Tale of the tape

Week 14: New York Jets At Jacksonville Jaguars

Jets

Jaguars

Greg McElroy is likely to take over as the starting quarterback from Mark Sanchez. A disgusted Rex Ryan benched Sanchez in the Jets’ Week 13 victory over Arizona after seeing his starting quarterback throw interception after interception. The move to McElroy resulted in the game’s lone touchdown. McElroy may have some leadership skills, and that could be enough to get him the job.	Quarterback	Chad Henne has certainly given the Jacksonville Jaguars a lift behind center. However, while the Jacksonville offense is more dangerous with him in the lineup, the Jaguars are not winning any more games with him in the lineup. However, Henne throws an accurate pass, sees the field well and also has the arm strength to stretch the field.
The conservative Jets have little choice but to try to use their ground game when they attempt to move the ball. Shonn Greene’s numbers have gotten somewhat better after a slow start and he has run for 806 yards and he is up to 3.8 yards per carry. Wide receiver Jeremy Kerley has done a decent job of catching passes from the Jets’ substandard quarterbacks. He knows how to get open and will catch most passes.	Offense	The Jaguar offense is one-dimensional. Maurice Jones-Drew (foot) continues to be on the sidelines and has only played in six games this year. However, he’s still the leading rusher with 414 yards and no other Jacksonville runner has reached 300 yards. Cecil Shorts is a fine run-after-the-catch receiver, while Justin Blackmon is an explosive down-the-field threat.
The Jets have had issues on defense, but that unit can still play credible football. The biggest problem is that the Jets don’t have a big-time pass rusher who can wreak havoc. Not Jets defensive player has more than 2.5 sacks. Linebacker David Harris is a solid hitter who has played consistent football and leads the team with 91 tackles.	Defense	The Jaguars simply don’t make enough plays. They rank 31st in total yards allowed and 31st in rushing yards allowed. Despite their inadequacies, linebackers Russell Allen and Paul Posluszny do an excellent job in tackling. Both have exceeded the 100-tackle mark, but the problem has been that too many of those tackles occur far downfield. The Jags also have no serious pass rush.
The Jets have made a slew of mistakes on special teams. Retiring special teams coach Mike Westhoff is beside himself as a result of poor coverage, tackling issues and game-changing mistakes. On the positive side, Kerley has a punt return for a score while Joe McKnight has a kickoff return for a touchdown.	Special Teams	The Jaguars have special teams issues with their coverage units. Their kickoff return differential is a horrid minus-6.1 yards per return and they are also losing the punt return battle as well. Josh Scobee has been a revelation at placekicker, making 20-of-21 field goal attempts.

We'll just call it a tie

The Jets have a butter-soft end-of-season schedule and they should be ready to play a decent game. They seem likely to go with McElroy at quarterback because Sanchez is too inaccurate and can’t put the ball on the money. The Jaguars are not a competitive team at this point in the year.

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