Jaguars Player of the Week: Leonard Fournette

Leonard Fournette continues to show he is the leader of the Jaguars offense.

The Jacksonville Jaguars 27-17 win over the Cincinnati Bengals wasn’t pretty, which meant that running back Leonard Fournette and the team’s running game got its hands dirty.

Fournette rushed 29 times for 131 yards, as well as catching two passes for 14 yards.

Going into the game, the Bengals were ranked last in run defense, giving up 184.5 yards per game. The trend continued as the Jaguars rushed for 216 yards.

Fournette didn’t have as flashy of a game compared to his outings against the Denver Broncos or Carolina Panthers, but the third-year workhorse did exactly that: tire out the opposing defense with tough running.

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Gardner Minshew II and the Jaguars’ passing offense struggled throughout the game, which led the team to rely on Fournette. Jacksonville took Fournette with the fourth pick in the 2017 draft, for this reason, to hang their hat on him and let him work the ground game. It was something the front office as they made the selection.

This week’s performance was very reminiscent of what the team was made for: running the football and playing excellent defense. It was the team’s calling card during their run to the playoffs in 2017.

What allowed for Fournette to control the game was the defense forcing four turnovers, stuffing the Bengals’ rushing attack and putting quarterback Andy Dalton in tough passing situations. This led to Fournette’s solid day and a 38:17 to 21:43 time of possession disparity in Jacksonville’s favor.

With this performance, Fournette now leads the AFC in rushing yards with 715 and is only 10 yards behind for the league-lead in rushing, Dalvin Cook of Minnesota.

Once again, Fournette looked like a franchise running back, which is an important note considering the disappointing 2018 season following a great rookie season. It looks like the extra effort Fournette put in during the offseason is paying off both with game stats and overall health. It’s also helping the Jaguars rookie quarterback as he is not forced to carry the offense.

With how often the Jaguars are running Fournette, health will be a key factor going into the latter half of the season.

The former LSU star is on pace to rush for 1,634 yards, which would surpass Maurice Jones-Drew‘s single-season record of 1,606 yards. He is also on pace for 434 receiving yards, a big step in his development as a dual-threat running back that is so common in today’s version of the NFL offense.

As Fournette is credited for his performance, so should the team’s offensive line, which while have struggled in pass protection, is creating space and holding blocks to create avenues for Fournette.

Next week, Fournette and company will face the New York Jets, another important game if Jacksonville wants to keep their playoff hopes alive.