Secondary Continues to Improve as Jacksonville Jaguars String Together Wins

One of the consistent factors of the Jacksonville Jaguars' 2015 defense has been its stout play against the run. The Jaguars are currently first in the NFL in opposing yards per carry, only allowing 3.4 per attempt.

It's mostly thanks to a solid interior on the defensive line, as well as improved, consistent play from linebackers Telvin Smith and Paul Posluszny. It's forced teams to be one-dimensional, and that's making teams take more risks throwing the ball.

While this is a successful aspect of the defense, it has put more pressure on the Jaguars secondary. Teams are having to throw more, and that means the corners and safeties have had to step up more often.

Coming into the season, even more pressure on the secondary would've sounded like a disastrous situation. The Jaguars secondary was the weakest link last year, and it's fair to say it's still the overall least talented area of the defense still.

Player	Total Tackles	Pass Defended	Interceptions
Davon House	33	17	2
Aaron Colvin	51	3	0
Sergio Brown	20	1	0
Demetrius McCray	19	0	0
Dwayne Gratz	17	0	0
Josh Evans	32	1	0
James Sample	15	1	0
Johnathan Cyprien	60	1	0

However, it has made significant strides toward matching the run defense as of late, and that could be one of the important factors of the Jaguars' push for the AFC South title. It hasn't been perfect by any means, but it's starting to hold its own.

CB Davon House has become a corner the Jaguars can place on an island, and his 17 passes defended and two interceptions lead the team, and he's second in the NFL in PDs. He's forced three turnovers in the last two games, finally adding some explosiveness to the secondary.

Elsewhere, we're seeing CB Aaron Colvin becoming a versatile option at nickel corner, leading the entire team in sacks with four total, while also adding three PDs and forcing a fumble. He's made mistakes, but considering this is his first full season, it's been an impressive effort, as Jaguars PR senior manager Tad Dickman pointed out:

The two starting safeties throughout this year, SS Johnathan Cyprien and FS Sergio Brown, have also grown comfortable in the 2015 defense. Brown has, and will likely still, get beat, but the play of House allows him to help elsewhere.

Over the past three games, Cyprien has elevated his play considerably and has looked like a player the Jaguars hoped for when they selected them with their 2013 NFL draft second-round pick.

He's playing with the intensity and aggressiveness he's known for, with the major difference being his improved tackling. He's not taking bad angles, and he's not having issues wrapping up running backs, receivers and tight ends like he's had in previous years.

Gail Burton/Associated Press

The final two players of note in the secondary are CB Dwayne Gratz and CB Demetrius McCray, albeit for the wrong reasons. Neither has a pass defended, but it's apparent that Gratz is the weakest link in the starting secondary.

While he led the team in 2014 with nine PDs, he's doesn't have one this season, and more often than not, he seems to be getting beat by whatever receiver he faces. It hasn't mattered if the receiver is a No. 1 or a No. 3, he has struggled week in, week out.

McCray has seen much less playing time than Gratz, and the Jaguars finally started giving him considerable snaps against the Tennessee Titans last week. He's not the most technical defender, but his height and build allow him to better defend against bigger receivers.

Jaguars defensive coordinator Bob Babich seems dedicated to Gratz, however, and that's definitely starting to be an issue. House can be on an island, and Brown can help, but if Gratz is getting beat short and long, it's just going to expose Brown's mediocrity.

The 2014 secondary only totaled 26 PDs, and the 2015 secondary is already at 25 through 10 games this season. This is mostly thanks to House's 17 PDs, but the secondary is starting to take steps to be consistently average while House shuts down opposing No. 1 receivers.

It's far from perfect, but there is visible improvement in the secondary. Gratz has been a letdown, but the Jaguars may be forced to start switching to McCray, which would probably be another smart move to provide a decent secondary from top to bottom.

The Jaguars defense is making strides to make the offense's job even easier, and if it starts to force more turnovers, that'll do wonders to creating more scoring opportunities for an offense that has already flashed explosiveness this year.

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Evan Reier is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report covering the Jacksonville Jaguars. Follow Evan on Twitter @evanreier.