Jaguars Team Report
Yahoo! Sports
4 hours, 56 minutes ago
Inside Slant
When a small-market team has a 5-9 record, it usually doesn?t get much attention.
For example, when the Jaguars beat the Packers on Sunday, the game was viewed in only three percent of the country and in just two of the top 55 markets?Milwaukee and Jacksonville.
Now the Jaguars get a chance to play in a prime-time game for the third time this season when they host the Colts on Thursday night on the NFL Network.
?It?s a big challenge,? cornerback Brian Williams said. ?National TV, you always want to show up for that.?
Well, it?s technically on national TV, but being on the NFL Network is the NFL?s version of the Witness Protection Program.:mj07:
Locked in a legal battle with Comcast, the NFL Network hasn?t been able to get on Comcast?s basic cable package and isn?t even on some cable packages at all.
Still, it?s the only game of the night, and the highlight package will get a wide audience.
The Jaguars lost their first two prime-time games this season to the Steelers and Texans and don?t figure to get more than one prime-time game next year because of their poor record. They figure to be in a rebuilding mode in 2009.
Still, a victory over the Colts would give them a sweep of Indianapolis this year and would send a message that they could turn things around quickly.
It would also enable the Jaguars to go 3-3 in the division after finishing 2-4 the last two years. A loss would leave them at 2-4 in the division for the third consecutive year.
One player who?ll be motivated is Mike Peterson, the former Colt who is making probably the final appearance of his career in a Jaguars uniform at home.
Peterson is in the last year of his contract and probably won?t be re-signed by the team, especially after a confrontation with coach Jack Del Rio cost him his starting job earlier this year.
?The season hasn?t gone the way we wanted it to go, but I think sweeping a top team like the Indianapolis Colts would be something to hang our hat on in the offseason,? Peterson said.
Series History: 16th game. The Colts lead the series, 11-4. The Colts had won five of the last six games until the Jaguars beat them 23-21 in the third game of the season. The Jaguars won it with a 51-yard field goal by Josh Scobee with four seconds remaining after the Colts took a 21-20 lead with 1:07 left when Peyton Manning directed a seven-play, 80-yard drive. The Jaguars gashed them with their running game as Fred Taylor, who?s now on injured reserve, ran for 121 yards and Maurice Jones-Drew added 107.
Notes, Quotes
? The Jaguars placed three players on the injured reserve list Tuesday. LB Daryl Smith, WR Jerry Porter and DT Tony McDaniel will miss the final two games. Smith and Porter have groin injuries, and McDaniel has a toe injury.
Porter got $10 million in guaranteed money before the season, and he wound up playing 10 games and catching just 11 passes.
Jacksonville signed DB Calvin Lowry and G Cameron Stephenson to boost the roster to 52 players. The Jaguars still have one roster opening.
Stephenson was signed off the Saints? practice squad, while Lowry had been waived by the Broncos last week. Lowry started three of 11 games with Denver after being claimed off the waiver wire from Tennessee.
? David Garrard has turned the quarterback draw into a major weapon for the Jaguars.
He burned the Packers twice Sunday in the fourth quarter with the draw.
With the Jaguars trailing 13-7, he ran the draw on fourth-and-1 at the Green Bay 32 for 4 yards and a first down, and the Jaguars went on to score a touchdown to take a 14-13 lead.
When the Jaguars fell behind 16-14, he ran for 14 yards on third-and-4 at the Green Bay 18. He fumbled at the Green Bay 2, but then recovered his own fumble.
When Garrard was asked if he?s surprised that defenses don?t look for the quarterback draw in those situations when he?s in the shotgun late in the game, he said, ?It?s just a great play. When you have a quarterback that is 238 pounds or so and you only need 1 yard, unless it?s a stalemate, I should be able to stumble forward for a yard. They should expect that play, but usually we spread people out, so there?s still not enough guys in the box and I?m bigger than most of the linebackers so I should be able to generate enough inertia to fall forward.?
The quarterback draw has become a signature play for Garrard, who ran it on fourth down in Pittsburgh last January to set up the game-winning field goal. The Jaguars were holding on the play, but the officials missed it.
? The Jaguars may have finally solved their problem of getting off to slow starts.
After misfiring on their first series the last three games, they finally got in synch on their first drive of the game after the Packers won the toss and elected to defer until the second half.
The Jaguars got a first down on their first play when David Garrard threw a 13-yard pass to Reggie Williams, and that started a 12-play, 73-yard touchdown drive. That started them off toward a 20-16 victory.
In the previous three games, Jacksonville failed to get a first down on the first series and turned the ball over on two of them.
? Dennis Norman, who started the season at center but was switched to right guard the last six games after Brad Meester returned to the lineup, was called for two penalties that cost the Jaguars 25 yards.
The first one was a holding penalty on the first drive that set up a first-and-20 on the Green Bay 31. The Jaguars overcame that when Dennis Northcutt caught a 30-yard touchdown pass three plays later.
But when he got a 15-yard personal-foul penalty in the third period for a clipping penalty, it killed the drive.
He needs to step up his game against the Colts.
? K Josh Scobee has hit a bump in the road after making 11 of his first 12 and 15 of his 17 field-goal attempts.
His 51-yard attempt that hit the left upright in the second quarter against Green Bay was his fourth miss in his last seven attempts.
? RB Maurice Jones-Drew has a shot at a big game running the ball against the Colts, who have trouble stopping the run.
Jones-Drew ran for 107 yards in the first game against the Colts and could have a bigger game now that he?s playing full time because Fred Taylor is on injured reserve.
But don?t tell him he has to prove he can carry the load on a full-time basis.
?I don?t think it?s a chance to prove anything,? he said. ?I go out there and play football and have fun. In college, I was out there all the time. High school (was the same).?
He said he only became a change-of-pace backup runner when he got to the Jaguars.
?It?s still football. I do the same things I did in college. I don?t think people who say those things understand football,? he said.
The NFL is different, but Jones-Drew doesn?t believe that.
By The Numbers: 3-3?A victory Thursday would give the Jaguars a 3-3 division record after they went 2-4 the two previous seasons. A loss would give them their third consecutive 2-4 mark.
Quote To Note: ?When we wake up (Monday), it?s really Wednesday in terms of our game week preparation. So it?ll be a quick week and we?ll get on to the Colts for Thursday night.??Coach Jack Del Rio, on the short week of preparation for Thursday night.
Strategy And Personnel
The Jaguars are still making changes in their lineup even though they have nothing left to play for. And two of the changes are raising some eyebrows. Dennis Northcutt is back in the starting lineup because Matt Jones is serving a drug suspension and Jerry Porter is out with a groin injury. Northcutt gave the Jags a deep passing game they haven?t had all season, as he caught five passes for 127 yards Sunday.
But his showing raised questions about why coach Jack Del Rio buried him on the depth chart all year. Apparently, he was upset about Northcutt dropping a pass in the playoffs, and Del Rio is a coach who holds a grudge.
Del Rio called the passing game ?inept? in Chicago, and Northcutt definitely gave it a spark against Green Bay.
Mike Peterson is back starting at middle linebacker because Daryl Smith is out with a groin injury. Peterson lost his starting job after he irritated Del Rio by explaining why he celebrated a sack while the team trailed 21-3 in Cincinnati. Peterson was tossed out of a meeting room and was inactive for the Detroit game, then turned into a special teams player and backup.
But if the idea was to motivate the team, it failed, as the Jaguars lost their next four games. And after Smith was injured, Peterson was on the field in the final quarter when the defense stopped the Packers.
Player Notes:
? WR Dennis Northcutt will try to have another big game against the Colts after he caught five passes for 127 yards against the Packers.
? RB Maurice Jones-Drew, making his second consecutive start now that Fred Taylor is on injured reserve, will attempt to put up big numbers against a porous Colts defense. He ran for 107 yards against the Colts in the first game.
? MLB Mike Peterson is expected to return to the starting lineup because of Daryl Smith?s groin injury. Peterson was a backup and special teams player the last four games because of a confrontation with coach Jack Del Rio.
? QB David Garrard will try to have his second big game in five days against the Colts. He had a 105.4 passer rating against the Packers with two touchdown passes and no interceptions.
? S Reggie Nelson made a game-saving interception against the Packers in the fourth quarter, but he could be targeted deep by Peyton Manning and the Colts receivers.
Game Plan: The Jaguars showed they could run against the Colts when Fred Taylor had 121 yards and Maurice Jones-Drew 107. Although Bob Sanders is expected to return to bolster the run game, the Jaguars are going to run until the Colts show they can stop it. They need to control the ball and keep the Indianapolis offense off the field, especially with CB Rashean Mathis out.
Last year, the Colts threw 14 times at Reggie Wayne when Brian Williams was covering him, and he caught all 14 passes. Williams played safety in the first Colts game this year but now is back at safety. Although the Colts claim they just try to get their receivers one-on-one against the opposing defensive backs regardless of which defenders they are, they may want to check out Williams.
Matchups To Watch: Jaguars CBs Brian Williams and Drayton Florence vs. Colts WRs Reggie Wayne and Marvin Harrison. With Rashean Mathis out, the Jaguars likely will be vulnerable in the secondary. Williams had problems covering Wayne last year, but played safety in the first game this year. Now he?s back at corner, and the Colts may target him.
Jaguars RB Maurice Jones-Drew vs. Colts? front seven and S Bob Sanders. Sanders, who means a lot to Indianapolis? rush defense, missed the first game. He?s expected to be back, and the Colts hope he can help slow down Jones-Drew, who?s now a full-time back with Sanders sidelined.
Injury Impact: LB Daryl Smith is out, but his absence isn?t likely to make much difference because the Jaguars have Mike Peterson ready to step into that role.
Updated 4 hours, 56 minutes ago
