Scouting Report – Week 3 – Jacksonville Jaguars

Position by position breakdown of the enemy every Friday. NOTE – When I give a team the advantage, I’m not talking about career strengths or upside or any of that. It’s all about who is playing better football right now.

QUARTERBACK – After parting ways with Byron Leftwich less than a month ago, the team is relying on David Garrard to lead them this season. So far, he’s doing a good job, completing over 60% of his passes and not throwing an interception. He has 476 yards and 2 touchdowns to show for it, along with a 101.8 quarterback rating. I’m giving Jacksonville the checkmark for this reason – he’s simply playing better, more controlled football than Jay Cutler is right now.
ADVANTAGE –

RUNNING BACK – The Jacksonville running game is traditionally one of the best in the league. But Fred Taylor and Maurice Jones-Drew have yet to find their traction, averaging 3.4 yards per carry in two games against the Titans and Falcons. Travis Henry leads all NFL rushers in yardage, so this one ended up being pretty easy.
ADVANTAGE –

WIDE RECEIVER – Really no contest. Like the Falcons, the Jaguars are infamous for struggling to find quality wide receivers, despite high draft picks. Matt Jones has even been called out by the coaches, and would be a #4 in our group. Dennis Northcutt leads the team in receptions with 9, followed by Ernest Wilford and Jones with 3 apiece. Nothing stellar here, our DBs shouldn’t have a problem. ADVANTAGE –

TIGHT END – They drafted Mercedes Lewis last year, and he is paying the team dividends thus far, catching 6 balls at 12.3 yards per catch. But Daniel Graham is showing he was worth the price Denver paid for him, especially in the run game, and when Tony Scheffler finds his spark again the Broncos tight end squad is clearly superior.
ADVANTAGE –

OFFENSIVE LINE – This one was tough to call. The Jags have a very solid offensive line, but obviously the run blocking hasn’t been as effective lately. Their starting center from last year, Brad Meester (a light 6-3, 295), has been missing action with an ankle injury. This has hurt the team. Their RG Chris Naeole had missed some action as well, but it looks like he is now good to go. I haven’t had time to watch a lot of film on this offensive line this year, but from the seven sacks I see Garrard has had, and the lackluster running game, something isn’t clicking so the Broncos get the checkmark.
ADVANTAGE –

DEFENSIVE LINE – The Jaguars are infamous for having one of the best in the leagues. Led by Marcus Stroud and John Henderson, their beefy DTs, they have had a great run defense for years. After a 282 yard blunder against the Titans, the run defense stepped up and only allowed 82 yards on the ground against the Falcons. This one is as clear cut as they come – even with the 5 injuries across the D-Line they reported in last week’s team injury report.
ADVANTAGE –

LINEBACKER – Weakside starter Clint Ingram hasn’t seen action yet due to an ankle injury, but he was upgraded from Out in Week 1 to Questionable in Week 2, so he may see action yet. Other than obvious weakness, the Jaguars are solid at Mike and Sam, with Mike Peterson (6-1, 238) already tallying 15 tackles and 2 sacks at Mike and Daryl Smith adding 11 tackles of his own. These units look similar, but the Jags’ is more experieced, although I like Denver’s upside to their unit a little more.
ADVANTAGE – .

CORNERBACK – Just give the Broncos this one each week, barring injury, although the Jags have one of the elite corners in the AFC in Rashean Mathis (6-1, 190), who totaled 8 picks last year for second in the league. He has the potential to give Walker and Marshall a lot of fits. Opposite him is Brian Williams (5-11, 202), a decent enough #2 but nothing to shout about.
ADVANTAGE –

SAFETY – They just put S Gerald Sensabaugh on IR, moving rookie Reggie Nelson (whom they selected with Denver’s original 21st overall) to the starting lineup. They have ex-Chief Sammy Knight starting opposite him now, so this unit that was once pretty damn good isn’t looking so hot right now. Although Nelson could prove to be dangerous – he’s already registered 8 tackles and a sack coming off the bench both weeks. Too big of unknowns for me though.
ADVANTAGE –

SPECIAL TEAMS – Can I just say that a team would have to be really bad for me to rank them below the Broncos? We’ve missed 3 field goals, had a punt return against us for a TD, and failed to recover a surprise onside kick. That being said, the Jaguars are dealing with Special Teams issues of their own. Their K Josh Scobee is expected to miss more time with a quad injury, but I’ll still give them the mark.
ADVANTAGE –

COACHES – Mike Shanahan is one of the best, if not the best. I like Jack Del Rio a lot too, but c’mon. Besides maybe Gary Kubiak, Shanahan is Coach of the Year through 2 weeks.
ADVANTAGE –

THE PICK – I like the Broncos in a defensive battle 20-13.