Jacksonville Jaguars: Chris Ivory’s absence limits team’s ability
By Luke Sims
Jacksonville Jaguars running back Chris Ivory missed the season opener against the Green Bay Packers and his presence was desperately needed in a close win.
Before the Jacksonville Jaguars vs Green Bay Packers game, I wrote that the team that runs best will win. Chris Ivory, T.J. Yeldon, and Eddie Lacy were the players who would determine the opener.
One of those players didn’t even show up.
Right before the game, Ivory was rushed to the hospital via ambulance and he couldn’t make it to Everbank Field. As a key component to the one-two punch that he and Yeldon make, this was critical for the Jaguars.
All of the pressure went onto Yeldon and he didn’t live up to expectations. Even though head coach Gus Bradley says he ran hard in the game, the final stat line and eye test show a different story. Yeldon racked up just 39 yards on 21 attempts. That’s a miserable 1.8 yards per attempt.
His counterpart, Lacy, was the stud we all expected. He gained 61 yards on 14 attempts (4.3 yards per attempt) and his bulldozing 28-yarder later in the game was critical to the Packers’ offensive success.
The success on the ground helped Aaron Rodgers (who posted a pedestrian 199 yards and two touchdowns while completing 58.8 percent of his passes), especially as he faced very little pressure in much of the game. The balance he was afforded by Lacy was invaluable.
What was also important was that the Jags couldn’t extend drives with the ground game. The Packers ate up clock like it was a buffet while the Jags were forced to rely on Blake Bortles‘ arm. Bortles finished the day with 312 yards, one touchdown, and completed 61.1 percent of his passes (he also had an interception that was a bungled catch by Marqise Lee).
With Ivory in the backfield, this offense is different. It isn’t that Yeldon can’t run the ball (though he did a poor job, statistically in Week 1) but that the offense as a whole is a much better team with a second, different style back on the field. This offense needs more balance and Ivory was brought in this year to provide that balance by joining up with Yeldon.
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Without Chris Ivory, though, the team just didn’t have the same level of success that was expected of them. It all doesn’t hang on the running back, but it’s hard not to look at the loss and wonder what could have been with the Pro Bowler taking some carries and punishing the Packers defense each and every time he touched the ball.