The Jacksonville Jaguars head into their Week 5 matchup with the Kansas City Chiefs with a 3-1 record. Raise your hand if you thought before the season that the Jags would be the team with the better record in this game.
A big reason for their success so far is their ground game, led by running back Travis Etienne. Etienne has been just okay since being drafted in the first round of the 2021 NFL Draft. But this year, head coach Liam Coen has brought a new approach and it’s working. The Jags are now ranked 4th in the NFL in rushing, which is a huge improvement from last year, when they were 26th.
A big reason for the turnaround has been the emphasis on wide receivers blocking.
“I was kind of taught that back in high school,” wide receiver Dyami Brown said Thursday. “My coach drove us to that. He always said, ‘No block, no rock.’ But, it kind of falls into place like that. When you make plays in the run game, somehow the ball comes to you and finds you in the pass game.”
Jacksonville Jaguars’ wide receivers have to block if they want the ball
Many times in the NBA, when a big man makes a play on the defensive end of the floor – with maybe a block or a rebound – and it starts a fast break, you’ll often times see the big get rewarded with a layup on the other end. It’s a little reward for doing the dirty work on defense.
With the Jaguars and their wide receivers, that translates to blocking in the running game. Do the dirty work and get rewarded with some targets.
“If we want the ball, we have to block,” first-round pick Travis Hunter said. “If you want the ball, you have to go block. They’re not going to draw plays for you if you’re not giving effort in every aspect.”
Jacksonville Jaguars running game has carried the offense
The Jags are averaging 144 yards rushing after averaging 101.7 last season, and Etienne is leading the way with 394 yards and two touchdowns. He’s averaging 6.1 yards per carry (tops in the NFL) and is third in the NFL in rushing. Not bad for a guy who was the subject of trade rumors all offseason.
That’s great, but the problem is that they have to run that well to win, because the passing game surely isn’t doing much. Hunter has yet to break out and Brian Thomas is having a sophomore slump after a phenomenal rookie year.
The problem continues to be quarterback Trevor Lawrence. He’s in his fifth year and we’re still talking about his progress. Year five for the No. 1-overall draft pick isn’t when we should be discussing development and doing the little things. But, here we are.
“When you kind of zoom out and see where we started in the spring, where he was in training camp and where he is, you see bits of progress show up,” offensive coordinator Grant Udinski said. “It’s not going to be linear where everything’s going to be perfect in a straight line going from where we started to what we’re going to. There are going to be ups and downs.
“He knows that, we know that, but you see the progress show up in bits and pieces. The goal is to continue to build on that progress and hopefully January, February we’re saying the same thing about where we are there relative to know that we say now, relative to the spring.
“If we continue to keep building the way we’re building, I’m confident that that improvement will continue to come.”
Honestly, it sounds like something someone would say about Cam Ward. If the Jags want to continue to their pace this year, they’ll need Lawrence to get in gear – if he even can. Until then, the running game is going to have to carry the offense.
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