Jaguars Suffer Shaky Start

by PhoenixJaidin | 8 years ago | 0 Comments

Once again, history repeats itself, as for the 3rd season in a row, Blake Bortles started with a whimper. Opening day at home against divisional rival and former divisional champion, the Indianapolis Colts, Bortles put together a 8/17 for 107 yards and two interception performance that ended with the Colts winning 16-7. With Bortles struggling to move the ball, standout rookie running back, the underrated Jimmy Gipson out of the Air Force managed just 21 yards on 8 carries, though offseason signee Demonte Powe took his only carry yard, scoring from 41 yards out. The saving grace was the defensive pass rush, as Telvin Smith and John Simon managed a sack apiece, but were just supporting Dante Fowler Jr, who turned in a monstrous 4 sack, 3 forced fumble, and 1 fumble recovery performance, which landed him the Week 1 Defensive Player of the Week honors. Safety Keron Turk grabbed the only interception for the team, but even that couldn't make up for Bortles' mistakes, as he continually missed his mark and found the wrong team catching his throws.

Week 2 was significantly better, though they still ended up with the loss, falling 23-20. The Philadelphia Eagles came into Jacksonville with a plan, and they exploited it as Carson Wentz and Chase Daniels combined to complete 27 passes on 38 attempts, with about 23 of them being short out routes or drags across the middle. Bortles kept his performance clean this time, throwing for 159 yards and a pair of touchdowns, finding Allen Hurns and Julius Thomas for scores. Gipson finished with 78 yards rushing and 11 yards receiving, but still struggled to get into the end zone. Cornerback Roshawn Avant finished with the only Jaguars interception of the game.

Week 3, on the other hand, brought a whole different story, as the Jaguars and Miami Dolphins engaged in a subway shootout in Florida. Bortles finished with 347 yards, 3 touchdowns, and a pair of interceptions, while Ryan Tannehill threw for 302 yards, 3 touchdowns, and 5 interceptions, as the Jaguars managed to hold off the Dolphins for their first win, 33-28. Jimmy Gipson finally crossed the white line, ending with both a receiving touchdown and a rushing touchdown, as he turned in an 88 combined yards day with his two scores. Bortles also found his primary wide outs Allen Robinson and Hurns, as they both scored. Robinson finished with 146 yards, including his 70 yard touchdown bomb. While Miami was able to pass for a lot of yards and put up a few scores, including a pair of touchdowns to Devante Parker, the defense also managed to force turnovers as safety Turk grabbed 2 more interceptions, while safety Diamond Bragg, linebacker Myles Jack, and the NFL's top cornerback Jalen Ramsey all came away with a pick a piece.

Week 4 brought divisional rivals, the Tennessee Titans, into the Jaguars' home and, thankfully for the fans of the franchise, returned to form that, under their coach, looked like the Jaguars that have made back to back pushes into the playoffs, as they finished on top, 29-7. Bortles finished with 268 yards, a touchdown to Julius Thomas, and an interception. Gipson finally cracked triple digits, as he ended with 135 yards and a pair of touchdowns on 19 carries. Once more, the defense is what made the difference, as they shook off the rust and played up to the level their coach had been praising and representing in front of the media outlets. Smith, Fowler, and Simon each grabbed a sack while their secondary put a hurting on Marcus Mariota, who ended with 145 yards, a touchdown to Kendall Wright, and 5 interceptions. Cornerback Avant grabbed 2 more interceptions, while Ramsey, Bragg, and Turk each grabbed one.

And so the Jaguars sit at 2-2 through the first quarter of the season, allowing to provide some base projections for the team. Quarterback Blake Bortles has finished with solid statistics under Coach Klepper, finishing with 35 touchdowns and 19 interceptions with 4401 yards in year one and 37 touchdowns, 17 interceptions, and 4447 yards in year two. Though starting this year as slowly as he has, he sits at 6 touchdowns, 5 interceptions, and 881 yards. He's projected to perform very substandardly and end along 24 touchdowns, 20 interceptions, and just over 3500 yards. Coach Klepper is hoping to improve on those projections, hoping Bortles can come alive and break the 40 touchdown plateau while remaining under 20 interceptions for his 3 season running. Running back Jimmy Gipson is hovering at 310 rushing yards, 3 rushing touchdowns, 48 receiving yards, and a receiving touchdown, on 73 combined touches. He's looking at a full workload, expecting to finish with over 1200 rushing yards, 12 rushing touchdowns, nearly 200 receiving yards, and 4 receiving touchdowns, on his rookie season. Not quite the same level of overuse seen on other teams with their players, but a solid, functional rookie season to further enhance the already dangerous Jaguars offense. Surprisingly, with his yardages down through the first bit of the season, Bortles' receiving corps is only projecting a single 1000 yard receiver this year and no double digit touchdown weapons, as Allen Robinson is expected to lear the team with just over 100 yards and 4 receiving touchdowns, while Julius Thomas and Allen Hurns both sit around 600 yards and 8 touchdowns through their seasonal projections. Hometown rookie and hero of Jacksonville University, DeMarcus Huntington, took a nasty hit that resulted in a 6 week injury notation due to an Abdominal Tear. Through just two games, he had 4 catches for 70 yards.

Defensively, however, the team shines in projections. Cornerback Roshawn Avant is looking at a 12 interception season, while Jalen Ramsey and safety Diamond Bragg are both in line for 8 interception seasons. Linebacker Myles Jack is also projected to have 4 picks, but it's safety Keron Turk who is expected to lead with a season record threatening 16 interceptions. Dante Fowler is looking at a full season on his hands, as he is projected to bring 20 sacks and 16 forced fumbles to the table, while Telvin Smith and John Simon should each expect 8 sacks. Finally, outside linebacker Churphy Richmond, defensive tackle Jacorie Ballard, and defensive lineman Malik Jackson are all looking at finishing with 4 sacks apiece.

While very rough and rigid projections are sitting after just 4 games, it brings to light just how important defense can be, especially when balanced by a versatile offense. The question now is whether the Jaguars can remain in top shape and threaten to retake the AFC South from the defending divisional champion Indianapolis Colts, or if they'll fall back. The head coach definitely seems to have a lot more on his plate this season, as personal issues have proven distracting, but he has already promised his fans that, whether this is his final season or not, he'll be committed to giving them his best effort game in and game out.