Top 5 Defensive Plays from Jaguars vs. Browns

Out goes the Game Ball of the Week sponsorship, and in comes the "Top 5 Defensive Plays of the Week" series. It might be tough to come up with big defensive plays every week, and sometimes it is easy to forget about a worthy play. Here is a list of five defensive plays that stood out to me from the Jaguars vs. Browns game, in the order in which they took place during the game.

1. D'Qwell Jackson Stuffs Karim: In the third quarter, Jackson ran up and stuffed backup running back Deji Karim for a loss of 1 yard on a 2nd-and-10. It eventually led to a punt. Why the Jaguars kept giving the ball to Karim is beyond me.

2. Jabaal Sheard's Sack+Fumble: In the fourth quarter with the Jaguars facing a 3rd-and-8 from 9 yards away from the end zone, Sheard came up with a huge sack to prevent Blaine Gabbert from throwing a game-tying touchdown. As Sheard was sacking Gabbert, the rookie quarterback inexplicably threw the ball...backwards. Luckily for Gabbert, the ball went out of bounds, but it went out for a loss of 15 yards. Jacksonville still got a field goal, but it made things interesting.

3. Phil Taylor and Chris Gocong Stop MJD: The Jaguars let the game clock go down to 13 seconds without taking a timeout in the fourth quarter. Having a timeout left, from the two yard line, they might have somewhat surprised the Browns by giving the ball to Maurice Jones-Drew. Jones-Drew had run for a touchdown easily earlier in the game, but Taylor and Gocong combined to stop him just shy of the end zone.

4. Joe Haden Does Whatever it Takes: On the very next play, the Jaguars went to the corner of the end zone for receiver Jason Hill. Hill seemed to have a step on Haden, but the second-year cornerback perfectly timed the arrival of the ball with when he grabbed Hill's wrist to prevent him from catching the ball.

5. Some Coverage is Better Than No Coverage: Let's be honest -- Mike Thomas made a move and was open over the middle on the final play of the game. The fact that D'Qwell Jackson was in the vicinity though forced Gabbert into thinking he needed to zip the ball in there, and as a result, Gabbert's pass sailed behind Thomas and incomplete. This wasn't so much a great individual defensive play as it was an important play in the game -- it was the final play, and the defense didn't allow a score.