Have the Jacksonville Jaguars Found a Pass Rush?
The 2016 Jacksonville Jaguars will need greater success pressuring opposing quarterbacks if they want to compete for a division title.
Luckily the team addressed the need for an improved pass rush aggressively this offseason. The Jacksonville Jaguars spent big on free agent Malik Jackson to wreak havoc in the middle and drafted a promising edge rusher in Yannick Ngakoue. Throw in 2015 first round pick Dante Fowler Jr., now fully healed from injury, and you have a trio of new talent that appears ready to disrupt would-be passers.
Looking good on paper in August may be new and exciting for the Jags of late, but it won’t guarantee that opposing quarterbacks have a more difficult time this season. They’ll need concrete production from a couple of youngsters to get it done and that’s always a tall order.
We’ve seen very little playing time from some of the key players in this revamped line thus far – but we may have a few clues pointing toward improvement.
"The Jags starting defense saw only eight passing downs from Winston. In that span he completed zero passes."
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Facing the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at home in week two of the preseason the Jaguars starting defensive line had eight passing downs to put pressure on Jameis Winston. They affected him on three.
The first pressure came from Malik Jackson at 3-tech defensive tackle when he shed his block very quickly and hurried Winston. The next was an inside stunt from Dante Fowler Jr. who lined up outside but looped to the middle and was able to create pressure. Back-up nose tackle Abry Jones got the start on Saturday and recorded the third pressure by bull-rushing his blocker straight back into Winston, forcing him to evade. An honorable mention goes to Yannick Ngakoue who beat the left tackle to arrive at the quarterback a mere fraction after he released a pass that would be tipped and intercepted.
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Jags fans can only hope and pray that such effectiveness carries over to the regular season. But it appears real improvement may finally have arrived to an area that has been a weakness for far too long.