Air it Out: How Has the Jaguars' Offense Distributed the Ball Through 9 Games?
Another week is in the books for the Jacksonville Jaguars, who have now falled to 1-8 after a 24-20 loss to the Green Bay Packers in Week 10. With four more quarters of football now on the record, even more patterns in the Jaguars' offense data have emerged.
Using data from Pro Football Reference we will look at targets, target share, air yards and much more as we dive into Jacksonville's passing game and what it means for the offense moving forward. With that said, here is how the Jaguars have distributed the ball through nine weeks.
Targets
According to PFR, the Jaguars have distributed 325 targets to their skill players through the first 9 games. Here is how those targets have been divided. It is important to note that DJ Chark has played seven games. We will also list target market share, which shows the percentage of targets a player has gotten.
| Player name | Targets | Target Market Share |
|---|---|---|
DJ Chark | 58 | 17.85% |
Keelan Cole | 49 | 15.08% |
Chris Conley | 42 | 12.92% |
Laviska Shenault | 39 | 12% |
James Robinson | 39 | 12% |
Tyler Eifert | 32 | 9.85% |
Chris Thompson | 23 | 7.08% |
James O'Shaughnessy | 21 | 6.46% |
Collin Johnson | 13 | 4% |
Bruce Miller | 2 | 0.62% |
Dare Ogunbowale | 2 | 0.62% |
Tyler Davis | 2 | 0.62% |
Terry Godwin | 2 | 0.62% |
Dede Westbrook | 1 | 0.31% |
Air Yards/Air Yard %
Air yards is a great stat that shows the yardage a pass travels in the air before it is caught by a player. It essentially helps show the impact that yards after catch have on specific plays and with specific players. For instance, a 50-yard catch looks different if it is a catch-and-run on a screen than it would if it was a downfield pass. The total distance that a football is thrown beyond the line of scrimmage to the point of reception is air yards, and it shows which players are getting the deep shots in the offense. It should be noted that this specific usage of the metric focuses on completions.
So with that in mind, who is leading Jacksonville in air yards (1,259) and air yard percentage? We use PFR data to find the answer.
| Player | Air Yards | Air Yard % |
|---|---|---|
DJ Chark | 363 | 28.83% |
Keelan Cole | 305 | 24.23% |
Chris Conley | 195 | 15.49% |
Laviska Shenault | 142 | 11.28% |
James O'Shaughnessy | 108 | 8.58% |
Tyler Eifert | 85 | 6.75% |
Collin Johnson | 53 | 4.21% |
Dede Westbrook | 39 | 3.1% |
Dede Westbrook | 4 | 0.32% |
Tyler Davis | 0 | 0% |
Terry Godwin | 0 | 0% |
Bruce Miller | -1 | N/A |
Dare Ogunbowale | -1 | N/A |
James Robinson | -33 | N/A |
Yards After Catch/Yards After Catch Per Reception
This one doesn't require any explanation. It is simply the yards a receiver has gotten this year once they have completed a catch. Here is how the Jaguars' skill players have ranked in that regard so far, with their yards after catch per reception in parentheses. Data per PFR.
| Player | Yards After Catch | Yards After Catch Per Reception |
|---|---|---|
James Robinson | 261 | 9.0 |
Laviska Shenault | 181 | 6.0 |
DJ Chark | 130 | 3.5 |
Chris Conley | 124 | 4.8 |
Keelan Cole | 122 | 3.6 |
Chris Thompson | 107 | 5.4 |
Tyler Eifert | 71 | 4.2 |
James O'Shaughnessy | 48 | 3.0 |
Collin Johnson | 16 | 2.3 |
Dare Ogunbowale | 6 | 6.0 |
Bruce Miller | 3 | 3.0 |
Dede Westbrook | 0 | 0.0 |
Tyler Davis | 0 | N/A |
Terry Godwin | 0 | N/A |
First Downs/First Down %
Another self-explanatory one, this will keep track of first downs recorded by each skill player and which percentage of the team's passing first downs that they hold. According to PFR, the Jaguars have recorded 118 first downs through the air.
| Player | First Downs | First Down % |
|---|---|---|
DJ Chark | 26 | 22.03% |
Keelan Cole | 21 | 17.8% |
Laviska Shenault | 19 | 16.1% |
Chris Conley | 16 | 13.56% |
James Robinson | 10 | 8.47% |
Tyler Eifert | 8 | 6.78% |
James O'Shaughnessy | 6 | 5.08 |
Chris Thompson | 5 | 4.24% |
Collin Johnson | 5 | 4.24% |
Dare Ogunbowale | 1 | 0.85% |
Bruce Miller | 1 | 0.85% |
Dede Westbrook | 0 | 0% |
Tyler Davis | 0 | 0% |
Terry Godwin | 0 | 0% |
Passer Rating When Targeted
One of the most interesting stats of all is passer rating when targeted. It helps put into perspective which receivers the quarterback is having the most success when passing to, while also the ones who are the most disastrous players to target. Here is how Jacksonville's skill group shapes up in this department, via PFR.
| Player | Passer Rating When Targeted |
|---|---|
Keelan Cole | 114.9 |
Laviska Shenault | 109.2 |
Chris Thompson | 107.6 |
DJ Chark | 106.5 |
James Robinson | 105.5 |
Chris Conley | 83.3 |
Dede Westbrook | 83.3 |
James O'Shaughnessy | 76.7 |
Collin Johnson | 62.7 |
Dare Ogunbowale | 56.2 |
Bruce Miller | 56.2 |
Tyler Eifert | 51.0 |
Tyler Davis | 39.6 |
Terry Godwin | 39.6 |
Average Depth of Target
The last metric we will look at is the average depth of target, which explains itself in the name. It is the average distance of a pass when a player is targeted, taking both completions and incompletions into account. It shows which players are getting targeted downfield and which are being used on shorter plays. Via data from PFR, here is how the Jaguars rank through nine games.
| Player | Average Depth of Target |
|---|---|
Terry Godwin | 14.5 |
Tyler Davis | 13.5 |
DJ Chark | 13.4 |
Keelan Cole | 10.5 |
Chris Conley | 10.4 |
Collin Johnson | 8.4 |
James O'Shaughnessy | 7.4 |
Tyler Eifert | 7.4 |
Laviska Shenault | 5.6 |
Dede Westbrook | 4.0 |
Chris Thompson | 2.8 |
Dare Ogunbowale | 2.5 |
James Robinson | -1.2 |
Bruce Miller | -1.5 |
