I know, I know, the Jaguars lost. We lost against a bad team. Look, that happens, it doesn't mean we can't learn something from it. Here's what I saw this week. I'll try to look beyond the obvious:
Mike Thomas: Ok, that was actually the obvious place to look. Still it should be done. M80 had six catches for 96 yards and a TD, including four catches for 65 yards in a single second-quarter drive. He now has 65 catches for 808 yards on the year. That's a pretty good season for a guy on a run-first team.
Jason Hill: Yes, Hill is technically the 49ers unwanted leftovers, but don't let that fool you. Dallas dropped Jimmy Smith before the Jaguars picked him up in 1996, Mike Williams is a similar story this year in Seattle, and there are plenty of stories like Marques Colston who was a 7th rounder who caught on. You find players where you find players, and the last few weeks, Jason Hill has been a player. Hill made 4 catches for 77 yards this week. He has also made plays in the deep passing game two weeks straight. Don't let one dropped slant pass overpower the Tyree-esque 26 yard catch Hill made as a DB tried to rip the ball from his hands. He'll be here next year for sure. PS: If Garrard had led Hill better, that 37-yard longball would have been an easy TD. He was wide open.
Zach Potter: Are you sensing a trend here? Aside from a few Garrard INT's (which were pretty huge) the passing game worked well yesterday. Potter was signed for his blocking, but once Zach Miller went down, Potter caught a couple quick passes and was able to do something with them. His stats were nothing glorious, 2 catches for 14 yards, but he's a reformed D-end. This just shows me that the Jags might have the deepest, most talented TE group of any team in the league.
Derek Cox: He played a heck of a game. From my seat in 242 it didn't quite look like he made that interception, but it was actually his 3rd foot that came down out of bounds, not his second. The Redskins hardly threw at him at all his coverage was so good, and he got another pick today. He leads the team in interceptions and I believe Cox is fully ready to step up and be considered the Jaguars number one corner. That's good, because Rashean Mathis is proving to be very ready to step down from that role as he was picked on again on the day's biggest pass play.
Courtney Greene: I'm really falling for this guy as the year goes on. In our first seven games, we allowed 26 or more points 6 times. Since then we've only done it twice: the two weeks when Greene was out. I have no proof that Greene had anything to do with it but that's still a nice little stat. He had 5 tackles and a pass defended yesterday. Greene is head and shoulders above Sean Considine, and has 65 tackes, a pick and a forced fumble on the season. Not bad for a guy with a girl's name.
Derrick Harvey: He made a great play in the run game today. Don't get your hopes up, but it's there.
Daryl Smith: He had a good game. Duh, doesn't he always? 9 tackles and a pass defended. We split him out wide sometimes and manned him up with Chris Cooley who failed to catch at least 4 balls as the result of good coverage. Cooley still caught 5 for 48 yards, but that's tame compared to what the Jags usually give up to TE's.
The biggest downsides this week were in the running game and O-line, but what do you expect with Guy Whimper and Jordan Black both playing together on the right side of the line and a 7th round, 2nd year player starting at RB. When you are without your best player (best two players if you count Aaron Kampman along with MJD) that'll happen. Garrard played great at some moments and badly at others. That'll be talked about ad nauseum on BCC in the next week so I'll avoid that subject.
That's all I got. With the Colts' win in Oakland, this game became absolutely, 100% meaningless in the playoff picture, so don't let it drag you down. As a really emo T-shirt once said: remember to smile; it confuses people.