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Week 13 Game Recap: Jacksonville Jaguars 25, Indianapolis Colts 28
What you need to know
| Jacksonville Jaguars |
The Jaguars managed to win the time of possession battle thanks to strong running and efficient passing, but were undone by several miscues that contributed to them losing the game. Among the mishaps were Garrard losing a fumble while being sacked that was recovered by the Colts who scored a touchdown on the ensuing drive. In addition, Jacksonville gained a first down at Indianapolis seven yard line, only to have a personal foul penalty called on wide receiver Reggie Williams that backed them up 15 yards. That drive ended with a field goal. The running game was spearheaded by Fred Taylor, who became the 20th leading rusher in NFL history on a run in the third quarter, and Maurice Jones-Drew. They averaged 6.24 yards per rushing attempt between them. Taylor showed impressive moves in traffic and made defenders miss him several times, and showed excellent acceleration once he eluded the first wave of defenders, on his way to 104 yards on just 14 carries. Jones-Drew ran with his trademark power and speed, and received most of the short yardage carries, including one he turned into a touchdown.
The Jaguars passing game was executed very well by David Garrard who despite throwing his first interception of the year was very accurate, completing 24 of 29 passes. Ten of his passes were of the intermediate or deep variety, and he showed good touch as well as a strong arm on those passes. Garrard was asked to roll out and throw several times outside of the pocket, and proved quite adept at making those plays. His passing numbers were helped as Jacksonville had to rely on the passing game exclusively late in the fourth quarter in an attempt to close the gap. Garrard appeared very comfortable directing a hurry-up version of his team's offense, and made good decisions in which receivers to throw to, and managed to close the deficit to three points, which was the final margin. Garrard threw to his wide receivers the most during this game, with Williams and Ernest Wilford receiving the majority of his targets.
Jacksonville attempted 21 plays in the red zone, and ran the ball 12 times. Maurice Jones-Drew received the most work in the red zone with five rushing attempts including one for a touchdown. Taylor had three red zone carries, and Garrard two, including a successful two-point conversion run. Dennis Northcutt and Marcedes Lewis received five of the red zone passes, with each player catching one for a touchdown. However, Lewis' defender deflected another pass directed toward him in the red zone on a subsequent possession that was intercepted to prevent the Jaguars from scoring. Williams also dropped a pass in the end zone that, while difficult, was a catchable pass.
| Indianapolis Colts |
The Colts made the most of their offensive possessions, scoring touchdowns four times, while only punting twice, in large part due to the pinpoint passing of Peyton Manning. Although Manning was excellent, the Colts did not abandon the running game. Joseph Addai carried the ball 21 times, but was unable to generate many yards. Addai averaged 3.19 yards per carry as Jacksonville's run defense proved difficult to penetrate.
Indianapolis' passing game was smoothly efficient, despite not having Marvin Harrison available. Manning and Reggie Wayne were in sync throughout the game, and came up with several big plays to extend drives, most noticeably on a few third down plays that extended possessions. They connected on a variety of throws, with Manning adjusting well to the Jaguars' defense throughout the course of the game. Manning was hit several times early in the game, but adjusted by moving around more in and outside of the pocket, and finding Wayne and tight end Dallas Clark open many times. Manning had a touchdown reception by Anthony Gonzalez called back due to a penalty on Gonzalez, but two plays later managed to connect with Clark for a score. Manning targeted Wayne and Clark with 18 of his 29 passes, and they caught 15 of them, including a touchdown by Wayne and two touchdowns by Clark.
The Colts ran 11 plays in the end zone, and had a fairly even run to pass ratio. Addai carried the ball five times in the red zone, but was unable to get into the end zone. Manning threw six red zone passes, with four of them in the end zone and one intentionally out of the end zone. Of the four passes in the end zone, three were caught for touchdowns, while a fourth touchdown catch was nullified due to a penalty on the player who caught it, Gonzalez. Clark had an opportunity for a third touchdown, as he was the intended receiver in the end zone on a pass that was intercepted.
What you ought to know
| QB David Garrard, Pass: 24 - 29 - 257 - 2 TD / 1 INT, Rush: 4 - 5 - 0 |
Garrard threw very accurately and exhibited very good touch on a wide variety of passes. He showed very good touch and arm strength on passes up the middle, along the sidelines, as well as whether he was in the pocket or throwing after rolling out of the pocket on designed plays. He looked to stand in the pocket longer to give his receivers a chance to get open, and did not look to run very often, except in short yardage situations. Of his five incompletions, only one was as a result of him completely missing an open receiver. Garrard attempted several passes in the intermediate range, and as a result, targeted his wide receivers more in this game than his tight ends. He had an apparent interception that was returned for a touchdown called back due to a false start penalty, and threw his first interception of the season, but did not let that affect him, as he proved to be very accurate and kept his team close up until the end.
| RB Fred Taylor, Rush: 14 - 104 - 0 |
Taylor looked especially spry, breaking free for extra yards by using quickness to make defenders miss several times during the game. This was especially impressive against a Colts defense known for its speed and quickness. Taylor averaged 7.42 yards per carry and ran decisively between the tackles, then using his quickness to bounce several runs outside for significant gains.
| RB Maurice Jones-Drew, Rush: 11 - 52 - 1, Rec: 1 - 5 - 0 (1 targets) |
Jones-Drew ran hard at the Colts' defenders and seemed determined to bang out extra yards by using his power more than his quickness. He was featured on the goal line plays, and parlayed one of those carries into a score. Jones-Drew was not involved much in the passing game.
| RB Greg Jones, Rush: 1 - 3 - 0, Rec: 1 - 5 - 0 (1 targets) |
Jones was used mostly as a blocking fullback, getting just one carry and one pass thrown his way.
| WR Dennis Northcutt, Rush: 1 - 4 - 0, Rec: 4 - 37 - 1 (4 targets) |
Northcutt was used mostly on intermediate routes, which he ran well. He saw most of his action in the red zone, with three of his targets coming there. One of them was a pass he caught just outside the goal line, but was stopped before he could get in. He was also used on an end around play inside the red zone.
| WR Ernest Wilford, Rec: 5 - 72 - 0 (5 targets) |
Wilford had a good rapport with Garrard in this game, and ran very good routes, getting open several times as a result. Most of his routes were more of the intermediate variety, and he proved to be more than a short yardage possession receiver in this game.
| WR Reggie Williams, Rec: 4 - 69 - 0 (9 targets) |
Williams was targeted eight times in the second half, and mostly on intermediate and deep routes. Apart from the penalty he incurred that backed his team up from the Colts' seven yard line to the 22 yard line, he played well. Two of the passes thrown his way were deflected due to good plays by his defenders, and two other passes were thrown out of his reach. The only other incomplete target thrown his way was a difficult but catchable pass in the end zone.
| WR Matt Jones, Rec: 2 - 16 - 0 (2 targets) |
Jones was not involved in the first half, and caught both short passes thrown to him in the second half. He did show good acceleration on his second catch to gain a first down after securing a short pass.
| TE Marcedes Lewis, Rec: 5 - 42 - 1 (6 targets) |
Lewis showed a propensity for getting open in the middle of the field on short routes, and good hands in catching balls in traffic. He was targeted twice in the red zone, and converted one of those targets into a touchdown.
| TE Richard Angulo, Rec: 2 - 11 - 0 (2 targets) |
Angulo, who played due to Jacksonville losing George Wrighster and Greg Estandia for the season after their previous game, caught both of the short passes thrown to him.
| PK Josh Scobee 1 - 2 FG, 2 - 2 XP, 5 points |
Scobee connected on both his point after attempts, and made one field goal from 47 yards while missing one from 46 yards.
| JAX Rush Defense |
The Jaguars rush defense was stout, holding Addai to under 3.2 yards rushing per attempt. They clogged the running lanes at the line of scrimmage and did not allow him to get many yards on the few occasions he broke through. The longest run Jacksonville's defense gave up was one of ten yards.
| JAX Pass Defense |
Jacksonville's pass defense was aggressive throughout the game, especially early on. Despite getting to Manning early and forcing him to hurry some throws, they were unable to adjust to his adjustments and as a result gave up significant chunks of yardage to the two players who saw the majority of Manning's passes -- Wayne and Clark. At times they missed tackles after receivers caught the ball, and ultimately gave up four passing touchdowns.
| QB Peyton Manning, Pass: 20 - 29 - 288 - 4 TD / 1 INT, Rush: 3 - 2 - 0 |
Manning overcame a strong initial pass rush by the Jaguars to end with excellent passing numbers. Although he targeted Dallas Clark and Reggie Wayne with the majority of his passes, he did so on a wide variety of routes, and usually connected with them. Manning once again showed complete command of the offense, and was comfortable making any throw he attempted. Manning showed a killer instinct by going deep to Wayne for a 48 yard touchdown on the play immediately following a ruling by the referee that overturned an apparent fumble recovery by Jacksonville. He overcame an interception in the end zone by showing poise as the Jaguars continued to try to pressure him, and led his team to the victory.
| RB Joseph Addai, Rush: 21 - 67 - 0 |
Addai ran hard but was unable to get into the second level of Jacksonville's defense to use his speed and elusiveness. Nonetheless, he ran with some power and managed to grind forward for a few additional yards after being stopped close to the line of scrimmage on most of his running attempts. He was not used in the passing game.
| RB Kenton Keith, Rush: 1 - -6 - 0 (1 targets) |
Keith was involved in two plays, dropping his only target and stopped for a loss on his only rushing attempt.
| RB Luke Lawton, Rec: 1 - 1 - 1 (1 targets) |
Lawton was the recipient of a shovel pass that he secured for a short touchdown.
| WR Reggie Wayne, Rec: 8 - 158 - 1 (9 targets) |
Wayne had a superb game. Although he received lots of attention from the Jaguars in the form of double teams, he constantly got open and was the recipient of very timely passes from Manning that enabled him to gain significant amounts of yards after the catch. Wayne ran very precise routes and showed good speed when he had open space to run. He and Manning were in sync throughout the game.
| WR Anthony Gonzalez, Rec: 1 - 22 - 0 (4 targets) |
Gonzalez had varying experiences on the field in this game. He was able to get a pass interference call on a defender on one play, caught a touchdown in the end zone that was called back due to offensive pass interference on him, and showed excellent running after the catch in traffic on his only reception that ended just outside the end zone.
| TE Dallas Clark, Rec: 7 - 60 - 2 (9 targets) |
Clark found open spots in Jacksonville's defense throughout the game thanks to excellent route running. He turned those short routes into longer gains by running well after catching the ball. In addition to his two touchdowns, Clark was targeted in the end zone on a pass that was intercepted, and could have added to an already stellar game.
| TE Ben Utecht, Rec: 3 - 47 - 0 (4 targets) |
Utecht saw three of his targets in the first half, and showed good hands, and some nice running ability on a couple of his receptions.
| PK Adam Vinatieri 0 - 0 FG, 4 - 4 XP, 4 points |
Vinatieri was only asked to make point after attempts as he did not have any field goal opportunities, and he connected on all four he tried.
| IND Rush Defense |
Indianapolis' run defense was pushed around by the Jaguars' linemen at the line of scrimmage, and their linebackers and secondary seemed a step slow reacting to the ball carriers for Jacksonville. Most of the Jaguars' rushing attempts came between the tackles, with a lot of yards gained after the running backs were able to make the Colts' defenders miss. They were unable to stop Jacksonville from scoring a touchdown on the ground in a goal line series.
| IND Pass Defense |
The Colts' pass defense blitzed frequently and managed to sack Garrard three times and intercept him once. They also intercepted Garrard on another play and returned it for a touchdown, only to have the play nullified because of a false start penalty on the Jaguars. However, Garrard completed 24 of 29 pass attempts against them, and they surrendered two passing touchdowns. Indianapolis' defensive backs were unable to prevent Jacksonville's receivers from getting open on short and intermediate routes, and they allowed some of them to gain more yards after the catch than they would have wanted.
