Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Mike Mularkey said that he was 'a little bit surprised' by Justin Blackmon's performance against the New Orleans Saints. In his preseason debut, Blackmon caught four passes for 48 yards and a touchdown.
Blackmon didn't sign his rookie contract until August 6 and missed the team's first preseason game against the New York Giants. Mularkey spoke to the press about Blackmon's debut performance, in particular his touchdown pass.
A little bit, yeah. I was surprised. I didn't really see how close the coverage was on the touchdown. A number of the catches that he made are catches that if you extend your hands are tough to defend.
There were concerns entering the game that Blackmon may have gotten tired earlier considering he had missed out on quite a bit of team conditioning in the early days of training camp. Mularkey is certainly encouraged by his performance, especially his body control.
That's hard to do to concentrate like that. Especially your first game with tight coverage to do that, snag it, and do something after the catch I was very pleased. It's what he did after the catch. I thought he did a great job
The Jaguars next preseason game is against the Baltimore Ravens on Thursday night at 7:30 p.m.
Read more on the Jaguars at Big Cat Country and SB Nation Tampa Bay.