Jaguars Defense Ready For Whatever Raiders Have on Sunday

The Jacksonville Jaguars are coming off a loss that could have been a win with improved play from its defense. However, one of the Jaguars' best offensive performances of the season was spoiled by a late touchdown drive from Aaron Rodgers and the New York Jets.

Luckily for the Jaguars, they will not have to worry about a Hall of Fame quarterback and wide receiver duo, or anything close to it this Sunday against the Las Vegas Raiders. Las Vegas has one of the worst offenses in the National Football League, primarily because of uncertainty and instability at the quarterback position.

This means the Jaguars defense likely won't have to work nearly as hard as they did against the Jets. Still, they must prepare for the Raiders as if Las Vegas has not lost 10 games in a row.

This means the Jaguars will have to prepare for both quarterbacks the Raiders could potentially play on Sunday. Quarterback Desmond Ridder threw for 208 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions in the Raiders' most recent game against the Atlanta Falcons this past Monday night.

Although quarterback Aidan O'Connell was recently named the Raiders' starter, Jaguars' defensive coordinator Ryan Nielsen says he will have the defense prepared for both Raiders quarterbacks.

“We’re preparing for what we saw with Ridder the other night, which was a lot of gun and gun run game and everything," Nielsen said. "If he doesn’t go, then we’d better get ready for under center and play-action and things like that. It’s not two different offenses, just how the quarterback operates, and that’s kind of the biggest thing. We know [Brock] Bowers, they’re going to target him with both guys, so we have to take him away. We have to do a really good job with him and then keeping him in the pocket with Ridder.

"Then in the play-action game, we’ve just got to do a good job of playing shell defense and manipulating our coverages when they do get under center and throw two-man, three-man routes down the field. Always focusing on us, we’ll have some different calls if the different quarterbacks get in the game. That’s how we’ll manage it. The guys will know, the players will know, but we’ll have not two different game plans, but just some different calls that we’ll make when each guy is in the game. So, that’s how we’ll manage
this game.”

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