NFL: Previewing the Eagles-Jaguars matchup

How should the Jaguars offense attack the Eagles defense?

The task of attacking the Eagles defense is a little trickier since all you have to work with is Blake Bortles and if really necessary Cody Kessler. With that being said, there are some ways to make Bortles feel comfortable and there are definitely areas of the Philly D you can exploit. While I think it will be a tall task to run on them, I think the addition of Carlos Hyde will give them more of a steady presence and earn some extra yardage to keep them on schedule. However, I want to focus more on how you can help out Bortles here.

I said last week that all the Jaguars QB does is throw shallow crossers and fade routes. Well, he loves to put it out in front of receivers coming across formations and there are opportunities to give him those easy completions and set up some run-after-the-catch yardage.

The most apparent way to open up one of those is when you get into a tight bunch and have your tight-end as the single guy on the opposite side. The Eagles usually drop into a cover-three to counter that set, putting the corner on that TE side into the deep third. I think the Jags have enough of a vertical threat at that position in Seferian-Jenkins that they can occupy the corner when you let him run down the seams and force one of the linebackers to run with a receiver crossing from that bunch and if that is Dede Westbrook or Keelan Cole, I like that matchup a lot. If they did adjust and roll towards the tight-end side, you can go back to running sail or flood concepts to that trips side again.

I think it makes sense to stack your receivers more often in general because if the Eagles play man-coverage, you make it tough on a cornerback group I don’t have much trust in anyway outside their number one guy, but even more so you can take advantage of how the line up against that stack for the most part.

In this case the Vikings are in an ace set to the right, signaling the strong side, which makes the Eagles bring down Malcolm Jenkins onto one of their tight-ends and shifts their linebackers that way. However, that leaves a ton of space between the guys around the line and those stacked receivers. When you get it out to one of those guys on a simple slip screen and you get that block on the corner, you basically have a one-on-one matchup with that second defender. Off that you can also fake that quick screen and take shots on a fade route or clear out room to work underneath with a vertical route.

You have to punish that man-coverage and force the Eagles defenders to switch responsibilities. When you see Malcolm Jenkins line up over the opposing tight-end they are either in cover-one or he drops into a hook zone. If you want to clearly identify if it’s man or zone, you can use motions and see if someone trails the receiver. Then you can not only force inside-out switches out of bunch and stack sets, you can also do what the Panthers did against them. They got Christian McCaffrey one-on-one with one of their linebackers out of the backfield and they run a simple pick to spring him free on what basically turns into a swing screen.

If I’m Jaguars OC Nathaniel Hackett, I want to get the ball out of Blake’s hands quickly and force the defense to communicate and adjust instead of having his QB scan the field.

And finally, I think Blake Bortles’ ability to run could play a huge role in this contest. We know the Eagles like to blitz a lot and play man-coverage behind it. There is nothing more dangerous against that then having a quarterback get past the initial rush and head upfield. I might not call many actual quarterback draws or whatever, but if there is one thing that he excels at, it is escaping the pocket and scrambling for first downs.

Bortles is sturdy and has a strong lower body. When he doesn’t like his initial read and he sees an opening, I want him to get upfield and gain as much yardage as possible. There have been games where he could barely complete a pass, but at least he kept drives going with his legs.