What Lessons Could the Jaguars Learn From the AFC South’s Playoff Teams?

What should the Jaguars try to replicate from the Texans and Titans?

One day into the 2019 NFL Playoffs, the AFC South has accounted for 100% of the postseason wins. Sure, those only take two games into account as of now, but the Jacksonville Jaguars' division rivals have found January success thus far. 

In a year where Jacksonville went 6-10 and was eliminated from the postseason in Week 14, the Houston Texans and Tennessee Titans each played their way into the postseason and went on to win Wild-Card games. 

Houston's 22-19 overtime win over the Buffalo Bills came on the heels of a 16-point comeback, orchestrated by an opportunistic defense and elite play down the stretch from quarterback Deshaun Watson.

Meanwhile, the Titans walked into Gillette Stadium in Foxborough and perhaps put the nail in the coffin of the impeccable New England Patriots dynasty, a result of a 20-13 triumph. 

Both the Texans and Titans found themselves in a position to win meaningful games in January due to similar team-building tendencies and philosophies. In a copy-cat football league, it would serve the Jaguars well to try to learn a few lessons from the success of their division counterparts. 

Which lessons, exactly? We examine.

1) Surround your quarterback with as much talent as possible

Houston and Tennessee acquired their starting quarterbacks in much different fashions, with the Texans selecting Watson with the 12th overall selection in the 2017 NFL Draft and the Titans nabbing Ryan Tannehill as a result of a cheap trade with the Miami Dolphins. Neither team paid a middling veteran $88 million like the Jaguars did this past offseason, but they have still gone the extra mile when it comes to building around their signal-callers (even though Tennessee technically built around Marcus Mariota). 

And when compared to the Jaguars, the Texans and Titans have been infinitely more proficient at surrounding their starting quarterbacks with talent. Tennesee has spent premium picks on wide receivers Corey Davis and A.J. Brown, running back Derrick Henry and tight end Jonnu Smith.

Meanwhile, the Texans have made numerous trades in 2019 alone to give Watson as much help as he needs. They acquired left tackle Laremy Tunsil, wide receiver Kenny Stills and running backs Duke Johnson and Carlos Hyde, all of whom played huge parts in Houston's big 2019 and a subsequent playoff win. Tight end Darren Fells has also become a big-time target.

Meanwhile, Jacksonville selected a right tackle took wide receiver D.J. Chark in the second round in 2018, and selected Leonard Fournette fourth overall in but have otherwise failed to put a good group of skill players around the quarterback. How much better the Texans and Titans are at wide receiver, and running back as a whole is indicative of the investments each team has made. Houston and Tennesee have propped their passers, while Jacksonville presented their quarterbacks with a below-average group of skill players in 2019.

2) Make winning in the trenches an identity

One area that you can't argue the Jaguars haven't at least tried to build through the draft and free-agency is its offensive and defensive lines. In recent years, Jacksonville has cashed out for versatile defensive lineman Calais Campbell, drafted defensive end Josh Allen seventh overall, traded for Marcell Dareus, drafted two offensive tackles with second-round selections, and handed out contracts to each of its three interior linemen.

But despite that, the Jaguars were beat up in the trenches almost weekly this season. They failed to get a consistent push in the run game and were it not for Gardner Minshew II's mobility, their pass blocking would have looked much worse. Defensively, Jacksonville was pushed around with ease upfront, leading to one of the worst run defenses in the NFL.

Jacksonville poured resources into the trenches, but they have never adopted a mindset to win in tough, grind it out fashions. The 2017 Jaguars had that, but not the 2019 Jaguars. 

Meanwhile, Houston made numerous deals to bolster its offensive line but it actually saw marked improvement throughout 2019. Defensively, some of Houston's biggest plays against Buffalo came via its defensive front. 

And only a few hours later, Tennesee rode its running game and tough defense to victory over New England. Both the Texans and Titans were the tougher, more physical teams on Saturday and often throughout the rest of the 2019 season. Too many times, Jacksonville wasn't. 

3) Fit your schemes around your roster, not the other way around

This is perhaps the most obvious lesson when looking at the Jaguars compared to the Texans and Titans. For years, Jacksonville has been an inflexible team who will trot out the same schemes on offense and defense over and over again, no matter how poorly it fits the personnel on the field. 

This was evident throughout 2019 on both offense and defense. Minshew stepped into a Jaguars' offense built for Nick Foles and, despite their polar opposite skillsets, we didn't see the scheme change all that much. Minshew thrived on the run and on play-action, but those two components of the offense were virtually non-existent. 

Defensively, Jacksonville continued to run soft zone coverages and played reactive instead of proactive. When the defense should have been attacking, it was on its heels. This showed in the results. 

Meanwhile, the Texans have shaped their defense around a plethora of new defensive backs and had to mitigate the loss of Jadeveon Clowney with less talented front seven players. As for the Titans, they changed their entire offense to give Tannehill a chance to succeed. 

Houston and Tennessee played with open minds throughout 2019 and kept that philosophy in the wild-card games. If Jacksonville wants to play January football games again sooner than later, they should adopt the same policies.