Jacksonville Jaguars vs. Houston Texans: Friday Fact or Fiction
By Daniel Lago
The Jaguars will rush for more than 100 yards: FACT
The Jaguars are not good at a multitude of things, but they might be the most inept at rushing the football. It’s curious, because a T.J. Yeldon-Chris Ivory duo sounds good on paper, but things just haven’t worked out at all with those two.
Over the course of the first 13 games, the Jaguars have crossed the 100 yard rushing mark 5 times (only one of those resulted in a win – the London game against the Indianapolis Colts). Of those 5 games, only ONE of those came as a result of good production from the running backs (the random 200 yard explosion against the Kansas City Chiefs). Bortles accounted for a substantial chunk of the rushing yards in the other 4 games.
With Chris Ivory out, the running game will continue to struggle. But, I still think the total yardage will end up looking decent. That’s because offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett has and will continue to utilize Bortles’ legs. With both the read-option and a newfound desire to scramble and run out of the pocket, Bortles has become an inexorable part of the running game.
Bortles has struggled mightily through his career against the Texans, so expect him to try and find a new path for success by scrambling and running some more.