Friday Night Logue: Key Injuries Have Left Jacksonville’s Run Game in Ruins

James Robinson is very good at football. The national media (and apparently Jacksonville’s coaches) haven’t caught up all the way on this fact, but Jaguars loyalty knows that Robinson has almost single-handedly sparked the run game all season long.

That was no problem in the first six weeks of the season as Robinson’s gifted vision made Jacksonville a top-three rushing team in the league on a per-play basis. But following his heel injury against Seattle in the first game out of the bye, the Jaguars’ run attack has cratered sans its star player at full health.

Jacksonville’s other players simply haven’t stepped up as Robinson continues to mend. Backup Carlos Hyde obviously isn’t what he used to be physically as a 31-year-old running back, and he doesn’t have the as high-end mental traits as Robinson either. He ignored one of the biggest holes the Jaguars offensive line was able to create all day against the Rams last week to cut back into traffic for no gain.

A.J. Cann is another key player whose absence (due to a week 4 MCL injury that ended his season) has hurt the rushing game. Cann has been inconsistent in pass protection as a Jaguar but is a starting-caliber run blocker when healthy.

Second-year pro Ben Bartch has yet to prove that he was worthy of a mid-round draft pick as a high-potential/small school prospect. Laviska Shenault displays impressive vision on this backfield carry but is stopped short by the middle linebacker after Bartch’s whiff.

On this Robinson rush, Bartch immediately eliminates his leverage against the defensive tackle and fails to hold the block as Jawaan Taylor takes his turn whiffing against the same linebacker.

The team can’t even execute double teams properly, as seen on this play as Cam Robinson is pushed into the backfield while Bartch gives another defender a speed boost towards the designated run gap.

To make matters worse, Jacksonville’s tight ends not named Chris Manhertz display no interest in being physical run blockers.

And to absolutely nobody’s surprise, Aaron Donald played like the dominant All-Pro that he is.

The Jaguars were one of the few teams in the league to return all five of its offensive line starters from last season, but it wouldn’t be a surprise to see a completely new starting unit within the next year or two given the unfulfilled potential of the young tackles and the age/expiring contracts of the interior linemen.

While the running back and quarterback rooms have long-term players in place, the offensive line, tight end, and wide receiver groups all need serious facelifts in the near future; it also wouldn’t be a surprise to see the offensive coaching staff swapped entirely this offseason.

Major changes are coming yet again to Jacksonville -- hopefully the organization will do better by franchise players James Robinson and Trevor Lawrence next time around.

Other Thoughts

• The Jaguars have sputtered on defense in recent weeks after allowing 30-plus points in two of the past three games, but I think this could be a sneaky get-right game on that side of the ball. Tennessee’s death by a thousand crossing routes game plan against Jacksonville in Week 5 was the last straw for Joe Cullen before he changed the defense’s structure. I think his upgraded, zone-heavier approach will work much better this time around against the Titans, especially without Derrick Henry available to force the Jaguars to load the box.

• FNL prop bets move to 2-1 on the season as Marvin Jones collected just 11 receiving yards against Los Angeles. This week I’m betting the receiving yardage on a different Jaguars receiver -- over 33.5 yards for Laquon Treadwell. He’s surpassed 50 yards and back-to-back weeks and played a season-high 93% of snaps last Sunday. I like him to score a touchdown (+370) too. As I hinted last week, I think he’s due for a big game.