Did the Jaguars Finally Figure Out How to Unleash Run Game?

At the start of the season, the Jacksonville Jaguars had one of the best rushing attacks in the National Football League. Running backs Travis Etienne and Tank Bigsby combined to make arguably the best running back duo in the league until an injury to Etienne threw off the balance of the rushing attack.

Bigsby performed well in Etienne's absence, but the Jaguars' rushing attack as a whole took a step back after Etienne's injury.

Bigbsy rushed for 118 yards in the team's Week 7 victory over the New England Patriots. The Jaguars would not rush for over 100 yards again until this past Sunday against the New York Jets.

The Jaguars' 136 rushing yards in Week 15 against the Jets may have unlocked their rushing attack for the rest of the season. Jaguars offensive coordinator Press Taylor explained what he and the team did differently against the Jets.

“I think early on, too with just some of the quick passes, be it screens, quick game, bubble throws that are part of the run, it was all kind of an extension of the run game," Taylor said. "So, we kind of got the ball moving side to side, attacking a lot of different points. We were just able to be efficient. A little bit of that was the tempo we were able to play with.

"But all that starts with, you're fishing on first-down, puts you in a second-and-manageable, we had a lot of normal-down situations. We were able to get a lot of snaps, able to spread a lot of touches around. And then part of that, we did a good job on third down. I think we were over 50 percent on third down that keeps those drives going. Then, your odds, chances of scoring, converting a third down within a drive, obviously everything goes up. So that was a big part of it for us.”

Taylor plans to continue searching for ways to keep the Jaguars' ground game on track moving forward, as their offense runs significantly better when they run the ball successfully.

“Any game we go into, it's what can we do to move the football? That just kind of was the way that game went," Taylor said. "We were able to stay on pace, we were able to stick with the run game, get a lot of runs called. Just because of the game script, the way things went, I think for us there. That obviously fit how we wanted to play those guys. You get a chance.

"Now, the first half we dominated time of possession. You would have obviously loved to punch in the red zone opportunities. We had some missed opportunities there that keep you from scoring touchdowns, you're instead settling for field goals. That was a big thing. But now we have [Jets QB] Aaron Rodgers sitting on the sidelines watching us play, and that was a big part of our first-half success at least.”

Please let us know your thoughts when you like our Facebook page WHEN YOU CLICK RIGHT HERE

Ensure you follow on X (Twitter) @JaguarsOnSI and @_John_Shipley and never miss another breaking news story again.