Colts Behind Enemy Lines: Jaguars RB Travis Etienne
The Indianapolis Colts and Jacksonville Jaguars meet again this Sunday in a battle for first place in the AFC South.
The teams played in Week 1 when Jacksonville defeated the Colts, 31-21. The Jaguars have spent the last two weeks in London picking up wins over the Atlanta Falcons and Buffalo Bills. Meanwhile, the Colts are coming off of a huge home victory against division-rival Tennessee Titans.
Both the Colts and Jaguars are tied at 3-2, which makes this game high stakes. The Colts will be looking to get their first win in Jacksonville since 2014, and one man on the Jaguars who will be standing in the Colts' way is running back Travis Etienne.
Etienne so far is having a really solid year for the Jaguars. In five games, he has rushed the ball 96 times for 396 yards and 3 touchdowns. He also has 18 receptions on 21 targets for 144 yards. In his first matchup with the Colts, they did a fairly decent job of bottling him up until the fourth quarter. However, when Jacksonville was up by only three points and attempting to put the game away, Etienne took a run 26 yards to the end zone which essentially sealed the Colts' fate.
The Jaguars offense is considered pass-first. They have a lot of weapons in the passing game with Calvin Ridley, Christian Kirk, Zay Jones, and Evan Engram. The way they use Etienne in the run game is varied; deploying him downhill in between the tackles but also doing a great job of getting him on the perimeter. The Jaguars are always attempting to get him out in space and that’s when he becomes a dynamic playmaker.
It’s imperative for the Colts to tackle well when facing Etienne and this Jaguars offense. The Colts have a great three-headed monster at linebacker in Zaire Franklin, E.J. Speed, and Shaquille Leonard, so this should be a matchup they are well-prepared for.
Franklin, who's leading the NFL in tackles this year with 69, has got to be that strong enforcer that he's been for the Colts' defense. A healthy DeForest Buckner is also a key component; the run defense is so much better when he’s playing at full strength.
The last time these two teams met, Etienne was able to get the last laugh against the Colts and Indy hasn’t forgotten. They’ll be looking to shut him down again this time for an entire game.
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