The Jacksonville Jaguars enter Sunday's game against the Kansas City Chiefs as underdogs and with a serious problem: They can't defend the pass. In most weeks that would be a significant advantage but against the Chiefs it shouldn't matter a whole lot -- this team wants to run the ball.
Here's what Alfie from Big Cat Country had to say when I asked him what Jacksonville's biggest weakness is.
By far the Jaguars biggest weakness is pass defense. Their pass rush is adeqaute with the addisions of defensive end Aaron Kampman and rookie Tyson Alualu, but the back end of the defense is awful. Safety has been a revolving door all year. Gerald Alexander was a surprise cut and then brought back to the team to start only to be cut after the Monday Night game. Anthony Smith was traded the day before the Monday Night game, and now the Jaguars are left with a second year player in Courtney Greene and a converted corner the Jaguars stole from the Browns in Don Carey. The Jaguars corners haven't been better. Second year player Derek Cox was benched after Week 1 and has been in the dog house ever since. His replacement, David Jones, has been torched in every game. The normally steady Rashean Mathis has struggled as well.
Man that's too bad the Chiefs likely don't plan to pass a whole lot. The "safety is a revolving door all year" sounds prime for Chiefs QB Matt Cassel to go deep on them but he doesn't do that very often. The Chiefs, despite the Jaguars pass defense, will likely enter the game trying to run the ball. If they can run the ball, we won't see many pass attempts. Even if they can't I don't see the Chiefs really opening up and taking advantage of the secondary.