Did the Jaguars Discover the Key to Unlocking Travon Walker’s Potential vs. the Titans?
Out of a number of big performances against the Tennessee Titans in Sunday's 36-22 victory, few rang as loudly as that of No. 1 overall pick Travon Walker.
After a long drought without a sack, Walker broke through on Sunday with one of the most important plays of the game with his first-quarter strip-sack of Ryan Tannehill.
The sack saw Walker beat two blockers and serve as the spark the Jaguars needed after the first two drives of the game saw them allow a score and then go three-and-out on offense. T
The key to Walker's big day, in which he recorded three pressures and a career-best 25.0% win-rate? His stance.
Walker was mostly a three-point stance player at Georgia, where he was frequently used as an explosive hammer for the Bulldogs' defense that set up plays for those around him. Walker was drafted to the Jaguars as an edge rusher, though, and has as a result spent most of his season as a stand-up pass-rusher.
That changed on Sunday, though. After just 14 snaps with his hand in the dirt as a pass-rusher over his first 12 career games, Walker had eight snaps as a three-point stance rusher against the Titans, including his strip-sack.
Whether it is comfort, biomechanics, whatever; Walker has always been a different player coming out of a three-point stance. He was in college and he was during training camp. And on Sunday, the Jaguars saw this theory turn into reality.
"I mean, just all day, you see his athleticism," Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson said after the game.
"He came out of a three-point stance a little bit today, where he gets some explosion and length and there's physicality and that just, plays like that is kind of what it takes with him and that's the type of athlete he is. And I thought that not only him but Arden Key and just go right down the line. (Dawuane) Smoot, Roy (Robertson-Harris), these guys were all around the quarterback a lot. So, it was really good bounce-back week for them too."
After 2.5 sacks in 12 games, Walker had his best performance as a pass-rusher on Sunday. Yes, the Titans have issues at offensive tackle, but Sunday saw Walker look like the No. 1 pick the Jaguars hoped he would be ... and all it took was a change in his stance.
"Definitely felt great," Walker said after the game. "Just to come out and be able to do something that we’ve been harping on for the past couple of weeks, obviously we haven’t been getting home these past couple games, but coming into this game I basically did the same thing I did every other week but just put a little more preparation into it, a little extra, and it paid off."
"The defense, we definitely stepped up to the challenge. We knew we had to come in and play great ball, wanted to give our offense good field position. So that was one of the main things that we were all harping on all week. Just come in, work hard, give it your all, have the juice, and then we’re going to be that defense that you’ve seen flashes from early in the season."
Perhaps most importantly for Walker, the Jaguars saw patience and growth. His strip-sack came just one drive after he committed an offsides on 3rd-and-10, which led to an easy conversion for the Titans and eventually a touchdown.
But on the next drive, Walker came through with arguably his biggest play of the year. And in doing so, he potentially helped the Jaguars discover the key to unlocking his potential.
"Once I had jumped offsides, I started telling our guys, ‘I’ve got y’all’s back.’ And all the guys were just like, ‘Don't slow up, don't slow up. Just continue being you.’ Once I got that from my guys, it just kept my confidence growing and I just kept playing," Walker said.
"I wouldn’t say it's been a challenge to keep my confidence, but it's been a challenge to keep myself from pressing to make plays. Once I start pressing make plays, then sometimes things just don’t go as I want them to go. So I just focus in and try to make the plays that I’m supposed to make."
