David Garrard answers the bell in Dallas

On a day the Jacksonville Jaguars were a 6 point dog to a team whose starting quarterback broke his clavicle in the previous game, David Garrard emerged after a week off from a concussion to have one of the best games of his career. Garrard ended the day 17 of 21, for 260 yards and 4 touchdowns. As good as those numbers look, Garrard played even better. He was virtually perfect today.

I said on Twitter before the game today, that I imagined the leash on David Garrard would be rather short today. Well, Garrard didn't even let that leash get tight. On the first drive of the day, Garrard marched the Jaguars down the field on six plays to hit Mike Sims-Walker on a slant in the back of the endzone.

In fact, David Garrard's first incompletion didn't come until the mid-third quarter on a throw away.

The Jaguars offense and David Garrard benefited from an aggressive Jaguars defense who took advantage of Dallas Cowboy's mistakes. The Jaguars were able to intercept quarterback Jon Kitna four times, only one of which was actually Jon Kitna's fault. The other three interceptions were poor plays by the Dallas Cowboy's receivers and great showings of awareness by Jaguars defenders.

Much maligned cornerback Derek Cox was able to pick off two passes that bounced off receivers hands and break up another pass in the endzone. Terrance Knight had a pass literally handed to him by Felix Jones for an interception, and then Rashean Mathis jumped a Kitna pass intended for Roy Williams late in the game.

With all the turnovers, David Garrard and the Jaguars offense were able to take advantage. Mike Sims-Walker abused Dallas corner Michael Jenkins all game long, ending the day with 8 catches for 153 yards and a touchdown. Marcedes Lewis only had two catches on the day, but both were for touchdowns including a long 42-yard touchdown catch down the seam. Mike Thomas scored another touchdown on a 15-yard wide receiver screen.

David Garrard scored his 5th touchdown of the day on the ground, on a play action naked bootleg. Dallas all bit on the playfake, as Maurice Jones-Drew was able to rack up 135 yards on 27 carries.

It was a perfect storm from a now 4-4 Jaguars football team that desperately needed to win. Garrard showed no ill signs from his concussion and practically played a perfect game, the defense forced key turnovers and had a huge 4th down stop on the goal line. Now the Jaguars head into the bye week with a ton of momentum as they get ready to face the Houston Texans.