The Jacksonville Jaguars had strong play from their backups on Thursday, which enabled them to rectify some early mistakes and get out of there with a win over the Atlanta Falcons. Blaine Gabbert fumbled on the first play from scrimmage, which put the Falcons on the 5-yard line and led to an Atlanta touchdown. It wasn't until Chad Henne came in during the second half to really get things going.
Henne hit Kevin Elliott for a 77-yard touchdown pass to cap a 99-yard, four-play drive, and the Jaguars were rolling. But what's most concerning is what happened in the first half with Gabbert. Outside of the poor toss play, Gabbert seemed off with his receivers on the day. SB Nation's Big Cat Country talked about some issues with one receiver in particular, Laurent Robinson:
So far through the preseason Robinson has been targeted 13 times and has just two catches for 18 yards. The real problem isn't necessarily his underwhelming stat line through four preseason games, but more so the fact that Robinson and Gabbert just don't seem to be on the same page.
Gabbert has connected with receivers Mike Thomas and Justin Blackmon with seemingly minimal effort and accurate throws. With Robinson however, his throws seem to be either behind the receiver, leading him too far, or with Robinson slowing up to track the ball and it falling just past him. It's oddly consistent.
The post also notes some issues Robinson had in camp with his timing. It talks about how receivers coach Jerry Sullivan had to tell Robinson to stop slowing up when Gabbert throws a pass. At any rate, Gabbert does seem to have a decent thing going on with some of the other receivers, like Mike Thomas and Justin Blackmon. It will be interesting to see if he can Robinson can get on the same page.
For all things Jaguars, check out Big Cat Country. For complete coverage of all 32 NFL teams from across the league, head over to SB Nation's NFL hub.