FILM ROOM: Jaguars were outgunned, outmanned, outnumbered, and outplanned in Week 6

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1. an instance of something collapsing violently inward.

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The Jacksonville Jaguars came into Week 6 against the Detroit Lions looking to get their team back on track after a string of abysmal games. The Lions came in with the worst run defense in the NFL, and didn’t inspire anyone with their rushing attack.

The Jaguars made them look like the best team to ever step onto a football field.

The Lions were more physical, executed better, and made more plays to win in a 34-16 rout. The saddest part is... the Lions didn’t even play their best football. That’s how bad the Jaguars were on both sides of the ball.

So, if you drink, be sure to have a cold one by you, as we take a look at the monstrosity that is Jaguars vs. Lions.

TO THE FILM ROOM!

Defense? What is defense?

Before Week 5, the Detroit Lions entered the game having run for under 100 yards for 3 straight weeks, and through 4 games, ran for 101.75 yards per game.

Lets just say after facing Jacksonville, their average is going to take a significant boost.

The Lions ran for 180 yards as a team, and much of that is due to simply being more physical at the point of attack, and executing when they needed to. This first play is a perfect example of that.

The Lions run a split zone designed for RB D’Andre Swift to cut back and find the hole, but there’s no reason to cut back when there’s a hole the size of the entire United Kingdom right in front of you. Taven Bryan does his best impression of the scene in Bambi where Bambi is on ice and gets walked out of the hole immediately, LB Myles Jack reads the cutback lane, and before you know it, there’s a 54-yard gain on the ground. Poor execution combined with a lack of physicality creates that, and at some point the fundamentals need to be taught in that huddle.

This next play is actually a good job by the front seven. It’s a zone play to the weakside of the formation, and the front does a good job of filling their gaps and spilling the run to the edge.

That’s where it gets fun, folks.

Justin Watson is peeking in the backfield and comes too far inside, giving up outside leverage, and allows Swift to bounce it to the outside for 19 yards. This is simple football knowledge, something players get taught in high school, yet the Jaguars don’t execute. If he plays it correctly, he spills it back in for Joe Schobert to clean the play up.

This next one is another split zone, where the defensive line gets absolutely blasted off the line. DaVon Hamilton gets washed out of the play along with Doug Costin, and leaves another UK-sized hole for the Lions RB to easily walk through.

I mean it’s simply comical how big this hole is:

Finally, we get another segment in the Taven Bryan Experience as he’s completely flattened with the rest of the right side of the defensive line, and creates another hole for Swift to run through(heck of a tackle by CJ Henderson though, he’s played stellar). This team defensively lacks the talent, coaching and execution to be successful right away.

Eventually something has got to give, but with head coach Doug Marrone saying after the game that he has, “no intentions” of firing defensive coordinator Todd Wash, change won’t be happening for a while.

The offense was... offensive

I said in the preview of the game Saturday that the Jaguars needed to execute on offense to get this team back on track. The Lions had an abysmal run defense, and were shredded by most opposing offenses.

The Jaguars mustered 44 rushing yards.

44.

Let’s just watch the tape.

The Jaguars run a toss play just to get running back James Robinson any shred of space, but the Jaguars fail to execute their blocks. Detroit does a great job of forcing everything back inside, and make the stop. The run game is as much about execution and effort as it is scheming.

The Jaguars had the right scheme; they didn’t execute.

This next play the Jaguars get beat, simple and plain. The Lions nose tackle beats Linder to the A gap, and there’s a Lion standing directly in the gap Robinson is running in.

You ask why the Jaguars only got 44 yards rushing? That’s why. The Lions outmuscled them and made more plays.

In the pass game, Gardner Minshew was wildly off for a majority of the game. On his interception, it revealed a limitation that most saw when he was coming out of Washington State — he cannot hit the deep ball because his arm isn’t the greatest. Minshew relies on timing and anticipation, so if you mess up the timing, you mess up Minshew.

The Lions run a Cover 3, and the Jaguars essentially run a two-man route. DJ Chark is going to run a go route, and beat the deep third corner. There’s a window there for Minshew to make the throw. However, late pressure up the middle forces Minshew to not step into his throw, inhibiting his already below-average arm strength. This causes a flutterball interception.

Laurie Fitzpatrick of Jaguar Report made a great point on Sunday regarding this play and an tendency Minshew has: he doesn’t step into his throws, especially under pressure. If you’re going to throw this route, you have to drive the ball into that window. Minshew simply doesn’t have that ability.

Finally, if there was a play that symbolizes the Jaguars offense these past three games, and Gardner Minshew’s play, it’s this one.

4th-and-4, in the red zone, got a chance to score. The Lions run man, and the single high safety plays the inside slant. This leaves Chark one-on-one with an inside lane to the end zone. And Minshew throws it behind him. These are the throws that he has to make to solidify being the starter in Jacksonville for years to come.

If he can’t hit these throws then Jacksonville will be looking for their future quarterback in this years’ draft.

If you want to place blame for the Week 5 loss, I’ll help you out: blame everyone.

Blame coaching for not putting these players in the right places to succeed and coming up with a poor game plan.

Blame the players for simply not executing against a team they had no reason getting blown out by.

Blame ownership for accepting mediocrity and refusing to actually care.

It doesn’t matter. As long as this ownership, coaching, and front office is running the show, expect more performances like this.