Wednesday Warm-up: Jacksonville Jaguars have to establish the running game

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As we jump over hump day, it’s time to move past the Jacksonville Jaguars 3rd straight loss this past Sunday and look ahead towards a big home game against the Houston Texans.

The Jaguars haven’t played in front of the home fans since their lone win of the season against the Miami Dolphins, and the team won’t be back in Everbank Field again until their Thursday night game on November 19th against the Tennessee Titans. Given how poorly the Jaguars have played in the last 2 weeks, they need to put together a solid all around performance to not leave a bad taste in fans’ mouths before the team heads to London.

So what do the Jaguars need to do to pull out a win on Sunday? Run the damn ball.

T.J. Yeldon has been the most productive rookie running back through 5 weeks, but he still hasn’t had a “huge” game. He put together a solid effort against the Indianapolis Colts and caught a touchdown last week against the Bucs, but the Jaguars haven’t done a good job of establishing the running game in any contest this season. The Jaguars 473 rushing yards ranks 21st this season, and that’s with some of the teams who have had byes ranked below them.

For the most part, Yeldon has run the ball well and looked elusive. The issue with the running game has been the run blocking and the overall effectiveness of the offensive line. As we’ve mentioned almost every week this year, Yeldon has to consistently make defenders miss in the backfield in order for him to even make it back to the line of scrimmage. The Jaguars need to block well enough for Yeldon to get to the line and make the first level guys miss so he can get to the second level.

While the Jaguars can try and rely on Blake Bortles like they did last week, they probably won’t have as much success since they need to try and keep J.J. Watt at bay. Establishing the running game will help the offensive line deal with the pass rush and provide a balance this offense hasn’t shown yet this season.

Next: Missed tackles doomed Jacksonville defense

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