Houston vs. Jaguars Game 6 Oct 21st Texans_Digital | Page 81

“I believe that you have to rally, meaning that the
people that are coming in there, [they have to]
support them, help them, get them in the situation,”
Marrone said. “Level of awareness steps up.
Everything kind of steps up a little bit. Getting those
guys in there and truly being excited about it and
truly wanting to go out there and be able to perform
with the players that are on the fi eld.
“Make something happen rather than to say, ‘Well,
we’re in trouble because of this or we’re in trouble
because of that.’ Once you start thinking like that,
you are never going to be able to fi ght your way
out of it. Right now, we’re trying to fi ght our way.”
Point being, this offense is absolutely banged up
right now. Does it matter though? No, because
the show must go on. For this team to get back
on track, they need players – no matter who they
are or where they started the season on the depth
chart – to play at a high level on offense. It is an
offense that must start fast and open an early lead
to let the defense go to work.
The Jaguars offense has proven that they can do
that: Look at the earlier wins over the Patriots and
Jets. The offense played at a high level both days
with certain starting players missing the games,
and the Jaguars won.
It needs to trend back in that direction on offense
and it needs to happen quickly.
Defense
The Dallas Cowboys offense did pretty much
whatever it wanted last week against the
Jaguars defense.
They ran for over 200 yards as a team, they scored
on every offensive possession in the fi rst half and
cashed in second-half turnovers for scores on
short fi elds. An offense that averaged under 17
points a game entering the game left with 40 on
the board, the fi rst 24 of those in the fi rst half when
the game was still young.
Even after that performance, the Jaguars defense
still ranks second in the league in total defense
and No. 1 against the pass. They slipped to No. 22
against the run.
Marrone chalked up some of the issues from a
week ago to miscommunication.
“There is a point as a coach where you can give
someone too much information,” Marrone said in
his Monday press conference. “Those guys that
go out there and play, you want to be able to say,
‘Here is your read, here is your key, go play.’ When
you start saying ‘Here is your read, here is your
key, but if they do this, watch this or do this and
watch that and that,’ that is going to slow down
a player.
“That comes back to us again, starting with me,
doing a better job of making sure we do not
have that. We’re good when we line up and just
say, ‘Here is your key, go play. Here is the play.
Do your job. Go.’ Then there is a point. The other
thing you have to look out for is people trying to
do too much. You appreciate that, but you wind
up getting yourself out of position at times when
you’re trying to do too much.”
This Jaguars defense has eight players with Pro
Bowl experience and multiple All-Pro selections.
True, they have not had the disruptive totals
from a year ago – the takeaways and sacks. But
this should still be a good enough defense to win
football games more weeks than not, and it should
improve as the season goes on.
Special Teams
Injuries have hit here as well. Long snapper
Carson Tinker and punt returner Jaydon Mickens
have been placed on the reserve/injured list. Matt
Overton returned to the Jaguars last week as long
snapper while Dede Westbrook could be a leading
candidate for the punt return role.