Jacksonville Jaguars at San Diego Chargers: Breaking Down San Diego's Game Plan
They are called trap games for a reason.
The San Diego Chargers (2-1) look to continue their success against the Jacksonville Jaguars (0-3), the second-worst team in the NFL, according to Bleacher Report’s Matt Miller. From top to bottom, the Chargers are clearly the better team. The Jaguars are still trying to get rid of the stink of the Blaine Gabbert era. Because of the talent disparity, a loss, or even a close game, would be disappointing for the Chargers.
But it wouldn’t be stunning.
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The Chargers found themselves in a similar situation last year, when in Week 5 they took on the 1-3 Oakland Raiders, a team racing towards the offseason. The Raiders’ only win at that point was against the Jaguars.
San Diego lost, 27-17.
This Chargers team is much different than the 2013 edition, but upsets happen, and San Diego seems to be particularly prone to beating the best and losing to the worst.
That is why sticking to the game plan this week will be vital for the Chargers, a team looking to keep pace with the 2-1 Denver Broncos. For San Diego to win the AFC West, it will have to beat the teams it is supposed to beat.
The Jaguars fall into that category, but their swap at the quarterback position could give them an unexpected boost. That is why we start with the game plan of the Chargers defense, which will be put under the microscope against an intriguing young passer.
Charger defense’s game plan: keep Blake Bortles grounded
Jacksonville is now a team with some hope. Rookie quarterback Blake Bortles will make his first NFL start against the Chargers Sunday, per ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
This is the best and worst thing for San Diego’s chances Sunday.
On one hand, Bortles could be as bad as former starter Chad Henne was. The rookie QB from the University of Central Florida is a very raw prospect, and the Jaguars were originally planning for him to stay on the bench for all of 2014. He still needs to learn the nuances of reading NFL defenses and going through his progressions.
On the other hand, Bortles is a complete wild card, a player with so little on film as to benefit opposing defensive coordinators. He's also big, mobile and appears to be an instinctive quarterback. He should fare better behind the Jaguars’ porous offensive line than Henne did.
That’s why the Chargers’ mantra this week should be “contain the quarterback.” San Diego let quarterback Buffalo's starting quarterback EJ Manuel slip away a couple of times in Week 3, and Bortles is just as athletic as Manuel while offering more upside as a passer. Let’s look at one of his highlights in his debut versus the Indianapolis Colts.
Bortles rolls to his left after faking the handoff to the running back. The Colts read the play well and have him contained, and the only way this can turn into a positive for Jacksonville is if Bortles can make some magic happen with his legs.
Well, it happened. The initial design of the play having now broken down, Bortles evades the first defender and has an angle on getting past the second. He scrambles back to the right side of the field and launches a pass.
First down Jacksonville. If the Jaguars offensive line continues to fall apart, the only way for the offense to generate yardage is through Bortles breaking containment and utilizing the open-field instincts he displayed at UCF and in his first NFL preseason. The Chargers cannot let that happen.
There were instances of the Bills picking up yards when Manuel was able to improvise, but save for one conservative series by defensive coordinator John Pagano, the Chargers’ defense overwhelmed second-year signal-caller through properly timed blitzes and excellent interior pressure from San Diego linemen Corey Liuget and Kendall Reyes.
The interior of the Jags' offensive line has been even worse than Buffalo’s this season, so the Chargers should be in good position to get pressure just through their defensive line. That would allow the linebackers to stay back and limit any big plays Bortles might create with his legs.
Keeping Bortles from extending plays and forcing him to be a pocket passer will be critical for the San Diego defense. As we saw in Bortles' debut, the rookie still has work to do in that department, as he threw two interceptions against the Colts defense.
If the Chargers keep Bortles in the pocket, they minimize the hope of a Jaguars squad desperate for a stunning win. It sounds cold, but to prevent an upset, it’s something San Diego has to keep in mind.
Now we turn to San Diego’s offense, an efficient unit with lingering questions regarding the health of its running backs.
Ryan Mathews and Danny Woodhead are injured—Mathews is out for a few weeks, while Woodhead is out for the season. Third-string running back Donald Brown is averaging 2.0 yards per carry this season. The Jaguars’ chances of upsetting the Chargers become much higher if their defense can ignore the run.
What can San Diego do to get its ground attack going?
Chargers game plan on offense: let the tackles lead the way
Most of San Diego’s highlights versus Buffalo came via the air. Surprise, surprise—Philip Rivers is good.
However, the Chargers have to find some semblance of a running game like they did last December, when Rivers fed Mathews the ball and they won four straight to sneak into the playoffs. That is when San Diego is at its best, and it would be troubling if the team can’t rediscover that form against one of the worst defenses in football.
For the San Diego ground game to get back on track, offensive coordinator Frank Reich will need to scale back on one of his favorite running plays: the draw.
Such a play is good every now and then, but the Chargers have been resorting to it too much. And considering that San Diego’s offensive line is not particularly skilled at blocking for draws, especially on the interior where Rich Ohrnberger and Johnnie Troutman are struggling to even fake pass protection, that's a problem.
The best way to get Brown’s legs pumping and neutralize a Jaguars defense likely focused on stopping Rivers is to lean on the excellent blocking of tackles King Dunlap and D.J. Fluker. The Chargers’ best run versus the Bills, by far, was when both of these players made key blocks to spring Brown for the first down.
Let’s take a look.
If the Chargers are going to punish a defense that’s thinking pass first, they need excellence out of Dunlap and Fluker while Reich uses the draw as a surprise, not a staple of the game plan.
San Diego’s tackles haven’t been flawless—they both have issues in pass protection—and Fluker has disappointed this season after a promising rookie year in 2013. But if he can play up to his potential while Dunlap stays healthy, the Chargers should be able to generate a ground attack.
The Chargers have the best chance of winning on Sunday if they force Bortles to throw from the pocket and start to trust their own running game. Even if both of these game plans fall apart, the talent gap between the two teams makes it tough to think the Jaguars will keep things close.
As long as the Chargers don’t fall asleep at the wheel, they should be looking at a 3-1 record after Sunday's game.
They just need to remember what happened in Week 4 last season at Oakland.
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