Jaguars training camp notebook: Defense solid through first two days

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Another day in the books. The news of the day is that the Jaguars are rolling out an alternate helmet this season. The team will rock the white helmets in Week 10 against the Vikings. It will be a different look for the team one that some of the players seem excited about.

“I’m excited for the combo,” safety Andre Cisco said.

With the Jags rolling out the throwbacks and alternate helmets in the same season they are definitely going to try and earn some style points on the field this year.

“It’s about looking good, getting some good pictures then playing good,” said Cisco.

With two days of training camp down, if you wanted to put the offense vs. the defense and keep score, the defense would be winning 2-0.

For the second day straight, the Jaguars did 7 on 7 and team drills in the red zone. For the second straight day, the offense struggled.

Andrew Wingard picked off Trevor Lawrence twice on Thursday.

“We are making it count,” said Cisco.

The red zone can be a tough place to throw the ball because of how condensed the field is but Ryan Nielsen was also excited with how his defense has handled locking down the red zone forcing turnovers early in camp.

If these are the early receipts of what a Nielsen defense will look like this season, then be excited because this group could be good. Nielsen is third defensive coordinator the Jaguars have had in the last four years and his approach is different than his predecessors in some ways, both on the field and off of it.

Cisco described the way Nielsen runs his meetings as “quick and to the point,” mentioning that he both commands focus but doesn’t just ramble.

After more than a few miscommunications on the field last season, a different communication style could be a good thing for the group this year and for Cisco. It’s key since he will be looking for a big season. Cisco is going into the final year of his rookie contract. Despite the implications from this season, Cisco doesn’t feel any extra pressure and is modeling his approach around how some of his teammates handled themselves.

“When you see guys get paid, Foye [Oluokun], Josh [Hines-Allen] guys that have done it right, Trevor. Just playing ball. You are not in here thinking about contracts. It is really above your head anyway,” Cisco said.

Notebook

• Darnell Savage is still in the red non-contact jersey
• It was always Dewey. Big day for Andrew Wingard by far the player of the day coming up with 2 interceptions off Trevor.
• Rough day for the offense all around. No real standout from that group today. Maybe Devin Duvernay. He came up with a wide-open touchdown catch and made a nice move on a screen pass he caught earlier in practice to find some space.
• Trevor did find Christian Kirk for a TD during red zone drills and Kirk broke off the DB with a nasty route.
• This may also be the most comfortable I have ever Travis Etienne has looked at catching passes. Knock on wood I haven’t seen him miss one yet.
• Keep an eye on rookie cornerback De’Antre Prince. Cisco said “Tre, you can see he has all the intangibles. I told him yesterday that I think he is going to have a great camp.”

• Keeping an eye on the kicker battle. Riley Patterson and Cam Little were going kick for kick. Patterson missed one and finished 4 of 5. Little hit all five of his attempts.

• This could be nothing but for the last two years, Evan Engram has caught passes for Lawrence and the QBs during individual drills. No other players I can remember had gone over to be the pass-catcher until today when Joshua Cephus was there with Engram also catching passes.