Filed under: Jaguars, AFC South
Jacksonville Jaguars cornerback Rashean Mathis has been much-criticized publicly in the days since a 31-24 victory over Houston this past week.Jaguars coach Jack Del Rio wasn't critical of the eight-year veteran Wednesday.
But he did make one thing clear: Mathis needs to improve on his performance.
"We had a nice discussion," Del Rio said Wednesday as the Jaguars (5-4) prepared to play the Cleveland Browns in Jacksonville Sunday. "I think he's clear on what I'm looking for and so we'll need him to play better.
"We need to play better defensively and he's one of the players that we count on and he's going to have to play at a higher level, and he knows that."
While Del Rio didn't want to assign blame, the Jaguars' defense allowed the Texans to overcome a 17-3 deficit in the second half Sunday with Texans quarterback Matt Schaub twice throwing second-half touchdown passes to Andre Johnson (nine yards) and Kevin Walter (18 yards). Schaub threw for 314 yards and two touchdowns and Johnson had nine receptions for 146 yards.
"I think we understand what needs to be corrected and we understand it's not acceptable, and for me and for us it's really not about assigning blame so that we know who to be mad at," Del Rio said. "It's more about getting it right, and finding it unacceptable, and as a unit that's how we're looking at it: 'This can't happen. This is why it happened and this is how we're going to do it better so it doesn't happen again.'
"We know who's at fault, coaches assign that, and then we know what we have to do to make it better and that's what we're going to work on, and we acknowledge it's not the way it needs to be. There were some examples of it being done exactly how it needs to be and it being outstanding early, and then we let it get away a little bit and then at the end we came back and made some good plays to not allow them to go down and get the game-winning field goal on us."
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Source: http://nfl.fanhouse.com/2010/11/17/jack-del-rio-on-rashean-mathis-well-need-him-to-play-better/
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