Oakland Raiders: Jack Del Rio Headlines Group of Interviewees

Playoff Run in Jacksonville

In 2007, Del Rio’s Jaguars returned to winning form, now with David Garrard as full-time starter. The team again finished ranked highly on offense and defense, including finishing the year as the league’s second-ranked rushing offense behind 1,970 combined yards by Jones-Drew and Taylor. Despite Garrard missing four games with injury, the team went 11-5, and won their first playoff game since 1999, beating the Steelers 31-29 in a memorable game.

In the playoff victory, the defense sacked Ben Rothelisburger six times and intercepted him three times, and the team built a 28-10 lead despite an abysmal passing performance from Garrard. The Steelers then mounted four consecutive scoring drives in the second half to go ahead 29-28, but Del Rio’s defense forced a three-and-out on a late drive that allowed the Jaguars to get the ball back and in position for a game-winning field goal.  A strip-sack by Bobby McCray sealed it for Del Rio and the Jaguars.

Injuries and departures of key players sank the Jaguars 2008 season as the team finished 5-11, including losing six of the last seven games. Del Rio’s vaunted defense ended up ranked 21st in yards allowed, and the vaunted rushing game finished ranked 18th. Late in the 2009 season, the team lost five of the last six, including the last four in a row, to finish 7-9, behind an even worse defense than the year before. The team improved to 8-8 in 2010 behind another excellent rushing offense led by Maurice Jones-Drew, but the defense slipped to 28th in the league and David Garrard threw 15 interceptions in 14 starts. Finally, in 2011, Del Rio got his defense back on track, but it was too late. Rookie QB Blaine Gabbert, taken tenth overall in that year’s draft, started most of the year at quarterback and the team sputtered to a 3-8 start before Del Rio was fired and replaced with DC Mel Tucker. The franchise has won 11 games since Del Rio was fired.