Another week is underway in the NFL’s post-lockout season and what a completely underwhelming start the Jacksonville Jaguars provided for us. Depending upon your viewpoint the Atlanta Falcons either mauled the Jaguars or Jacksonville simply rolled over and played dead. From the first drive when the Falcons strolled down the field and put seven points on the board, there was an air of inevitability about it. Even after the Jaguars’ explosion for 41 points on Sunday against Tampa Bay, you felt that lightning wouldn’t strike twice in five days, and it didn’t.
It’s difficult to read too much into this game for Atlanta. This was a decisive victory and a welcome confidence boost as they attempt to turn up their intensity and level of play ahead of a playoff run that is tantalizingly within reach now. The Falcons’ offense came to play early, putting the game out of reach and against an anemic Jaguar offense, a Falcons defense short of their best cornerback was never challenged.
Atlanta won the turnover battle, they subdued the Jacksonville offense and didn’t give their defense any early successes to build momentum from. After a clinical victory for the Falcons let’s take a look back at some of the key performances on both sides that left the outcome in no doubt from very early on.
Jacksonville – Three Performances of Note
One Man Band
Every season there are a handful of players on bad teams who stand out as shining beacons of quality let down by what is around them. This season’s poster boy for that type of player is Maurice Jones-Drew (+2.6). For the sixth straight week Jones-Drew’s overall grade was above +2.0 as he consistently tried to make something out of nothing and carry this Jacksonville offense forward single-handedly. Jones-Drew forced a season-high five missed tackles this week, overcoming the blocking that the rest of his offense gave him. It is a credit to him that he hasn’t packed it in for this season and shutdown his effort level. The rushing title may not be an accurate representation of the top backs in the league but it would be a just reward for Jones-Drew to take it for the first time in his career given the futile efforts of most of those around him in Jacksonville this season.
Not Much Cover
The Jacksonville Jaguars have been hurt by injuries in their secondary and for the fourth straight week former Buffalo backup corner Ashton Youboty (-4.3) was pressed into a starting role at left corner. For the third straight week things did not go well for Youboty and his coverage stats in three games against San Diego, Tampa Bay and Atlanta now read as follows: 26 targets, 19 completions, 330 yards and three touchdowns. Youboty was clearly out of his depth covering Roddy White and he hasn’t acclimatized well to the Jacksonville secondary, their paucity of pass rush not helping that transition in the slightest. This is the second time in three weeks we have seen Youboty struggle with big-bodied, vertical threat receivers, after being exposed by Malcom Floyd and Vincent Jackson against the Chargers. Jacksonville’s season is a complete write off but losing their starting pairing at corner has hurt a unit that until a few weeks ago could hold its head high after a very fine season with next to no help from the other side of the ball.
The Hurt Goes on for Gabbert
Rookie quarterbacks come into the league too soon almost every season but it is rare that someone comes in and looks as completely overwhelmed as Blaine Gabbert (-3.4) has this season. His grade for this game was not his worst of the season, but that's as much a result of the fact that–until the game was completely out of reach for the Jaguars–he didn’t have enough snaps to throw his usual glut of ill-advised and off-target throws.
Instead, this week we got a feature of his poor pocket presence and ball security. Gabbert’s overall grade for the season now is -45.4; this is by far the worst overall grade of the last four seasons with only Derek Anderson’s -24.1 from 2010 coming remotely close. Gabbert is getting little help behind an offensive line whose only real bright spot is a much-improved Eugene Monroe (0.0) or a receiving corps that this week featured Kassim Osgood (-0.2) as the career leader in receptions with 42. It is very difficult at this stage to see what benefit Gabbert and the Jaguars are getting from this continuing horror show.
All Gabbert is doing right now is taking his lumps. Is he really learning anything from missing receivers and looking like a deer in the headlights back in the pocket? The team’s inability to take Gabbert out for his own protection, or at least consider it as a viable option to give him time to learn from the sideline, is a damning indictment of their decision not to bring in an established veteran quarterback after they cut David Garrard.
Atlanta – Three Performances of Note
Going back to what works
The Falcons made some big moves to upgrade their team on both sides of the ball this offseason but it is noteworthy that it's still the same old combinations that makes this team tick. Julio Jones (+0.7) has made some impactful plays this season as the big addition on offense but when it counts the Falcons return to the reliable trio of Matt Ryan (+2.9), Roddy White (+3.4) and Michael Turner (+0.5). All three got off to the fast starts needed to put the game out of reach early and whilst Turner was unable to put up big numbers, Ryan and White were able to pad out their stats as the end of the season approaches. It was Turner and the running game who got things rolling with 19 yards on the first two plays of the game and from there White and Ryan took over. White victimized Ashton Youboty for most of his stats, picking up 8 catches for 126 yards in his coverage whilst picking up another score from Kevin Rutland. Jones may have added an extra dimension to the offense and his 85 yards and a score in this game is nothing to scoff at, but at the end of the day what makes this team tick is still what it always has been. If teams focus on White the question will be can Jones pick up the slack for the Falcons? It will be this that determines how far the Falcons go in the playoffs this season; can the extra dimension deliver when it counts?
Defensive line stars shine bright
With both players missing time due to injury this season the Atlanta Falcons at various times have been short of their two talismanic defensive linemen, John Abraham (+7.1) and Jonathan Babineaux (+5.1). This week they had both players and were rewarded with their best combined efforts since their Week 10 victory over the Ravens last season. Abraham was a menace on both sides of the line destroying the Jaguars’ tackles to the tune of four sacks with Guy Whimper in particular on the receiving end of his fine day. Abraham also targeted Blaine Gabbert’s poor ball security, forcing a fumble from the Jaguars’ rookie signal caller twice in the game including setting up Corey Peters’ defensive score at the start of the third quarter. Babineaux may have been outdone on sacks but he was just as impactful. His pressure at 5:14 in the third prevented Gabbert from stepping away from a sack by Kroy Biermann and it was Babineaux who roared past Will Rackley on the first play of that drive at 6:33 in Q3 that elicited from Gabbert his highlight reel play of the day getting off a left handed pass to Maurice Jones-Drew before he was swallowed up.
Mop Up Duty
One thing that a big blowout victory like this allows a team to do is give younger players some solid snaps without putting the game in jeopardy. The Falcons took advantage of this by giving two rookies, Darrin Walls (-0.8) and Akeem Dent (-0.1) their first meaningful snaps of the season. Dent had recorded two snaps in two games prior to this but this was Walls’ first defensive snaps of the year. With the game out of reach Dent’s game was fairly quiet on defense with the Jaguars looking downfield, his major contribution came earlier on special teams registering his 13th special teams tackle of the season taking down DuJuan Harris inside his own 15 yard line on the second half kickoff. Walls however was tested in the game being targeted five times on his ten snaps in coverage. Walls will doubtless leave the game disappointed with his short days’ work. A dropped interception at the 1:52 mark in the fourth quarter cost him the chance to make a name for himself and he was then beaten for the Jaguars’ consolation touchdown later in that drive. In a game of inches Walls just missed out on finishing the game on that final drive.
Game Notes
– Guy Whimper last week broke a streak of conceding a sack every week dating back to Week 3. He “celebrated” that this week by conceding two sacks on 12 drop backs before leaving the game due to injury.
– Dominique Franks missed as many tackles as he made this week, three of each.
– The 16 passes targeted to Roddy White were his most since the Falcons Week 3 game in Tampa Bay.
PFF Game Ball
He took it upon himself to make this game a living hell for Blaine Gabbert and he can tick that objective off as completed. John Abraham was a one-man wrecking crew for the Falcons' pass rush picking up more sacks this week than in his last 11 games combined.
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