Jaguars defensive pressure almost folded the edges of the Vikings' play-action passing game during Sunday's 27-24 overtime win. And with the blitz-happy Buccaneers up next, coordinator Gary Kubiak and his coaching staff need more ways to clear throwing lanes for Kirk Cousins.
Cousins is taking a beating. He's never taken more hits — 30 — over a three-game span in his NFL career, including Sunday's career-worst 14 hits by a Jaguars defense that was struggling to sack anybody entering the game. Half of the hits came while being blitzed on 34.7% of his dropbacks, an aggressive rate Jacksonville typically doesn't reach.
"We tried to get Kirk to throw the ball and get pressure in his face, and not let him have a lot of time to throw to the receivers they've got," Jaguars linebacker Joe Schobert said, "and I think we were able to execute that for the most part."
Cousins overcame some issues, the "miscommunication" that led to a pick-six off a throw Dalvin Cook wasn't seeking, a botched snap, a botched handoff, and handled the heat better in the third quarter when Kubiak's play-calling seemingly caught up. Cousins minimized some of the damage, with a 10-yard run and throwing away passes, but he still took a season-worst four sacks, including two while holding the ball too long.
"He's done really well," coach Mike Zimmer said. "We're getting a lot of [pressure] based on them getting extra guys in there to try and set edges on Cook and things like that. But I think he's done good. He took some shots [Sunday] and hung in there and made some great throws. So he's been under a little bit of duress the last two weeks. We have an opportunity to slow some of that down by some of the things we're doing."
1. Typically open play-action bootlegs were cut off by an aggressive Jaguars defense that often deployed a six-wide front on early downs. It combatted the Vikings' outside zone running game and its deep play-action throws. Jacksonville tried, and largely succeeded, to fold the edges of those perimeter runs and bootlegs.
Throughout the game, the "field" side bookend of the six-wide front, Jaguars linebacker Joe Giles-Harris (#43) on this first down below, attacked downhill, either cutting off a run or blitzing Cousins. The "boundary" side bookend, safety Josh Jones (#29), read run or pass and bailed into coverage if necessary. "Field" side means the largest side to defend, so with the ball on the right hash mark, it's the offense's left.
Many of Jacksonville's "blitzes" were these six-wide fronts turning into five-man pressures, trigged by the Vikings' play-action passing.