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In the very early stages of OTAs for the Jacksonville Jaguars, the defense has the advantage.
In the very early stages of the Jacksonville Jaguars being back on the practice field for team drills, the defense has the advantage.
However, that is to be expected and is a common occurrence around the NFL during this portion of the offseason.
“I’m not diminishing what they have to learn defensively. There are a lot of calls, a lot of different fundamentals, communication that has to occur,” Liam Coen said via Jacksonville.com. “I think, naturally, you would say that offensively there’s a lot more that ends up maybe slowing you down pre-snap and post-snap. But I would hope that the defense would be a little further ahead, to be honest with you.”
As Liam Coen put it, the offense is still in the “learning phase,” attempting to translate what they’ve studied in the playbook and discussed in the meeting rooms to the football field.
It’s one thing to know what to do on paper or on the whiteboard; it’s another to be able to replicate it when everything on the field is moving a million miles an hour and the defense is throwing different looks at you.
Trevor Lawrence would say that this is an offense that he likes a lot and provides him with answers, but it also “puts a lot on the players,” which can mean there is a steeper learning curve.
So with that came an up-and-down performance from the offense during Monday’s first OTA practice, which included some interceptions and the ball being put on the ground. In one respect, the offense has things to clean up, but it’s also a credit to the defense for making the offense uncomfortable and coming up with the takeaways.
“I thought just from a communication standpoint, punching the ball out,” Coen said via Big Cat Country. “Doing it in the right way, though. We had a couple of guys trying to be intentional about getting the ball out and getting their hands on the football, something that we’re actively trying to be intentional about this whole offseason.
“I thought the defensive staff has done a great job of communicating that in the meeting settings, bringing it out to the practice field. I thought they did a nice job setting the line of scrimmage, playing with length on the D line. The ball was out.”
Defensive coordinator Anthony Campanile is going to implement a malleable scheme, one that is quick to adjust based on what the opponent is doing and also mold to the skill sets that he has on the roster.
However, while the system obviously matters, priority No. 1 for Campanile, as he described earlier this offseason, is making sure that his defense has the right play style.
“The most important thing when you talk about defense is your play style,” said Campanile. “My vision for us defensively, we want to be a tough, fast, physical, violent at the point of attack team.
“What does that mean? That means that you got guys who take pride in not getting blocked. Everybody talks about running to the ball, I don’t think there’s another person in the world who believes in running to the ball more than I do. But you can’t run to the ball if you don’t get off blocks, and that is something that’s going to be celebrated in our room.”
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