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Not long ago, the surprising Jacksonville Jaguars held a two-digit second-period lead over the AFC champions New England champions at the time. Blake Bortles and company seemed to be going to the Super Bowl, and then the Patriots did what they always do. They went back into the game by running their opponents and taking advantage of every mistake made by the other team.
One of the mistakes made by the Jags was not aggressive enough, while another allowed Brady to sit relatively slowly in the pocket and choose receivers to which he could pitch the ball. Eventually he did just enough games to win and the Pats represented the AFC at the Super Bowl.
Eight months later, New England is again the favorite of February. The Jaguars are also in this mix and, for the same reason, they found themselves there last year: their defense is only good. Bortles will experience an impoverished harvest of receivers this year compared to the previous one, and even if the offensive line improves, there is no real hope that the Jags will commit an above-average attack. Instead, everything is a matter of controlling the ball, grinding the clock and punishing the opposing offense.
This is the typical strategy against a Patriots machine that has shown that it could outperform the best defenses, so New England will be well prepared to face the jaguars during the rematch (4:25 pm, CBS). . It's one of the flagship games of the Sunday slate of the second week, and it should be exciting to see how it all goes.
When jaguars have the ball
First of all, we do not yet know if Jaguars running back Leonard Fournette will be ready for this game. Fournette suffered a hamstring injury during the Jaguars' Giants victory in Week 1 and has trained so far on a limited basis. He called Thursday as a decision of playing time.
He had thigh problems before and the Jags obviously do not want this one to linger, so it's possible that they'll sit down and wait the third week against the rivals of the division before bringing him back to the field. It is of course possible to win this match especially considering its importance in the AFC playoff race, but Fournette has over imported long-term Jaguars to rush things. If he's ready, they should let him go; but if that is not the case, they should not force it simply because this week's opponent is the favorite to get out of the AFC.
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While this may seem like a major problem for Jags to be without a cookie, this is not necessarily the case. T.J. Yeldon is not the same type of strength as the Jacksonville starter, but he's 6-foot-1 and 223-pound and he's flexible enough to catch the ball out of the backfield. He had 14 carries for just 51 yards against the Giants last week, but he's four yards per career and has caught at least 30 assists in each of his three seasons in the NFL. This is not Fournette, obviously, but he is capable.
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Whether the Fournette is out or not, something that seems likely is an extra dose of catching up Corey Grant. Jaguars offensive coordinator, Nathaniel Hackett, mentioned earlier this week that he wanted Grant to be more involved in the attack, and considering the relative lack of Jacksonville playmakers on the perimeter, which makes a lot of sense. Grant was instrumental in building the first Jags title in the AFC title game, winning three passes for 59 yards in the first half, including two extra-season playoffs that ended with touchdowns. . He is not quite out of the way, but he is staggering in open space, and when you consider that the New England defense finished 22nd of the DVOA in last season's special defeats.
If Fournette does not sit, much of the catch-up infrastructure that helped the Jaguars to take the lead last year will be absent in action for the rematch. Allen Hurns (six catches, 80 yards) is in Dallas. Marquise Lee (six catches, 41 yards) came out for the year with a torn ACL. Marcedes Lewis is on the Packers. Keelan Cole and Dede Westbrook, two of Blake Bortles' top three receivers, had just three passes for 66 yards in the previous game.
Given how the Pats used their corners in the first week (and how Bill Belichick preferred to use his corners), Sunday's media coverage will likely be there. Eric Rowe played face-to-face and covered the positions of Westbrook and Donte Moncrief. Patrick Chung would then occupy the spot, which he did for 78% of the passes against the Pats in Week 1. This means that he will probably see Westbrook most of the time, since he has been Jacksonville's leading player to date.
The battle in the trenches will undoubtedly help to determine whether or not Bortles can keep up, as he has been under pressure throughout his career. The Pats fired him three times and hit him eight more times in the match against the AFC. While he was still able to do some damage before half-time, he played slowly in the second half. Trey Flowers, in particular, was a monster that day, collecting four of the eight New England successes on Bortles. He recovered where he left off in the first week, with 1.5 sacks, two tackles for defeat and three quarterbacks of Texans Deshaun Watson.
When the patriots have the ball
Just like the Jaguars, the Patriots have question marks surrounding those who, exactly, will be healthy Sunday. Jeremy Hill tore his ACL last week and came out for the season. First-round pick Sony Michel is still recovering from a knee injury and was limited in practice all week. Rex Burkhead apparently suffered a concussion at one point and was kept away from Wednesday's training, although he came back on a limited basis Thursday. That leaves James White in good shape for New England and he has mostly operated as a passing passer for most of his career.
Given the strength of the defensive front of the Jaguars and their pass defense in particular, this is not a great sign that the Pats' field of attack is so strong. This is even less a good sign if we consider the number of passersby that Tom Brady used during the AFC victory.
If Burkhead does not play, then 25 of Brady's 38 targets in last season's game are gone, as are 196 of his 290 passing yards. The only remaining targets would be White, Rob Gronkowski, Chris Hogan and Phillip Dorsett. Gronk, as you may have noticed, only had one jack for 21 yards in this competition. Jalen Ramsey covered a big part of the game and it is not surprising that the Jaguars are trying again this strategy, even though they were fifth on the defensive against the defense last season. work. players like Myles Jack, Telvin Smith, Barry Church and Tashaun Gipson.
Brady and Gronk have already defeated the defenses of the elite, and Gronk is open even though he seems not to be, but it's never very wise to launch Ramsey and Gronk being limited, it is not impossible. The question is, where is Brady? Week 1, Dorsett (7-66-1 last week), should know a lot of AJ. Bouye, since it operates mainly as an external receiver. That leaves Hogan in the slot against DJ Hayden, and this seems to be the match that the Patriots will target most of the time – especially if Burkhead can not play and White has to take on the role of backfield and not see so many Targets because he has to save his body to make sure he can run the ball.
It could also be a game where we see what Josh McDaniels and the company have in mind for Cordarrelle Patterson, as the Pats might need another running back and someone capable of creating yards. on smoke roads take advantage of the fact that Ramsey is aligned with Gronk and not in his usual position on the perimeter. Patterson is not a complete player, but there are ways to use his skills so that he is set up to succeed, and there probably has not been any. infrastructure coordinator-quarterback better equipped than that of New England.
Having to resort to a player like Patterson as an integral part of the attack is not a good position, but it could be the reality of New England due to injuries, suspensions (Julian Edelman) and clashes presented in this match. . It would be another story if they could count on their offensive line to keep Brady up all afternoon but that seems unlikely with Calais Campbell, Yannick Ngakoue, Marcell Dareus, Malik Jackson and the company in front of a group that has Lost Attack of last season and see the choice of the first round, Isaiah Wynn, has injured the knee during the pre-season. That said, if there is a team that can take a game that looks bad on paper and that gets its advantage, it is these guys.
Choice: Patriots 23, Jaguars 14
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