Jacksonville Jaguars: 3 Keys to advancing past Wild Card Round
By Larry Brake
The Jacksonville Jaguars host the Buffalo Bills on wild card Sunday. Here are three keys to securing victory for Jacksonville
The playoff drought ended for the Jacksonville Jaguars this season. The Buffalo Bills come to town for Sunday’s game. The Jaguars have a great chance to advance to the next round.
Of course, the Bills are happy just to make the playoffs due to Cincinnati defeating Baltimore last Sunday. To show their appreciation, Buffalo is sending chicken wings to Cincinnati. Ryan Talbot of NewYorkUpstate.com reports:
"Buffalo wanted to say thanks following the Bengals’ win and reached out to the team on Twitter. In addition to a note thanking Cincinnati, Buffalo informed the team that they’d be sending wings to show their gratitude."
LeSean McCoy, Buffalo’s star offensive player, suffered an ankle injury against Miami. He rushed for 1,138 yards on 287 carries with six touchdowns and caught 59 passes for 448 yards and two touchdowns on the season. Currently, he is considered to be a game time decision to play, per ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
Should Jaguars fans be concerned about Buffalo stealing a victory? The Bills offense scores an average of 18.9 points per game. They are averaging 176.6 passing yards and 126.1 rushing yards per game. Losing McCoy would really hurt the Bills offense.
The Jaguars defense should be able to contain the Bills regardless of McCoy playing or not. Jalen Ramsey will shut down Kelvin Benjamin. Buffalo is not a high powered offense that Jacksonville would have trouble containing. So, what do the Jags need to do to topple Buffalo and advance to the Divisional Round.
First, Jacksonville has to establish the power run with Leonard Fournette. The Bills defense gives up 124.6 rushing yards per game. A steady diet of Fournette will open the passing game for Blake Bortles. Hopefully, the Jaguars abandon the zone blocking scheme and just knock the Bills off the line of scrimmage.
Second, Bortles has to realize that running downfield helps the team. Instead of throwing the ball into tight windows, he should utilize his running ability. He finished 2017 as the Jaguars third leading rusher with 322 yards.
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Third, Marcedes Lewis needs to have a big role in the game strategy. Due to the inability to throw deep passes consistently, Lewis is a big target underneath the coverage. Also, moving Lewis to the slot or split out, would create a coverage mismatch. Jacksonville had better create any opportunity to expose a leaky Bills defense.
Most of all, the Jaguars have earned the home playoff game. They need to impose their will on Buffalo. In order to advance to Pittsburgh, the Jaguars have to play one game at a time.