3 Defensive Keys for the Jaguars Against the Texans and Deshaun Watson
The Jacksonville Jaguars (1-3) are heading to Houston to face the winless Texans but with a rash of injuries that has patch-worked the secondary. The Texans may be 0-4 and have just fired general manager and head coach Bill O’Brian, but they are still led by Deshaun Watson.
How much of the Jags game plan is based on Watson and how much is based on themselves? Well, a little of both. Middle linebacker Joe Schobert and Defensive Coordinator Todd Wash explain in these three defensive keys for the Jacksonville Jaguars against the Houston Texans.
Contain Deshaun Watson
“Around here, we say when that rooster gets loose, he’s going to hurt you.”
That’s how Wash describes what Watson can do if you let him out of the pocket.
Containing Deshaun Watson is of course, easier said than done. While the four year quarterback is decidedly in the middle of the pack in all quarterback statistical rankings thus far, it’s his versatility and unpredictability that make him such a unique threat.
As Pro Football Focus wrote of Watson before the season began, “Watson’s high-risk, high-reward style pays off more often than not, but it’s still leading to too many games in which his poor play is too much for Houston to overcome.”
So how can the Jags force the former first round pick—who is completing 65.5% of his passes and averaging 273 yards per game—into that poor play?
“You just have to try to keep him confined in space,” says Schobert.
"When he gets outside the pocket, he gets dangerous and when he does, you have to be able to take good angles to get him down because he’s elusive. He’s a good athlete and he makes a lot of people miss tackles. So, taking good [a] angle and trusting [that] the other people on the defense are going to be right behind you. When you get there, you can’t take your time. You have to shoot your shot. If he makes you miss, at least you hope to make him stop his feet and somebody else is going to be right there.
“You just really have to dot your I’s and cross your T’s when you’re facing an athlete of his caliber because there’s not a lot of guys in the game of football who can single-handedly change the game. Quarterback is one of the positions where [if] you have a guy of his caliber, they can affect the game, so, as a defense, you really have to be on your P’s and Q’s.”
Can Josh Allen (41) pressure Watson (4) into bad mistakes on Sunday? Mandatory Credit: Steve Flynn--USA TODAY Sports
“He’s a true dual threat,” adds Wash.
Watson’s rushing numbers have been drastically down so far this season—he’s averaging around 11 yards less per game on the ground—his ability to break free at any point has Wash planning on keeping the quarterback in front of him.
“We’re going to do everything we can to try to make him a pocket passer. We’ve got to keep him in the pocket…we’ve got to keep him contained with our four-, five-, six-man pressures that we have on third down. But the biggest one is first and second down. The timing throws, we need to have good pressure from our corners, getting hands on people, try to disrupt some of the timing, and let him really feel the rush. If we can do that, I think we can control him.
“But with that being said…if you’re constantly talking about, ‘Hey, let’s keep him in the pocket, let’s keep him in the pocket,’ all we’re going to do is run right down the middle of people and stare at them. So, there’s a really fine balance of how much you can bring, how—chances or whatever you can say as a rusher—to keep him in the pocket. But we have to be smart and keep him in the pocket, but yet still get after him.”
The Jaguars pass rush has been a point of contention through the first four weeks as they’ve been unable to consistently get to the quarterback.
Take Advantage of the Same Looks
IN the Week 4 loss against the Cincinnati Bengals, the Jags defense did relatively well stopping the run in the first half, keeping Joe Burrow and crew to 46 yards on the ground. In the second half however? Jacksonville gave up 159 rushing yards, including two rushing touchdowns to running back Joe Mixon.
To add insult to injury, film session revealed the Bengals weren’t necessarily doing anything different. It was the Jaguars who gave up a play they’d already stopped.
“Wash came in on Tuesday I guess [and said] they had four runs for 90 yards I think in the second half,” recalls Schobert, before continuing, “we faced all four of those runs in the first half and they had a combined 7 yards. So, it’s just misalignments or misfits on a couple of plays that really hurt and obviously Joe Mixon’s a great running back and was able to take advantage.”
The Texans fired their head coach, meaning they have little time to retool the entire offense before the next game. They will either throw the entire playbook out and let Deshaun Watson run whatever he wants to run (highly unlikely) or parse it down to a manageable game plan for an interim head coach to call (much more likely). If the latter is the case, the Jaguars are bound to see many of the same looks. The key will be recognizing this and not overdoing the job to the point of being out a place on a play you know you can stop.
Next Man Up
In total there were 17 guys that appeared on the Jaguars Thursday practice injury report. Three of those were scheduled days off. Of the 14 then left over, seven are on defense. One of those is nickel D.J. Hayden who has now officially been on IR. Jarrod Wilson was on the report as well and he slowly returns after his stint on the IR list.
Defensive end Josh Allen did not practice, while corner CJ Henderson and linebacker Myles Jack—and Wilson—were limited.
None of that matters though on Sunday. Whoever is on the field will be whoever is responsible for doing their part according to Schobert.
“I mean obviously injuries don’t help, but in the NFL, as every coach will ever tell you, is a next man up mentality and that breeds true in every sense of the word. So, you can’t really use that as an excuse and then I think everybody on defense will take it on the second half.”
The Jaguars have the youngest team in the league and after Henderson was injured on Sunday, were playing rookie Chris Claybrooks opposite second year Tre Herndon at outside corner.
Adds Wash, “You know, we’ve got some younger guys in the stable that we’re really going to be able to take a look at during the week and also on Sunday. Houston’s got a lot of talented wide receivers, in my opinion they’re about five deep, and they’re doing some things to get all four or five of them on the field at the same time. So, we’ve got to be able to match that athleticism and we’re going to be able to take a look at some guys this week.”
