Among the most overused descriptions in sports is saying someone threw someone else under a bus.

This has come to encompass virtually all forms of criticism, to the point where if you say anything less than that someone was fantastic and innocent of even the slightest mistake you’re regarded as having tossed him into the pathway of a Greyhound.

I say, if you take your fair share of the blame and you’re in position to evaluate, I want candor. So to those saying Jack Del Rio threw David Garrard under the bus, I offer a stop sign.

The Jaguars played poorly Sunday in their loss to Washington. Del Rio is at fault for much of that -- his team shouldn’t have been flat and it should have been more productive against a less-than-good defense. He should say more about his responsibility there.

But Garrard’s interception in overtime that set up a short game-winning field goal was horrible, and I have no problem with anyone saying so. I don’t have a problem with other comments from Del Rio about Garrard either, because they are all accurate.

Here are three snippets from Del Rio on Garrard from the postgame quotes the Jaguars sent out:

• “Obviously on 3rd-and-4 there, you can’t throw a pick. You just can’t do it. You give them the ball in position and all they have to do is line up for a field goal. Disappointing end …

• “We put too big of a load on David (Garrard), he wasn’t able to carry that load. It’s just too big of a load. We’re better when we’re a balanced team, able to run it and mix the run, play pass and things. We end up running it 23 times and throwing it 38 times, and that’s not the kind of balance we need to play with. We’re not built that way...”

• “We’ve got to throw the ball in time, know where you’re going, got man coverage, you got to put the ball where you can and get rid of the ball. We took a sack at the end of the (first) half, just absolutely cannot take; took a sack on a screen, absolutely cannot take.”

Garrard, quite frankly, would win more favor with fans by throwing himself under the bus than going with a player cliché I hate just as much as the under the bus stuff -- the one where a mistake-maker was “just trying to make a play.”

He said that and more.

This from Gene Frenette’s column:

“I’m trying to get the ball thrown to my receiver that I felt was coming open, and I’m getting hit at the same time,” Garrard said. “That’s the position. You’re trying to make throws. You’re not really sometimes seeing things that are coming at you. If your arm gets hit or you’re getting hit at the same time, you just got to hopefully get the ball off a little earlier . . . whatever. That’s the situation there.”

But, isn’t it the quarterback’s job to, besides feeling the rush, see who might be in the near vicinity of his intended target? Yet Garrard made no attempt to point the finger at himself for a bad decision, a rather untimely oversight given the importance of the moment.

When you’re the undisputed leader of an offense that puts up 17 points against the NFL’s worst defense, Garrard has to shoulder some, if not most, of the blame.

Did Garrard throw the offensive line under the bus by saying he got hit? I’m fine with that being part of the explanation.

But he also has to say “I cannot make that throw.” That he didn't say it works against him when the Jaguars are deciding about his future.