JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The Jaguars have had their fair share of pass-rushing woes. This past weekend was a perfect example of those struggles, tallying zero sacks against the Denver Broncos. As good as the opposing offensive line is, the Jags’ rather expensive defensive front did little to knock quarterback Bo Nix off script.
The Jaguars’ defensive line was a concern for many coming into the season and their performance thus far likely hasn’t swayed those opinions. With that said, let’s dissect the Jaguars’ pass-rush.
For starters, let’s begin with the more stereotypical numbers from the NFL’s NextGenStats. The Jaguars rank 25th in pressure rate (31.7%), 7th in sack % (8.3%), and 17th in average time-to-pressure (2.64s).
Admittedly, those numbers are kinda all over the place and don’t really offer a good feel for how good (or bad) the Jags’ pass-rush really is. What doesn’t help their cause, however, is that Travon Walker is the only Jaguars’ player to have five or more pressures (8) and the only one to have multiple quick pressures (2) through Week 2.
To add insult to injury, the Jaguars’ ace Josh Hines-Allen currently has a career-low 9.3% pressure rate, the only season of his NFL career below 10.0%. He’s tallied just four pressures on 43 pass-rush snaps thus far.
Similarly, the Jaguars’ defensive tackles are having their own struggles. Pro Football Focus has the Jaguars with the second fewest pressures (6) from the defensive tackle position in the NFL.
Their pass-rush win rates fare even worse as DaVon Hamilton’s 4.5% ranks 81st among defensive tackles, while Ruke Orhorohoro and Arik Armstead rank dead last at 0.0%.
Knowing all of this, how is it possible to think anything other than that the Jaguars boast one of the NFL’s worst defensive lines, despite it being one of the more expensive?
Well, against Cleveland, the Jaguars terrorized Deshaun Watson, pressuring him on 44.8% of his dropbacks and gathering five sacks. Just a week later against the Broncos, Jacksonville’s pressure rate dropped to just 19.4% alongside zero sacks.
Is Denver’s offensive line that good? Are the Browns really that bad? What’s the deal? How is there such a big difference in week-to-week performance for the Jaguars’ pass-rush.
Well, Watson held the ball for 3.04 seconds on average. Of his 22 attempts, 16 came after the benchmark 2.5 second mark. There was a lot of time for the Jags’ pass-rush to get after him and that they did.
Against the Broncos, Nix held the ball for 2.74 seconds on average, considerably less time than Watson, but nothing that would be labeled as an outlier. The Jaguars’ pass-rush wasn’t good, but Denver utilized quick passes and play-action rollouts to further take the Jacksonville front out of the game.
The Broncos offensive line does happen to also be just that good. Last year, Denver ranked second in pressure rate allowed (27.6%) and first in sack rate allowed (3.6%). Conversely, Cleveland ranked dead last in pressure rate allowed (46.0%).
According to Pro Football Focus, Garrett Bolles is among the NFL’s best pass-protectors through two weeks, allowing zero pressures on 69 pass-blocking snaps. His 96.9% pass-block win rate ranks third among offensive tackles.
Anthony Campanile and the Jaguars also send less than four rushers more often than any other team in the NFL. It’s partially why Hines-Allen, Walker, and Armstead all rank above average in double-teams, per Pro Football Focus.
Even so, the Jaguars’ pass-rush simply hasn’t been good enough for quite some time now.
Jacksonville should be as good at rushing the passer as the Broncos are protecting. And they just haven’t been.
On dropbacks longer than 2.5 seconds, the Jags still only rank 28th in pressure rate (38.1%).
The unfortunate bit is, the Jaguars are the most efficient team in the NFL when they do pressure the quarterback… for the second year in a row. It just doesn’t happen nearly often enough for a line featuring Hines-Allen, Walker, Armstead, and company.
Over the last four seasons, the Jaguars have ranked 29th, 30th, 27th, and 28th in sack %. Even in a season where Hines-Allen and Walker totaled 27.5 sacks, the Jags ranked just 27th in sack %. The Jags’ defense remains solid, particularly in run-defense, but the pass-rush has to come along. It would turn a good defense into a great one.
>>> STREAM ACTION SPORTS JAX 24/7 LIVE <<<
[DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks]
[SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter]
Click here to download the free Action News Jax apps, click here to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and click here to stream Action Sports Jax 24/7 live.
