PERSONNEL NEWS

Strategy And Personnel

The Sports Xchange

October 18, 2018 at 12:09 am.

PLAYER NOTES

–RB Leonard Fournette ran in practice on Monday but did not practice on Wednesday. He’ll be evaluated further on Thursday and Friday according to head coach Doug Marrone.

–RB T.J. Yeldon did not practice on Wednesday due to foot/ankle injury.

–C Brandon Linder and OG Andrew Norwell skipped the Wednesday practice as they have done each of the past several Wednesdays. Both are expected back to practice on Thursday.

–DE Calais Campbell did not practice on Wednesday as he rested an injured ankle.

–RT Jermey Parnell was limited in practice on Wednesday due to a knee injury.

–TE James O’Shaughnessy was limited in practice on Wednesday with a hip injury.

–QB Blake Bortles has a combined 113.1 passer rating in his last six home games. He has thrown for at least 300 yards in four of those six games and has thrown 13 TD passes and just two INTs.

–K Josh Lambo will set a franchise record of 21 consecutive made field goals if he connects on his next two attempts.

–LB Telvin Smith has recorded a team-high 49 tackles this season and passed former Jaguars LB Akin Ayodele (489) on the team’s all-time tackles list. With four tackles on Sunday against Houston, Smith will become the eighth player in team history to record at least 500 tackles.

–WR Keelan Cole has scored a touchdown in four of his last six home games. The Jaguars are undefeated when Cole scores (4-0) and 7-1 when he has at least 50 receiving yards.

–P Logan Cooke has placed 51.7 percent of his punts inside the 20-yard line, the highest percentage by a Jaguars punter in franchise history.

PLAYER SPOTLIGHT: CB A.J. Bouye is getting picked on by opposing quarterbacks and last year’s Pro Bowl participant is not responding well. Teams tend to stay away from Jalen Ramsey, the Jaguars All-Pro first-team cornerback in 2017. That’s left plenty of passes sent Bouye’s way and he hasn’t performed like he did a year ago when he tied for third in the NFL with six interceptions. He also was credited with breaking up 18 passes a year ago. Bouye has just one interception and four passes defensed in the Jaguars’ first six games thus far. More important, wide receivers are having their way against him. In the last two weeks the Jaguars secondary has allowed 25 completions for 307 yards to wide receivers, with a high number of both marks coming at the expense of Bouye.

GAME PLAN: In all likelihood, Leonard Fournette will be out again this week which greatly hampers the Jaguars running game and keeps them from their first desire, that being to run the ball. T.J. Yeldon missed Wednesday’s practice with an ankle injury and while he should be ready to go by Sunday, he could be sent to the sideline with one solid hit on the ankle. That forces the Jaguars to go with a passing game more than they would like. And with Blake Bortles not playing his best ball, and the receivers and offensive line not giving him the help he needs, it puts the Jaguars offense in a predicament. They’ll likely revert to another short passing game with slants to receivers across the middle and short throws to running backs. Jaamal Charles was a disappointment last week and doesn’t appear to have the skill set he once had that enabled him to average five yards a carry.

Defensively, look for the Jaguars to apply plenty of pressure on Houston quarterback Deshaun Watson against a Texans’ offensive line that has had done a shabby job of protecting their quarterback. The Texans ground game doesn’t appear to be a threat so look for the Jaguars to go with a nickel formation for much of the game, with more blitzes than they’ve shown up until now.
MATCHUPS TO WATCH

–Texans OL vs. Jaguars DL. It’s two groups going against each other, both looking to make amends from a slow start at this juncture. The Texans line has not done a good job in protecting QB Deshaun Watson. He has been sacked a league-high 25 times in six games, including seven sacks last week along with 12 hits by a Buffalo defense that is not among the league’s elite. It’s a line that just a year ago allowed the Jaguars a franchise-record 10 sacks on opening week. The Jaguars Calais Campbell had four of those sacks en route to his career-best of 14.5 sacks for the season. But Campbell has started slowly this season, recording just four sacks in the team’s first six games. The entire defensive front is well behind last year’s near franchise-record pace of 55 sacks (3.4 per game) with just 14 sacks to date (2.3 average). The Jaguars defensive front may look to take out their frustration on a Texans line that has struggled all season.

–Texans DE J.J. Watt vs. Jaguars Ts. It’s not been a productive six games by Jaguars tackles thus far. Right tackle Jermey Parnell has at least stayed in the lineup for every play. While he’s stayed relatively healthy, Parnell continues to struggle against speed rushers which is what he’ll encounter this week when Watt lines up on Parnell’s outside. If Watt lines up on the other side, he could be in for a big game against Jaguars third-string tackle Josh Walker who is playing because the two tackles ahead of him, Cam Robinson and Josh Wells, both suffered season-ending injuries and are now on injured reserve. To bolster this spot, the Jaguars signed free agent Ereck Flowers who was released by the New York Giants. Flowers was inactive for the Jaguars last week having just signed with the team, but he could possibly be in the starting lineup this Sunday. Watt has feasted on Jacksonville in his career. In 11 games against the Jaguars he has totaled 14.5 sacks, knocked down nine passes, gotten in on 58 tackles and recorded one safety. He started slowly this year but has now recorded seven sacks (tied for the NFL’s high), all coming in his last four games. He played all but eight defensive snaps last week against Buffalo.

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