“Now it’s the same old song…”

Shout out to the Four Tops for the title of this post…

Oh where to begin?  The defense?  Sure.

The Buffalo Bills, along with the Carolina Panthers, have the WORST odds this season when it comes to winning the Superbowl.  So naturally, Jacksonville should have gone in, taken care of business, and left, ESPECIALLY if the third preseason game is where you are supposed to see your team “most intact.”  Now I will say (and not making excuses, but I have to point it out) that Jacksonville was playing with out Jeremy Mincey, Aaron Kampman, Tyson Alualu, and Clint Session.  But despite that fact, there is still no excuse for the lack of a pass rush that made Harvard grad Ryan Fitzpatrick look like an MVP quarterback.  I had a chance to ask Aaron Kampman how big of a difference it makes to not have him as well as some other  key other guys out there.  Here’s his response: kampman1

I followed up by asking for his opinion on whether or not this defense is facing the exact same problems it had last year, i.e., no pass rush, gaping holes in the secondary.  Here’s what Kampman had to say: kampman2

Kampman is expected to see playing time this Thursday against the Rams, so hopefully he will be able to make a difference: kampman3

When it comes to the defense, MLB Paul Posluszny is the one calling the shots.  He had a beautiful third down goal line stop against Fred Jackson, but that’s also the same guy who burned him for a 30 yard pick up.  I aksed Posluszny where he thinks he’s at three games into the preseason: posluszny1

Let’s hope this defense can find that spark before opening up against the Titans.  They can’t afford to get a slow start playing in the AFC South.

Getting to the secondary…I’ll be the first to say that I thought through out training camp, Rashean Mathis looked good.  But yet again, we see him yards away from his receiver.  Was he even in the same zip code of Steve Johnson on that completion?  But there was plenty of blame to go around when it came to Fitzpatrick going 11 for 12 with a perfect quarterback rating.  The secondary made it look like the  Bills had hall of  Famer Jim Kelly back on the field.

On to the offense!  David Garrard was mediocre at best.  I was impressed with his scramble into the end zone for the touchdown, but other than that, what was memorable about his performance against the Bills?  And the wide receivers?  Even worse!  Drop after drop after drop.  I asked Garrard if it was just an off night against the Bills.  Here’s what he thought: garrard1

David followed up afterward with what he thought was positive: garrard2

Garrard had mentioned last week sticking around after practice to work on routes with Mike Thomas so I asked David, along with that, what is it going to take for the passing game to get better: garrard3

All in all, I thought the Jags performance against Buffalo was terrible.  Now let’s hope they can move on, make adjustments, get better, and beat the Rams to end the preseason on a high note so that on Friday, I can entitle my post as “Celebrate Good Times.”  Kool and the Gang.  Solid.

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