Category: In The News

Jaguars Still Trying to Find Offensive Identity

So they’re off the hook for the Jaguars managing an NFL-low 39 points in four games.

Coach Jack Del Rio, though, can’t escape what’s happening in Jacksonville, where the Jaguars (1-3) are dealing with the worst offensive start in franchise history.

It’s partly to blame for switching quarterbacks twice since the end of the preseason. It also has something to do with identity issues on offense.

Del Rio talked all preseason about running the offense through Maurice Jones-Drew, then announced last week he wanted to open things up with rookie quarterback Blaine Gabbert following consecutive losses.

Offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter responded by calling passes on nine of the first 10 plays, including seven in a row to start the game, in Sunday’s 23-10 loss to New Orleans.

Gabbert threw 24 passes in the first half alone. Jones-Drew, a two-time Pro Bowler off to his best start in six seasons, touched the ball three times.

“I got the same directive you guys heard,” Koetter said. “We’re going to grow with Blaine. We’re still going to use Mo. Mo looked great when he had the ball in his hands. Blaine is going to learn a lot and grow from this experience. It will do nothing but help us as we move forward.”

The Jaguars were more balanced after halftime, with Gabbert throwing 18 passes and Jones-Drew carrying eight times for 84 yards.

Nonetheless, Jacksonville came across somewhat lost in the play-calling department. With a receiving group that lacks a big-play receiver, an offensive line that was shuffled for the third consecutive week and facing New Orleans’ blitz-heavy scheme, the Jaguars chose to put a lot on the shoulders of their rookie QB.

The result was a third consecutive loss and a second straight 10-point performance.

“I think there are a lot of things that are very close,” Del Rio said Monday. “I recognize the fact that 10 points a game won’t get it done, and we have design on much better, much more, and need it. No amount of bellyaching is going to help that process improve.

“It’s execution, it’s taking care of the little details and making the plays that are there to be made. We need production, we need play-making and that’s what we’re looking for.”

Gabbert finished 16 of 42 for 196 yards, with a touchdown and an interception. He also was sacked three times.

But he showed signs of progress despite a second-half performance in which he completed just 4 of 18 passes. His 14-yard touchdown pass to tight end Zach Miller was one of his better throws of the day, and he made a lot of correct reads against the blitz.

But he sailed a bunch of throws and missed several wide-open receivers.

His performance was somewhat expected since it was his second career start and it came against a Saints team that has given rookies all sorts of problems in three years under defensive coordinator Gregg Williams.

Tight end Marcedes Lewis said Gabbert’s struggles had to do with his footwork.

“Once Blaine tightens his footwork up, we’re going to be fine,” Lewis said. “These are things that can be fixed. We need to find a healthy balance, just like in life. It’s understanding what your role is and embracing that role. We’ll be better. … We’ve got to turn this thing around.

“We feel like garbage right now because we lost, but regardless if you win or lose, there are things you can learn from and be better from.”

The field crew has room for improvement, too. The crew botched several yard-line markers on one side of the field Sunday, painting arrows pointing in the wrong direction. The error got national attention, much like Jacksonville’s offensive woes and seemingly strange play calls.

“I think each week takes on its own identity, has its own set of challenges and so we want to be a complete football team,” Del Rio said. “We feel like we are running the ball well now, we feel like we have a passing game that’s on the verge of doing substantially better and we’re going to continue to work to be a complete football team.

“We need growth in that area. … We’ll put the plan together that we think gives us the best chance to win each week. Some weeks that’ll require a lot more running, some weeks it’ll require a lot more throwing, but we expect to be good at both.”

Jets Step Into the Past With Their Uniforms

Ryan thought about it. He decided Jones-Drew was a little like , who spent most of his career with the Boston Patriots (and was actually 6 inches taller and 25 pounds heavier than the 5-foot-7, 209-pound Jones-Drew). But wait. Ryan said Jones-Drew was also like , the 5-foot-11, 195-pound ex-Jet.

“We’re in throwback mode,” Ryan said. “We’ll go back a little bit.”

Nance and Boozer stopped roaming gridirons more than 30 years ago, but the A.F.L., in which Ryan’s father, Buddy, coached, is never too far away. This week, to hear Ryan tell it, the early days of the A.F.L. will come back to haunt fans in the guise of throwback uniforms.

For the first time in two years and the only time this season, the Jets will wear replicas of the blue and gold uniforms worn from 1960-62 by their predecessors, the Titans of New York, when they host Jacksonville on Sunday. Ryan said Wednesday that he knew what most fans thought of that idea.

“I know with our fans there is some grumbling with us wearing the Titans’ stuff, the blue,” said Ryan, who happened to be wearing a blue Titans hooded sweatshirt at the time. “Let me just explain it to you this way: We are 4-1 in those blue uniforms. So anything for a win.”

He continued: “It doesn’t matter if it was purple, we’d be wearing the purple. Anyway, I think our players kind of like it. The fans, I understand, are not really happy by it, but just bear with us for just this one game. Let’s make it 5-1, and we’ll all be happy.”

Reader comments about the throwback uniforms on the Jets’ Web site this week have been decidedly negative. Blue and gold are Cub Scouts colors, one wrote. Another wrote the uniforms should be buried in the Meadowlands with Jimmy Hoffa.

Ryan is correct. The Jets have won four of five games since introducing the blue throwback jerseys in 2007. (They are 1-1 in white Titans jerseys.) If the Jets wear throwback uniforms, the fans say, they should use the green uniforms and helmets from the 1980s.

But Ryan is also correct about something else: His players like the throwbacks.

“I love them,” said this week. “They give us some sweet gear and sweatshirts and all that. It’s really cool. I love those jerseys.”

They are, the players say, a nice change of pace. They do not seem to hamper the Jets’ ability to win games. The Jets practiced in their blue helmets Thursday and Friday, tight end Dustin Keller said, and no one appeared to be confused.

“Everybody likes a little throwback every once in a while,” defensive tackle Sione Pouha said.

When told that the Titans were not a very good or popular team, winning only 19 of 42 games in their three seasons, Pouha said: “I don’t know that much about them. I know they used to be the Titans. It adds a little scenery, a little color.”

Keller had heard that the Titans were not good. They finished 7-7 in each of their first two seasons, then were 5-9 in 1962. The team was renamed the Jets in 1963 and adopted green and white as their colors. Weeb Ewbank became their coach, and they won the six years later.

“You’ve still got to pay your respects to the past,” Keller said of the Titans era.

Keller likes the throwback uniforms, too. So does the 37-year-old receiver Derrick Mason, who played for the Tennessee Titans, whose forerunners were the Houston Oilers, then spent six years with the Baltimore Ravens, who used to be the Cleveland Browns. “I like these colors — I wish we’d wear them all of the time,” Mason said. “Baltimore didn’t have throwbacks, but that’s good, because the uniforms they used to wear were ugly.”

He said of the throwback uniforms, “It’s history, a tradition.”

Told that the Titans of New York were not such a good team, Mason smiled and said: “I know. But, luckily, we are.”

EXTRA POINTS

Rex Ryan said linebacker David Harris (toe), receiver Santonio Holmes (knee and quadriceps muscle) and safety Eric Smith (ankle) were limited in practice Friday and were questionable for Sunday’s game. “I do feel good about David,” he said of Harris’s chances of playing, but he was not as optimistic about Holmes and Smith.

Jaguars (1-0) At Jets (1-0)

JAGUARS (1-0) AT JETS (1-0), 1 P.M. EASTERN, CBS

Matchup to Watch: Jets’ Defense vs. Luke McCown

All week, the Jets’ defense spoke in glowing terms about the 30-year-old McCown, who has made eight career starts and threw his last touchdown pass in December 2007. That graciousness was repaid by Jason Hill, a backup receiver for Jacksonville, who suggested that Darrelle Revis did not deserve his reputation as one of the N.F.L.’s top corners. Already smarting after allowing 390 yards to Dallas, the Jets’ defense has one more reason to prove itself, and its aggressive schemes could harass McCown all afternoon.

Number to Watch: 2.7

The average yards per carry last Sunday by Chris Johnson, the Titans’ superb running back, against the Jaguars’ defensive front. That could portend bad news for the Jets, who were held to 45 rushing yards last Sunday, their fewest in the Rex Ryan era. Improved blocking could open up the running game, diversify the offense and help keep Mark Sanchez upright, something the Jets struggled to do against Dallas. After being pummeled by the Cowboys’ blitzes, Sanchez needed concussion testing. ”You don’t want your quarterback to get hit that many times, that’s for sure,” Ryan said.

Quote of the Week

”It feels like a fresh-out-of-the-womb knee.”

MAURICE JONES-DREW, Jacksonville running back, who amassed 97 yards and a touchdown on 24 carries in his first game since having off-season surgery on his right knee.

This is a more complete version of the story than the one that appeared in print.

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