How the match-ups favor the Seahawks to beat the (paper) Jaguars
The Jaguars running game isn’t ready for the Seahawks
On the flip side, Jacksonville comes into the game with the number one ranked rushing attack. There’s just one problem there. I’ll turn to Lee again for this. As he writes in his excellent look inside the offensive numbers, Leonard Fournette hasn’t been the same player that started out the season. He’s averaged less than three yards per carry since injuring his ankle a month ago. Jacksonville’s ranking is carried by those earlier games. In the last two weeks, they haven’t even broken the 100 yard mark.
Another factor the Jaguars run game will face is the Seahawks run defense. Since the wild game against the Houston Texans, Seattle hasn’t given up 100 yards rushing to any team. In fact the Eagles, second in the league in rushing, were held to 98 yards. In the three games prior to the whipping Seattle gave them, Philadelphia ran for 197, 215, and 176 yards. I’m not too concerned about the Jaguars running up and down the field on the Seahawks.
And when Jacksonville can’t run, they’ll have to pass. And I’ve already said plenty about the prospects of Blake Bortles against the Legion of Boom. Oh, and I know jaguars aren’t tigers. I also know the Seahawks will beat the rosettes off the Jags this Sunday.
The Jaguars have played a lot of bad quarterbacks
The Jaguars do indeed have an excellent pass defense. But look at the quarterbacks they’ve beaten. They beat Tom Savage and a half of Deshaun Watson in his first pro game. They caught Joe Flacco when his back was in worse shape than Quasimodo’s. Then they shut down Andy Dalton, which most high schools can do now. They defeated Deshone Kizer, an achievement Pop Warner teams wouldn’t even brag about. They knocked off Jacoby Brissett twice.
To their credit, the Jaguars have beaten two good quarterbacks, Ben Roethlisberger and Phillip Rivers. They picked Big Ben off five times, so I’ll give them credit. But that’s not exactly a Hall of Fame class they’ve beaten.
The quarterbacks that got the best of them are a step up, overall. Marcus Mariota, he’s pretty good. Josh McCown is no football god, but he’s a step up from half the guys they beat. Jared Goff, yeah, he can play. And then there’s Blaine Gabbert, the finest quarterback to ever step onto the field. No, I really have no idea what happened there. That one’s on Jacksonville.
The Seahawks have what no one else has: Russell Wilson
Russell Wilson is a step up from the best of that group, a big step up. Jacksonville’s pass defense ranking is inflated by several games against terrible quarterbacks. Overall, the Jaguars have faced some pretty dismal quarterbacks. Four of their wins are against guys who shouldn’t be starting, and another against a player who should have been in traction. Joe Flacco is plenty tough, but it was not a good decision to let him play.
The Jaguars aren’t as good at running the ball as they were earlier in the year, and the Seahawks have improved against the run. They’ve faced a lot of bad quarterbacks, and have been only average against good ones. They’re a good team, not a great one. And they’re about to meet a better team in the Seattle Seahawks.