JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Linebacker Paul Posluszny conducted an interview that lasted nearly three minutes, but he really needed only one sentence to sum up the Jacksonville Jaguars' defensive performance against the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday.
"It was awful," he said.
That’s a pretty good way to describe it. Indianapolis rolled up 529 yards, Andrew Luck threw for 370 and four touchdowns, and held the ball for little more than 37 minutes. The Colts scored 30 points in the first half, which were the most points the Jaguars have allowed in the first half in their 20-year history.
"We should be playing a lot better than that," Posluszny said. "We’re making mistakes. We’re not playing together as a unit. We’re not very consistent.
“We’ll have Red Bryant make a great play and make a tackle for a loss and then we’ll get beat over the top for a 20-yard gain. We need to be much more consistent in everything we do."
This is a familiar refrain. Outside of the first half against Philadelphia in the second opener, the Jaguars’ defense has been terrible. In the last 10 quarters it has given up 112 points. It is confusing, befuddling, baffling, perplexing, puzzling -- any adjective you want to use.
The Jaguars’ defense was supposed to be better in 2014 after the additions of ends Chris Clemons and Red Bryant, tackle Ziggy Hood, and linebacker Dekoda Watson. It was supposed to keep the team in games longer to allow a young offense time to develop.
Instead, it has been a giant, ridiculous mess: The Jaguars are giving up 446 total yards, 306 yards passing, and 160 yards rushing per game. Oh, and 39.7 points per game.
Coach Gus Bradley seems to know why things are so bad, but he has not been able to get it fixed.
"It feels like 10 guys are doing things right and you have an opportunity for one guy to make a play and he didn’t make it," Bradley said. "We’ve got to train to be clutch. The message to them is when you get your opportunity called you have to make the play. I just think we missed on too many opportunities there defensively."
The most troubling aspect is that players seem to know exactly what to do but for whatever reason aren’t doing it. For example, safety Winston Guy was supposed to cover the back in the flat on Indianapolis’ first drive. Instead, he goes inside and Ahmad Bradshaw is wide open and catches an easy pass for 12 yards.
Posluszny believes people are pressing instead of following Bradley’s defensive mantra: Do your job.
"We’re not trusting the guy next to us," he said. "We have such a strong desire to do well that we want to do a little bit more and that’s when things start to break down. We have to realize everybody has a job to do, a very specific job, and each one of us has to take care of that and trust the guy next to him that they’re going to do theirs as well."
That’s what players have said after each of the first two games, as well. But, as we saw Sunday, nothing has changed.
"It’s unbelievable," Posluszny said. "We say that’s not our type of ball, that’s not us, but that’s what we’re putting out there. We should be playing better."
