Every second counts
As DJ Chark Jr. spoke on Thursday, walking through what went right and what went wrong in Sunday’s loss to the Green Bay Packers, one of his teammates stuck his head through the media scrum surrounding Chark’s locker.
“It’s like Michael Jordan always said, ‘I didn’t lose, I just ran out of time.'”
That is much of what happened to the Panthers vs. the Packers, as they were a second too late in snapping the ball to line up for a game-tying field goal. While watching the tape this week however, and beginning preparations for the Jaguars defense, led by Foyesade Oluokun and Josh Allen, quarterback Bryce Young was reminded of a lesson that is often taught but is better learned.
“Just definitely want to start faster,” Young said Wednesday. “We talked about that as a team. Definitely myself watching the film just, not wasting throws, not wasting possessions. We got to a point where it came down to a second.”
Prior to the Panthers second quarter touchdown against the Packers, the offense had not scored a first half touchdown since Week 8, in a win over the Houston Texans.
In theory, every offense wants to start fast. It’s the execution that can prove more difficult to attain. The Jaguars boast the league’s leading tackler (Oluokun, with 160) but also are in the bottom 10 in total defense (358.5 yards per game) and are middle of the pack in scoring defense (22.9 points per game). So there is an opportunity there for Bryce Young, who had his best game as a rookie last week with two touchdowns and 312 yards, to hit the next step in his rookie development. It starts by taking advantage of every second given in a game.
“Every throw, every possession, every piece of yardage, all matters,” Young said. “So, trying to start faster and clean that up. And then, it was just, I felt like as a unit, we started to hit our stride a little, which was obviously really encouraging.
“It was good to kind of see the little things, little details that went into that. So it was good to reflect on and then now, it’s another week where we have to, we have to earn the right to be able to replicate those good things that we did and then learn from the stuff that we still have to improve on.”
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at News…