A handful of Jacksonville Jaguars defensive backups, especially three undrafted free agent rookies, made an impression on Aug. 23 in a 14-6 loss to the Miami Dolphins in the final preseason game at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens.
That doesn’t necessarily mean they earned roster spots for the Jaguars. Cutdown day is looming on Aug. 26 and some hard decisions will have to be made by coach Liam Coen and his staff.
But Coen said the plays and effort put on tape against the Dolphins, especially at the beginning of the game in three possessions against most of Miami’s offensive starters, may ensure some players have a job — somewhere. If they’re squeezed out of the final 53-man roster in Jacksonville, other teams could well see something they like and snap them up on the waiver wire.
If that happens, Coen will be happy for them.
“I thought some guys helped themselves, whether it’s on our team or someone else’s,” Coen said.
Miami starting offense went deep into the game
Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel played quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, wide receivers Jaylen Waddle and Malik Washington, and four-fifths of the projected starting offensive line into the second quarter of the game, and there was a good reason: the Jaguars’ starting defense, composed of second- and third-team players, stuffed them by forcing three-and-outs on the first two possessions.
Miami gained 17 yards on those first two turns with the ball and Tagovailoa was three of five and sacked twice. In addition, the two incompletions were forced when the Jaguars blitzed linebackers.
“We had some self-inflicted stuff,” was McDaniel’s only explanation. “I hadn’t really planned for the exact presentation of what the defense was doing.”
Whatever that means. Coen had an easier explanation: great effort.
“I am proud of this team and the way they compete,” he said. “The physicality in which they play with, I think we can – if we can start there and have that as a standard, that continues to show up every time we compete, I’ll live with that.”
Miami used fourth-down conversion, missed tackle to finally score
The Dolphins finally pulled off a lengthy drive to score on Tagovailoa’s 31-yard touchdown pass to Washington, in which Washington side-stepped a lunging Chad Muma.
Miami also kept the drive going by converting a fourth-and-six at its own 46, a chance the Dolphins are not likely to take in the first half of the regular season.
Otherwise, the Jaguars would have had Miami off the field again with two incompletions by Tagovailoa (who finished the game going four of eight for 49 yards) and a first-down run stopped by linebackers Branson Combs and Dennis Gardeck.
“Against their first offense, I thought our guys that were in the game competed really well,” Coen said. “Made it hard on them early on … really made it hard on them to kind of move it all night.”
Jabbar Muhammad, Danny Striggow, B.J. Green II state their case
Here’s how the Jaguars throttled the Dolphins’ first unit and how three players in particular, cornerback Jabbar Muhammad, and defensive ends Danny Striggow and B.J. Green II — all undrafted rookie free agents — may have helped their stock heading into the cutdown day on Aug. 26:
First possession: Muma and Muhammad blitzed Tagovailoa, with Muhammad batting the pass down. After a 9-yard pass play to Washington, who forced Muma to miss the tackle, Striggow sacked Tagovailoa.
Second possession: Cornerback De’Antre Prince bounced Ollie Gordon out of bounds after a 5-yard gain on first down but Tagovailoa was then sacked by Green, and thew incomplete under heavy pressure from a blitzing Muhammad.
Third possession: Prince and cornerback Cam’Ron Silmon-Craig had D’Wayne Eskridge covered well on a deep ball that was overthrown, with Silmon-Craig nearly getting a hand on the ball. After another incompletion, Tagovailoa converted the fourth down with a short pass to Washington and two plays later threw the touchdown pass, with Washington making Muma look helpless with a move to the outside.
Miami converted the two-point conversion on a pass from Tagovailoa to Pharoh Brown.
Rookie Jack Kiser adds another sack
Tagovailoa gave way to Zach Wilson after that, and after moving the second-team offense to a first down at the Jaguars’ 25, got pushed back. Green flushed Wilson from the pocket, who scrambled for 3 yards. Muma atoned somewhat for his two missed tackles by breaking up a pass and rookie linebacker Jack Kiser sacked Wilson on a delayed blitz for a 12-yard loss.
Jake Bailey then missed a 54-yard field goal attempt, giving the Jaguars good enough field position for Seth Henigan to move the team in position for Cam Little’s 59-yard field goal on the final play of the half to cut the score to 8-6.
Henigan completed his first three passes of the drive for 14 yards and three players had good gains on running plays, Ja’Quindan Jackson for 10 yards, Kevin Harris for 10 yards and Austin Trammell for 9 yards.
While it was only a preseason game, it was the kind of complementary football the Jaguars often lacked last season: a combination of the defense making plays, which led to a possession that resulted in points scored by the special teams.
Jaguars apply more pressure in second half
The Jaguars continued to torment Miami quarterbacks Wilson and Quinn Ewers in the second half, with Yasir Abdullah, Keivie Rose and Ethan Downs adding sacks. Tagovailoa, Wilson and Ewers combined to complete 20 of 29 passes for 195 yards and a 99.1 passer rating.
It gave the Jaguars 10 sacks in the preseason and perhaps made the coaching staff feel better about the defensive depth after the opening preseason game against Pittsburgh in which Skylar Thompson and Mason Rudolph combined for 317 yards and a 135.5 passer rating, with only two sacks in a 31-25 loss.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Jacksonville Jaguars undrafted free-agent rookies state their case in final preseason game
Reporting by Garry Smits, Jacksonville Florida Times-Union / Florida Times-Union
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
