Del Rio chides Jacksonville’s defensive effort

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP)—Insulting, ugly and embarrassing.

Those were the words Jacksonville Jaguars coach Jack Del Rio used to describe his team’s defensive effort in a 30-13 loss at Tennessee on Sunday.

The Titans ran for 305 yards, held the ball for nearly 40 minutes and didn’t allow a sack. Had it not been for Maurice Jones-Drew’s(notes) long touchdown runs, the Jaguars (3-4) probably would have spent Monday reviewing a second straight shutout on the road.

Seattle thumped Jacksonville 41-0 three weeks ago. The Jaguars rebounded with a 23-20 victory over St. Louis, taking advantage of a coin flip in overtime to eke out a win against a team that had lost 15 in row. But after a bye week, the Jaguars found themselves trying to solve more defensive lapses.

“I don’t know if any explanation will make anybody feel better,” Del Rio said Monday. “When you see it on film, it is insulting, ugly and embarrassing.”

Del Rio was so upset about missed tackles that he considered having live tackling drills this week. He reconsidered, but only because he was fearful of injury.

Chris Johnson ran 24 times for 228 yards and two touchdowns, breaking off scoring runs of 52 and 89 yards. LenDale White(notes) and quarterback Vince Young(notes) another 77 yards on the ground. With little pass rush, Young also completed 15 of 18 passes for 125 yards and a touchdown.

“There’s no secret. What we put on the field was not good at all,” Jaguars defensive lineman Derek Landri(notes) said. “We missed a lot of tackles and didn’t do the fundamentals that we had worked on all week.”

Jacksonville has struggled to stop opponents in just about every game this season. Peyton Manning(notes), Kurt Warner(notes), Matt Schaub(notes) and Matt Hasselbeck(notes) picked apart the secondary, but the defense had been somewhat solid against the run.

Until Sunday.

“I don’t think it’s time for a head hunt or a witch hunt by any means,” Landri said. “I think a lot of guys are (ticked) off, and I like that. I’m upset, and for the most part, everybody in this locker room is upset by what happened and nobody is taking it lightly.”

The defense seemed off from the opening possession, when Young floated a pass to the end zone that slipped through rookie Derek Cox’s(notes) hands. What should have been an interception—and maybe a blow to Young’s confidence in his first meaningful start in 14 months—ended up one of Young’s few incompletions.

Jacksonville’s offense didn’t really bail the defense out, either.

Sure, Jones-Drew finished with 177 yards rushing and had touchdown runs of 80 and 79 yards. But the Jaguars did little else.

David Garrard(notes) completed 14 of 27 passes for 139 yards. He threw two interceptions, fumbled once and was sacked three times. His best play was a downfield block on Jones-Drew’s second TD run. Mike Sims-Walker(notes), who averaged nearly 100 yards receiving in his last four games, caught two passes. Torry Holt(notes) also finished with just two receptions.

“I don’t have an answer, but we’ve got to find a way to fix it,” Jones-Drew said. “It’s not a mentality issue. Everything can be fixed. It’s what you want to do to fix it. It’s the little things.”

Those little things have caused some big problems, especially in the area of consistency.

“We’re going to have some games where we go out and show flashes and being good, then some games we go out there and show flashes of being bad,” fullback Greg Jones(notes) said. “We just have to be consistent. It’s the little things really. It comes down to the little things and being focused. The details. Football is a game of details and inches. If you don’t take those things for granted, I think we’ll be fine.”