News » The Jaguars saw another opportunity to establish themselves

as the dominant team in the AFC completely fizzle out Cheap Blake Bortles Jersey , as the much anticipated match up between their #1 ranked defense and the #1 ranked offense of the Kansas City Chiefs and newly minted superstar Patrick Mahomes ended up with the Jags getting washed away in soggy, rain-soaked Arrowhead Stadium, 30-14.The Chiefs much heralded offense got to it early and often, testing the strengths of the Jaguars defense at every level, and often with unprecedented success against the usually stout unit. By the time the Jaguars seemed to get it going, they found themselves down 10 and then the turnovers started from quarterback Blake Bortles. In a game where the team desperately needed a “Good Blake” performance, they got a somewhat vintage Bortles game, and not in a good way, as he threw one pass on an intended screen play into the chest of a Chiefs lineman who returned it back for a touchdown. Another pick came as the team drove deep into Chiefs territory before the half while the game was still somewhat doable, but #5 threw it somehow into the back of AJ Cann’s helmet, and it was caught by a Chiefs defender in the end zone on the deflection. All told, Bortles accounted for five turnovers, including a fumble on a strip sack by Dee Ford, on the first play of a drive that was produced thanks to the Jaguars Tashaun Gipson getting the first pick on Mahomes of the season. Bortles finished with 416 yards passing, a career high.The offense was toothless for a majority of the game outside of a couple of garbage time scores, and the defense couldn’t do enough to slow down the Chiefs when they needed to as their offense did mostly whatever it liked all game. It was very much reminiscent of the loss to the 49ers last season.The loss moves the Jaguars to 3-2 and still tied with the Tennessee Titans, as they lost somehow to the Buffalo Bills 13-12. The Jags will get ready for another road trip next week against the Dallas Cowboys, and likely have a monster performance if trends hold true thus far this season.Comparing “Sacksonville” to the greats: 2000 Baltimore Ravens We keep hearing about how elite the 2018 “Sacksonville” defense is and how they can carry what is by all regards a fairly average offense deep into the playoffs, so I wanted to travel back into the annals of history and compare the Jacksonville Jaguars personnel to some of the legendary NFL defenses of yesteryear. This is the first of a four-part installment that I will be doing across the month of September, and this episode mirrors the 2000 Baltimore Ravens defense.Below you’ll find positional head-to-head match ups where I include a moment-in-time snapshot of each player’s statistics at the same point in their careers to illustrate how our young players are tracking against some all-time greats. Let’s get started:LDE | Calais Campbell vs. Rob BurnettSTAT SNAPSHOT COMPARISON (10 SEASONS): Burnett: 56.5 sacks; 435 tackles; 5 forced fumbles; 9 fumbles recoveredCampbell: 71.0 sacks; 420 tackles; 11 forced fumbles; 9 fumbles recoveredA former fifth round pick by the Cleveland Browns in 1993, Burnett against Campbell is actually an eerily similar comparison due to their age. Burnett was 33 years old when the Ravens won the Super Bowl and his 2000 season was magical from a production standpoint (10.5 sacks, 3 forced fumbles, 5 fumbles recovered, 1 interception). Burnett ended up playing 14 seasons in the NFL and compiling 73 sacks in his career but despite his longevity, was only selected to one Pro Bowl in his career, which pails in comparison to Campbell’s three Pro Bowls and one First Team All-Pro selection.Advantage: Calais CampbellLDT | Marcell Dareus vs. Sam AdamsSTAT SNAPSHOT COMPARISON (7 SEASONS): Dareus: 36.0 sacks; 223 tackles; 2 forced fumbles; 2 fumbles recoveredAdams: 25.0 sacks; 190 tackles; 4 forced fumbles; 4 fumbles recoveredAn absolute unit Cheap Yannick Ngakoue Jersey , Adams was a plug in the defensive line and was literally a huge reason why the Ravens impressive linebacking unit was able to make so many plays in the second level. This will also be Dareus’ role in the defense this season, functioning to stuff the run and collapse the pocket from inside on early downs. During the Ravens’ Super Bowl season, Adams only had 23 tackles and 2 sacks, which are pretty low numbers for Dareus to surpass despite his role as a one-technique taking on double teams. A two-time Pro Bowler and one-time First Team All-Pro, Dareus edges Sam Adams, who was selected to three Pro Bowls in his 14-year career.Advantage: Marcell DareusRDT | Malik Jackson vs. Tony SiragusaSTAT SNAPSHOT COMPARISON (6 SEASONS): Jackson: 29.0 sacks; 167 tackles; 6 forced fumbles; 3 fumbles recoveredSiragusa: 14.5 sacks; 326 tackles; 4 forced fumbles; 4 fumbles recoveredSiragusa was a big personality and is still top of mind for many football fans due to his broadcast responsibilities, but he was a limited athlete and served as more of a secondary nose tackle to Sam Adams than a true three-technique like Malik. One thing that can’t be ignored is that Siragusa had nearly three times the tackle volume as Jackson after six seasons with the Colts, so this is sort of an apples and oranges comparison despite technically playing the same position. I’ll give the edge to Malik, who has one more Pro Bowl than Goose, but feel free to argue with your house plant or in the comments below.Advantage: Malik JacksonRDE | Yannick Ngakoue vs. Michael McCrarySTAT SNAPSHOT COMPARISON (2 SEASONS): Ngakoue: 20.0 sacks; 44 tackles; 10 forced fumbles; 4 fumbles recoveredMcCrary: 5.5 sacks; 17 tackles; 2 forced fumbles; 0 fumbles recoveredA seventh round pick by the Seahawks in the 1993 NFL Draft, McCrary was a late bloomer when it comes to defensive ends, especially when comparing his two season snapshot to Yannick. Only one career Pro Bowl nomination behind, Ngakoue will far surpass McCrary as a player (10 forced fumbles in two seasons is just disgusting), but McCrary absolutely ramped it up in the postseason (two crucial sacks in the Super Bowl) despite only registering 6.5 sacks in the regular season. McCrary was good, but Yannick has a chance to be great.Advantage: Yannick NgakoueSLB | Leon Jacobs vs. Peter BoulwareSTAT SNAPSHOT COMPARISON (N/A): A little unfair owing to Jacobs’ rookie status, but he will have to be quite the player to supplant Peter Boulware regardless. A hybrid defensive end/linebacker, the 1997 fourth overall pick tallied 11.5 sacks and 43 tackles as a rookie, and his 7.0 sacks in 2000 were a big catalyst to the Ravens’ success. Call me pessimistic, but I don’t see Jacobs notching double-digit sacks as a rookie, especially with the heavy emphasis on nickel in today’s game and such different linebacker responsibilities than Boulware.Advantage: Peter BoulwareMLB | Ray Lewis vs. Myles JackSTAT SNAPSHOT COMPARISON (2 SEASONS): Jack: 82 tackles; 2.5 sacks; 0 forced fumbles; 2 fumbles recovered; 0 interceptionsLewis: 251 tackles; 6.5 tackles; 2 interceptionsSorry, Myles. I love you, but Ray Lewis is Ray Lewis. I really don’t think we need to go into detail here to validate the winner. Pro Football Reference didn’t have the fumble numbers for Lewis’ rookie year in 1996, but it doesn’t really matter.Advantage: Ray LewisWLB | Telvin Smith vs. Jamie SharperSTAT SNAPSHOT COMPARISON (4 SEASONS): Smith: 345 tackles; 6.5 sacks; 4 forced fumbles; 5 fumbles recovered; 7 interceptionsSharper: 225 tackles; 7.0 sacks; 6 forced fumbles, 2 fumbles recovered, 2 interceptionsA second round pick for the Ravens in 1997, Jamie Sharper was a solid player for the Ravens before moving on to the Texans in 2002. As good of a player as Sharper was Barry Church Jersey , however, he was no Telvin Smith. Smith not only trumps Sharper in tackle volume but he also has a Pro Bowl selection on his resume over Sharper. The one notable statistic for Sharper is his five forced fumbles in the 2000 season, so Smith will have to continue churning out turnovers this season for the Jaguars to realize their championship dreams. Advantage: Telvin SmithCB | Jalen Ramsey vs. Chris McAlisterSTAT SNAPSHOT COMPARISON (2 SEASONS): Ramsey: 6 interceptions; 31 pass break ups; 107 tacklesMcAlister: 9 interceptions; N/A pass break ups; 80 tacklesThe 10th overall pick in the 1999 NFL Draft, McAlister and Ramsey are in the same phase in their career when McAlister won the Lombardi trophy. While many Jaguars fans would lean with their king without hesitation, I’m here to throw in a Lee Corso “not so fast, my friend” and say Ramsey is the rarer athlete and will likely be a Hall of Fame cornerback at his current career trajectory, but it’s hard to ignore just how good McAlister was, especially in his first two years in his career. With pass break ups being an unavailable stat for McAlister on Pro Football Reference, I’ll give the slight edge to Ramsey for being a more complete defensive back despite McAlister having three more picks under his belt.Advantage: Jalen RamseyCB | AJ Bouye vs. Duane StarksSTAT SNAPSHOT COMPARISON (5 SEASONS): Bouye: 12 interceptions; 50 pass break ups; 169 tacklesStarks: 22 interceptions; N/A pass break ups; 234 tacklesPeople forget about Duane Starks with McAlister on the roster, and more casual NFL fans probably do the same to Bouye with Ramsey being the king of Duval. A very underrated player throughout the tenure of his career, Starks was actually also a tenth overall pick the year before McAlister. This match up is a little unfair to Bouye, who was not a full-time starter with the Texans until his third season, but I think it’s safe to say that Starks has the edge here. The bright side is that despite a slower start out of the gate, Bouye has a great shot to beat Starks in the longevity department (eight total seasons) and could potentially be the better player at the end of his career.Advantage: Duane StarksSS | Barry Church vs. Kim HerringSTAT SNAPSHOT COMPARISON (7 SEASONS): Church: 5 interceptions; 359 tackles; 0 sacks; 8 forced fumbles Herring: 8 interceptions; 329 tackles; 2.0 sacks; 5 forced fumblesBarry Church is the only player on the Jaguars who has outlasted his positional counterpart on this list, already having played eight seasons in the NFL (Herring had seven). If you add Church’s four interceptions and 1.5 sacks with the Jaguars last year, he leap frogs Herring in those categories. Herring was mainly a role player in the Ravens championship defense and did not have to do all that much playing next to a future Hall of Famer in Rod Woodson. Herring contributed three interceptions for the 2000 Ravens, and that’s about what we can expect from Church this season in his role as a veteran general of the secondary. I’m giving the nod to Church because he seems to be entering the prime of his career one year after Herring was out of the league.Advantage: Barry ChurchFS | Rod Woodson vs. Tashaun GipsonSTAT SNAPSHOT COMPARISON (2 SEASONS): Gipson: 19 interceptions; 243 tackles; 0 sacks; 1 forced fumbleWoodson: 20 interceptions; 425 tackles; 7.5 sacks; 5 forced fumblesSimilar to the Ray Lewis debate, Rod Woodson is in the Hall of Fame and is a clear-cut winner over Tashaun Gipson. A six time First Team All-Pro and eleven time Pro Bowler, Gipson can’t even hold Woodson’s jock strap from a complete body of work perspective. With that being said, something that struck me in compiling the stat snapshot is that Gip has only one less interception than Woodson six seasons into his career, and Woodson was 35 years old during the Ravens 2000 season. Advantage: Rod WoodsonFinal Score: Jaguars win 7-4As mentioned in the top of the article, the Jaguars have a special, special defense. A favorable comparison to one of the all-time greats in the 2000 Ravens should only validate just how elite this unit is. Even if you give the edge to Chris McAlister over Jalen Ramsey, the Jaguars are still majority winners with a 6-5 split.So what do you think? Will the 2018 Jaguars be considered a legendary defense by season’s end?