Friday Night Logue: Shaquill Griffin is a 1-Man Show
When Joe Cullen was hired as the Jaguars defensive coordinator, it was clear what kind of system he was going to run. After spending the past four seasons as a defensive line coach in Baltimore, Cullen would be bringing the Ravens man-coverage and blitz-happy scheme to Jacksonville.
To no surprise, the Jaguars rank top-eight in both man-coverage rate and blitz rate this season according to Sports Info Solutions -- but Jacksonville also ranks bottom-eight in positive play rate allowed on those respective tendencies.
The front isn’t getting home (it ranks ninth in pressure rate but 29th in sacks) and the secondary isn’t preventing completions (it ranks 31st in completion percentage allowed despite defending the highest opposing air yards per attempt).
The primary issue is unfortunately one that won’t be fixed in the near future- Jacksonville simply doesn’t have the horses to carry out the vision of the defense. The roster lacks marquee talent, and worse, it lacks the depth to be able to hide its weak links.
Homegrown talents Myles Jack and Josh Allen have had underwhelming performances to start the year, but the good news is that the Jaguars may have struck gold in its biggest signing of the offseason, Shaquill Griffin. The former Seahawk ranks in the middle of the pack in most cornerback metrics, but considering the lack of help around him and his responsibility to lock up opposing no. 1 receivers, he’s had a strong start to the season.
Here’s how Griffin has fared as the primary defender against top opponents this season according to Pro Football Focus.
Brandin Cooks caught a 52-yard reception on a broken play, but beyond that Griffin has been near-flawless against a tough schedule of receivers to date. Against all receivers this season, Griffin has allowed 3.2 catches on 5.0 targets for 40.2 yards per game and a passer rating of 88.9. Had he been able to haul in the two interceptions that he’s dropped this season, he’d have a passer rating against of 55.6, which would rank 10th among 128 qualifying cornerbacks.
The Jaguars defense ranks 19th in Football Outsiders’ DVOA against no. 1 receivers this season, but it ranks 30th against No. 2 receivers, “other” receivers, and tight ends for an overall 32nd ranking due to the minimal talent surrounding Griffin.
In this play against the Titans in week 4, Griffin stays patient at the top of the route and isn’t fooled by A.J. Brown’s double move on a hitch-and-go. Ryan Tannehill is forced to move to his second read after seeing Brown covered but is still able to convert an easy first down on the backside dig. Chris Claybrooks couldn’t recover fast enough out of the receiver’s break while Rayshawn Jenkins decided to run with his back to the quarterback as he reached the end of his drop.
Even when the secondary plays sound technique, the Jaguars are still getting beat due to its stark tendencies. Opposing offenses are fully aware of Jacksonville’s scheme and are taking advantage by deploying route concepts designed to beat man coverage. Over half of Tannehill’s pass attempts last week came on in-breaking routes across the middle of the field (slants, drags, digs, deep crossers) according to SIS. On the season, the Jaguars rank bottom-eight in completion percentage, yards per attempt and EPA per play against those collective route types.
The Jaguars appear to be in Cover 1 Rat coverage on this play. Jenkins is the “1” safety covering the deep middle of the field while Jack is the “Rat” linebacker covering the shallow middle area, and the rest of the secondary is in man coverage.
Jack is responsible for picking up any receivers who run to his designated zone coverage so that outside defenders don’t have to worry about sprinting across the formation in man coverage, which is a tough task considering how much traffic there tends to be in that area. In theory, it’s a solid play call against man-coverage beaters, but Tennessee runs two crossing routes and Jack can only cover one. Griffin and Andrew Wingard both see their receivers run towards the middle of the field and assume Jack will be there to pick him up, but when Jack locks in on Wingard’s man, it allows Griffin’s man to scoot untouched for a 22-yard gain.
Depending on the specific play call, Wingard would hypothetically become the rat defender once Jack assumes man responsibility and then pick up Brown, but falling off one man and then picking another up in a matter of seconds is a tall order for an undrafted starter assuming that was how the coverage was designed.
The Jaguars run coverages with the middle of the field closed (Cover 1 Man or Cover 3 Zone) at the third-highest rate in the league. Opponents know what to expect, and with a middling pass rush and undermanned secondary, it’ll be easy for passing offenses to continue to succeed against Cullen’s unit.
Whether it’s being even more aggressive up front (Jacksonville tends to only rush five on its blitzes) or mixing up coverages on the backend, Cullen may need to adapt his passing defense to at least be less predictive in order to stop opposing quarterbacks, because the current roster just isn’t as talented as it needs to be to execute Cullen’s desired scheme on a consistent basis.
Other Thoughts
- While the pass defense is shaky, it’s in part due to a commitment to stop the run. Cullen has deployed one-high safety shells at the fifth-highest rate to allow the defense to stack the box at the highest rate in the league per SIS. Consequently, the Jaguars have allowed the lowest rate of explosive runs (per Sharp Football) and the seventh-fewest yards per carry this season. Jacksonville gets minimal interior pressure on passing plays, but the acquisition of Malcom Brown and the development of DaVon Hamilton have been two key pieces to Jacksonville’s solid run defense in addition to frequently stacked boxes.
- The Jaguars had better hope that Tyson Campbell can return on Sunday after missing last week’s game with a toe injury. Campbell himself hasn’t been spectacular, but opposing offenses have clearly sought out Claybrooks in coverage as he currently ranks bottom-five in coverage snaps per target, completion percentage allowed and PFF coverage grade among 128 cornerbacks.
- I think Darrell Bevell has done a commendable job as Jacksonville’s offensive coordinator, as he’s shown the ability to emphasize his player’s strengths and adapt as time goes on. James Robinson has yet to be utilized for a full game, but that has more to do with losing game scripts than play calling. This week will be telling for how well Bevell and the rest of the staff are able to game plan, as Jacksonville’s receivers have struggled to get open against man coverage and they’ll be facing a Miami defense that utilizes man coverage at the fourth-highest rate in the league.
