Jacksonville vs Kansas City

JT: It was the best of times, it was the worst of times

It was the age of wisdom (defensive coordinator Mike Caldwell seems to have it somewhat figured out), it was the age of foolishness (Trevor’s decision to pull the ball from the gut of the RB and try for the end zone himself), it was the epoch of belief (we all thought this was the year to dispatch the Chiefs), it was the epoch of incredulity (if only the end zone was 11 yards deep), it was the season of light, (expectations for T-Law are monstrously high after the second half of last year), it was the season of darkness (the O-line is already full of holes. Anton Harrison is Grinch green, while Bartch and the bunch are baffled by penetrating pursuers of the First Coast franchise. I amore alliteration - yeah, a bit of a reach there), it was the spring of hope (Calvin Ridley’s return), it was the winter of despair (Okay, enough. It ends here.) Chucky D. will not write the script for this years Jaguars. That, my friends, is Asher Grodman’s job. And since he’s been on strike for a few months now, we can’t take any more food off his table (Temple of the Dogs song Hunger Strike keeps playing in my head. Great song. Even better band. I miss grunge. Why can’t it be cold enough for flannel in Florida?). Alas Dickens, there will be no winter of despair in this Tale of the Bold City, only the stacking of dubyas, beginning this Sunday against the Texans of Houston.

Look, we’ve deservedly poked at Press for not calling the best of games these past two weeks. Against the Colts, the play calling for the defense was excellent while the offense sputtered and appeared discombobulated. Against the Chiefs the defense looked masterful (too much? I’m prone to exaggeration), with the exception of leaving Tay Tay’s boy toy wide open in the end zone for an easy sixer. The offense, however, looked worse than it did in week one. This can be attributed to the fact that KCs defense is much more of a powerhouse than that of the Colts, or it can be the play calling. We here at JaguarsTalk argue this; Yes the Chiefs defense is superior to the Colts. Yes Chris Jones was back and yes Jacksonville’s offensive line is riddled with issues and injuries, so much so, that’s it’s not even funny (there is a very bad pun hidden in there somewhere). But, if not for three bad play calls, the Jaguars would have won the game against the defending Super Bowl Champions. And, had this happened, I wouldn’t be cringing every time I see a T-Mobile or State Farm commercial on TV.

The three plays in question, in no particular order, are:

Not punting on 4th and 5 from the KC 45 yard line. Andy Reid was in a very similar situation and he chose to play the field position game. KC pinned our Jags down on the 2 yard line. Turns out that was the better call since the JAX fourth down attempt resulted in a sack for a loss by Chris Jones. The Chiefs got the ball on a turnover on downs. It would seem time for a Lee Corso appearance…”Not so fast my friends”…While going for it on fourth and five is a pretty ballsy call, upon rewatching the play, Christian Kirk was wide open for the first down AND Trevor had enough time to get him the ball. So what gives? Has Trevor developed happy feet due to the swiss cheese that is our offensive line? Did his spidey senses detect big old Chris Jones barreling down on him and thus he tucked and ran instead of delivering the first down pass and taking the hit (which he ended up taking anyway)? Whatever the answers may be, the bottom line is that the call wasn’t bad, Trevor was. He made the wrong decision buy not hitting an open Kirk (who had a phenomenal bounce back game from last weeks no show in Indy, btw). Execution, not elocution, cost JAX that drive.

The second s##t show snafu was when Press Taylor sat at first and goal from the one yard line. Yes, you have an offensive line that has some issues but surely with a 6’6” QB you could reach over that goal line for a much needed TD. Or, and this may be a bit out there, you could hand it off to ETN who seemed to be making some decent gains when he was given the chance. Which, frankly wasn’t often enough. As pointed out by Kasey Kuhrts of ESPN 690 JAX (@kkuhrts), “The Jaguars RBs totaled 3 touches in the 2nd half - all three being runs from Travis Etienne for 15 yards. No touches in the 4th quarter by any Jaguars running back.” This is 100% Press Taylor’s fault. This was not smart at all. Just like in the Jaguars second to last drive of the first half (not our 27 second drill which was played to perfection. Credit where it is due). They were running the clock down exceedingly well, with an advancing ground and pound game. Then Press got all cutesy with backwards passes and mutated versions of the Philly Special. He ended up giving the ball back to Mr. Texas Tech who march down the field and put 7 on the board right before halftime. It was the beginning of the end. That Jags drive was stalled by stupidity in the booth, but I digress. Going back to the first and goal from the one yard line debacle. It was such bad play calling that we here at JagsTalk thought it needed it’s own column and thus we put pen to paper and came up with The List. I mean Press, we drafted a man named Tank. As in M1 Abrams. He was chosen specifically for such occasions. Just run him away from CJ. Overload one side with Brenton Strange and have my man carry him over the goal line like he did last week when he lifted Bigsby past the first down marker to the one foot line. Our O-line isn’t so horrible that we can’t gain One. Single. Yard. Alas, after listening to the post game press conferences we learned that a running play was called on that first down and that Trevor Lawrence decided to pull the ball from Etienne’s gut, as Travis headed into the end zone for a would be touchdown, and instead kept it for a bootleg of sorts that was snuffed out and tackled for a loss. Why Trevor, why? Evidently, I can’t be too upset, Trevor’s gone rogue in the past, but in the past, it resulted in touchdowns. Live by the sword die by the sword, I guess. I prefer the live by the sword part, personally. So maybe that one play wasn’t a Press Taylor screw up, but what about the next one and the one after that? No runs were called with only a few yards needed. We have top notch NFL ball carriers OC PT, hell we even have some just okay ones, so let’s use them (or even me) in situations where they can thrive.

Finally, the third play that sealed our fate and put the nail in the coffin, was going for it on fourth and 12 at the end of the game when 4+ minutes remained on the clock. Was that a smart move? As it turns out, no. No, it wasn’t. Why not kick the field goal? Kick a field goal and put the game in the hands of your defense who were, how do the kids put it…Fire. Hell, go for an on-side kick if you want, but after you put 3 on the board. Give us a chance. Give us some hope. Give us the best of times. I heard Doug Pederson after the game say that if it were fourth and 15 he would have kicked the field goal but because it was fourth and twelve it made sense to go for it. What in the actual…huh? It was 100+ degrees. We were in the stands, melting like one of the directional Wicked Witches of Oz. Everyone was being gouged $6 for a $0.5 tiny plastic water bottle needed to stay just hydrated enough to avoid passing out, but still be cognizant enough to question what in the hell you were doing in your air conditioned booth (and the sideline. Let’s face it, Dougie P. has veto power). Maybe Press Taylor’s calls were the correct calls and maybe Trevor waited too long to throw that pass in the end zone. Maybe our boys were open earlier and the balls came late. Either way, that leaves us with one of two not so great scenarios. Press Taylor isn’t making good play calls or Trevor Lawrence isn’t making good decisions. I can say without a doubt that it is a bit of both. Some of those calls against KC were horrible (the transmogrified Philly Special call. Not using a running back at all in the fourth quarter). Press Taylor is most definitely finding his way, much like the dance Mike Caldwell was doing at the beginning of last season. Trevor, as well, must shoulder some very bad decision making that may have cost the Jags a win. Not throwing to a wide open Kirk on fourth and five and most certainly not handing the ball off on fourth and goal (in general there were just too many “fourth and” plays). What were you thinking on that one. I can understand some overthrows and even some late throws (requiring an 11 yard deep end zone), but that decision to RPO what was strictly a hand-off play was, as it turns out, the worst of times.

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