Jaguars' 3 Defensive Keys Vs. Lions: Winning the Turnover Battle & Containing Peterson

The Jacksonville Jaguars defense has fairly specific things in mind when it comes to defeating the Detroit Lions on Sunday, including winning the turnover battle and containing Adrian Peterson. It'll all have to be done with yet another new face.

This Sunday, the Jacksonville Jaguars (1-4) will face their first team since Week 2 that won’t be looking for their first win. But the Detroit Lions (1-3) aren’t far off, looking for their second win just like the Jags.

The Lions and the Jags don’t play each other too often—only six times in the 3-3 series history—last facing off in 2016. But in the two games that Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford has faced Jacksonville (2012 and 2016) he’s never thrown a touchdown pass. It didn’t matter much as Detroit won both of those games. Could one or both of those things change Sunday? The Jags will be more concerned with the latter. To do so, it’ll take these three defensive keys.

Contain AD

He may be in his 14th year in the league, but running back Adrian Peterson doesn’t seem to have lost a step. That’s the first thing Jags defensive coordinator Todd Wash noticed when he turned on the tape. At 35 years old and the position with the shortest life span in the game, Peterson is averaging 61.3 yards per game, 21st in the NFL. He’s picked up 11 rushing first downs for the Lions.

“I mean he’s been playing in the league for a long time, doesn’t look he’s slowed down a step so that’s longevity at the running back position that you don’t see very often anymore. So, it’s going to be a lot of fun and I’m looking forward to it,” said linebacker Joe Schobert.

Added safety Jarrod Wilson, “I suited up against him before so I’m not going to act like a fan when I see him or anything, but I just have a ton of respect for the man. Obviously, [he’s] just a tremendous athlete and one of the greatest running backs of all time.”

But more than just respecting his game, the Jags have to stop it and that will require setting the edge according to Wash.

“He has the ability to make people miss and he runs extremely, extremely hard. And you see him play behind his pads; it’s going to be very important. He really likes to be able to get the ball to bounce, so I think our guys on the perimeter and the edges have to be able to tackle well.”

Corner CJ Henderson and WILL linebacker Myles Jack—who both missed the game against the Houston Texans with injury—were labeled as full participants on the Jaguars Thursday injury report. Their return will help establish that perimeter to stop the running back who can go all day.

Create Turnovers

The Jaguars defense have five takeaways through five games thus far this year, with two coming together in the first game and two together in the last game versus the Texans. The Jaguars turnover differential however is negative two. Still, the Sidney Jones IV and Wilson interceptions versus Houston are a foundation for what Jacksonville needs to do to help an offense that has proven to be potent at times.

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“We kind of want takeaways. It gives our offense another opportunity to get points on the board, so that’s a key of emphasis every week for our defense. We were able to do that on defense, but it didn’t translate to a win for us, but same model for this week is [to] take the ball away from Detroit.”

The Lions however have the third best stat in the league, having only given up three takeaways through their four games.

Bring Along New Personnel

Until this week, Schobert’s only real knowledge of Kamalei Correa was a long ago special teams play.

“I remember blocking him once on a punt return and he was on punt and he was really fast. It was like our rookie year.”

Now Correa is in the same meeting room as Schobert, the newest linebacker on a defense that has seen a revolving door of faces this season thus far. The turnover can be tough while trying to game plan each week. Schobert told reporters this week that having Jack back next to him will be huge since the two can bounce “code words” off of each other to help pre-snap. But injuries and trades bringing new faces to the field means that can’t happen defense wide.

As the Jags prepare for Matthew Stafford and the Lions, Schobert and the defense are bringing along news guys at warp speed.

“There’s going to be a lot of transition at every level of the organization and you have to just be able to get into it, get comfortable with that and when it happens, not let it affect you as much. So, when you get new guys in, you just have to take them along, teach them how the things are going like how the locker room vibe is, how the scheme on the field [is], how everybody’s gelling, and just take them under your wing and keep going, so you can’t let it affect you. Everybody’s who’s in the building, when they’re here, when they’re in the building, they’re family and you just have to treat it like that.”