The Jaguars must run the football to win on Sunday
By David Levin
If the Jacksonville Jaguars are going to have a chance to beat the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday at Wembley Stadium, they must run the football effectively.
When the Jacksonville Jaguars made the trade to bring in Cleveland Browns running back Carlos Hyde last week, it was to not only help the running game with the loss of Leonard Fournette to a hamstring injury, it was also to bring in a veteran who knew how to reach the end zone.
The end zone is that place at the end of the field on opposite ends of the stadium – a place the Jaguars have had issues reaching in recent weeks. Hyde and T.J. Yeldon will have a chance to rectify that problem when the team heads to London to face the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday morning.
For the Jaguars, they have been able to run the football, but have not been consistent in their effort because the offense has fallen behind in each of the last three games. Scoring points in the first have has been nonexistent as well in the team’s three straight losses. The numbers, however, say this team must get better. They average 98 yards a contest – good for 23rd in the NFL.
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That’s a far cry from leading the NFL last year with over 141 yards a game. It magnifies how much this team misses Fournette and his bruising style. Enter Hyde, whose running style and makeup as a player that caught Jacksonville’s attention.
"“People are brought here or drafted and developed here to play a certain type of football,” Jaguars coach Doug Marrone said when he spoke to the media regarding Hyde. “Not to say that we can’t play any other way, but that’s what we have worked on. If we can play to the identity that we want to play, then we feel that will help us become a better team and start winning some games.”"
While the Jaguars still have issues with the quarterback position, bringing in Hyde, who has 382 yards and five touchdowns this season makes the running game that much better. Yeldon has been solid in his replacement of Fournette, but he is a contrast in style and has five touchdowns of his own this year, but four have come via pass catching.
Should Jacksonville get Fournette back after the bye week, which comes after this weekend’s contest across the pond, the Jaguars running game may be great again.
Size wise, Hyde and Fournette are the same back – 6-foot and 228 and 229 pounds. They can move a pile. They are the type of running back offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett designed the playbook for. Now, the former Browns and 49ers back will get a chance to show what he can do with an offensive line that has looked out of sorts many times this season.
While Blake Bortles has been at the center of controversy over the lack of offensive production, he is by no means the only culprit. Wide receivers have also dropped sure catches. The tight end position has been decimated by injury. Bortles has taken a beating while trying to do too much with too little help.
Next. The Jaguars and Blake Bortles must win on Sunday. dark
Those things have contributed to the 3-4 record this franchise currently owns. Hyde is not the savior of this offense, but his contributions could help the Jaguars find better footing in the second half of the 2018 season.