David Garrard said Monday was the sorest he's felt after a game in his NFL career. Seven sacks and 11 hits from the opposition will have that kind of effect. And Tennessee's level of success in Week One last week against the Jaguars was due in large part to the backup linemen playing on Jacksonville's interior.
This week will be no different. With Uche Nwaneri, Dennis Norman and Tutan Reyes taking the field Sunday the three reserves will have their work cut out for them against the likes of Buffalo's front four which will include a supremely motivated former teammate in Marcus Stroud.
With Jacksonville's new additions having only a week to get acclimated to one another and the starting tackles there's a good chance that the Jaguars may get back to basics and simplify the game plan for Sunday.
"We're going to have to do this week what we feel is best for the o-line and best for the offense," said Jaguars quarterback David Garrard. "We're not going to overload those guys, but we still want to have a lot of our offense in too. We have to give them the ability to go out and play fast. We don't want to overwhelm them mentally."
Another option Jacksonville might consider is getting Garrard out on the move to make plays on the run and move the pocket knowing conventional protection might be tough to achieve on a consistent basis.
"David is a good football player and has the ability to move a little bit," said Jaguars head coach Jack Del Rio. "We understand what Buffalo brought last week was very strong. They gave Seattle fits, got five sacks and had a lot of negative running plays and really controlled the game. We've got to be ready for their best."
Garrard is not exactly fleet-footed, but he's no slug either. And when he is on the move his 6'1" 245-pound frame is difficult to wrap up.
"With Garrard not only is he elusive and can make plays out of the pocket with his feet. When you do get to him he's tough to bring down because he's such a big guy," said Kelsay. "He's not tall, but he's bulky and he moves well and I can vouch for that personally because I've slipped off him a few times. Our focus is getting a lot of guys around him and gang tackling him and hopefully put heat on him like we did on Hasselbeck. But you definitely have to be conscious of your pass rush lanes."
"A mobile quarterback is always a tough guy, but we're going to treat him just like we treat everybody else," said defensive coordinator Perry Fewell. "I think we have good enough athletes now that can run and catch the quarterback and do those types of things. So it will be interesting to see how they treat us because we're going to try to dictate the game to them."
Still the Bills are not going in assuming they'll be able to walk over Jacksonville's reserves up front. Underestimating an opponent is a cardinal sin in the NFL.
"You can't go in thinking that because if you do those guys might have a career day and that's how you end up getting beat," said Stroud. "You've got to go out there prepared no matter who it is out there. You give everybody the same amount of respect and that's what I'm going to do."
"They have blocking schemes and sometimes that can make up for weak links in personnel," said Chris Kelsay. "They still have two of their original starters in (right tackle) Tony Pashos who I will go against and (left tackle) Khalif Barnes who Aaron (Schobel) will go against. It's not just based around a couple of people so we'll have to be on top of our game."
