3 Defensive Keys for the Jaguars Vs. Burrow and the Bengals

The Jacksonville Jaguars' defense has gone under the microscope after the first three weeks of the 2020 season. The Jags sit at 1-2 with the singular win and shot at a second win coming largely because of the offense.

Still there have sparse moments of brilliance and individual performances (Myles Jack anyone?) that provide hope that this group is just one good game away from putting it all together.

On Sunday, they’ll face one of their best shots at turning around the narrative moving into the second quarter of the season. The Cincinnati Bengals (0-2-1) are led by No. 1 overall pick, quarterback Joe Burrow. But he’s forced to work behind an offensive line that has more holes than an old sweater.

Can an entire game plan exist around the rookie quarterback? What can be attacked? And what does the Jaguars front seven need to do to find the backfield? Those are all part of the three defensive keys for the Jags game plan versus the Bengals.

FLUSTER BURROW

Both Jags head coach Doug Marrone and defensive coordinator Todd Wash spent the week lauding Burrow’s toughness.

“He’s wise beyond his years already,” Wash said of the rookie.

“He’s very tough, he doesn’t waiver in the pocket at all, he’ll stand in there and he’ll take them, and his teammates pick him up and he’s ready to go again. So, a lot of credit to him, but we’re going to have to do something. We’ve got to disrupt their wide receivers, first of all, we’ve got to get our hands on them, try to disrupt the timing of the routes and concepts, so he’s got to hold it, finding time for our rush to get there. It’s going to be important on Sunday.

“You’ve got to give a lot of credit to him, obviously their coaching staff, of how well he’s prepared going into games. But obviously, the key is we’ve got to get pressure.”

Okay Joe Burrow okay pic.twitter.com/jVk5pFN4Ev
— Ian Hartitz (@Ihartitz) September 30, 2020

And it is the key.

Through three games, Burrow has been sacked 14 times, most in the NFL. Against the Philadelphia Eagles alone, he was sacked eight times and hit 18 times.

"You don't want your quarterback to get hit as much as he has," Bengals offensive coordinator Brian Callahan said, according to ESPN’s Ben Baby.

"Some of those are on protection, just pure pass protection. Some of those are on him and the style of his play. The play is never over for him. He does everything he can to keep it alive.”

With Burrow’s penchant for leaving the pocket—and the Bengals poor offensive line play on top of that—Wash and the defensive front know that’s their opportunity to add more hits on this rookie and push him to a breaking point.

Joe Burrow has been sacked most in the NFL. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports

“I know they’ve gained up a lot of pressures, which is a good sign for us,” says defensive end Josh Allen.

“So, it does give us a little bit of juice, but we’ve got to put them in situations where we can really affect the passer; third-and-long, second-and-long. So, we’ve got to get in situations like that to really apply the pressure. And if not, we’ve got to do what we can to affect the quarterback. But yeah, I like those numbers, I like hearing stuff like that obviously. But like I said, it’s up to us on how we come to prepare for this game.”

Getting after Burrow would not only stymie the Bengals production, but it would give some confidence to a Jaguars front seven that is desperately looking for success. Jacksonville has only three sacks through three games in 2020. For comparison, through three games in the 2019 season, they had 13 sacks.

How does this best happen?

Creating third and long.

CREATE THIRD AND LONG

The Jags defense has given up 50% of third downs to opponents, 28th in the NFL. The problem, according to Todd Wash, is what they’re doing on first and second down.

Following the Week 3 loss to the Miami Dolphins, Marrone detailed a defensive plan to make up for a lack of pass rush but sending more pressure on first and second down. Ryan Fitzpatrick took advantage of that by finding soft spots in the middle of the field on early downs. By the time the Jags got to the money down, they were broke.

“As we’re looking at our third down statistics, we haven’t had very many opportunities in the field of 6-to-10 or even if you want to go 7-to-10,” explains Wash.

“And a lot of that is because first- and second down, we’re not keeping them behind the chains and getting into a situation where I think we can really pin our ears back.

“When you’re sitting at two and six, quick game can get it. Any type of rhythm passing can get the first downs, with the concepts we’re seeing. So, I think that’s going to be key for us, for them to show they can rush, we’ve got to get them on third-and-7 plus. That’s a big key and we’ve been talking about it all week.”

LET CJ AND DJ WORK

Corner CJ Henderson had a Rookie of the Week winning performance in the Jags Week 1 win against the Indianapolis Colts. The No. 9 overall pick lived up to the hype and more. His performance in the Week 3 loss to the Dolphins seemed like a complete 180, in the worst way.

In a small way at least, he needed that bad game to see where he was and where he needs to be to adjust to the NFL. That’s what Todd Wash has seen in practice this week and he told reporters on Thursday to expect a change in Henderson on Sunday.

“The last two weeks, we’ve kind of been—we haven’t been as good, technically, on the line of scrimmage, and he knows that and we’ve really seen it come Monday when we watched the tape, in the game. I think him and Tre [Herndon] both realized that for them to excel within the system, we’ve got to get our hands on people. I think it was an eye-opener for him and I think you’re going to see a totally different type of player this week when he comes to try to get his hands on people.”

Flanking the rookie CJ Henderson is veteran nickel corner DJ Hayden. Covering the slot means Hayden will typically see Bengals receiver Tyler Boyd. The fifth year receiver has 26 receptions, one touchdown and 230 yards through three games. But it’s not just a Hayden-Boyd matchup that we need to watch for according to Wash. It’s Hayden-anybody.

Hayden (25) works to trip up Boyd during the Jags 2019 win. © Kareem Elgazzar, Cincinnati Enquirer

“That matchup, obviously, in the slot and our man coverages and stuff like that, it could be a situation where D.J. draws him, D.J. doesn’t draw him and that kind of stuff in passing situations. But there’s no doubt that Boyd is a very good receiver, obviously you’ve got A.J. Green, you’ve got Tee Higgins out there, you’ve got [John] Ross. They’ve got about five guys that we’re concerned with and Joe [Burrow] does a really nice job of getting them the football.

“But I think D.J. has been playing very good for us, he’s showing up in the run game, which is big. It’ll be a big part of what we need this week out of D.J. within the run game. And he’s playing good man-to-man situations and he understands the zone concepts. I really like what we’re getting, that matchup is going to be a fun one to watch between two really good veteran players.”

The Jaguars kickoff against the Bengals at 1 p.m. Eastern on Sunday.

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