Jack Del Rio gave Dirk Koetter the seal of approval for the offensive coordinator's play-calling in the second half of Sunday's 24-20 loss to the Giants, including the Jaguars' final offensive series.
"There's nothing wrong with what we did," Del Rio said at his Monday afternoon press conference. "I think the numbers would illustrate that we didn't (abandon the run). We had balance for the good part of the day, other than the very last drive."
The Jaguars took possession at their 27-yard line with 3:07 to play in the game and quickly moved to the Giants 29-yard line on a 21-yard pass from David Garrard to Mike Sims-Walker, completions of five and 13 yards to Mike Thomas and a five-yard holding penalty on the Giants.
On first down from the 29 with 1:51 to play and all three times out remaining, Garrard was sacked for an 11-yard loss. Garrard was then sacked on each of the next two downs, resulting in a fumble and Giants recovery on the third-down play.
Should the Jaguars have attempted a running play on the first-down play, instead of the pass play that resulted in a sack?
Del Rio said Sims-Walker was coming open in the middle of the field when Garrard was sacked by a blitz against which tight end Zach Miller missed his block.
"We had our opportunities at the end to make plays. We just came up short," Del Rio said.
Not counting the Jaguars' final offensive possession, when the Jaguars were in their two-minute offense, the balance between run and pass was 34 runs and 29 passes. A few of the runs were scrambles by Garrard, which should qualify as intended pass plays.
Maurice Jones-Drew gained 73 yards on 10 rushing attempts in the first half and 40 yards on 11 carries in the second half. Seven of Jones-Drew's first-half carries were judged to have been effective; three of his second-half rushing attempts were effective. His last rushing attempt in the game gained two yards with 6:50 left to play in the game, on the Jaguars' next-to-last possession.
Del Rio was clearly still stinging from the loss, in which the Giants rallied from a 17-6 halftime deficit to tie the game at 17-17 on a field goal, touchdown and two-point conversion, then rally again from a 20-17 deficit to march 69 yards in six plays to score the game-winning touchdown with 3:15 to play.
What adjustments did the Giants make at halftime?
"Maybe emotionally they turned it up a little, but they didn't do anything schematically. They turned it up. They played a little better; we played a little worse," Del Rio said.
He praised his team for rushing for 207 yards against what was the league's number four rush-defense, for converting 10 of 16 third-down attempts against the league's number two third-down defense, and for holding the Giants to field goals in each of their three red-zone visits.
Del Rio lamented a sack Garrard took that cost the Jaguars 14 yards on first and 10 from the Giants 38-yard line. It stalled what was a promising drive.
"That was a killer. We have to find a way to dirt that ball," Del Rio said.
Despite the loss, the Jaguars finished the day as they began it: They remain tied with the Colts for first place in the AFC South, a game ahead of second-place Tennessee, which was joined on Sunday by Houston.
"We're aware of the division. We took a loss but did not lose ground in the division. It's all about finishing in December with our best football," Del Rio said.
