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Week 5 Game Recap: Jacksonville Jaguars 17, Kansas City Chiefs 7
What you need to know
| Jacksonville Jaguars |
The Jaguars followed a formula that has worked for them recently by gaining a significant edge in time of possession -- 36:43 to 23:17 -- thanks to a strong running game and efficient short passing game, combined with an aggressive defensive effort to come away with the victory. Jacksonville ran 35 rushing plays to 27 passing plays. Fred Taylor had the most rushing attempts with 16, with Maurice Jones-Drew having nine, including a touchdown run of 52 yards in which he showed an ability to change direction at full speed twice to get by would-be tacklers on his way to the end zone. Both he and Taylor ran with good power, and they rarely went down as a result of the first hit they absorbed. The Jaguars utilized both runners efficiently and their power running helped open up the passing game. Taylor took himself out of the game late in the fourth quarter and was stretching his legs on the sideline. He did not return to the game.
The Jaguars featured short and intermediate passes which not only helped David Garrard have a high completion percentage, but also served to keep the clock running and helped Jacksonville move the chains. Twenty-three of the 27 passes Garrard threw were of the short or intermediate variety. Garrard proved to be very accurate, and spread the ball among ten different receivers. Dennis Northcutt was targeted the most, and was one of only two receivers to have a long pass thrown his way. He also caught a short touchdown pass. Garrard was very effective determining which receiver was open and getting the ball to them before the defense could get there. He did attempt three deep passes, with only one being caught, by Northcutt. Garrard also attempted three passes to receivers in the end zone that were all uncatchable.
Jacksonville only attempted 11 plays in the red zone, and ran the ball eight times. Maurice Jones-Drew received the most work in the red zone with five rushing attempts and one pass thrown his way, but he was unable to score. Jones-Drew was given the most opportunities to score, but he was stopped inside the five yard line four times. Taylor had two rushing attempts in the red zone but was also unable to score. The Jaguars' two red zone possessions ended with a field goal and a pass to Northcutt for a touchdown.
| Kansas City Chiefs |
The Chiefs could not stop Jacksonville's running game, and were unable to generate any semblance of a running game themselves, which proved to be significant factors in them losing. They only had the ball for ten minutes and 54 seconds in the first half, and did not do much better in the second half. Larry Johnson did not get past the line of scrimmage often, as apart from one seven yard run, averaged 0.62 runs per carry on his other eight attempts. Their inability to generate a running game led to their offense being one-dimensional, which made the task of scoring against the Jaguars defense that more daunting.
Kansas City's offense in the first half consisted of short or intermediate passes to Tony Gonzalez. Almost everything else they tried in the first half came up woefully short in terms of positive yards gained. Damon Huard was most comfortable with Gonzalez and targeted him the most by far. Dwayne Bowe was not thrown a pass until there were less than two minutes remaining in the first half. Huard left the game in the fourth quarter after being hit just after he threw a pass, which to add insult to injury, was intercepted. He was seen receiving treatment on his right (throwing) shoulder on the sidelines and was replaced by Brodie Croyle the rest of the game. Croyle continued the trend of targeting Gonzalez frequently, but when he started running the hurry-up offense towards the end of the game, he distributed the ball among various receivers, and showed good arm strength and a willingness to hang in there to give his receivers time to get open. Croyle was responsible for the Chiefs' only score, which came on the last play of the game when he found a receiver open in the end zone.
Kansas City only had two possessions in the red zone, and the second one was at the very end of the game. On their first red zone trip, they attempted one running play by Larry Johnson and two passing plays, all ineffective. Their second red zone possession resulted in four pass plays as the game was seconds away from being over. Croyle threw to four different receivers on this possession.
What you ought to know
| QB David Garrard, Pass: 20 - 27 - 218 - 1 TD / 0 INT, Rush: 4 - 9 - 0 |
Garrard managed the game well by utilizing mostly short with some intermediate passes. He did an excellent job of finding the open receiver and not forcing passes to his primary targets. As a result he spread the ball among a lot of different receivers, although Dennis Northcutt was the most targeted player. Garrard showed an ability to throw accurately on the run, completing several passes on plays designed for him to roll out of the pocket. He also showed a willingness to hang in the pocket and wait for a receiver to get open, and did not take off running every time his protection broke down. Although he only connected on one of the three deep passes he threw, he showed excellent touch and accuracy on all of his other throws.
| RB Fred Taylor, Rush: 16 - 51 - 0, Rec: 1 - 9 - 0 (1 targets) |
Taylor ran very well, using more power than quickness in taking on Kansas City's defenders, and proved to be difficult to bring down on initial contact. Taylor did most of his work on runs up the middle, and showed a willingness to take on defenders and grind out tough yards. He had two red zone touches but was unable to score, and took himself out of the game late in the fourth quarter and was stretching his legs on the sideline afterwards.
| RB Maurice Jones-Drew, Rush: 9 - 82 - 1, Rec: 3 - 30 - 0 (3 targets) |
Jones-Drew ran with his usual blend of power and quickness, and managed to showcase those attributes several times. In addition to his 52 yard touchdown run, Jones-Drew gained a lot of yards after initial contact by either making defenders miss with his quickness, or driving through them, or a combination of both. The Chiefs usually had several defenders get to him quickly, which enabled them to prevent him from even bigger gains. Jones-Drew had five plays called for him inside the ten yard line and made it inside the five yard line each time, but was stopped short of the end zone.
| RB Greg Jones, Rush: 6 - 14 - 0, Rec: 1 - 11 - 0 (1 targets) |
Jones was used mostly as a blocking fullback, but did have some carries as a tailback late in the fourth quarter.
| WR Dennis Northcutt, Rec: 4 - 73 - 1 (7 targets) |
Northcutt was used mostly on intermediate routes, which he ran well, complimenting with good hands. The passes that he did not catch were either underthrown or intentionally overthrown. Northcutt showed good speed on the one route he was asked to run deep and caught the pass although he was hit as he caught it.
| WR Matt Jones, Rec: 2 - 20 - 0 (2 targets) |
Jones was not involved in the first half, and caught both of the short passes thrown his way, and worked to gain some yards after catching them.
| WR Reggie Williams, Rec: 2 - 12 - 0 (3 targets) |
Williams was used on short routes, with one of his targets being a pass thrown at his feet in the end zone.
| WR Ernest Wilford, Rec: 1 - 12 - 0 (1 targets) |
Wilford caught the only pass that was thrown to him, but was not much of a factor.
| WR John Broussard (2 targets) |
Both of the passes thrown to Broussard were deep passes that were overthrown just at the end zone.
| TE Greg Estandia, Rec: 3 - 38 - 0 (3 targets) |
Estandia caught each pass thrown to him and ran his routes crisply, showing good hands when the ball arrived.
| TE Marcedes Lewis, Rec: 3 - 13 - 0 (3 targets) |
Lewis was used exclusively on short routes but was unable to gain much after catching the ball.
| PK John Carney 1 - 2 FG, 2 - 2 XP, 5 points |
Carney connected on both his point after attempts, and made a field goal from 20 yards while missing one from 48 yards.
| JAX Rush Defense |
The Jaguars rush defense was stifling. They did not allow the Chiefs' running backs to get past the line of scrimmage often, and stopped them for minimal gains when they did. The defensive linemen were adept at plugging the holes where running plays were designed to go, and the linebackers were aggressive and made several plays behind the line of scrimmage. Jacksonville's run defense was so dominant Kansas City abandoned trying to run the ball and concentrated on the passing game for the majority of the game.
| JAX Pass Defense |
Jacksonville's pass defense was also aggressive and effective throughout the game. They recorded two sacks and one interception, but rattled the Chiefs' quarterbacks on several occasions, causing them to rely more on safer, shorter passes. Although they allowed a combined 279 passing yards, a lot of those yards are attributable to good running after the catch by Gonzalez and Bowe. The Jaguars applied pressure on Kansas City's passing game throughout and came close to having additional interceptions on a couple occasions.
| QB Damon Huard, Pass: 19 - 30 - 196 - 0 TD / 1 INT |
Huard was under pressure throughout the game and as such was unable to get into a rhythm. The lack of a running game contributed to his difficulties, but he did have good touch on intermediate passes when given some time to throw. He keyed in on Gonzalez most of the time, but had problems connecting with other receivers, overthrowing several on multiple occasions. Huard left the game in the fourth quarter with what appeared to be a right arm problem, as he was seen receiving treatment on that arm on the sideline. He remained on the sideline but was replaced by Croyle.
| QB Brodie Croyle, Pass: 6 - 13 - 83 - 1 TD / 0 INT |
Croyle replaced Huard in the fourth quarter and played well, although he was running a hurry-up offense, as there was not much time left in the game when he entered and the Chiefs had not scored as yet. He completed several nice passes, including a deep pass to Bowe who caught it in stride. Croyle showed some moxie on the last play of the game by standing in the pocket in the face of a stiff pass rush and completing a pass in the back of the end zone for Kansas City's only score.
| RB Larry Johnson, Rush: 9 - 12 - 0, Rec: 5 - 3 - 0 (6 targets) |
Johnson was unable to get into a rhythm, in large part due to a very aggressive Jaguars' run defense. He did not have many plays where he gained positive yardage, even when Kansas City tried to get him involved on screen plays. He was stymied by a very good defense that was focused on limiting his impact.
| RB Kolby Smith, Rec: 2 - 21 - 0 (2 targets) |
Smith entered the game late after Croyle replaced Huard and caught both short passes thrown his way.
| RB Michael Bennett, Rush: 1 - -2 - 0 |
Bennett was not a factor in this game and did not play much.
| WR Dwayne Bowe, Rec: 4 - 70 - 0 (6 targets) |
Bowe was not thrown a pass until there were less than two minutes remaining in the first half. He took advantage of his opportunities in the second half by running good intermediate routes, showing good hands in traffic and using his strength to gain extra yards after being tackled. He also got open deep and made a good catch, and showed an excellent package of size, speed and route-running ability. His numbers may have been even better as he was overthrow despite being open on a couple of plays.
| WR Samie Parker, Rec: 2 - 28 - 1 (3 targets) |
Parker was not involved in the game much, with two of his targets coming after Croyle entered the game. He did convert one of those targets into Kansas City's only touchdown.
| WR Jeff Webb, Rec: 2 - 26 - 0 (5 targets) |
Webb was not targeted until the second half, and most of the routes he ran were intermediate. Webb ran one of those routes poorly that almost resulted in an interception.
| WR Eddie Kennison (1 targets) |
Kennison returned to the lineup but was not much of a factor. He only had one target, which was in the first half. It was a deep pass in the end zone that was not catchable.
| TE Tony Gonzalez, Rec: 8 - 100 - 0 (13 targets) |
Gonzales was the focal point of the passing attack, and made some excellent catches. He showed he could run a variety of routes, including half of them being in the intermediate or deep range. He was used in different areas on the field and it was difficult to double-team him immediately after he left the line of scrimmage. He was the most targeted receiver when Huard was on the field as well as when Croyle entered the game.
| TE Kris Wilson, Rec: 2 - 31 - 0 (3 targets) |
Wilson made a nice catch on the first play of the game for 30 yards but was not a factor afterwards.
| PK Dave Rayner 0 - 1 FG, 1 - 1 XP, 1 points |
Rayner's contribution was minimal, as his only involvement was making an extra point attempt at the end of the game. He missed a 31 yard field goal attempt in the first quarter.
| KC Rush Defense |
Kansas City's run defense played aggressively and prevented Jacksonville's running backs from bigger gains on the ground except for the long rushing touchdown by Jones-Drew. They attacked the line of scrimmage and although their linemen were pushed back at times the linebackers provided good support, and prevented a determined rushing effort by Jacksonville from becoming a dominant one.
| KC Pass Defense |
The Chiefs' pass defense was aggressive and managed to sack the athletic Garrard four times. They were able to generate a strong pass rush from their front four and at other times augmented that with effective blitzing. Kansas City's secondary was not tested deep very often, but the Jaguars' receivers managed to get open when they did. Although the Chiefs applied pressure on Garrard steadily throughout the game, they were unable to take advantage of that by generating turnovers.
