| | By John Clayton
ESPN.com
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Tom Coughlin built the Jacksonville Jaguars from expansion
to championship caliber on a foundation of a great offensive and great
defensive line. Down as many as six offensive tackles because of injuries,
the foundation is cracking and Coughlin is running out of plaster.
Right tackle Leon Searcy needs four months to recover from a
torn quad. Left tackle Tony Boselli, recovering from a knee reconstruction,
won't be ready until the season opener and starting center John Wade has a stress fracture in his right foot and is out for at least three weeks. On a less serious note, new right
tackle Zach Wiegert (elbow) and backups Todd Fordham (knee), Mark Baniewicz (knee) and Joe Chutsz (back) missed practice time this week.
|  | | Tony Boselli won't be ready until the regular season begins. |
"I've never had a preseason where I've had all these
tackles hurt," Coughlin lamented. "Where would you find a team that has
had one group of people -- the offensive tackles -- collapse?"
As one observer put it, if the Jaguars can't find a healthy
tackle, they may have to start looking for a quarterback. Mark Brunell may
be part of the NFL version of "Survivor" if Coughlin can't "tackle" the
injury bug.
Tuesday's practices against the New Orleans Saints were a
preview of what life will be like without the league's best one-two tackle
combo -- Boselli and Searcy. Blocking breakdowns ruined the timing of the
passing game. By the afternoon practices, the offensive was out of sync.
Safety Sammy Knight of the Saints was catching as many passes as the Jaguars' talented trio of Jimmy Smith, Keenan McCardell and rookie R. Jay Soward.
"We are not where we want to be," Coughlin said. "The
timing is nowhere where it should be."
Other than
Wiegert -- the remaining healthy
starters -- Steve Ingram, Brad Meester and Dave Kempfert -- have no
starts and 10 regular-season games played.
As a result of Wade's injury, the Jaguars have no returning starters in place on their offensive line.
The Jaguars appear to be confident that Wiegert, though signed as a
guard, can hold up at tackle. Where they worry is that losing him at guard
causes holes in the middle of the line. Meester and Kempfert are converted
centers. In other words, the center of the Jags' line is just a bunch of
centers.
Brunell, who has become more of a pocket passer of late because of leg
injuries, acknowledges he may have to go back to his old scrambling ways for
a while.
"Maybe we will go to a quicker passing game. Maybe I might move out
of the pocket more," Brunell said. "I worked hard this offseason, working
on my legs and working on my feet and working on my speed a lot. The knee
feels great now."
|
“ |
With Searcy and Boselli at tackle, it
gives us a punishing style with our run game and our pass game. But we can't afford to
let our play go down. We can't relax. ” |
|
|
— Fred Taylor, Jaguars running back |
The good news is that Boselli will be back. The bad news is that the
line still won't be the same without Searcy, who is considered the best
right tackle in football.
"Losing Searcy hurts," Boselli said. "He's very physical. He can
dominate any defensive end. He's a veteran who has been through every
situation. He's been to the Super Bowl. What Searcy and I have done more
than anything is block the defensive end. That allows the tight end or back
to get into the pattern."
The running game will also feel an effect.
"With Searcy and Boselli at tackle, it gives us a punishing style
with our run game and our pass game," halfback Fred Taylor said. "But we
can't afford to let our play go down. We can't relax."
The best case scenerio is for Searcy to come back by December or for
the playoffs, but even that may require a miracle. Torn quads take time to
heal. Though Searcy has been known for being a fast healer, it's a lot to
ask for him to speed up a four-month injury.
Teams hate to look back at decisions, but in retrospect, they may
have hurt themselves by not offering more than the $440,000 minimum to Ben
Coleman. He had the versatility to get the Jaguars through the rough times.
Guard was his best position, but he was big enough to do well at either
tackle position. The San Diego Chargers signed him for about $1.1 million
and put him as John Jackson's replacement at left tackle.
"Zach Wiegert is a very quick, very athletic player who has good
power," Coughlin said. "We thought when we brought him in that he could
play either guard or tackle. Now he's been moved out to tackle and he can
play that side."
But on his best day, he can't dominate like Searcy. Meester has a
chance to be a good guard but he has to learn quickly as a rookie. Expect the Jaguars to trade for a right guard or sign a few veterans once teams
start cutting down their rosters.
The Jaguars' starting right guard of the regular season might be in
somebody else's camp right now.
"The frustrating thing right now is that if I were able to line up
with the people who I started the camp with, I'd be happy with the group,"
Coughlin said. "But that's the way it is."
In the meantime, Brunell may have to duck and cover for a while.
John Clayton is the senior NFL writer for ESPN.com.
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