Fans don’t know Jack — LB not happy either

JACKSONVILLE — Myles Jack isn’t down despite being a frequent target on social media and talk radio during the past two weeks after the Jaguars defense gave up 480 rushing yards and 59 points in losses to Houston and Indianapolis.

The reasoning has gone along these lines: Jack is the middle linebacker, the quarterback of the defense. He needs to make plays — especially since he signed a $57 million contract extension before the season started, with $33 guaranteed, making him the thirdhighest-paid inside or middle linebacker in the NFL.

But Jack hasn’t had a tackle for a loss in six games and has only two this season. He has one interception and has four passes defended.

His season also hasn’t operated smoothly in other areas.

Jack was ejected from the opening game against Kansas City for throwing a punch and later fined by the NFL. And, according to nflpenalties.com, which tracks penalties by team, player and violation, Jack is the most-penalized inside or middle linebacker in the league with five infractions accepted and two that were offset.

It’s true Jack leads the team in tackles (59), but in the last two games the average gain for an opponent when he’s involved in the tackle is 5.8 yards.

And that’s just on the plays he is able to reach. Jack and the other linebackers have been getting blocked with regularity, leading to this dubious statistic: The Nos, 2, 3 and 4 tacklers on the team are defensive backs — safety Ronnie Harrison, cornerback A.J. Bouye and safety Jarrod Wilson.

Jack isn’t trying to shirk the blame for his role during the current two-game losing streak.

“I’m putting the onus on myself,” he said of the Jaguars’ recent difficulties in stopping the run, which needs to get much better on Sunday if they are to have a chance against the Tennessee Titans and running back Derrick Henry.

But contentions that Jack should be benched or moved back to strong-side linebacker, where he played his first two seasons with the Jags, get shot down — even though he made a few more plays on the outside.

In 26 games and 16 starts as an outside linebacker in 2016-17, Jack had 2 1⁄2 sacks, six tackles for a loss and defensed five passes. In 26 games at middle linebacker over the last two seasons, all starts, Jack has three sacks (but only a halfsack this season), three tackles for a loss and five passes defensed.

When defensive coordinator Todd Wash was asked whether he had considered moving Jack back to the outside, his answer was fast and curt.

“No he’s our mike linebacker,” Wash said.

Jack’s backup in the middle is Donald Payne, who plays almost exclusively on special teams. If anyone is scoping out the NFL draft for next year, only Oklahoma’s Kenneth Murray is listed by most draftniks as a first-round pick as a middle linebacker, with Alabama’s Dylan Moses a borderline first-round pick but as low as the third round on some boards.

Wash said the problem with Jack and the other Jaguars linebackers — Najee Goode and Leon Jacobs — can be perception. In Wash’s gap-control defense, linebackers don’t charge downhill with abandon, which would leave the middle of the field open to passes.

In a perfect world, the defensive line would occupy blockers, leaving Jack and the other linebackers the freedom to flow from sidelineto-sideline. The system worked in 2017, when the Jaguars were a game away from the Super Bowl, because Marcell Dareus and Malik Jackson clogged the middle.

Dareus is out for the season, Jackson was released during the offseason, and their replacements, nose tackle Abry Jones and tackle Taven Bryan, have struggled.

Jack said he’s not assigning blame, to either his teammates or Wash.

“It’s been a mixture of both,” he said about the issue of the front four allowing blockers to get on the linebackers, or if the linebackers simply aren’t shedding blocks.

“I’m not going to put anything on my D-line. I can only speak for myself.”

Jaguars coach Doug Marrone also said both position groups, the line and linebackers, share the responsibility.

“It’s everything; it’s not just the linebackers,” he said. “It starts up front. We have to do a better job up front, and then it gives us a better opportunity to do a good job at the second level. So we have to attack blocks [and] get off blocks.

“It’s not just one group, one unit. We all have to do better.”

Jack said his problem has been hesitating to come up on the run or stay back for the pass. He said he’s put in extra film-room time this week to try to enable him to make faster decisions.

“I have to figure things out quicker,” he said. “I may pause a split-second too long, and the linemen have already come up. If I sprint up there and they run a hook, do you want to give up a 6-yard run or a 50-yard bomb? It’s a give-and-take, but I have to be quicker. It’s why I’m studying this week to get keys, so I know when I can just shoot a gap when I can.”

Jack called last week’s game “a letdown” but also said the Colts had something to do with it. He looks forward to getting another chance to stop Indianapolis.