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The Jacksonville Jaguars claimed a win against the Miami Dolphins that rejuvenated this franchise and fan base. I don't think there are too many other ways to describe it. I went to my girlfriend's house to watch the game with her, hoping that maybe she (and the amazing quéso and chips she bought me from Moe's) would be a good luck charm...
I will now be at her house every Sunday for the rest of the season.
The Jaguars kept me on the edge of my seat and jumping in the air throughout the majority of the game. The offense was electric in the first half and was clutch in the two-minute drill at the end of the fourth quarter, marching down the field and setting up kicker Jason Myers with an opportunity to kick the potential game-winning field goal. Myers prevailed, and the Jaguars held the lead to win the game.
One extra-positive note: The Jaguars did not let up a single sack for the first time in 25 games. Whew.
The defense looked stellar the whole game. They put a ton of pressure on Ryan Tannehill (37% of his drop backs were pressured), held the Dolphins to one touchdown, and allowed only 42 rushing yards, with Tannehill being the Dolphins leading rusher, with 17 yards.
Sounds great right?
Well, not in the eyes of Pro Football Focus.
Last week, when I wrote on how PFF graded Zane Beadles as the best player on the Jaguars offense and I appreciated their grades. However, this week, Pro Football Focus' grades leave me questioning which game their staff was watching.
The average grades for the Jaguars offensive line against the Dolphins, according to PFF, was a dismal -2.20 overall, -1.72 on pass blocking, and a -0.72 on run blocking. That's for a quarterback who was never sacked and hit just four times. None graded out in the green overall and only one player (Jermey Parnell) graded better than a -1.0.
When I watched the offensive line, all I saw were good things. Blake Bortles was rarely pressured and had all the time in the world to throw. With that protection, Bortles put up career numbers and led the offense down the field, and ultimately, to win. And while run blocking was a problem, they still opened holes for T.J. Yeldon and his 25 carries in the run game, helping the Jaguars amass 123 yards on the ground.
So, why did PFF give the Jaguars offensive line such a poor grade? Well, they counted 12 hurries for Bortles throughout the game, which might seem like a lot. I think 12 hurries might be an over-counting on their part, but even so... any hurries Bortles endured were during a game where he threw for 273 yards, passed for two touchdowns, ran for 27 yards, and orchestrated five plays of 20 or more yards.
Unfortunately, PFF didn't give any explanation for their grading, so we might never know their reasoning. Bottom line, however, is the offensive line looked great.
All in all, disregarding the poor (and short-sighted, in my opinion) grades from Pro Football Focus, it's finally starting to look like we can be confident in the Jaguars' offensive line.