Despite Offensive Issues, One Area Has Improved Under Gardner Minshew
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The story of the Jacksonville Jaguars 2019 season on the field has been a failure to produce a consistent offense. It is a story the Jaguars know well, having already written it many of times in the past decade.
Jacksonville has tried everything it can to get the offense going this season. From installing a new scheme with first-year coordinator John DeFilippo to making changes at quarterback, but nothing has truly stuck.
The latest, and arguably biggest, move to try to spark the offense was placing dissapointing free agent quarterback Nick Foles on the bench in favor of Gardner Minshew II after Foles turned it over three times (two fumbles, one interception) in a disastrous first half in Week 13 vs. the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
In three games since putting Minshew back on the field though, the offense has remained stagnant and Jacksonville has gone 1-2. Jacksonville has scored 10, 20, and 12 points in the games, a meager 14 points per game average. Jacksonville has also averaged 174 passing yards per game in that stretch, the fifth-worst in the NFL. Perhaps most alarming has been the lack of first half scoring, with only nine first half points in the last three weeks.
“I don’t know. We’re trying to identify that and we’re trying to address it," Minshew said about the slow starts on Tuesday. "I think we have some things we’re planning this week to try to mix it up, and I think at this point we’re kind of throwing crap on the wall, seeing what sticks and hopefully we’ll get it figured out this week and we’ll get rolling.”
But despite the ineffective offense during Minshew's second stint as a starter this season, the rookie quarterback has vastly improved in one area of his game. After throwing four interceptions and fumbling 12 times in his first eight-game stint as a starter, Minshew has not turned the ball over as a starter since replacing Foles. He threw an interception during the second half of the Buccaneers game, though even that was a pass that went off Dede Westbrook's hands and wasn't on Minshew.
Improving upon Minshew's ball security was maybe the stressed point Minshew and head coach Doug Marrone made when talking about Minshew's transition back to starter. So far, it has paid off.
“Yeah, just a new focus to it. Just learning [that] guys get on you a lot quicker," Minshew said. "They’re longer, they’re faster. In college it feels like you have a little bit more time then you do here, so just getting a better feel for that I feel like has helped.”
Marrone said Tuesday he has been impressed by Minshew's improved ball security the last three games, even if the offense isn't getting all of the results it wants. It was something that was really made a focus and so far, it has paid off, he noted.
But, Marrone said, he also wants to make sure they are not trying to limit their electric rookie's playmaking ability by making him be too cautious with the ball either, a fine line for a young passer to balance.
"It’s something that we’ve discussed. I haven’t discussed it with Gardner yet, but it’s something we discussed [as a staff]. ‘Hey, you’ve done a really good job of that, but is it hurting us in some sense, too? Are we preaching that too much, where you’ve become too conservative and you might not pull the trigger?’" Marrone said.
"And we don’t want that, obviously. I think he’s done an outstanding job of that. I think he’s made some really good decisions on when he’s taking off [to run]. I think that’s gotten much better than the first time he played in that situation. Again, it’s something that I usually guard against, not just with Gardner, but with any quarterback.”
