe he needed the “time-out”, but I agree it was very frustrating to watch as a fan!
i just wrote a fanpost on Cox recently
you guys shouldve commented
by harveyismyboy on Dec 17, 2010 3:17 PM EST up reply actions
Nice article
But you misread my article from yesterday. In fact, I said the exact opposite of what you wrote.
“While the Jacksonville Jaguars will need to sustain long, time consuming touchdown drives as Brian Levenson wrote…”
My article was called “Long drives are not the answer, touchdowns are.” I was saying that having long drives has always been the understood way of beating the Colts, and I was trying to debunk that myth.
Yeah, bad wording on my part. I was trying to reiterate that you have to score TD’s on those drives when you have them, not field goals. I agree that just the long drives aren’t what win, but the TD’s.
The whole problem with the “keep Manning off the field” myth is the Jaguars would typically have field goals on their long drives, and that was the problem.
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