3 keys for the Jaguars to beating the Chargers in the 2022 NFL Playoffs

The Jacksonville Jaguars will face off against the Los Angeles Chargers in the Wild Card Round of the playoffs. These teams already played in the regular season and the Jags came on top. However, the past game has no bearing on the upcoming one.

Jacksonville is coming off a tough win over the Tennessee Titans and will need to clean up a few issues that surfaced if they want to avoid being one-and-done in the postseason. With that in mind, here are three keys to beating the Bolts Saturday.

3. The Jaguars must contain the Chargers’ running game

The Chargers’ offense runs through third-year quarterback Justin Herbert but they’ve struggled to win when they can’t get their running game going. Back in Week 3, they tallied 26 yards on 12 carries and leaned on Herbert to try to catch up with the Jags once they started trailing. Predictably, the strategy failed and the Bolts lost 38-10.

Los Angeles’ running game flashed at times this past season. For example, they registered a combined 292 yards in Weeks 16 and 17. On the other hand, they ranked 30th in rushing yards in the league and struggled to get things going on the ground.

The Jags will need to thread the needle on this one. They must be committed to stopping the run without stacking the box. Otherwise, they run the risk of letting Herbert torch their secondary and get ahead on the scoreboard early.

Simply put, the Jags’ chances of winning will increase considerably if they can force Los Angeles to become one-dimensional. For that to happen, they must first shut down their rushing attack.