The Jacksonville Jaguars got into full pads last night for the fan favorite Oklahoma drill. Once the Oklahoma drill was finished however, the real first practice in pads got underway. Typically early on in training camps across the league, the defense is ahead of the offense. Especially this season, without mini-camp and OTA's, the defense clearly has the upper hand. Both rookie Blaine Gabbert and veteran David Garrard struggled somewhat in team drills and the passing skeleton, but both are shaking off the rust and getting kinks out. Oddly enough, Luke McCown has been the only consistently solid quarterback, despite getting significantly less reps than Garrard and Gabbert.
There's a few guys on defense who are really beginning to stand out as well, in both good and bad ways.
The Good:
- Blaine Gabbert's 2-minute drive. The rookie went down the field and scored in the two-minute drill with plenty of time to spare in only three plays, one rush and two passing. Gabbert hit undrafted rookie receiver Newsome on a long crossing pattern for a big gain, then hit undrafted rookie Armon Binns in the corner of the endzone, placing a nice jump ball that Binns went up and got.
- Defensive Austen Lane looks noticeably quicker and bigger, mass wise. It looks like his training all off-season with veteran Aaron Kampman is paying dividends. It might have been worth it to suffer through some Nickleback.
- Undrafted rookie defensive end Marc Schiechl is starting to stand out. He had an impressive Oklahoma drill besting offensive lineman Kevin Haslam (woops, fixed) and he's also gotten some pressure off the edge. With Derrick Harvey having been waived, Schiechl could make this roster if his play continues and spills into the pre-season.
The Bad:
- David Garrard's two-minute drill. Garrard managed to move down the field on 5-6 passing plays, but after he spiked the ball with about 15 seconds left on the clock, he hit fullback Brock Bolen about 5 yards short of the endzone and he was tackled, on the same play in a live game Garrard would have been sacked. Garrard rushed to the line and hiked the football, hitting receiver Nate Hughes in the back of the endzone for a touchdown.... but the clock had expired well before he could get the snap off.
- Rookie free safety Chris Prosinski had some "oops" plays. Prior to last night, he hadn't really stood out one way or another. On one play, David Garrard hit tight end Zach Miller, who was covered well by Prosinski, but as soon as Miller had the ball Prosinski completely whiffed on the tackle. On another play, rookie running back DuJuan Harris got to the second level and juked Prosinski out of his shoes. Tackling in the open field was a concern I had with Prosinski, but we'll see how he does in a live game.
The Ugly:
- Second year defensive end Larry Hart is a bit of a concern for me. While he did have a play where he flushed Gabbert out of the pocket (pictured), overall he hasn't shown much of anything. Not only that, but he looks noticeably plump and doesn't seem to have that explosion off the line he had last year. I'm not sure what he weighs right now, but it's obvious he packed on some pounds. I don't know if he tried to gain weight so he could hold up as a three down lineman, but whatever he did didn't seem to work.