Category: Doug Marrone

Jaguars vs. Colts: 3 keys to Jacksonville victory

Week 1 is here! With Jaguars vs. Colts kicking off in just a few hours from now, here are three keys to a Jacksonville victory

The Jacksonville Jaguars’ and Indianapolis Colts’ rivalry was an interesting series in 2019. Both sides won a game apiece, but both wins looked remarkably comfortable. Nick Foles fell 33-13 to Indianapolis in one of his four starts in Jacksonville. Whilst in Week 17 Gardner Minshew II torched the Colts for three touchdowns in a 38-20 victory.

With the teams playing in the series opener, it is difficult to predict which way the game is going to go. Each team goes into the 2020 season looking different from the last time they took the field. The Colts have a new starting quarterback in Philip Rivers and former Pro Bowler DeForest Buckner, whilst the Jaguars team feels as though it’s made of entirely fresh faces having moved on from several starters throughout the offseason.

Starting the season, Jacksonville seems to be everyone’s favorites to pick first-overall in the 2021 NFL Draft, so a Week 1 victory could make many analysts second guess their season predictions. With Doug Marrone coaching for his job in 2020 and Dave Caldwell very much on the hot-seat, here are three things the Jaguars must do if they are to start the season with a victory.

Defend the run, please

In their defeat against Indianapolis last season, the Jaguars defense let two Colts go for over 100 yards on the ground. Yes, two. In fact over both games last season, Marlon Mack averaged 6.4 yards per carry, for a total of 186 yards and three touchdowns. That’s laughable.

It’s no secret that the Jaguars’ defensive line has been decimated by outgoings, injuries, and opt-outs, but this team simply has to defend the run better if it is going to win games this year. A key to this could be the performance of Taven Bryan, who had a solid game against Indy last December.

With the addition of Jonathan Taylor to the Colts’ backfield, defensive coordinator Todd Wash is going to have to do everything he can to shut down their ground game. Simply put, it might be significantly harder for the Colts to win this game if their offense has to run through a 38-year-old Philip Rivers, who many would argue is coming off the worst season of his career.

Don’t turn the ball over

Last year interceptions weren’t a major concern for Minshew. In fact, many fans pointed to his lack of picks as a reason he should have been considered for 2019 Offensive Rookie of the Year. By comparison, Minshew’s six picks were half the amount registered by Kyler Murray, who won the award.

Whilst interceptions aren’t a noted issue for Minshew, fumbles certainly are. The former Washington State signal-caller dropped the ball 13 times last year, seven of which were recovered by the other team. That kind of carelessness is a surefire way to hamper a team’s chances of winning.

More often than not, a quarterback fumbling will put his team in a worse position than an interception would, as it’s much further up-field. So to win this game, Minshew must keep the ball out of the opposition’s hands, and more importantly, off the floor.

Limit penalties

The lack of discipline by the Jags was on display for all to see last year, as the team ended up second in the league in penalties. A staggering 8.25 flags per game.

If the team wants to be successful, it simply has to cut out the mental errors and silly mistakes that plagued the team in 2019. The lack of a preseason may lead to more penalties across the league as players fight to regain their sharpness and acclimatize to meaningful reps.

If the Jaguars are to win games this year,  they must stamp out these errors early. It’s hard enough to win games in the NFL as it is, let alone doing it with referees marching a squad back 73 yards on average every week.

3 Jaguars to watch on offense vs. Colts

The Jags will need their offense to lead the way if they are to beat the Colts Sunday and, of course, Gardner Minshew is one of many keys.

Today is finally the day. Jaguars football is back on our screens in just a matter of hours. The offseason has been filled with a multitude of storylines, some controversy, and distress for fans. Opening day represents something entirely different: when the hope has yet to be taken away, and the air is thick with Bud Light, excitement, and anticipation.

However, this year the anticipation is different and it’s because football is not going to look like it has in the past. For much of the year, the mere prospect of football was very much in doubt, but thanks to the NFL’s COVID-19 protocols and each franchise’s diligence, the season is here.

On today’s slate of games, the only matchup that will have fans is the one being held in Duval County as the Jags will host the Indianapolis Colts. If the Jaguars fans in attendance are to go home happy, the three players below need to have a good game:

RB James Robinson

The undrafted rookie running back from Illinois State was supposedly a large factor in the team’s decision to move on from former top-5 pick Leonard Fournette. With the likes of Devin Ozigbo and Ryquell Armstead both unavailable for the game, James Robinson looks set to become the feature back for Jay Gruden’s offense early on this season.

If he gets off to a hot start, the Jaguars running back might join the likes of Philip Lindsay and Austin Ekeler, two undrafted running backs who’ve held their own for their respective teams. The Colts’ front seven is beginning to come into its own and the addition of second-team All-Pro DeForest Buckner will only help them.

Simply put, Week 1 will provide a tough test for Robinson in his pro debut. However, if he shines, he might be the long-term future at the position for the Jaguars.

LT Cam Robinson

Someone whose long-term future is by no means certain is left tackle Cam Robinson. As of now, there hasn’t been any news about the Jags looking into an extension, so it’s possible they will let the season play out to evaluate him.

Robinson missed nearly all of 2018 after suffering a torn ACL in a Jaguars win over New England and hasn’t been able to consistently perform at the same level since his return. The reports coming out of camp suggest that this is the best he has looked for quite some time, having been able to rehab properly over the course of the offseason.

The former Alabama star will need to play up to his full potential if he hopes to secure a new deal with the team who drafted him in the second-round back in 2017. Having a solid showing against Justin Houston Week 1 would be a great start towards getting that new deal.

QB Gardner Minshew

The 2020 season is Gardner Minshew’s audition for the role of franchise quarterback. In his rookie year, Minshew played well enough to bench $88 million man Nick Foles, but more importantly, he did enough to prevent Dave Caldwell from taking a quarterback early in the draft.

Make no mistake, if he underperforms this year then the Jaguars will almost certainly be moving on from MinshewMania for 2021. For that reason, it’s vital that the second-year passer gets off to a hot start.

Everybody outside of the Jaguars’ facility seems certain that the team is “tanking for Trevor Lawrence,” but those within the organization are hopeful that their current quarterback can show he’s able to lead the team to wins. That would not only save his jobs, but also Caldwell’s and Doug Marrone’s.

Minshew’s only game against the Colts (2019’s season finale) is one of the best so far in his career. He was able to put up almost 300 passing yards for three touchdowns in a 38-20 victory. If he’s able to come anywhere close to that production today, there is a real chance the Jaguars can shock the league and start out 1-0.

Doug Marrone addresses speculations of Jags tanking, insists that his job is on the line

Most believe the Jags are plotting their way to a top-3 draft pick, however, Doug Marrone says he’s approaching 2020 with the mindset to win.

The rate at which talent has left the Jacksonville Jaguars’ roster throughout the last 12 months has been alarming and somewhat comical in the eyes of the fanbase. The Jags found surprise success in 2017 reaching the AFC Championship game, even sending six players to the Pro Bowl that season, good for a franchise high.

Unfortunately, things have gone nowhere but downhill since then. Of those six Pro-Bowlers, none remain on the Jaguars’ roster. In fact, only two starting defensive players from the 2017 AFC Championship title game in Foxborough  are still with the team.

The team’s purge of talent began when Jalen Ramsey forced his way to the Los Angeles Rams last October. Since, the amount of starting players that have left is almost unprecedented. Calais Campbell, A.J Bouye, and recently Yannick Ngakoue have all been traded this offseason/preseason. Additionally, Marcell Dareus, and now Leonard Fournette, have both been allowed to hit the open market and waived, respectively.

Of course, such losses have made many fans question whether the Jags are tanking or not, however, coach Doug Marrone insisted that they weren’t in Monday’s press conference.

“I can’t speak for anyone else, but if [tanking] is the case then the realization is that if that happens I’m not going to be here,” Marrone said. “At the end of the day, if I don’t win enough games, or I don’t do enough with this team I don’t foresee me still being employed. So I’m doing everything I can to make sure that we have the best team to win football games. That’s as simple as I can be on it.”

Marrone also expressed his excitement about the current roster, which has a lot of young talent, but also has some notable veterans.

“I’m super excited about this team,” Marrone said. “I’m excited about the young guys, I’m excited about the older guys, the way they’ve performed and the guys we have on this team.”

Whilst the roster looks markedly different from the only team to bring success to Jacksonville for a decade, perhaps fans shouldn’t give up hope before a ball has been snapped. The front office and staff seemingly believe they have enough talent to win, but time will tell what the results truly are.

Marrone says decision to release Fournette was about what he saw on practice field

After the news broke that the Jaguars waived Leonard Fournette, Doug Marrone explains the team could find “no value” for the running back.

Monday morning Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Doug Marrone faced the media less than an hour after the news broke that the team was releasing former first-round pick Leonard Fournette.

With questions coming in left and right about the timing of the situation, Marrone was candid and forthcoming with his response, stating that the decision was based on what was seen on the practice field. He also added that the Jags had exercised every option to trade Fournette.

“Well, I think what happened was I tried to challenge everyone, coaches and scouts, to look at what we’ve been doing in practice. Not knowing how the players are going to come back, not knowing who we had, not having a lot of experience to them and that we’d have to make good decisions on what’s best for the team. Let’s not go ahead and say ‘well, because this player did this before, we’ll get the same type of results’,” Marrone said.

“Really we’ve just tried to take the team and put the best team together from what we’ve seen in our practices. At the end of the day, I felt that was the best decision for our team and think it gives us the best opportunity with the skill sets that we have with the other players in there. I just felt that’s what’s best for the team. And doing it now, we’ve exhausted all trade opportunities and weren’t able to get anything there so I just felt we can now work on the team, the plan, and getting ready for the season.”

Marrone added that the meeting between the two was also very professional.

 

This news is a little surprising as Fournette is coming off his best year in the NFL with over 1,600 all-purpose yards. However, the lack of interest in the former Louisiana State Tiger has been well documented since as far back as April. Basically, it sounds as though general manager Dave Caldwell couldn’t get anyone to bite on Fournette after having discussions around the 2020 NFL Draft.

The Jaguars running back room now consists of Chris Thompson, Ryquell Armstead, Devine Ozigbo, and undrafted rookies Nathan Cottrell and James Robinson. With Thompson being the oldest of the group and having experience under Jay Gruden’s system already, it feels as though he’ll be the new leader of the room.

As for adding a running back before Week 1, that feels unlikely at the moment, but ultimately time will tell.

Jags practice Thursday after delay, met beforehand to discuss ‘actionable change’ against racism

The Jags got off to a delay for Thursday’s practice, but ultimately decided to continue with plans for ‘actionable change’ against racism.

With many teams deciding to boycott on Thursday in wake of the police shooting of James Blake, the Jacksonville Jaguars’ Thursday practice session was delayed. However, after meeting for hours the team decided to proceed with practice after the following statement was made by coach Doug Marrone.

Last night, the Milwaukee Bucks made a statement by boycotting their playoff game against the Orlando Magic to shed light on police brutality and other racially sensitive issues.

The team then released the following statement:

“Over the last few days in our home state of Wisconsin, we’ve seen the horrendous video of Jacob Blake being shot seven times in the back by a police officer in Kenosha, and the additional shooting of protestors. Despite the overwhelming plea for change, there has been no action, so our focus today cannot be on basketball.”

The Bucks were the catalyst for the wider sports world to pause and stand in solidarity against systemic racism in the United States. Since their announcement Wednesday night, other NBA and WNBA games were boycotted. Additionally, the MLB, other NFL organizations, players from the professional Tennis realm, and others in the sports community have stated they will cancel or postpone some of their activities to use their platform to continue important discourse about racial injustices.

The Jaguars practice field was empty this morning, leading many to speculate that Jacksonville would join the likes of the Indianapolis Colts, New York Jets and the Washington Football Team in cancelling today’s football activities. However, the team ultimately came to the decision to practice.

In the near future, the team will undoubtedly continue to express their solidarity with the sports community, which has dedicated a lot of effort towards civil rights for African Americans and other minorities. In fact, back in May they held a march following the tragedy of George Floyd’s murder at the hands of an Indianapolis policeman named Derek Chauvin and three other officers. Owner Shad Khan also released an essay addressing racism and stated that he’d continue to hold meetings with the Jags about approaches for change.

Jaguars sign FB Bruce Miller, waive Connor Slomka

The Jags are adding a veteran fullback in Bruce Miller, who hasn’t played since the 2016 preseason.

The Jacksonville Jaguars made a few transactions Saturday by adding veteran fullback Bruce Miller and waiving undrafted rookie fullback Connor Slomka. The swap of the two players kept the Jags’ roster at 80 players as they head into a new phase of training camp that will include padded practices Monday.

Like Slomka, Miller will be the lone fullback on the Jags’ roster. This is worth noting because the Jags haven’t utilized a true fullback since their 2017 season when they had Tommy Bohanon.

Miller was drafted out of Central Florida by a Trent Baalke led front office with the San Francisco 49ers back in the 2011 NFL Draft (as the 211th overall pick). As many are aware, Baalke is now with the Jags front office as their director of player personnel. Still, many fans have found it alarming that Miller hasn’t played since the 2016 preseason and will be the oldest player on the team at 33 years-of-age.

The reason behind the abrupt stop to Miller’s career was an incident where he was arrested by the San Francisco Police Department and charged with assault on two men. Per the report explaining his arrest, Miller got into a physical altercation with a 70-year-old man and his 29-year-old son at a Marriott Hotel after being intoxicated and trying to enter the elderly man’s room.

The father was reportedly punched by Miller, which resulted in both going to the hospital and Miller eventually being arrested after being examined. Miller  pleaded not guilty, and with the Jags signing him, it’s possible he was exonerated of the charges from the incident, which happened just under four years ago.

With 47 starts to his name, Miller will enter his tenure with the Jags with 28 career carries for 62 yards as a rusher and 76 receptions for 734 receiving yards and three touchdowns through the air. Those stats seem to indicate that he was a superb lead blocker with good ball skills, something Marrone spoke on this week to the media when asked about Slomka.

“Now, if it’s that type of player, you’ve got to ask yourself, what are we getting out of that player from the standpoint of the passing game? What are we getting out of that player from a standpoint of special teams? Connor has that ability, he’s tough, he can run well, he does have some ball skills.” Marrone said this past Thursday.

“The other thing you look at is okay, you understand that goal line, short yardage, or maybe some situations you’re going to have to bring someone over and those snaps during the year, when you look at it from a percentage standpoint, are low.”

Jags LB Quincy Williams to “miss some time” in camp with a core muscle issue

Jags second-year LB Quincy Williams will be missing some time in camp with a core muscle issue, giving Dakota Allen a chance to step up.

According to Jacksonville Jaguars coach Doug Marrone, weak-side linebacker Quincy Williams will be missing some time on the field due to a core muscle issue. This comes as the Jags are in the process of their ramp-up period, working there way into padded practices which will take place next week.

Williams, 23, is entering his second year with the Jags after the team drafted him in the third-round of the 2019 NFL Draft out of Murray State. He ended up starting in eight games for the team as a rookie, but struggled and was benched as a result. However, he still managed to accumulate 48 tackles in the process. 

Now, with Joe Schobert set to start at MIKE linebacker, Myles Jack will start on the weak-side, making Williams the top backup at the position. With the second-year player being sidelined, Marrone said Dakota Allen will take a majority of Williams’ reps.

The time Williams spends away from the field could be huge for Allen, who was a seventh-round pick for the Los Angeles Rams in 2019 and joined the Jags’ practice squad last December. After being drafted, Allen was a player who flashed in the preseason for the Rams so the potential is there for him to impress the Jags’ staff. If he can, it could make the depth at linebacker more interesting as it’s a position where the Jags are already strong.

Doug Marrone, D.J. Chark discuss leadership D.J. Hayden brings to Jags’ locker room

The Jags will be enduring a lot of changes to their locker room but one veteran who will return is D.J. Hayden, who the team has praised.

Training camp marks a good time for NFL teams to start establishing their locker-room leaders and Doug Marrone has already singled out a few for the Jacksonville Jaguars in his press conferences. Among them has been nickelback D.J. Hayden, who will be heading into his eighth season in the league and third with the Jags.

“He’s a guy, as a coach, you never want to take for granted,” Marrone said of the veteran. “He’s always doing the right thing. If I was a young player and I walked into a locker room and I was looking to see what someone does, maybe because I didn’t know, he’d be one of the guys that I look at.”

Marrone is right, for a locker-room that will be among the youngest in 2020, Hayden’s experience could prove to be invaluable. That could especially be the case when looking specifically at how young the Jags are at cornerback between rookie C.J. Henderson, third-year player Tre Herndon, fourth-round selection Josiah Scott, and a couple of undrafted rookies.

Like Marrone, those who’ve been around Hayden have come into camp aware of the leadership Hayden brings to the table. That includes one of the team’s ascending stars D.J. Chark, who has battled Hayden for over two seasons now.

“I love going against D.J. [Hayden],” Chark told the media Friday. “He’s very confident, which is something that I always admire about any player. When you’re confident, it allows me to be confident and talk smack with you. You also can learn from guys like that. He’s very smart. He knows route patterns, based off your system.”

Hayden’s play on the field also hasn’t gone under the radar on a national level either. Just recently, he was named to Touchdown Wire’s top-101 players list by Doug Farrar and was the only Jag listed. Now, it will be a matter of finding out if his play will be infectious to the rest of the Jags’ young secondary. If it is, the Jags veteran could end up being instrumental to the team moving closer to a .500 record or better.

Doug Marrone on Gardner Minshew: ‘I think he will be available soon’

While he couldn’t go into details about Gardner Minshew going on the reserve/COVID-19 list, he did say he expects the quarterback back soon.

The Jacksonville Jaguars have been the most active team when it comes to their Reserve/COVID-19 list, with 12 players currently on it. They’ve even had one of the higher-profile names in the league added to the list in quarterback Gardner Minshew II, who was placed on the list Sunday.

Of course, this has cause many fans to be concerned about Minshew, who is coming up on a huge year after turning heads in 2019. After putting up the highest Pro Football Focus grade of any rookie quarterback (70.3) last season, and starting in all six of the Jags’ wins, he’s coming up on a trial season where the staff will get to see if he’s a franchise quarterback.

However, that can’t happen until Minshew is cleared. Luckily, it sounds like it won’t be long before he is, as coach Doug Marrone offered what little details he could on the second-year quarterback’s situation.

“I feel his spirits are great, and I think he will be available soon,” Marrone said n Monday’s virtual media conference.

Minshew’s placement on the Jags’ Reserve/COVID-19 list doesn’t necessarily mean he contracted the coronavirus, but it could mean he was simply around someone (or multiple people) with it. If Minshew came in contact with a person or people with the coronavirus but tested negative, the Jags simply have to monitor him while tracking for symptoms.

Minshew wasn’t alone when he was placed on the list Sunday as fellow 2019 rookies Ryquell Armstead, Andrew Wingard, Michael Walker, and Charles Jones joined him. They joined three others who were already on the Reserve/COVID-19 list in offensive tackle Ryan Pope, guard Tre’Vour Wallace-Simms, and cornerback Parry Nickerson.

Doug Marrone discusses challenges young players will face to make Jags’ roster

This offseason will mark a difficult time for young players to make a roster in the NFL and that could especially be an issue for the Jags.

One of the biggest issues with this NFL offseason which has been significantly altered by COVID-19 is the lack of experience the rookies will get on the field before the regular season. As many are aware, organized team activities were replaced with a virtual process, while minicamp was eliminated and the same will apply for preseason games.

Of course, this has made a scenario where it will especially be an uphill battle for draft picks who aren’t high selections to make rosters. When looking at the Jags’ roster makeup, these are players they’ve named to their rosters quite often in the past, but things could be different this year.

Jags coach Doug Marrone discussed this exact matter when asked about going without preseason games, which would mark one of the most unique offseason fans have seen in a while.

“I told this to the young guys, I said if you look at our league and the history of our league, this is probably going to be one of the more challenging times for a young player to make a football team,” Marrone told the media Thursday

“One is because of opportunities and the other is a young football player that may have some better players ahead of him, but not being able to play preseason games to get on film and maybe get picked up by another team. I think the challenges for these young guys are much greater than they have been in the past.”

It was clear the Jags were going to be a young team early in this offseason as they traded away veteran Calais Campbell, Nick Foles, and A.J. Bouye. They also elected not to pick up nose tackle Marcell Dareus’ last year and released receiver Marqise Lee.

Losing all of the aforementioned names put the Jags in a situation where they will now carry 12 draft picks and 18 undrafted rookies into training camp. However, with the staff potentially on the hot seat, it’s hard to imagine them carrying a lot of undrafted players on their roster — if any at all.