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First Quarter:
First drive of the game the Jaguars come out with double tight, fullback, and motion the TE to the right side with a quick short completion. Easy quick strike for five yards. Good play. Very next play is a quick WR screen to Ace Sanders who gets past the first defender but then stutter steps and tries to juke the defender rather than going forward. No yards, might have had some if he went forward. The drive ends on a 3-wide, two back set in the gun and Gabbert has a clean pocket to throw from. He feels pressure on the blitz as Meester is pushed back by Hali and he takes off for a one-yard game and punt.
Not an awful drive, a couple of mistakes. Gabbert probably should have slid to his right rather than taking off. I haven't watched All-22 yet though, so I don't know who was/wasn't open.
On the first defensive series, the Chiefs roll Alex Smith out to the left side and he finds tight end Anthony Fasano deep down the field as he ran right past Russell Allen. I don't know if Allen just sucked in on the play-action fake or what, but a better throw from Smith nets a huge gain in the air. The next two plays are good stops and on third down Jason Babin got pressure and forced the short throw for a three-and-out which also led to the blocked punt for the only score of the game.
The Jaguars next drive is highlighted by big mistakes on the first two plays. On the running play, Will Ta'ufo'ou whiffed on a block which got Jones-Drew stuffed at the line. Then on the next play the Chiefs over load the right side with three guys, dropping the interior most defender and bringing the LDE and Justin Houston. Houston comes free from outwide and gets the easy sack. Either Gabbert or Meester missed a line check and protection adjustment on the play.
The next Chiefs drive is setup with a bad Anger punt and a big return for the Chiefs. It only takes two plays to get in the redzone, with the second play of the drive the Chiefs motion Jamaal Charles wide, then throw to him on a slant where he beats Geno Hayes for a big gain. The very next play is Alan Ball in the correct position, but misses the tackle on the Donnie Avery touchdown.
On the Jaguars next drive they open with a read-option and quick screen to Sanders, who's immediately tackled. Chiefs had the play blown right away. Then on the next play Meester and Rackley can't move Dontari Poe and he stuffs the draw putting the Jags in third and long once again. The next pass is tipped and it's another punt.
On the Gabbert interception, he drops back with a clean pocket and looks to an open Shorts, but he winds up hitting the defender in the chest. It's a clear communication error between Gabbert and Shorts. Shorts is running a go route and it's clear Gabbert is expecting him to cut it short or run a post to the middle of the field. Someone has to make sure everyone is on the right page on these, whether it's Gabbert clearly bringing in the play, or Shorts seeing the hot-route change, etc.
The Jaguars last drive of the first quarter was killed by a drop by Allen Reisner on what would have been a possible first down on 2nd and 7, then the next pass goes off Ace's finger tips on what may have just been a long touchdown pass because he was so wide open.
So far in the first quarter the errors on the offense more than anything have killed it. The atrocious play of the offensive line hasn't started yet so....
Second Quarter:
The Jaguars defense begins the second quarter forcing the Chiefs into a set of long series, but the whole defense is sucked into a play action fake which allows Smith to bootleg and pick up a huge chunk of yardage. After a false start putting them back in 3rd and long, the Chiefs are forced to punt after Sen'Derrick Marks brings pressure and Smith hops a pass to Donnie Avery.
The Jaguars start their drive with Gabbert throwing downfield to Cecil Shorts III on almost a back shoulder throw which Shorts initially hauls in, but just can't control it to the ground. It's a tough catch, but someone like Shorts should haul it in. The Jaguars finally bring in the wildcat and the Chiefs crash the outside linebackers forcing Robinson to keep it, but because of zero push on the interior it's stuffed for a yard. Gabbert's under pressure on third down and dumps it to Mike Brown who drops it, but it would have been well short of the first down anyway.
Ok, I stopped basically doing play-by-play because this was getting super long.
Overall in the first half the Jaguars defense played well and didn't let the Chiefs offense get into a rhythm. The pass rush is still a big issue, but guys like Marks brought enough from the interior to where Smith couldn't just sit there and pick them apart, not to mention the coverage was good.
I'm not going to play-by-play the second half, but it was more of the same. It wasn't as God awful as it looked like on Sunday. Gabbert wasn't great, but he wasn't a complete travesty in the first half especially. He was on target on some throws that would have been nice gains if they weren't dropped and actually had a really nice throw on a 3rd and 23 to Ace Sanders, but it was still about 8-10 yards short of the first down.
The second half is when things really started to derail for the Jaguars offense as the Chiefs brought pressure from all over the place.
Blaine Gabbert: The Jaguars quarterback finished the first half going 9 for 18 with 60 yards and a INT, but realistically had 2-3 drops for what would have been first downs and then 2 "contested catch" type plays where you throw it to the receiver to make a play and neither could come down with the ball. Gabbert had another nice downfield throw to Sanders in the second half, but Shorts was called for a pick play and had the 30+ yard gain called back on the day.
Will Rackley: The third-year interior offensive lineman was a train wreck most of the game. On one play he was literally swatted aside by the Chiefs defensive lineman on a three man rush, getting a hit on the quarterback. On another play he flat out fell to the ground trying to block a defensive back. In the third quarter Rackley is blown up again by Houston and shoved in the backfield getting right in Gabbert's face, giving up another sack.
Brad Meester: Meester was abused most of the game by Poe and the Chiefs interior lineman. He struggled to move the line of scrimmage or even establish a new one and was pushed around in the running game. His age is really starting to show and that's not good for an offensive lineman, because a lot of time time it's not a gradual decline, it just goes.
Realistically the Jaguars offense was so inept because they lost on first down. The team couldn't execute on first down and they lack the necessary talent on the offensive side of the ball to make up for the failures on second and third and long. The wide receiver screens that worked so well in the preseason didn't spring anyone for any yardage and the interior struggled to open running lanes.
Gabbert wasn't great on the second watch, but there were much bigger issues on offense than the quarterback.
If the Jaguars can't win on first down Sunday against the Raiders and the interior offensive line, namely Meester and Rackley, don't play significantly better than they did against the Chiefs, Chad Henne is going to be in for the same kind of day Gabbert was.