Jags could be in trouble this year

[Earl]

Seven-on-seven passing drills are always the most popular aspect of training camp practices. It enables you to see how sharp, how crisp the quarterbacks are throwing the ball. It enables you to watch multiple receivers and backs out of the backfield because you aren’t hindered by the 300-pound linemen on both sides of the ball causing congestion around the quarterback.


For the Jacksonville Jaguars, it’s popular this training camp because that’s where there are so many questions, the answers of which will likely determine if this year’s club is able to reach the .500 plateau and possibly challenge for a playoff berth.




Any time a team has just one of its top five wide receivers returning from the previous season, there is reason for concern. But with the Jaguars receiving corps from 2008, it may be that addition by subtraction works in their favor.


Losing the four receivers meant the Jaguars had to find new faces. They signed veteran Torry Holt(notes) during the offseason and selected three receivers among their nine draft picks. But after the first week of training camp, the best grade that could be assigned to the group would be an “I” for incomplete.


That’s also the way many of the passes thrown by David Garrard(notes) and his two backups ended up - incomplete. All three of the rookies suffered a case of slippery hands at some point during the week, and with Holt limited to one practice a day, it was tough to get a true gauge on him. Mike Walker(notes), expected to line up opposite Holt in the starting lineup on opening day, was enjoying a good week of camp until a team scrimmage on Saturday night saw him being assisted to the locker room.


Del Rio said X-rays were negative regarding the status to Walker’s lower leg, but that there would be a better indication given the first of the week. Any loss of time by Walker will be crucial to the Jaguars, who need Garrard, Walker, Holt and at least two of the rookie receivers to step up and play at a high level this year.


It’s asking a lot of rookie receivers and of Walker, who has only played in nine games in two NFL seasons. Holt is a savvy veteran who has been a needed player/coach on the field thus far, but at 33, he can’t be expected to carry this team by himself.


The three rookies - Mike Thomas(notes) (who has been sidelined some with a strained hamstring), Jarett Dillard(notes) and Tiquan Underwood(notes) along with rookie free agents Maurice Dupree and Todd Peterson - have all shown flashes of talent at times but have also resorted to showing their inexperience at this level. How well this group performs will be a factor in how successful the passing game will be this season.


Garrard was mediocre at best the first week of training camp as he continues to develop a rapport with all the new receivers. In Saturday’s scrimmage, he had a pair of passes intercepted by second-team defenders. Other than Walker and Troy Williamson(notes), who will need a strong showing in the preseason games in order to retain his roster spot, Garrard is throwing to new faces in Holt and all the rookies. They’ll need time and patience by the coaching staff and fans in order for this to be an effective part of the offense. It may not happen this year. The passing game could be a year away when the rookies and Walker have a full season under their belt.


The problem with that, of course, is that Holt is not getting any younger. His career took on a burst of new energy with the opportunity in Jacksonville. Whether he can still burst past defenders like he has so many times during his 10 previous seasons will also factor in how successful the passing attack becomes in ’09.


NOTES, QUOTES

• QB David Garrard will look for a stronger performance in the second week of training camp than what he experienced last week. Some has been his erratic passing, other parts can be attributed to all the new receivers on hand. Despite the lack of success in completing passes, coach Jack Del Rio liked what he saw in Garrard the first week.


“Mechanically, he’s been very sound, making good decisions. It’s about building that trust with him and the receivers, getting on the same page.”


Garrard said he’s encouraged by what he’s seen thus far in this year’s group of receivers.


“I feel like I have guys I can count on now,” he said. “They have done everything in their power to make me a better quarterback as far as giving (him) weapons and offensive linemen. Going through a great ’07 and a tough ’08 has given me a perspective on the different types of seasons and what it takes.”


Garrard has a new look to himself after losing nearly 20 pounds during the offseason.


• Jaguars tight end Marcedes Lewis(notes) has been named the Jaguars/Morgan Stanley Smith Barney Community Leader of the Year for 2008. As a result the Jacksonville Humane Society received a $6,000 check on Lewis’ behalf from team sponsor Morgan Stanley.


The award is designed to recognize those Jaguars players making an impact in the Jacksonville community. The award was presented monthly last season.


• Before Saturday night’s scrimmage, Jaguars owner Wayne Weaver addressed the crowd from near midfield. Weaver said he understood that not everyone could be a season ticket holder, but encouraged fans to sign on for one of the team’s partial plans.


Ticket sales are lagging far behind last year with close to 15,000 unsold tickets for most games. Weaver has already said that it’s likely all Jaguars home games will be blacked out this year.


Still, he expressed he expressed optimism to the fans when he said, “the best is yet to come. We’re going to bring a championship to Jacksonville.”


• Safety Sean Considine(notes) had been on the physically unable to perform (PUP) list due to a strained calf, but returned to practice Friday night after attending the memorial service of his former coach, Jim Johnson, the long-time Philadelphia Eagles defensive coordinator.


“It was a great tribute for him and a nice event for his family,” Considine said. “He was like a father figure to everybody. That’s why the players really respected him.”


• OT Tony Pashos(notes) distributed 50 backpacks full of school supplies on Saturday to children from Guardian Ad Litem, an organization in Jacksonville that speaks for the best interests of abused, abandoned and neglected children in the court. Each backpack contained a $50 gift card to a local clothing store, pencils, pens, binder and notebooks among other items.


Pashos founded the Pashos’ Pals program in November of 2007 with children from Guardian Ad Litem. The program was designed to help motivate the children to excel in academics in life by helping to build long-lasting relationships.


“I really enjoyed getting to meet these children over the past two years and showing them opportunities that exist for them when they get older. It’s been very rewarding for me personally to see them grow as people.”


• Rookie players and new Jaguars staff members received stylistic haircuts as part of the annual rookie training camp hazing rituals last week.


Rookie receiver Jarett Dillard’s cut featured stripes with the number “29” carved into the back. Other players had similar odd designs created with shears. For Derek Cox(notes), it appeared someone placed their hand on the back of the cornerback’s head and shaved around it, leaving a huge hair handprint.


Quote To Note: “Everybody carries a chip. I think everybody should carry a chip to an extent but I think you need to know how to control that chip. You gotta use that to drive you, not use that to anger you and push you to make mistakes.” - Seventh-round pick RB Rashad Jennings(notes), when asked if he plays with a chip on his shoulder that he wasn’t drafted higher.


STRATEGY AND PERSONNEL

The Jaguars are currently at 80 players on the roster, which means one player will have to be released once first-round pick Eugene Monroe(notes) signs his contract. Neither side has talked openly where they stand in negotiations, but there’s no indication that they are close to inking a deal.


The team added one new player this week when it resigned center/guard Drew Miller(notes) and waived first-year linebacker David Holloway(notes). Miller was signed as a rookie free agent in 2008 and spent the first seven weeks on the club’s practice squad before he was promoted at the end of October to the active roster. He was brought on to give the team more depth at the center/guard spots.


• CB Pete Ittersagen was signed as a rookie free agent out of Wheaton to strengthen a concern at cornerback. The coaches like what they’ve seen in the 5-10, 190-pounder thus far who can also help out by returning punts.


• S Gerald Alexander(notes) was acquired in the trade for Dennis Northcutt(notes) because the club drafted three rookies at wide receiver, making Northcutt expendable, and due to a concern if Sean Considine could fulfill the starting spot at safety. Thus far, the coaches like what they’ve seen in Alexander.


• QB Cleo Lemon(notes) was cut before training camp started because the Jaguars felt that either Todd Bouman(notes) or Paul Smith could handle the backup spot to David Garrard. Thus far, neither Bouman nor Smith have given indication they’re up for such a responsibility.


• P Steve Weatherford(notes) was brought in for the last five games of the ’08 season when Adam Podlesh(notes) went on IR due to a knee injury. Weatherford finished with a 43.6 gross average, 37.7 net mark, both of which were higher than Podlesh’s final figures. Weatherford will have a chance to beat out the third-year veteran from Maryland.


Battle Of The Week: Sean Considine vs. Marlon McCree(notes) and Gerald Alexander for starting safety. Considine was been sidelined much of the first week of training camp due to a left calf strain. He missed Friday’s morning practice to attend the funeral of former Philadelphia Eagles defensive coordinator Jim Johnson. Considine played for the Eagles before signing with the Jaguars as a free agent this past offseason. He was expected to take over the Jaguars’ opening at the safety spot after starting 11 games for the Eagles the past two seasons. But the injury has opened the door for the veteran McCree, who played for the Jaguars the first two and a half seasons in his eight-year career, and for Alexander, acquired in a trade with Detroit where he was a starter in all 16 games as a rookie in 2007 before a fractured vertebra cut short his ’08 season after five games. The three players supply ample depth at this position, but with the team deep in the secondary, the first battle is to make sure a roster spot is locked down.


Other Battle Fronts: Maurice Williams(notes) vs. Uche Nwaneri(notes) for starting right guard. Williams was the starter heading into last season but suffered a season-ending biceps-injury warming up in the first game. Nwaneri took over and started the remaining 15 games. Now the two are locked in a battle for the job this year. With Vince Manuwai(notes) still limited due to the ACL injury a year ago, whoever doesn’t win the job between Williams and Nwaneri could be called on to spell Manuwai. Nwaneri is nearly 30 pounds heavier than Williams, but Williams moves better when called on to lead running plays.

—DTs Derek Landri(notes) vs. Atiyyah Ellison(notes) for starting job. Landri has added weight and is now up to 290 in hopes of securing this opening. He’s in a battle with Ellison, who was a third-round pick in 2005 but has bounced around on four other NFL clubs before landing in Jacksonville the final three weeks of the ’08 season. He has never played in an NFL game but at 6-3, 322, has the size to fill a hole. Neither player distinguished themselves in the first week of camp and they’ll continue this battle at least another week.

—QBs Todd Bouman and Paul Smith for backup job: This spot came up for grabs when the Jaguars released Cleo Lemon during the summer. Bouman is the more experienced of the two, having played in the league for five different teams totaling 12 years. But he has only started six games during that time while playing in 42, 32 of which came in 2004 and ’05 when he saw action in every game with New Orleans. Smith spent the ’08 season on the Jaguars’ practice squad before he was added to the 53-man roster the final week. Neither stood out in the Saturday scrimmage and both threw an interception.


Player Of The Week: K Josh Scobee(notes). What does it say when the kicker is player of the week? In the Jaguars’ situation, it says Scobee could have a banner year, bailing out an offense that has not shown the consistency needed to get the ball into the end zone. Scobee is one of the league’s more accurate place-kickers and looked sharp in the team’s first week of practice. He capped it off by converting five consecutive field goals in the team’s first live scrimmage on Saturday, the last one coming from 52 yards out.


Rookie Report: In the first week of training camp, the rookies struggled, especially the three at the wide receiver spot. Mike Thomas, Jarett Dillard and Tiquan Underwood all had some bright moments, but all suffered through a case of dropped passes during practices. Second-round pick Eben Britton(notes) continues to battle veteran Tony Pashos at the RT spot, but Pashos is clearly in the lead for the starting spot. Bright spot among the rookies was CB Derek Cox, who is getting plenty of attention in the secondary. The coaching staff likes his athletic ability. Also catching the eye of the staff was seventh-round pick RB Rashad Jennings, who at 6-1, 235, is making a bid for playing time behind starter Maurice Jones-Drew(notes). Jennings has the speed to go with his size and gives the Jaguars two power runners along with Greg Jones(notes) (6-1, 254).


Injury Report: The Jaguars got scare in their Saturday night scrimmage when starting wide receiver Mike Walker had to be helped to the locker room. Coach Jack Del Rio downplayed the injury to Walker, but said the team took precaution and had his lower leg X-rayed, which proved to be negative. Walker has been hampered by injuries in his first two seasons and missed his entire rookie season in 2007 with a knee injury. He’s being counted on as a starter this year opposite veteran Torry Holt and needs to stay injury-free.

Backup tailback Chauncey Washington(notes) and rookies Mike Thomas, Russell Allen and Terrance Knighton(notes) all missed the Saturday scrimmage, but Del Rio indicated all would likely be back at practice this coming week. The Jaguars have been hard hit with injuries in recent years and suffered a slew of such last year, with 12 players (including seven starters) placed on injured reserve during the season.