Antonio Gates: The #1 Obstacle for the Jaguars
On the first play from scrimmage on Sunday, the Jaguars gave up a 28 reception from Kyle Orton to tight end Daniel Graham.
After the first two possessions for the Chargers on Monday, Antonio Gates had 3 receptions for 48 yards and a touchdown. That included a 34 yard reception that very much resembled the play made by Graham. Needless to say, Antonio Gates is a dangerous weapon for the Chargers and containing him has to be one of the top priorities for the Jaguars heading into Sunday's matchup in San Diego.
The Jaguars have had problems with defending against tight ends in the pass game long before the Broncos game. Here are the stats put up by tight ends against the Jaguars in 2009:
| Name | Rec. | Yards | TDs |
| Dallas Clark | 11 | 134 | 1 |
| Vernon Davis | 6 | 69 | 1 |
| Owen Daniels | 5 | 38 | 1 |
| Chris Baker |
2 | 32 | 1 |
| Dustin Keller | 6 | 58 | 0 |
| Bo Scaife | 7 | 52 | 0 |
| Alge Crumpler | 5 | 37 | 0 |
| Robert Royal | 2 | 34 | 0 |
| Randy McMichael | 3 | 32 | 0 |
| John Carlson | 2 | 31 | 0 |
| Shawn Nelson | 1 | 25 | 0 |
| Anthony Becht | 1 | 16 | 0 |
| Joey Haynos | 2 | 15 | 0 |
| Jared Cook | 3 | 14 | 0 |
| Ben Watson |
1 | 14 | 0 |
| Daniel Fells | 2 | 11 | 0 |
| Jacob Tamme |
1 | 8 | 0 |
| Joel Dreessen | 1 | 8 | 0 |
| Stephen Spach | 1 | 7 | 0 |
| Leonard Pope | 1 | 5 | 0 |
| Gijon Robinson |
1 | 5 | 0 |
| TOTALS |
64 | 645 | 4 |
4 touchdowns is not a huge number. The problem with these numbers is the amount of big catches with large amounts of yards after the catch. The Jaguars' problems with tight ends can be attributed to poor tackling and mismatched linebackers that are unable to cover the tight ends.
Whether or not the problem is fixed or will be fixed is still unknown, but the early returns didn't look too promising. Look for the Jaguars to rely on newly acquired David Jones and/or safety Anthony Smith to prevent Antonio Gates from repeating his 4 catches, 54 yards and a touchdown performance of 2007.
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Awesome
The Chargers have lots of great TEs. Antonio Gates and Randy McMichael are on the field a ton, and Kris Wilson (who isn’t far behind McMichael) gets on for at least a handful of plays each game. They’re all mis-matches in terms of speed, strength, route-running and hands.
Bolts from the Blue - Destroying your opinions with facts.
This is our big problem.
If we can stop him, it’s simple, we win, I know there receivers can be a threat, but Mathis, goodluck catching on him(they prbly will throw his way like twice), Cox now he has to play a good game also. I think we need to play Nickel instead of our normal 4-3 mostly, David Jones always on Antonio, he can come up and provide run support too, because he is a decent/good tackler.

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