Can the Jaguars Solve Offensive Issues With An Up-Tempo Approach?

Would no-huddle fix a broken Jacksonville Jaguars offense? It has the potential to.

Sep 15, 2024; Jacksonville, Florida, USA; Jacksonville Jaguars running back D'Ernest Johnson (2) runs against the Cleveland Browns in the fourth quarter at EverBank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeremy Reper-Imagn Images / Jeremy Reper-Imagn Images

In the midst of one of the worst offensive games of Doug Pederson's tenure as head coach, the Jacksonville Jaguars may have found a fix for their broken unit.

After being dominated by the Cleveland Browns' defense for much of the 18-13 loss in Week 2, the Jaguars' offense finally began to click late in the second-half.

As for why the Jaguars were so much better later in the game than in the first half, when they had just 16 passing yards, Pederson had an idea.

“I don't know. I guess we went a little up-tempo. I think just the tempo really. Just executed with our backs against the wall," Pederson said after the game.

With the Jaguars' offense on the ropes and averaging just 15 points per game during the first two weeks of the season, could increasing the tempo be a potential remedy? For an offense that is looking for answers, it couldn't hurt.

The simple fact is the Jaguars' have been better when going up-tempo throughout the course of Trevor Lawrence's career. It has rarely been a staple of the offense, but perhaps that changes now that the Jaguars are scratching and clawing for points.

“Yeah, I think it's good. I think it's good to get and stay in a rhythm. If you start kind of rolling on offense and you hit a couple of plays, it's always nice getting on the ball and going and attacking the defense," Lawrence said on Thursday.

"You feel like you get them on their heels a little bit because that's hard. You're playing a defense, and they're used to you huddling every play. They can huddle. They can get set; they can get their call. You get up to the line, you're snapping it with less than 10 seconds every time on the clock. It's just that same repetitive rhythm, but then when a team goes up-tempo, it changes for the defense, and they have to get their calls in faster."

But what about no-huddle and up-tempo exactly helps an offense? For one, it keeps the defense from dialing up some of their most exotic looks, which was especially true against the Browns.

But will it work on Monday Night Football against the Buffalo Bills?

"A lot of times it simplifies defensive calls because you've got to play fast. You can't try to do all these funky coverages and pressures or whatever because the ball is about to be snapped, and you've got to communicate that across the board. A lot of times you'll see defenses kind of simplify it and there's some defenses that are better than others at playing against tempo," Lawrence said.

"You look at a team like Buffalo, I actually think they're pretty good at it because their offense does a good amount of it. They've been running the same scheme for a long time so they can get in and out of calls pretty quickly. It depends on the week who you're playing. I'm not saying that it's going to affect our game plan or what we're going to do or not going to do, but a lot goes into it. I think tempo is great. I've always loved that, really my whole time playing. I've been a fan of it.”

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