Jacksonville Jaguars Wednesday Warm-up: Keep the offense balanced
By Daniel Lago
The Jacksonville Jaguars absolutely dominated the Indianapolis Colts in the second half of their 51-16 blowout win, and they did so thanks to a lot of big changes made by the coaching staff.
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For the season, the Jaguars have passed the ball 502 times and run the ball 305 times – that works out to about a 62-38 pass-to-run ratio. That’s about the same as their pass percentage in 2014
but it’s near the top of the league compared to other teams.
Last week, the Jaguars were significantly more balanced, running the ball 29 times to complement 30 passes. Yes, the Jaguars had the luxury of a huge lead in the second half, something they haven’t been afforded yet in 2015, but they stayed committed to the run even early in the third quarter before the game busted open.
It wasn’t just T.J. Yeldon contributing in the running game, as Denard Robinson received significant snaps after Yeldon left with an injury. Shoelace looked a little slow and out of rhythm early in the year, but he’s come on strong in recent weeks and looks like the guy who had 4 consecutive games with good production in 2014.
Even if the Jaguars are without Yeldon for their game this week against the Atlanta Falcons, they should try and continue the balanced play on offense. Atlanta only has one true “star” on defense (cornerback Desmond Trufant) and keeping them on their toes with balanced playcalling should yield a lot of points.
The Jaguars recently signed former New England Patriots running back Jonas Grey as a precaution, but the Jaguars should keep feeding Denard Robinson. He’s shown the ability to break big runs and is the ideal third down tailback with the ability to catch the ball out of the backfield and make defenders miss in the open field.
Blake Bortles has been playing terrific football, but the first half of the Colts game was a good exhibit as to why he struggles sometimes. The Jaguars were out of rhythm in the passing game and didn’t have a rushing attack to fall back on.
Keep running the ball, it’s working.