Cleveland Browns vs. Jacksonville Jaguars: Breaking Down the Jaguars Game Plan

After six straight losses and a heartbreaking defeat at the hands of the Tennessee Titans, it’s no secret that the Jacksonville Jaguars badly need to put together a winning performance in Week 7.

The Jaguars will host the Cleveland Browns on Sunday. The Browns (3-2) have had a good season, but have struggled in their own way. If the Jaguars want to win, they’ll have to attack the Browns' weaknesses.

Let’s take a look at the strategy Jacksonville head coach Gus Bradley should have headed into this week’s matchup. 

Offense

If the Jaguars are going to beat the Browns, they’ll need to attack the Browns with their rushing attack.

Currently, the Browns are allowing 149.6 rushing yards per game. Meanwhile, the Jaguars have struggled on the ground, averaging a mere 69.5 yards per game.

Last week the Jaguars gave rookie running back Storm Johnson the starting nod. At times Johnson looked like a veteran back, but at others he looked like a rookie who was unsure of himself.

Let’s take a look at one of Johnson’s really nice plays.

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In the above play, the Jaguars are lined up in a single-back formation. As you’ll notice, the defense is set up in an offset 4-3 defense with the linebackers shifted to create a better edge rush.

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As Blake Bortles hikes the ball, Johnson takes the ball toward the right A-gap. What we see is that Johnson is running into congestion as left guard Zane Beadles struggles to contain his opponent. 

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Using great vision, Johnson cuts back to the left side and exploits an empty gap for a gain of seven yards.

What Johnson possesses that we haven’t seen from the other backs so far is vision. He sees holes and he’s not afraid to trust his instincts. If we continue to see this style of running from him against the Browns, he'll eventually break out.  

Defense

In an odd coincidence, the Jaguars' key to defense is just the opposite of their offensive strategy. In this case, the Jaguars will need to stop the run.

The Browns feature an offense with a three-headed rushing attack that averages 146.4 yards per game. On the other side, the Jaguars are allowing 117.2 yards per game, which ranks 19th in the league.

According to Pro Football Focus (subscription required), the Jaguars rank 28th in the league in run defense with a grade of minus-17.8.

As a group, the Jaguars linebackers have missed 18 tackles this season (according to Pro Football Focus), which is a big factor in the team’s inability to stop the run. Moreover, the Jaguars missed 15 as a team against the Titans. Pathetic. 

If the team hopes to contain Ben Tate, Isaiah Crowell and Terrance West, it has to do so by making form tackles and maintaining gap discipline.

In other words, the Jaguars need to go back to the basics. 

Conclusion 

I know this is the Browns, but this isn’t the Browns team we’ve all come to know. This team is a winning bunch that will put a lot of pressure on this young Jacksonville team.

It will be up to Bradley to make sure his team is in the best possible situation to win, and this week that means not forcing Bortles to throw over 40 times like he did last week against Tennessee. 

For once, let’s hope the Jaguars’ running game can come through in a crucial situation.

*All stats courtesy NFL.com unless otherwise noted. 

*Game images are courtesy NFL Game Rewind, subscription required.