Jacksonville Jaguars: Running attack needs a spark
By Larry Brake
If the Jacksonville Jaguars are expecting a deep playoff run, then the running game needs a spark to ignite the offense.
The Jacksonville Jaguars made it a priority to establish a running attack this season. Leonard Fournette was selected in the first round, of the 2017 NFL draft, to be the featured power running back. Early in the season, he did not disappoint the Jaguars and their fans.
Fournette has rushed for over 100 yards in four games. He has scored six rushing and one receiving touchdowns. He has a 90 yard and a 75 yard long distance touchdown runs. However, he has missed two games, at Indianapolis and against Cincinnati in Jacksonville. Fournette has had the dubious honor of facing eight men stacked defensive fronts. He and Chris Ivory are first and second in the NFL in facing the most stacked defensive fronts. On over 50 percent of offensive snaps, they are running against an eight men box.
As a team, Jacksonville leads the NFL with an average of 154.3 rushing yards per game. They lead the league with 371 rushing attempts. Opposing teams have opted to force Jacksonville to throw the ball.
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The struggles of Blake Bortles is well documented because of his inconsistent play. In the preseason, Doug Marrone expressed the idea of keeping the ball out of Bortles’ hands. Michael DiRocco reported in June, via ESPN.com:
"Jacksonville Jaguars coach Doug Marrone has a number in mind for how many passes he wants quarterback Blake Bortles throwing each week…Zero…”For me, I like to run the ball every play,” Marrone said. “I want to go back to the old way. I want to change the game.”"
Everyone realizes that Jacksonville can not run on each down. On the other hand, the passing game has grown stale with all the receivers dropping passes. Injuries to Allen Robinson and Allen Hurns have hampered the passing attack. Robinson was lost for the season in week 1 because of a knee injury.
Currently, the Jaguars are playing into the opponents game plan in running situations. Instead of spreading the field, the Jaguars line up in a tight formation. This could possibly force teams to adjust out of the stacked front.
Injuries on the offensive line have hurt the running game, though. Jacksonville should keep the fullback on the field more to help out with the blocking. Currently, the fullback has ran the ball only three times. The Jaguars offense must force opponents to account for everyone. Give the ball to the ball to the fullback.
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Finally, let Bortles have the option to run on rollouts. He scored twice against Arizona on runs. In fact, he had six carries for 62 yards with two touchdowns to lead the Jaguars. One of those touchdown runs was for 28 yards.
I’m not advocating for installing the wishbone formation, but let Bortles run more on keepers. Since he has the propensity to throw away the game, maybe fine tune the run game. Jacksonville needs to clean up the offense for a deep playoff run.