Jacksonville Jaguars’ Offensive Line Must Gel

There are some positives on the offensive line. They have looked better since putting Luke Bowanko and Sam Young in as starters at center and right tackle, respectively. Yet the Jacksonville Jaguars are still struggling in large part due to the offensive line. Blake Bortles makes them better at quarterback, but until this unit gels it will have a hard time improving and helping the offense to victory.

The offensive line is a liability.

The telling statistics after the loss to the San Diego Chargers are the three sacks allowed, the five quarterback hits, and the seven tackles for a loss the Chargers were able to rack up.

Offensive lines must fill a dual purpose. They must be able to run block and they must be able to pass block. The Jaguars’ unit has some communication issues that are stopping it from succeeding in both aspects. The talent obviously isn’t at an elite level, but offensive lines can succeed as a unit. The offensive line is currently failing as a unit.

I’m confident that the unit will succeed later in the season as they play together more. While it will still be a patchwork solution at five of the game’s most important positions, they will grow to work together. The only direction they can go is up after an historically bad week two outing that saw 10 sacks from the 1-3 Washington Redskins.

As we continue to harp on the offensive line throughout the season, we also need to make sure that we look at the measurables. Are they getting better? Are their less QB hits? What about tackles for a loss? Is the defense still penetrating before the running back has the ball? How often does that happen? We’ll keep looking at that here at B&T. Right now the news isn’t good, but look later into the season and as they gel they will likely improve.