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Herding Cats: Analyzing the Jacksonville Jaguars Offense vs the New England Patriots

By Matthew Rewinski

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TJ Yeldon, Running Back

Sep 20, 2015; Jacksonville, FL, USA; Jacksonville Jaguars running back T.J. Yeldon (24) runs past Miami Dolphins cornerback Brent Grimes (21) during the second half of an NFL Football game at EverBank Field. The Jacksonville Jaguars won 23-20. Mandatory Credit: Reinhold Matay-USA TODAY Sports

Pop quiz: one running back goes to college for three years, and grinds out 582, 1,007, and 914-yard seasons before declaring for the draft at 21 years old.  Another running back also goes to college for three years, racking up 1,108, 1,235, and 979 yards in three seasons, and declares for the NFL draft, also at age 21.

Running back #1 is Jaguars icon Maurice Jones-Drew, and the second one is 2015 second-round pick T.J Yeldon, who piled up all the stats I just mentioned on the 2012-14 Alabama Crimson Tide.  More impressive than that, Yeldon also had double-digit touchdowns ineach of his three seasons in Tuscaloosa, while splitting carries with Eddie Lacy (2012) and Derrick Henry (2014).

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But who wants to relive college, though? (Okay, all of us, but that’s not the point).  Yeldon only got 12 carries for 51 yards against Carolina in Week 1, but wound up with 25 touches against Miami last weekend. While 2.8 yards per attempt might seem a bit more Trent Richardson than Eddie Lacy (what IS IT with these Crimson Tide running backs?!), running a 21-year-old at Miami’s Free Agency All-Star defensive line in his second ever NFL game reminds me of the scene in Gears of War where Marcus and the guys call for support, and Colonel Hoffman’s response is “Support?! You ARE the support, son!”

(Oh, come on, don’t tell me I’m the only one who enjoyed chopping aliens in half with a chainsaw gun)

Who Can Stop Him?

Last week, New England gave up 89 yards to LeSean McCoy, 43 yards to Tyrod Taylor, and 21 to Karlos Williams, plus a Percy Harvin 7-yard carry, for a surely Belichick-irking total of 160 yards on the ground. As Yeldon’s only played in two NFL games, there isn’t a whole lot of tape on the kid to study either, so even though New England has been watching Jaguars video since April, he’s still a bit of a wild card in terms of the Patriots’ preparation.

New England mixed it up with quite a few defensive line fronts against Buffalo, but a lot of them were clearly designed to stop the Bills from pounding the football, which we all know is Rex Ryan’s second-favorite thing to do. The magic number, apparently, was five – meaning three down linemen and two guys playing the edge standing up.  One example was Alan Branch, Sealver Siliga, and Malcom Brown with their hands in the dirt, and then Jabaal Sheard and Dont’a Hightower standing up.  Another such mutation of this was Siliga and Branch on the line with Chandler Jones, which allowed Rob Ninkovich and Jamie Collins to play the edge.  With middle linebacker Jerod Mayo only logging 16 snaps, if this young bunch of front-seven players can keep Yeldon from popping through holes and getting outside, the kid might see his yards-per-carry dip below even Trent Richardson numbers.

(Sorry, it was just too easy.)

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