Jacksonville Jaguars: 5 Reasons Why the Team Fails
By Joe Wedra
It’s easy to feel sorry for Jacksonville Jaguars fans across the country. The team has been a mess for much of our recent memory, and it doesn’t seem like anybody is willing to come into Everbank Field and turn things around in a flash. Shahid Khan has a failing team that isn’t getting the job done.
Casual fans think it’s just the “Jaguar way”. The truth is, there are legitimate problems that need to be addressed.
Blake Bortles misses throws at every level.
We’ll cut the rookie from UCF some slack here. Bortles is young, but his missed opportunities have come largely in-part to inaccurate throws all over the field. Youth has a tendency to take over with rookie quarterbacks. However, if you’re wondering why the Jaguars have had trouble in the passing game, you can chalk it up to Bortles missing some big throws.
The running back situation is still a mystery.
Bringing in Toby Gerhart in the offseason spelled trouble early for this offense. He’s been as ineffective as any back in the NFL this season, averaging just 2.9 yards per carry when healthy.
He was passed on the depth chart by former Michigan playmaker Denard Robinson (who had disappointing stretches as well), but Robinson suffered a season-ending foot sprain last week. Can he be looked at as the future, or will the 2015 NFL Draft provide running back help for an offense in desperate need of a solid number-one?
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It all starts with poor offensive line play.
This one is pretty simple. If Khan wants his team to be a playoff contender, his guys are going to have to sure up the offensive line in a hurry. Bortles has been under duress all season, a large contributing factor to his lack of success.
Here are the numbers from the great folks at Pro Football Focus, detailing just how poorly the tackles in this unit have played in 2014:
Luke Joeckel: -13.5
Austin Pasztor: -7.8
Sam Young: -2.0
The offense can’t feed off of an above-average defense.
Before you knock the Jacksonville defense, take a look at the tape. This unit has been flying around all season, making plays and living up to their potential.
The secondary has covered the pass nicely in their last few games and the pass rush is stepping up to be an above-average group.
The problem here can only be fixed with a large amount of work on extending drives in tough third-down situations. Bortles and Co. have been too vanilla in tight scenarios. If they want the defense to keep living up to potential, they’ll have to give them a break at some point.
Meltdowns in the fourth quarter are never acceptable.
Even if it all starts out perfectly, things end poorly for the Jags – a fact that Jacksonville fans know all too well. You can attribute this to everything we’ve listed so far.
However, there is hope for the fan-base that sticks by their squad every week — this team is going to get better. There are too many people in the organization who believe in the future for things not to improve.
It may not be this year or the next, but brighter days are ahead that will include the stable of young guys the Jaguars currently have on the roster.