Sunday, August 23, 2009
By Vic Ketchman, jaguars.com senior editor
Troy Williamson might be more than just a wide receiver this year. He might be a symbol of the team for whom he plays.
“I believe guys can recreate who they are. We have to do that as a football team. We have to recreate who we are,” Jaguars coach Jack Del Rio said following a 24-23 loss to the Tampa Bay Bucs in game two of the preseason.
There was drama at the end, but it’s a game that will be remembered, for however long anyone wants to remember it, for Williamson’s 74-yard touchdown catch on the game’s first play. It was the play for which he was made the seventh pick of the 2005 draft.
Quarterback David Garrard hit Williamson in stride and the big, speedy receiver glided into the end zone. That quickly, the Jaguars had scored their first touchdown of the preseason. It’s the kind of big-play suddenness the Jaguars offense has lacked in recent years.
“To show that explosiveness was a good sign,” Del Rio said.
With that catch and a 61-yard, catch-and-run reception later in the first half, Williamson was officially crowned the Jaguars’ star of training camp. In a three-week period, he literally resurrected his career.
“You see it in this league. There are players like that around the league that, after bouncing to a team or two, they end up flourishing,” Del Rio said.
Williamson’s sudden surge may remind Jaguars fans of Jimmy Smith, whose football career was on death row when he revived it with the expansion Jaguars and became one of the top receivers in the league.
“A guy like Troy is special. We’ve got the weapons. It’s just me putting the ball in their hands,” said Garrard, who completed 10 of 16 passes for 216 yards, one touchdown and a 127.1 passer rating in a half of action. Those numbers will quiet the critics for at least a week.
Garrard and Williamson were the “some good” for the Jaguars on Saturday night. A rather soft-looking defense was the “some bad.”
Del Rio praised his defense’s physical play in the Jaguars’ loss in Miami on Monday. He offered no such praise following Saturday’s game.
“I don’t feel that was the case,” he said when asked if his team was physical. “I felt the physicality Monday night. I’m not sure I felt that tonight. When we look at the tape, it may not be as bad.”
The low point for the defense occurred late in the second quarter. Against an offense of second and third-string reserves, the first-team Jaguars defense allowed Luke McCown to drive the Bucs for the go-ahead touchdown.
“As the game wore on, there were some sloppy moments. We didn’t tackle particularly well. We’re just not real crisp right now. The effort is there but the crispness, the sharpness is not there,” Del Rio said.
Backup quarterback Todd Bouman provided some late-game drama by driving an offensive unit of deep reserves to a touchdown that allowed a two-point conversion attempt. Bouman completed a 20-yard touchdown pass to tight end Tyler Lorenzen with 40 seconds to play, but misfired on a conversion pass for wide receiver Tiquan Underwood.
Bouman’s performance included nine completions in 25 attempts, 120 yards passing, one touchdown, a 65.4 passer rating, several drops and a half dozen or so passes that were knocked down at the line of scrimmage.
“There were some drops that didn’t help his cause and there were some balls batted that he has to find a way to look through the trees,” Del Rio said.
The Jaguars will play in Philadelphia next Thursday, in a game that will attract national attention for Michael Vick’s return to action. The third game of the preseason is always considered to be the best test of the preseason because the regulars see the most playing time.
“It ought to be a good experience for our guys. We look forward to getting ready for that,” Del Rio said of the game against the Eagles.