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• Sen'Derrick Marks forcing his way on the field

Jaguars OTAs: Justin Forsett ready for bigger role

2013-05-22T17:00:05Z

The Jacksonville Jaguars offense struggled to run the football in the 2012 season, especially after Maurice Jones-Drew went down with his foot injury. The depth the Jaguars had at the running back position left a lot to be desired and also wound up dealing with injuries. The depth at the running back position was a big issue heading into the 2013 offseason and the Jaguars attempted to address that by signing veteran Justin Forsett, who's familiar with both head coach Gus Bradley and offensive coordinator Jedd Fisch.

"He is. You can count on him, steady, always does things right, had a good last year," Bradley told the Florida Times-Union when asked if Forsett is "the guy" while Jones-Drew is rehabbing. "I know in talking with some of their staff earlier they felt strongly about him just the same way I felt about him when we were in Seattle. So I think he brings that continuity to what we have. He raises the level of play throughout the whole running backs.''

Last season Forsett was part of a three-man rotation with the Houston Texans, sharing back up carries with Ben Tate in spelling Arian Foster, ending the season with 63 carries for 374 yards and catching three passes out of the backfield. Forsett has always been a back up during his tenure in the NFL, the majority of which came with the Seattle Seahawks in his second and third seasons in the NFL.

Coming to Jacksonville, Forsett is once again going to be a back up running back, but this time he's going to be on a team that's likely going to lean on the run which means he should get more chances to touch the football in relief of Jones-Drew. It's part of the reason Forsett signed with the Jaguars, despite the Texans trying to re-sign him, along with his familiarity with the coaching staff.

"I'm feeling good out there mentally. I've worked with Jedd before so I know the kind of the system we're running. I've worked with Gus before so I know what he expects out of his players so it's going well so far,'' Forsett told the Florida Times-Union.

As it stands right now, Forsett is the primary back up to Jones-Drew with rookie Denard Robinson likely also getting carries.

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• Sen'Derrick Marks forcing his way on the field

Star Trek: Into Darkness reviewed by Denard Robinson, NFL rookies

2013-05-22T15:12:01Z

For the second time in as many years, SB Nation flew out to LA to document the 2013 NFLPA Rookie Premiere. One of the many events of the week was a trip to Arclight Cinemas in LA where the rookies took in Star Trek Into the Darkness, and then reviewed the movie on camera. The range of reactions to the movie might surprise you. Enjoy and subscribe for other features, interviews and fun from out in LA.

Jaguars OTAs: Tobias Palmer showing off speed

2013-05-22T14:00:10Z

The Jacksonville Jaguars appear to have their starting wide receivers set with Cecil Shorts III and Justin Blackmon, even with the suspension, but after that there are a logjam of players who can fill different roles. The Jaguars drafted Ace Sanders in the fourth round of the 2013 NFL Draft, but another rookie has also been turning heads in practices thanks to his speed.

N.C. State wide receiver Tobais Palmer ran a 4.31 40-yard dash at his Pro Day and has been flashing that speed for the Jaguars in practice.

"This is my 40th year in coaching and I feel like I can smell it. You get a feel for a guy and you see something."-Jerry Sullivan

"He has to learn and then function in our system but all the things I see, I'm encouraged," receivers coach Jerry Sullivan told the Florida Times-Union.

The Jaguars have a bit of a logjam at the back end for wide receiver with Shorts, Blackmon, and Sanders taking up three spots on the roster, but the final two or three spots should be a battle between Jordan Shipley, Taylor Price, Tobias Palmer, and the other receivers currently on the team. If Palmer can keep flashing his speed when the pads go on, he could have a chance to squeeze his way on the roster, especially with his ability to return kicks.

"As a rookie, your head is going to swim a little bit," Shorts told the Florida Times-Union of Palmer. "You're trying to learn everything, but it doesn't seem like he is panicked. He's pretty under control."

Palmer was disappointed in going undrafted in April, but he knows he can work his way on to the Jaguars final 53-man roster if he continues to up his level of play.

"This has allowed me to get my foot in the door," Palmer told the Times-Union. "But I can't get off the gas pedal. I have to keep pushing until I see my name on the 53-man roster."

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• Sen'Derrick Marks forcing his way on the field

Breaking down the Jacksonville Jaguars 2013 offense

2013-05-22T12:49:37Z

Let's break down Jedd Fisch's offense.

I charted about 250 snaps of Miami's offense (North Carolina, North Carolina State, Florida State, and Virginia Tech) to get a feel for Fisch's play calling tendencies, favorite concepts, and how he utilized the talent at hand. Besides noting personnel groupings and the plays being run (I'll get into more Xs and Os stuff in a later post), I also graded the outcome of each play according to Football Outsiders' College Football Success Rate metric. A "Success" is awarded by the offense gaining 50% of the required yards on 1st down (usually five yards), 70% on 2nd down, and 100% on 3rd down.

The first chart shows success rate according to down, distance and play type. The second chart shows what kind of plays are being run in those down and distance situations. Just a warning: these numbers aren't very pretty. On the bright side, I do like a lot of the things Fisch does conceptually, and I think it can potentially suit the personnel here very well.

Note: 1st and Possession = the initial 1st down of a drive. .

Success Rate
	1st and Possession	1st and 10	2nd and 1-3	2nd and 4-6	2nd and 7+	3rd and 1-3	3rd and 4-6	3rd and 7+
Overall Success	31% Success Rate	29% Success Rate	86% Success Rate	57% Success Rate	29% Success Rate	44% Success Rate	36% Success Rate	21% Success Rate
Dropback Pass	20% Success Rate	30% Success Rate	100% Success Rate	25% Success Rate	26% Success Rate	50% Success Rate	29% Success Rate	29% Success Rate
Play Action/ Movement Pass	29% Success Rate	33% Success Rate	50% Success Rate	0% Success Rate (1 attempt)	17% Success Rate	0% Success Rate (1 attempt)	100% Success Rate	0% Success Rate
Run	29% Success Rate	27% Success Rate	100% Success Rate	78% Success Rate	13% Success Rate	50% Success Rate	0% Success Rate	50% Success Rate
Screen	60% Success Rate	50% Success Rate			57% Success Rate			0% Success Rate

Down and Distance Tendencies
1st and Possession	1st and 10	2nd and 1-3	2nd and 4-6	2nd and 7+	3rd and 1-3	3rd and 4-6	3rd and 7+
23% Dropback Pass	13% Dropback Pass	14% Dropback Pass	29% Dropback Pass	36% Dropback Pass	78% Dropback Pass	64% Dropback Pass	75% Dropback Pass
16% Play Action Pass	10% Play Action Pass	29% Play Action Pass	7% Play Action Pass	22% Play Action Pass	11% Play Action Pass	18% Play Action Pass	11% Play Action Pass
49% Run	74% Run	57% Run	64% Run	27% Run	11% Run	18% Run	7% Run
12% Screen	3% Screen			13% Screen

On 1st and Possession, they show a nice balance between running and passing (and variety in the types of passes they're throwing). The problem is that they weren't particularly successful in any facet, either. Poor 1st down production is crippling on an offense. Most people point to 3rd down as the most important, but 1st down is the real money down in football.
You can see that Miami really wanted to establish a consistent run game and just wasn't able to do so.Their run/pass ratio really skews especially heavy on 1st and 10 situations (they ran almost 75% of time time at just a 27% Success Rate).
I'd like to see more use out of the screen game, especially because Fisch uses his backs really creatively in the passing game. Miami's offensive line rhad a tendency to get overwhelmed in pass protection (I completely understand the rationale of drafting Joeckel now), especially once they got into longer Down and Distance situations.
A lot of Miami's problems were personnel related. Their two best players on offense were good - but not spectacular - runningbacks. Their quarterback was very young and played like it. Their offensive line was overmatched often, struggling to open holes or pass protect. Sounds familiar, huh?

That's not to paint a picture of gloom and doom. As noted, Miami shared a lot of the same personnel deficiencies as the Jaguars. With the addition of Joeckel and some luck with health, the Jaguars' offensive line should be much improved from the last two seasons. I can see immediately how the team will want to get Denard involved, both as a space player and doing Wildcat stuff. The Jaguars also have more relative talent at wide receiver than the Hurricanes. So there's a lot of reason for optimism, and, overall, I think a lot of the pieces the Jaguars already have in place will meld nicely with Fisch's philosophy on offense.

Keep reading:

• Who's on your Jaguars Mt. Rushmore?

• David Garrard calls it quits

• 2013 NFL schedule: Times, dates for preseason announced

Jaguars OTAs: Sen'derrick Marks forcing his way on the field

2013-05-22T12:45:36Z

The Jacksonville Jaguars signed veteran defensive tackle Sen'Derrick Marks during the free agency period to compete for one of the starting positions on the defensive line and apparently the team is high on Marks and his fit at the three-technique.

The Jaguars move former first-round pick defensive tackle Tyson Alualu, who was playing the three-technique role previously, outside to the defensive end position similar to what the Seahawks did with Red Bryant, in part because of wanting to get Marks on the field.

Marks knows he's still competing with the other 16 defensive lineman however, but he knew that when the team signed him.

"He told me when I came in on my visit, ‘We're going to compete,''' Marks told John Oehser of Jaguars.com. "He said, ‘We're going to find who will compete for the job. That's what they went out and did. It doesn't bother me."

Marks was originally drafted by the Tennessee Titans in the second round of the 2009 NFL Draft, but started just 26 games in his first four seasons and his play was up and down. Right now, Marks appears to be slated to start for the Jaguars on the interior, but a lot can change once the preseason rolls around.

Keep reading:

• 2013 NFL schedule: Times, dates for preseason announced

Jaguars OTAs: Practice cancelled due to weather, no make up allowed

2013-05-21T17:23:33Z

The Jacksonville Jaguars took the practice field for their fifth OTA practice under cloudy skies and it was cut short after just under an hour due to lightning in the area. The Jaguars have had eight total practices in the month of May, including rookie mini-camp, and two have been in pouring ran with another called short due to weather.

Due to the CBA rules, unfortunately the Jaguars will not be able to make up the lost practice and just have to move on to the next one on Thursday.

There has been some discussions about the Jaguars potentially building a practice facility due to the fact that Florida is prone to so many showers in the summer months, often interrupting OTA days and training camp. Continued interruption of practices might spur something forward in the talks, but as of now there is no facility in the plans.

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