Green Bay Packers: 5 Stats to Know About the Jaguars

Here are five stats to know about the Jacksonville Jaguars before they take on the Green Bay Packers this Sunday.

The Green Bay Packers have been recovering over their mini-bye after a win in San Francisco moved them to 6-2 on the season. Meanwhile, the Jacksonville Jaguars have been trending in the opposite direction for quite some time as they are coming off their seventh straight loss after starting the season 1-0 and find themselves in the midst of the Trevor Lawrence sweepstakes.

None the less, no team in the NFL should be taken lightly, as they say, “any given Sunday.” But this is a game that the Packers should win without a doubt and do so quite convincingly.

So as we begin to turn our sights towards Jacksonville this week, to help familiarize ourselves with this quite uncommon opponent, I’ve picked out five stats that I believe illustrates who this Jaguars team is in 2020.

30.9 points per game

Led by Aaron Rodgers, Davante Adams, Aaron Jones, and the beautiful play calling of Matt LaFleur, the Green Bay Packers have been one of the most productive offenses in the NFL through their first eight games. They’ve put up over 30 points in each of their six wins while are averaging the third-most points per game at 31.6. And this week, they have a matchup with the Jaguars, who are giving up the second-most points per game at 30.9.

There really isn’t anything that this Jacksonville defense does well; in fact, they are one of the worst in several major categories. They struggle to take down the quarterback – we will get to that shortly – their seven turnovers are the third-fewest in the NFL, the 418 yards per game they allow is the second most, and by DVOA, the Jacksonville defensive unit ranks last in the NFL.

This is certainly a game where the Green Bay offense should move the ball with ease up and down the field, both in the running and passing games. Don’t be surprised if we see 40 or more points from Rodgers and company on Sunday.

8 sacks on the season

I told you I’d get to this, so here we are. As we saw when Green Bay faced Tampa Bay, putting pressure on Rodgers is a great way to disrupt this Packers’ offense. However, Jacksonville has been quite ineffective at doing that. In terms of sacks, the eight that they’ve recorded are dead last in the NFL this season, and their 106 total pressures ranks 27th, according to Pro Football Focus ($).

Against a robust Green Bay Packers’ offensive line, which is the best in the league by ESPN’s pass-block win rate metric, Rodgers should have plenty of time to pick this Jaguars’ secondary apart. Expect another big day from QB1.

25 sacks allowed this season

Even in today’s NFL, games are still won and lost in the trenches, so we are going to focus on the Jacksonville offensive line, which has struggled giving up pressures and sacks this season. The Jaguars 118 pressures allowed are the ninth most in football, while the 25 sacks given up by the offensive line are the fourth most. On top of that, their adjusted sack rate from Football Outsiders of 8.6 percent, which measures sacks per pass attempts adjusted for down, distance, and opponent, ranks 31st.

The Green Bay Packers’ pass rush hasn’t been nearly as effective this season as it was last, but we saw against San Francisco how much better the overall defense is when there is pressure on the quarterback. This week, rookie Jake Luton will be making his second NFL start, so any pressure will certainly make things more challenging for him and this Jaguars offense.

580 rushing yards for James Robinson

The Packers’ run defense is still struggling this season as they have allowed 4.55 yards per carry, which is the 10th highest average in the NFL. And this week, they’ll have their attention on rookie James Robinson, who’s been one of the few bright spots on this Jaguars team.

Robinson has been used heavily this season in the run game, with 132 attempts, the sixth most in football. But he’s also been productive, totaling 580 rushing yards, which are also the sixth most this season. Averaging 4.4 yards per carry, Robinson has proven difficult to take down, with 396 of his 580 total rushing yards coming after contact. That is tied for the fifth-highest total this season, and for a Green Bay defense that has struggled with tackling as well, this could certainly cause some issues.

With an inexperienced quarterback under center for Jacksonville, Robinson saw a career-high 25 carries last week against Houston. I’m guessing we will see much of the same Sunday in Green Bay.

Jaguars v. Tight Ends

Robert “Big Bob” Tonyan has emerged as a legitimate receiving threat this season, averaging over 13 yards per catch and forming quite the one-two punch in the red zone with Aaron Rodgers. Well, this could be another big week for both he and Jace Sternberger, who combined for 125 receiving yards against Minnesota just a week and a half ago.

As I’ve already mentioned, this Jaguar defense doesn’t do much of anything well, it’s actually mostly bad, and that includes covering tight ends. This season, tight ends have been targeted 54 times against Jacksonville, hauling in 63 percent of those passes for 488 yards and seven touchdowns, the second-most in football.

Tight ends aren’t only finding the end zone against the Jaguars, but they’re making big plays as well, averaging 14.5 yards per catch, which is actually more than what the Jacksonville defense is giving up to wide receivers. This is a game where Davante Adams could absolutely go wild again, but Tonyan may end up as WR2 on the stat sheet.