Blake Bortles was the key offensive weapon for the Jaguars as they won their wildcard matchup with the Bills, 10-3, in a defensive showdown, and earned a rematch with the Steelers in the divisional round of the AFC playoffs.
While Bortles did throw for the only touchdown of the game, he also ran for more yards than he threw. His 88 rushing yards led the Jaguars against the Bills' 29th-ranked rushing defense and was the biggest element of their offense in the team's first playoff win since 2007. We take a look at how it was effective and how it could hurt the Steelers next week:
While the Bills came in with a plan to stop Leonard Fournette and the Jaguars' running backs, they lost their gap discipline against Bortles when he dropped back to pass. Fournette gained 57 yards on 21 rushes for an average of 2.7 yards with no scores.
The Jaguars didn't score until their last drive of the first half, when Bortles scrambled them into field goal range to tie the game at 3-3. That kick was set up largely by Bortles' 12-yard scramble to the Bills 21.
Watch how the Bills use a five-man rush to pressure Bortles, but have their blitz backfire when the quarterback escapes the pocket and gains the first down. Bortles manages to rush around the edge due to Kyle Williams' inability to keep his outside shoulder free and force him back to the inside:
The Bills' pass rush was designed to pressure the inexperienced but athletic Bortles and confuse him enough to lose track of his progressions of looking for his receivers. That plan worked, as Bortles only completed 12 passes on 23 attempts for 87 yards. He also got sacked twice and lost 12 yards, but when Bortles stopped reading what was happening down the field, he often went to his legs to solve his problems.
Here we can again see when Bortles gave up on his progressions and resorted to scrambling in order to pick up the first down. Watch again how the Bills rush Bortles and you see Jerry Hughes, No. 55, drive his man far into the pocket, but in doing so, he gives up his contain responsibility. That's when Bortles rolls around the very edge Hughes was supposed to maintain:
Not long after this scramble, Bortles was able to work the Jaguars down into the red zone where he completed a fourth-down play-action pass for a touchdown to tight end Ben Koyack. Bortles ended up making these plays to extend both the Jaguars' scoring drives.
The Steelers will most certainly be looking at that game's tape and making sure to pay attention to their gap integrity. Fortunately for the Steelers, they have done a good job all season long at just this assignment.
Our own Dale Lolley wrote about the Steelers' issues with containing mobile quarterbacks while employing more man coverage schemes. While the Steelers have allowed the fewest quarterback scrambles of any team in the league (38) and the sixth-fewest quarterback rushing yards (169), they did give up 61 yards on six rushes to DeShone Kizer in their last game of the season.
As Lolley wrote, much of that had to do with the Steelers' use of new blitz schemes and increased frequency of man coverage schemes.
The problem with man coverage when it comes to mobile quarterbacks is that it often leaves the pass rushers isolated without any backup while the rest of the defense focuses purely on the receivers. If a mistake in gap integrity occurs, there's nobody to limit the quarterback when he is able to leave the pocket and exploit the mistake.
Take Kizer as an example on this play, when he scrambles through the middle of the Steelers' pass rush and converts a third-and-long situation. Both T.J. Watt and Bud Dupree do a solid job of maintaining the edges of the pocket and keeping Kizer from roaming, but Stephon Tuitt is the man in the middle of the pass rush who opens up the rushing lane:
Kizer is a good deal faster than Bortles, but he is another young quarterback who doesn't read defenses proficiently and has to rely on his legs to make plays. Considering that the Steelers had the week off and have already faced Bortles, it is reasonable to expect them to be prepared for this situation.
While the Steelers have been running plenty of man schemes on defense as they adapt to the absence of Ryan Shazier and prepare for the chance to beat the Patriots in the playoffs, this game might be the perfect time to employ more zone schemes. Zone schemes are more difficult to process for lower-tier quarterbacks and can lead to more mistakes.
That would also allow for more assistance from patrolling linebackers like Vince Williams and Sean Spence as they switch from playing underneath zones and spying on the quarterback. While the Steelers will have their hands full with the Jaguars' defense, the Steelers' defense will be working to stop multiple elements of the Jaguars' ground game.
