JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The Jaguars started the year off hot in the trenches. For the first four weeks, the Jaguars looked like one of, if not, the top offensive lines in football and Travon Walker looked to be on pace to continue his streak of 10+ sacks.
Just a few weeks later and suddenly the Jaguars seemingly are fielding one of the worst offensive lines in football. On the other side of the ball, Travon Walker, Josh Hines-Allen and the rest of the pass-rush have been more or less rendered obsolete.
How quickly the world of the National Football League can change.
Offensive Line
For quite some time, the Jaguars were ranked inside the top two teams in both pressure rate allowed and sacks allowed. As it stands today, the once great unit has fallen all the way down to ninth in pressure % allowed (31.1%) and 21st in sack % (7.6%).
Quarterback play and other factors certainly play a part, but the difference from earlier in the season is night and day. Over the course of the first four weeks, the Jaguars allowed a league-leading 21.7% pressure rate, according to NextGenStats.
Since then, however, the Jaguars have allowed a staggering 38.9% pressure rate. That’s nearly double the pressure rate from earlier in the season. Twenty three sacks over the last five games certainly doesn’t help either. Whether it’s penalties, drops, or sacks, there’s just far too many mistakes for this team to overcome on a consistent basis.
Defensive Line
What was once one of the most vaunted pass-rushing duos has all but faded as Josh Hines-Allen and Travon Walker haven’t made the impact many expected so far this season.
Through nine games, the pair have just four combined sacks. That’s a far cry from the 27.5 sacks they put up in 2023.
As a whole, the Jaguars rank 23rd in pressure rate (32.0%) and 32nd in sack rate (3.2%). As Coen noted after the Texans game, the team has just been unable to get to the passer when rushing four. Unsurprisingly, the data backs it up as the Jaguars are just 28th in pressure rate when not blitzing.
Overview
There’s a lot wrong with this football team at the moment. Each of the last four games is evidence enough of the team’s current struggles. Unfortunately, in some ways, the team seems without a fix, especially in the trenches
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