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I went to the Jacksonville @ Tampa game Saturday night. Great seats - about the 30-yard line, 15 rows up.
Since the Jags are the Bills week 2 opponent, I thought I'd take the opportunity to "scout" the Jags a little bit.
I know it's still a few weeks away, but since it's fresh in my mind, I thought I'd post some thoughts now:
--I'm not saying Marcus Stroud isn't good, because he's going to be for the Bills. But now I can understand why the Jags were willing to part with him. Even without him, they are incredible between the tackles against the run. John Henderson is a beast of a man. But Rob Meier and the rest of his fellow interior DL mates are very good, too.
--All that being said, I can see now why they "reached" and traded up to grab Derrick Harvey at DE. Their ends are the weakness of their defense. If you can beat the penetration up the middle and get to the edge, then you can run on them. Also, they have to rely more on the interior DL and their LBs to get a good pass rush.
Harvey is still not signed, by the way. Even if he is soon, he probably won't be a factor by week 2. But, let's hope he's still not on the field by then, because as it stands now, I think the Bills ca take advantage of them there.
--Fred Taylor is un-freaking-believable! I can't believe how good he still is after 10 years. He looked like a rook figting for a job. Fast, elusive, powerful, and never, ever stops his legs moving forward. Very impressive.
--Matt Jones wasn't just arrested on a coke charge this offseason....he LOOKS like a crack addict. Seriously, this dude is an NFL wide receiver? Looks like a stiff wind will blow him over. He looks more like that skinny basketball coach at your local YMCA league. You know the one who never went inside the paint even though he was the tallest guy on the floor? Yeah, that's Matt Jones.
--Overall, the Jags WRs are, well....ok. Not great. Not bad. They're ok. They have a lot of guys who can run decent routes and catch the ball. But they have nobody who I'd call a #1 NFL wideout. They have no "go-to" guy. But they are good at running after the catch.
The Bills DBs have caught a good break with the Seahawks and Jags WR situations in weeks 1 and 2. If guys like Reggie Corner and/or McKelvin have to play those games, they should be able to handle themselves ok. But they'll have to tackle well.
--The Jags play a TON of cover-2. Not necessarily the "Tampa-2," but they keep two safeties deep almost every play. You can do that when your DL is so good you don't have to commit anyone else to the box. Those safeties, however, are always at least 12, usually 15 yards deep. Probably because their safeties are very athletic and can still close very well. But, that being said, the Bills HAVE to be able to take advantage of the underneath routes when they play at Jacksonville.
--David Garrard is a steady QB. Makes very few mistakes.
--The Jags like to pull their guards a lot and run sort of a "wing-T" sweep around the edges. Their OL is big but moves well.
--Jacksonville's kick coverage team is very, very fast and very, very physical. Almost every kick off resulted in a huge hit and not much yardage gained. I also noticed how well coached their special teams were. They were ready to go, got on the field, and did their job without a hitch.
Not that it matters much, but quick hits on the Bucs:
--I'm a big fan of Jeff Garcia, but he was awful.
--K Matt Bryant sucked.
--Brian Griese looked very good.....again.
Since the Jags are the Bills week 2 opponent, I thought I'd take the opportunity to "scout" the Jags a little bit.
I know it's still a few weeks away, but since it's fresh in my mind, I thought I'd post some thoughts now:
--I'm not saying Marcus Stroud isn't good, because he's going to be for the Bills. But now I can understand why the Jags were willing to part with him. Even without him, they are incredible between the tackles against the run. John Henderson is a beast of a man. But Rob Meier and the rest of his fellow interior DL mates are very good, too.
--All that being said, I can see now why they "reached" and traded up to grab Derrick Harvey at DE. Their ends are the weakness of their defense. If you can beat the penetration up the middle and get to the edge, then you can run on them. Also, they have to rely more on the interior DL and their LBs to get a good pass rush.
Harvey is still not signed, by the way. Even if he is soon, he probably won't be a factor by week 2. But, let's hope he's still not on the field by then, because as it stands now, I think the Bills ca take advantage of them there.
--Fred Taylor is un-freaking-believable! I can't believe how good he still is after 10 years. He looked like a rook figting for a job. Fast, elusive, powerful, and never, ever stops his legs moving forward. Very impressive.
--Matt Jones wasn't just arrested on a coke charge this offseason....he LOOKS like a crack addict. Seriously, this dude is an NFL wide receiver? Looks like a stiff wind will blow him over. He looks more like that skinny basketball coach at your local YMCA league. You know the one who never went inside the paint even though he was the tallest guy on the floor? Yeah, that's Matt Jones.
--Overall, the Jags WRs are, well....ok. Not great. Not bad. They're ok. They have a lot of guys who can run decent routes and catch the ball. But they have nobody who I'd call a #1 NFL wideout. They have no "go-to" guy. But they are good at running after the catch.
The Bills DBs have caught a good break with the Seahawks and Jags WR situations in weeks 1 and 2. If guys like Reggie Corner and/or McKelvin have to play those games, they should be able to handle themselves ok. But they'll have to tackle well.
--The Jags play a TON of cover-2. Not necessarily the "Tampa-2," but they keep two safeties deep almost every play. You can do that when your DL is so good you don't have to commit anyone else to the box. Those safeties, however, are always at least 12, usually 15 yards deep. Probably because their safeties are very athletic and can still close very well. But, that being said, the Bills HAVE to be able to take advantage of the underneath routes when they play at Jacksonville.
--David Garrard is a steady QB. Makes very few mistakes.
--The Jags like to pull their guards a lot and run sort of a "wing-T" sweep around the edges. Their OL is big but moves well.
--Jacksonville's kick coverage team is very, very fast and very, very physical. Almost every kick off resulted in a huge hit and not much yardage gained. I also noticed how well coached their special teams were. They were ready to go, got on the field, and did their job without a hitch.
Not that it matters much, but quick hits on the Bucs:
--I'm a big fan of Jeff Garcia, but he was awful.
--K Matt Bryant sucked.
--Brian Griese looked very good.....again.
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