Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Doug Marrone has a pretty high bar set for his team’s defense. After a Week 7 performance that saw Jacksonville shut out Indianapolis and sack Colts quarterback Jacoby Brissett 10 times, Marrone is not in the least bit interested in praising this defense.
“I’m going to tell you the same thing I tell everyone else, hold on. Hold on,” Marrone said,” via NFL.com. “I played against that Bears’ defense after they won the Super Bowl that year. I know those cats that were on that team. … We still got a long way to go but I’m happy with the direction that we’re going. Because I got that question in the press conference, I was like, ‘Stop, hold on. Stop right there.”
Outside of hearing a 53-year-old man refer to other grown men as “cats,” there’s a little something wrong with this comment. The Bears’ comparison comes with Jaksonville’s defense now being on pace to break Chicago’s single-season record for sacks, previously set back in 1984.
That’s the only real comparison we’ve heard between the two.
Secondly, let’s give some credit where it’s due. The Jags’ defense heads into Week 8 ranked in the top six in total defense, pass defense and is tied with Seattle for the fewest points allowed on average this season.
Calais Campbell, Dante Fowler Jr., A.J. Bouye and Jalen Ramsey are all performing at All-Pro levels. And it has Jacksonville at 4-3 heading into Week 8. This is most definitely praise-worthy, and we’re sure the Jags’ young defenders would like their hard-nosed coach to show a bit of love.
Then again, it could be this style of coaching that has the Jaguars performing above expectations. Marrone was around during the Bears run in the 1980s. He knows first hand the approach Mike Ditka used. He’s old school. And it’s worked out well thus far this season.