Jalen Ramsey, A.J. Bouye have dominated AFC South QBs before, and will again

Jacksonville Jaguars cornerbacks Jalen Ramsey and A.J. Bouye were absolutely stellar against the abysmal AFC South quarterbacks in 2015. Expect more of the same in 2017.

There has been a lot of talk about the pairing of Jalen Ramsey and A.J. Bouye in the Jacksonville Jaguars backfield. Needless to say, it’s all been positive.

When the biggest concerns are two stud corners squabbling over who gets to cover the best opposing receiver, you know your secondary has the right kind of problems. That just happens to be the case for the Jaguars.

When looking back at the 2016 season, it’s easy to see why this is such good fortune. Bouye and Ramsey both proved invaluable on defense and shut down division rivals’ quarterbacks (who the team faces six times a year). Just how good? Pro Football Focus provides an easy graphic to illustrate:

To demonstrate what a 64.4 passer rating looks like, just turn on the tape of 2016 Ryan Fitzpatrick (owner of 2016’s worst quarterback rating, among Pro Football Reference’s list) and then imagine someone worse (his rating for the season was 69.6). Or, for those who didn’t black out Blaine Gabbert’s rookie season, just remember that and throw in another few incomplete throws.

While Deshaun Watson vastly improves the Houston Texans’ quarterback position, the fact that Ramsey and Bouye were already strong against Andrew Luck and Marcus Mariota bodes well. There’s no reason to think those quarterbacks won’t grow, there’s also no reason to expect Ramsey and Bouye to regress.

Expect both of these stud cornerbacks for force the opposition to turn to the running game when playing the Jaguars. And that may have its own set of problems, too.