The Jaguars got the improvement that they were looking for in their 15-13 win against the Atlanta Falcons on Friday night.
The star of the night was the Jaguars first-team defense, who outside of one bad play in which they surrendered a long touchdown pass to Falcons wide receiver Harry Douglas were solid against the Falcons starters. The best part is that the Jaguars defensive line was getting consistent pressure in Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan’s face, forcing him to throw the ball away instead of taking a sack.
The Jaguars defensive line was lead on Friday night by Jeremy Mincey who made himself a pest coming of the edge and providing the kind of pressure that the Jaguars defense has lacked the past couple of seasons.
Another good sign was the ability of the defense to stiffen after two early Jaguars turnovers gave the Falcons a short field. Despite the great field position, the Jaguars defense only yielded one long field goal to the Falcons offense.
On the other side of the ball neither quarterback had a good enough performance to take control of the Jaguars quarterback competition.
Incumbent started David Garrard led three drives for the Jaguars offense, but only led one scoring drive that resulted in a field goal. Garrard also threw a bad interception on a deep route to wide receiver Mike Thomas in which he overthrew his target by a good 10 yards making for an easy interception by Falcons defensive back Brent Grimes. Garrard also botched an end around hand off to wide receiver Cecil Shorts.
Jaguars rookie quarterback Blaine Gabbert did not do much to impress either.
While he took care of the football, he did not have any opportunity to take shots down the field. Most of Gabbert’s completions were on underneath routes and to his check down receivers.
Friday night was an example of how far Gabbert still has to go before he can become an effective starting quarterback in the NFL.
The Jaguars will play their third preseason next Saturday night when they go on the road to take on the Buffalo Bills.
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