Luke Joeckel deserves credit for a solid game at guard

Jacksonville Jaguars offensive lineman played one preseason game at left guard and it didn't exactly go well and a lot of fans felt it was worse than it actually was because of the optics of some of his bad plays, which led to a lot of concern heading into Week 1 of the regular season. A full day after the Week 1 loss against the Green Bay Packers, you haven't heard much about Joeckel specifically.

That's because he actually played well.

For all the grief Joeckel has gotten so far in his NFL career, it's worth giving him credit when he actually plays well and on Sunday against the Packers, he did just that. He wasn't without fault of course, as he was driven back on a passing play that forced quarterback Blake Bortles to leave the pocket and take a sack, but he wasn't giving up big hits on the quarterback and getting bowled over by defensive lineman.

He still has things he needs to improve on, naturally, but Joeckel wasn't the absolute disaster at guard that a lot of people (including me) expected him to be. If Joeckel can improve on what he did Sunday and play with some consistency, he might find himself at home on the inside.