Patriots' ability to snuff out Jaguars' play-action game looms large

FOXBOROUGH — It’s simple: you stop Jacksonville’s play-action passing game, you win.

After watching the Jags’ offense over the second half of the season and into the playoffs, it’s clear a sizable part of their offensive success is rooted in an effective play-action game.

Overall, according to Pro Football Focus, Jacksonville quarterback Blake Bortles used play action on 23.4 percent of his dropbacks in 2017, the 14th highest rate in the NFL. On play-action passes, he had a completion percentage of 62.1 percent, only 22nd in the league. However, his passer rating of 106.8 was 10th. Furthermore, while he threw 13 touchdowns and 11 interceptions with no play action, he had eight touchdown passes and just two interceptions when using play-action.

It really showed down the stretch, when the Jaguars were hitting their stride: In the last five weeks of the regular season, Bortles was the most effective quarterback in the NFL when it came to using play action with a 79 percent completion rate. In that same span, his passer rating of 138.4 was the second-highest in the league off play action.

Discerning when the Jaguars are inclined to run vs. when they want to utilize play action will be a big challenge for defensive coordinator Matt Patricia.

“That's obviously the most difficult part of what we have to try to do this weekend,” said Patricia. “They have a full complement of offensive plays that they will mix in there, but certainly the easiest assessment is to look at the run game and the play action game and see how those (two) relate to each other.”

Like all well-executed play-action schemes, it starts with a healthy ground attack. The Jags finished first in the league in rushing at 141.4 yards per contest, led by Leonard Fournette, who ended the year eighth in the NFL with 1,040 yards. His per-carry average isn’t great at 3.9 yards per game, but he and the rest of the Jaguars more than make up for that with sheer volume. Jacksonville led the league over the course of the regular season with 527 carries. The simple fact of the matter is you have to commit more manpower to stopping the likes of the 6-foot, 228-pound back.

But it also takes a deft touch at the quarterback position to make it work. While Bortles isn’t necessarily Houdini when it comes to trickery, he does show nice ball skills when it comes to faking the handoff. That, combined with his own ability to scramble (he was seventh among quarterbacks in rushing yards in 2017 with 322), make it a viable weapon for the Jacksonville offense.

A sizable portion of the play-action success the Jaguars had against Pittsburgh was due in part to the Steelers’ aggressive defensive approach; for many years, the Patriots have been able to hit big plays on Pittsburgh in reverses, fakes and other kinds of misdirection.

But on Sunday, it was also effective because of the execution and the situation. The Jaguars made it work because everything clicked, and they were able to pick and choose their spots, alternating the run game with play-action. Both of Jacksonville’s favorite play-action fakes were on display last Sunday: the straight play-action with the fake to a back and a straight drop back for the quarterback, and the bootleg rollout, where the quarterback is on the run. Early on, the best example of the bootleg came on with this pass to tight end Ben Koyack. The primary reason this one was effective? Bortles faked the handoff left to Fournette, and more than half of the jacked-up Pittsburgh defense all moved left with Fournette. That left Koyack wide open for a 21-yard gain.



On the next play, the straight play-action fake from Bortles to Fournette isn’t as sharp, but it still does a good job freezing the linebackers, allowing Marqise Lee to find some real estate on the second level and pick up a 13-yard gain.



One wrinkle that Jacksonville has shown on multiple occasions this year is the play-action fake to Fournette, followed by another fake to Lee, who starts in motion from right to left. Fournette then gets to the second level and hauls in the short pass from Bortles. This one went for 10 yards.



Of course, it doesn’t always work. This is a really good example of linebacker Vince Williams sniffing things out and getting over in time to shadow Koyack. That forces Bortles to hang on to the ball for an extra second and look elsewhere while edge defender T.J. Watt shows a nice flash of speed. The Steelers bust this one up really well.



For what it’s worth, the numbers show the Patriots are pretty much middle-of-the-pack when it comes to slowing play-action. According to Pro Football Focus, New England’s opponents completed 68 percent of their play-action passes this year, fifth-best in the league, but the Patriots’ yards allowed (905) and completions (76) off play-action fakes were the 12th fewest. New England also allowed eight touchdown passes (tied for seventh-most) and had two picks (tied for ninth-fewest) in play-action situations.

If the Patriots want to slow things down Sunday, the edge defenders have to work with the inside linebackers and defensive backs to not overcommit when it comes to slowing Fournette. You have to show respect to their run game because it can be effective, but you also have to be mindful of the alternative.

“It's definitely a situation where you've got to be really disciplined with your fundamentals on defense,” Patricia said. “You've got to do a great job of making sure you read your keys and take a look at the backs, take a look at the offensive line, make sure everybody's doing their job in the back end and from the coverage standpoint and play just good, solid team defense.”

“Think about it — when you’re committed to the run as much as they are, when you lead the NFL in rushing, eventually people are going to try to get in that box (and) be heavy in the box. (You just) kind of anticipate a lot more runs,” explained defensive back Duron Harmon. “You run the ball five times in a row and then pop a play action in there. A lot of the defense is thinking ’It’s going to be a run’ because you’ve been successful in the run. Their coaching staff does a great job of just mixing it in. When (Bortles) mixes it in, it creates big plays for them and allows their offense to keep moving down the field.”

Then, there’s situation. If a team falls behind early, logic says they’re not going to run the ball to try and get back into it, and so the threat of play action is minimized. But when you can control the game early on and can still get that run game cranked up, it can become even more effective in the right spots.

In that context, like a boxer who has been peppering their opponent, a well-executed play-action can fake can also serve as a knockout blow. Against the Steelers, Jacksonville was holding a seven-point lead midway through the fourth quarter. The Jags pounded away at the Pittsburgh run defense — on the climactic seven-play drive, they handed the ball to Fournette on four of the first six plays, managing to pick up nice yards on the ground, as well as a 40-yard pass to T.J. Yeldon.

On the seventh play of the drive, they came out on the Steelers’ 14-yard line with a two-back set with fullback Tommy Bohanon looking like he was set to clear the way for Fournette. This was maybe the most well-executed play-action fake we’ve seen this year.



Watch that one again — Williams was fooled so badly he ended up flat on his face. Bortles play-faked to Fournette, who was led into the hole by Bohanon. Williams anticipated taking on one or both of them, and when they blew past him, Williams fell forward. Meanwhile, Bohannon was wide open the end zone for the touchdown.

Ultimately, it’s clear play action is vitally important to what the Jags’ want to do offensively. How the Patriots defense responds to that challenge will go a long way toward determining the outcome of Sunday’s AFC title game.