New York Giants: 5 keys to victory against Jacksonville
No. 3 – Get home with the blitz
Even if you didn’t watch a down of Arizona Cardinals football last season, the preseason proved to us that new defensive coordinator James Bettcher is going to blitz. Like, a lot.
Remember last season when it was third-down-and-10 and former defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo would send a three-man rush and drop extra guys into pass coverage? Yeah, not Bettcher’s style. Instead, he’ll send five or six men hoping to rush the opposing quarterback into throwing before deeper routes develop.
That’s a solid strategy to use against Jaguars quarterback Blake Bortles, who isn’t necessarily Aaron Rodgers in the pocket.
Hopefully this is a sign of improvement for Bortles on deep ball passes, last season he ranked 26th with a passer rating of 66.2 on passes targets 20 yards or more downfield (minimum 20 attempts) https://t.co/e96dUW1tYa
— PFF JAX Jaguars (@PFF_Jaguars) August 6, 2018
On the New York Giants side, their corners will be up against a receiving corp that doesn’t receive nearly as much credit as they should.
Keelan Cole, Dede Westbrook and rookie D.J. Chark are the projected starters this weekend. It should be noted that Chark ran a blazing-fast 4.34, 40-time at this year’s NFL Combine, so the G-Men’s secondary will be tested.
Leaving the corners in one-on-one situations or expecting them to achieve coverage sacks is a dangerous game to play.
It won’t be easy to get to Bortles, either.
The Jaguars offensive line is also improved with veteran All-Pro Andrew Norwell onboard and young star Cam Robinson back to lock down the left side. For Bettcher, he’ll throw as many bodies as he can to chip away at the line of scrimmage until eventually breaching it entirely.