Jaguars Officially Facing Jacoby Brissett Sunday
To the surprise of nobody inside of TIAA Bank Field, the Jacksonville Jaguars are officially set to faceoff against a Jacoby Brissett-led offense in this Sunday’s road game vs. the Indianapolis Colts.
Brissett missed the Colts’ (5-4) Week 10 loss against the Miami Dolphins after suffering a MCL sprain in Week 9, but Colts head coach Frank Reich announced Friday that he will start vs. Jacksonville (4-5).
Jaguars head coach Doug Marrone said Wednesday that his team was expecting to face Brissett, who has completed 64.8% of his passes this season for 1,649 yards, 14 touchdowns, and 3 interceptions. The last time the Jaguars played Brissett was in 30-10 Jaguars’ victory in Dec. 2017.
“He’s a really good player, really improved quite a bit from the first time that we faced him years ago when he was a backup,” Marrone said earlier this week. “And he’s really come into this league and has done a great job as a starter from a standpoint of completion percentage, leadership, playing hard.”
In Brissett, the Jaguars see an accurate passer who won’t make many mistakes. He is no slouch and has proven himself in the league, Jacksonville cornerback D.J. Hayden told JaguarMaven this week.
“He’s a nice, solid quarterback. He doesn’t throw a lot of interceptions,” Hayden said. “He is very I guess cautious with the ball. But he is a good quarterback and he is definitely a proven starter in the league.”
“But we just got to go out there and play our style of football and handle business,” Hayden continued.
One thing Brissett does well that Jacksonville’s defense will have to be wary of is his ability to extend plays and prevent being brought down by defenders. At six-foot-four-inches and 238 pounds, he is a bigger passer and Jacksonville will have to ensure they do not miss out on sack opportunities.
“We really have to get our shoulder into their midsection and try to wrap them up,” Jaguars defensive coordinator Todd Wash said Thursday. “If you go around their legs, you don’t have a sure tackle [and] he’s able to throw the ball. You see some of those with Jacoby already this season.
One Jaguars player with a history with Brissett is linebacker Najee Goode, who was teammates with Brissett on the Colts last season. From what he can tell, Brissett is even better now than he was in 2018 as Andrew Luck’s backup.
“On film, I have seen him improve. He has always had a monster arm, but just the game management and how he has been playing,” Goode said. “The reason as to why he hasn’t (played) is because he’s been a backup to Tom Brady and Andrew Luck. But he has been doing his thing.”
Brissett will be without some of his favorite weapons on Sunday with T.Y. Hilton and Parris Campbell both ruled out with injuries. But he is a clear upgrade over Colts’ backup quarterback Brian Hoyer, and Jacksonville will have to pull out all of the stops to make sure Brissett isn’t the one who decides Sunday’s result.
