Quote (kargus @ May 8 2012 09:30am)

didnt the chargers have the #1 offense and defense and still miss the playoffs?

Quote (Basement @ May 8 2012 11:34am)

yes

Quote (OtterJethro @ May 8 2012 09:31am)

Herd picked the jags to go 3-13

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When asked about the team's learning curve this year, linebacker Clint Session didn't talk about his own side of the ball. Instead, his mind went right to the biggest change he's seen on the field.

"I have never seen an offense since I've been here as precise and as accurate as they are now," said Session, who came to the Jaguars last year in free agency. "I don't want to toot their horn, but they're looking like the greatest show on turf compared to what it was last year. I'm excited about that."

Safety Dawan Landry, too, saw a difference.

"Already, it's definitely night and day from last year," Landry said. "The veteran minicamp we had a couple weeks ago, it came out and showed. It looked like we ran a lot more plays that camp than we did all of last year, so it's exciting."

The bar was low. Last season the Jaguars had the worst offense in the NFL, statistically. They went into the offseason needing to fix that and added three receivers and a completely new offensive coaching staff, except for offensive line coach Andy Heck, to do it.

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The Jaguars’ offense was arguably the worst in the league–hindering any chance of team success–but the defense had the seventh-highest PFF rating in 2011. Things looked good at most positions for Jacksonville, with one major exception: cornerback. Thanks to injuries at the position, seven different players started at cornerback in 2011. With almost everyone returning and the additions of Andre Branch and Aaron Ross, there is reason for optimism for a great defense in 2012.

One of the starting cornerbacks who didn’t complete the season was Derek Cox. For many of our Secret Superstars, we look at role players who don’t see every snap, but do their job so well that they deserve recognition and more playing time. Cox, on the other hand, started Week 1 of his rookie year and over the last year-and-a-half only injuries have kept him out of the lineup.

The reason Derek Cox is a secret is likely in line with the fact that in 2009 he had the season’s worst PFF coverage rating -16.4. However, in the time since, he has improved immensely and, if remains healthy, his stardom won’t be a secret much longer.



Rookie and Sophomore Blunders

Cox was selected in the third round of the 2009 draft after playing college ball at William & Mary. The Jaguars traded up to add him, and inserted him in the lineup across from Rashean Mathis by the start of the season. Typically over the years, Mathis has lined up at left cornerback and Cox on the right, although in some games Mathis will take the opponent’s No. 1 with Cox over the opposite outside receiver.

In his first four games, he allowed 86, 74, 101, and 91 yards, respectively. This included games where Kevin Walter of Houston and Steve Breaston of Arizona had more catches and yards than their corresponding No. 1′s, Andre Johnson and Larry Fitzgerald. In Week 4, the Titans’ game plan when passing was clearly to target Cox as he was thrown at on 17 of Tennessee’s 42 throws.

To some, his rookie year didn’t look so bad because he had four interceptions and seven passes defended. However, only Chris Johnson of Oakland and Vontae Davis of Miami allowed more receiving yards in 2009. Cox also allowed six touchdowns which helped lead to the year-worst PFF coverage rating he managed, which was also the third-lowest we have seen in our four years of grading players.

Despite his rookie struggles, he opened 2010 as a starter against the Denver Broncos. While covering Brandon Lloyd and Eddie Royal for most of the day, he allowed eight of the nine balls thrown his way to be caught for 140 yards and a touchdown. In contrast, the rest of the team allowed 13 catches on 22 throws for 155 yards, an interception and four passes defended. In the fourth quarter, Cox was benched in favor of 2007 fifth-round pick David Jones. For the following five games Jones kept the starting job.



Successful Second Chance

Cox returned to the starting lineup in Week 7 of the 2010 season against the Chiefs. He allowed a 6-yard touchdown catch, but defended the only other ball thrown his way. He had the best game of his young career the following week against the Cowboys with two interceptions, helping the Jaguars get a victory and earning a PFF rating he’s only bettered twice since. After the bye week we saw two games similar to what we saw from Cox in his rookie season, but from Week 12 on, we saw a star.

In the Week 12 game against the Giants, he allowed just one catch for 18 yards. The following week just two catches with an interception and a pass defended. In the Week 15 game against the Colts he had as many passes defended as passes allowed with two each. He added another interception in the Week 16 game against the Redskins to make it four for the year. Throughout 2010 he lined up at right cornerback regardless of which wide receiver he was across from. Despite that early-season benching, Cox did enough to show he was worthy of the starting job going into 2011.

Cox opened 2011 on a high note, defending one of the three Titan passes thrown his way while the other two fell incomplete. This was a huge improvement on his first game against Tennessee, as well as the previous season’s opener, but he didn’t finish the game and a chest injury caused him to miss Week 2. He played in Week 3 against the Panthers, but then proceeded to miss the next three games with a groin injury.

He made his return in Week 7, where he allowed just a 2-yard catch against the Ravens despite being thrown at six times. The following two games he was again thrown at six times each, but just allowed five catches in the two games combined. In his last game of the season against the Browns, he was thrown at twice and didn’t allow a catch. Unfortunately, a knee injury kept him out for the remainder of the 2011 season.



Reasons for Optimism

While injuries kept him off the field far too much in 2011, he has been playing at a great level over his past 12 games. For comparison, here are the Top 5 cornerbacks in 2011 in terms of coverage rating, and what each of them have been able to do over their last 12 games with significant action as well as Cox:
Player TA Catches Catch Rate Yards Yards/Catch TD INT PD
Derek Cox 59 23 39.0 305 13.3 1 2 6
Lardarius Webb 62 31 50.0 393 12.7 0 6 9
Darrelle Revis 74 32 43.2 470 14.7 1 3 15
Brent Grimes 63 32 50.8 330 10.3 3 1 12
Johnathan Joseph 65 38 58.5 462 12.2 2 3 9
Richard Sherman 84 39 46.4 493 12.6 3 4 9



While he has allowed a lower catch rate and fewer yards over the 12-game stretch, he hasn’t been making the big plays that other cornerbacks have. The five corners have averaged 14.2 combined INT’s and PD’s in that span, Cox had eight.

While Cox has the benefit of having Rashean Mathis for another year, Mathis isn’t getting younger and soon Cox will be the one to line up at left cornerback and at times shadow the opponent’s elite receiver. Until Mathis leaves, the Jaguars’ defense will benefit from having both players on the field and as long as Cox can stay healthy, he could be the difference between a very good defense and a great one.

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Rashean Mathis cleared to participate in June 12-14 minicamp.

DAYTONA BEACH, FL – He can’t tell you why it’s important that he practice next week, necessarily, just that it is.

So, even though Rashean Mathis has been ahead of schedule for months returning from a knee injury, and even though he anticipated good news, what he heard Monday during his visit with renowned orthopedist James Andrews still was a big moment.

Mathis, the Jaguars’ 10-year cornerback, was cleared to participate in next week’s mini-camp – this, less than seven months after tearing his anterior cruciate ligament.

Maybe it was an expected day. But that didn’t mean it wasn’t a big one.

“That’s the best thing,” Mathis said Tuesday evening at the 2012 Jaguars Caravan stop in Daytona Beach, during which Mathis was honored as a former standout for Bethune-Cookman.

“I still haven’t had a setback. Everything has always been positive. It’s reassuring that the progression is still going.”

Mathis, who said he is about 85 or 90 percent, said that he essentially plans to do whatever the coaches allow during mini-camp. He said he spoke with Jaguars Head Coach Mike Mularkey briefly last week.

“He said, ’You’re going to pass, right?’’’

Mathis said the approach in mini-camp will be cautious.

“We still have a few months before the actual season starts, but he has cleared me to participate with the team,” he said. “Whatever they want. I’m not pushing the envelope. I know this is not a pivotal time to be in there, but if I can be with my guys before we end it – that was the whole thing and the Lord has blessed me to do so.”

Mathis said the mental boost of participating in a few mini-camp drills in the last offseason activities before training camp is important.

“It’s just the feeling of being with your guys,” Mathis said. “It’s kind of unexplainable. (Middle linebacker) Paul (Posluszny) experienced it when he was able to get cleared (earlier this offseason after a shoulder injury). We talked about it.

“There’s just nothing like being able to do some participation with your guys. It’s a huge deal in the sports world.”

Mathis said he did some jumps at the Andrews Institute, and that Andrews “yanked and pulled” on the knee before clearing him.

“He said everything was looking great,” Mathis said.

Mathis had been recovering at a rapid rate through the off-season, and had been working on the side in many Jaguars practices during the recent organized team activities that ended last Friday.

“I’ve been running, jumping, cutting – everything you do on a football field, I’ve been doing,” he said. “But it’s a different speed once you’re going against another competitor. All of the things I’ve been doing, I’ve been doing it on my own – not on one with a receiver.

“That’s a big difference. I know that and understand it.”

While he knew his rehab was going well, he said being cleared by Andrews was reassuring.

“That’s the whole thing,” he said. “It’s reassuring to go there and see Doc and see where you’re at. You get comfortable with your own guys, so when you’re in a different environment, it’s a different situation.  To hear the doctor that actually operated on my knee say I was good is a good feeling.”

Mathis said the issue now is to continue strengthening the knee and continuing to develop trust in the injured area.

“I trust the work I’ve put in, and once I get on the field I will trust that,” he said.

Also on Tuesday, Mathis was honored by Bethune-Cookman for the 10th anniversary of the 2002 season in which he won the Buck Buchanan Award, symbolic of the top defensive player in the Football Championship Subdivision. He was presented with a replica of an anniversary banner that will hang in the Wildcats’ stadium commemorating the season.

“It’s always a humbling experience when someone recognizes something you’ve done,” he said. “It’s a great feeling.”