Excitement was very much the scene early for the Jaguars offense, but things fizzled in the 4th quarter in their Week 15 loss to the Colts.
The Jaguars could have accomplished two impressive feats last night. One, ending the Colts (a division rival) run for perfection and two, taken control of their own playoff destiny. They accomplished neither, unfortunately.
As so often is the case (7 times this season) Peyton led the Colts on a 4th quarter comeback and the defense accomplished what it couldn’t do all night – force punts and turnovers, to allow the Colts to stay ahead. Manning’s 65 yard TD pass to Reggie Wayne was an impressive exploitation of coverage, and put the Colts up for good. (I’d like to note that this play was semi-vindication, in my eyes, for the 4th and 2 playcall by Belichick weeks ago).
Early in the game, I was prepared to write a retraction article on a) my beliefs that the Jaguars weren’t a playoff team and b) my assertion that Maurice Jones-Drew was being overworked. Following the game, I’m not feeling so high anymore.
Yes, the Jags played pretty well to hang with an opponent that hasn’t lost to anyone – including some very formidable opponents – this year, but if you hang with them all game, only to give up a crushing blow, does it matter? Playoff teams find a way to lock down those close games, and find a way to score when trailing by 4 with two possessions inside the last 7 minutes, the Jags did not, and now must win out, and hope for a little help (actually, looking @ 10-6 tiebreakers they need a fair bit of help) to make the AFC wild card, rather than guarantee themselves a spot.
As for Jones-Drew he had two TDs, 199 all purpose yards, and was a major factor in why the Jaguars were even close. Watching him run in the first half was impressive, I don’t remember a single carry that didn’t result in 5+ yards. MJD went into the half with 14 carries for 73 yards (5.2 YPC). However – though this has as much, or more to do with defensive adjustments the Colts made at halftime – his 2nd half production was nowhere near the first, and probably is a significant reason why the Jags couldn’t hang on to this one. They controlled the clock in the first half thanks to MJD’s dominance, and were unable to keep the potent Colts offense off the field in the 2nd half when they needed to most. His 2nd half numbers 13 carries for 37 (2.8 YPC) were not near enough to put his team in position to win, and I contend that MJD is getting tired, earlier in games, it would seem.
In no way am I slighting the phenomenal RB either, his 1600 total yards and 16 TDs through 14 games is massively impressive… but I wonder if with a handful fewer carries each game, he wouldn’t have very comparable numbers and a fresher set of legs. Food for thought…