The regular season is over which means the first round of playoffs is kicking off this weekend. With 12 ring-hungry teams looking to advance to the Super Bowl, the tension is high.
The Jaguars, who are currently the third seed in the AFC south, are going up against the sixth seed in the AFC south, the Bills.
Defense
The Jaguars have built themselves an incredible defense. They currently hold the number one passing defense in the league, allowing an average of only 169.9 yards per game. This is in due to their prime time duo of Jalen Ramsey and A.J. Bouye, who are both on this years pro bowl roster. the Jaguars defense has a huge possibility of stopping the Bills passing attack which has averaged only 176.6 yards a game this season.
It hasn’t just been the two stud corners making the defense great this season, the front seven have been killing it. In addition to Ramsey and Bouye, the Jags also have defensive end Calais Campbell and defensive tackle Malik Jackson. Two other players that the Jaguars have contributed to the pro bowl roster. Campbell has had a fantastic year, racking up 14.5 sacks this year, second in the league. With the Jaguars front seven rushing Tyrod Taylor, this defense can pick apart the Bills offense.
The Offense
Fun fact- Blake Bortles has never played a playoff game in his career. Playoff games are typically where a player either shines, or he doesn’t do too hot. What does this mean for the Jaguars? Bortles is already a player who isn’t exactly the most consistent, and with never having experience of the pressure of a playoff game…can he make the right play calls to get advance his team to the next round? Luckily, other key players in the offense like Leonard Fournette can save Bortles if he starts to become a bust.
Fournette has been one of the better rookie running backs this season. He rushed for 1,040 yards and nine touchdowns in his first season. His rushing yards were ninth in the league and his touchdowns were third. Its safe to say that the offense really revolved around Fournette this year.
What this game means
This is a team that was established in 1995 and is one of four teams that has never played in the Super bowl. If they pull off a win, they would advance to the divisional round and play the Steelers. I bet that if the team that they are right now won this game Sunday night, a huge fire would be lit underneath them. Dare I say that fire could take them all the way to the game every football player dreams of playing in one day? Let’s just see what happens Sunday first.
Prediction
Jaguars 32
Bills 21
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