Jaguars vs. Jets: Why Overcoming New York’s CB Duo Is the Key for Jacksonville’s Offense

Though winning has eluded the New York Jets after starting 6-3, one constant remains; the game-changing impact of cornerbacks DJ Reed and Ahmad “Sauce” Gardner.

Pro Football Focus has Gardner ranked as the top cornerback in the NFL, with an 89.6 coverage grade, and his long arms and athleticism allow him to be an impact playmaker in man coverage. Reed isn’t far behind. The former Seattle Seahawk is shining bright in his first year under the New York lights, with an overall grade of 73.7 and is a consistently disruptive presence on the outside despite only standing at 5 '9".

Quarterback Trevor Lawrence acknowledged that these two will pose one of the bigger challenges this week.

“Yeah, they’re really good players,” Lawrence said. “You look at just the stats. The stats speak for themselves just in his [Sauce Gardner] production this year and D.J. too, I mean, he’s playing really well. It might get overlooked a little bit because Sauce is a rookie and playing great, too.

"Both of them are playing great and they’re really sticky in coverage. They don’t give up easy stuff. I’d say that about their defense as a whole. They’re really well coached, they’re simple, but they know exactly where they’re supposed to be, what they’re doing, what their job is, they play together, and they play together really fast. I’d say that’s one of the bigger challenges this week is just playing a really disciplined group that plays really hard and just knows where to cover you down the field, all those things. We got a challenge, and those guys are playing great, they’re playing with a lot of confidence, and they’ve had a really good year.”

Beyond Reed and Gardner, the Jets defense is ripe with talent. CJ Mosley, former Jaguar Quincy Williams, standout defensive tackle Quinnen Williams and hard hitting safety Jordan Whitehead are a few Jets who are having exceptional seasons.

Reed and Gardner are the architects of a talented secondary, but it is the play of the rest of the unit and the complete buy in of head coach Robert Saleh's “all gas no break” mantra that makes them so dangerous. Jaguars offensive coordinator Press Taylor made clear that there will be a game plan in place and expects guys to answer the call.

“I think it’s all the above,” Taylor said. “We build a game plan and really everybody has their place. Everybody would go home at night and say, ‘Ah I hope they call these 3-4 plays that’s going to hit.’ Then, it’s just a matter of how it works in the game. Sometimes you call it and it goes to another place or something happens.

"I think it’s more just the byproduct of the offense and Trevor [QB Trevor Lawrence] operating it very efficiently, at least. Where the ball just goes where it’s supposed to go if the look is right. If the look isn’t right, get a completion, keep the play moving. Keep the series moving and we’ll come back to certain things. I think it just kind of played out that way where a couple weeks ago, things just found Evan [Engram], last week things found Zay [Jones], but I think it was pretty spread evenly, which we like to see. There were a couple of guys that get 6-7 targets, a couple of guys that got around 60, 70, 80 yards, somebody makes a big play, and it just blew up their numbers a little bit. That’s just the way it works sometimes.”