Jaguars didn't miss Andre Branch, Paul Posluszny

The Jacksonville Jaguars lost Paul Posluszny for the season with a torn bicep in their win against the Cleveland Browns, which lead many to panic about the loss. Many people thought it would be a huge blow to the Jaguars defense, but fourth year linebacker J.T. Thomas stepped into his place and the Jaguars defense didn't skip a beat.

Not only did they not skip a beat, but they shut down the Miami Dolphins offense for much of the game and held a quarterback to under 200 yards passing for the first time all season. Thomas picked up six tackles, had a pass deflection and also picked off Dolphins quarterback Ryan Tannehill.

Thomas also had a +1.3 grade on ProFootballFocus, including a +1.6 grade in pass coverage. Outside of one play on a blown coverage by safety Johnathan Cyprien, the Dolphins tight ends were shut down and it didn't seem like the middle of the field was picked on.

The team was also without defensive end Andre Branch, who like Poz, many thought would be a big blow to the defensive line rotation and pass rush. Missing Branch didn't seem to be a big loss at all, in fact all it did was get Ryan Davis on the field more and he picked up two more sacks on the season, as well as a hit on the quarterback and another hurry.

I'm not ready to declare the Jaguars defensive group "deep", but it was nice to see the team able to absorb two losses and not skip a beat.