Pass-happy Jaguars visit throwing-challenged Dallas
ARLINGTON, Texas— With Blake Bortles piling up passing numbers like never before in his career, Jacksonville coach Doug Marrone wants to get the Jaguars back to running.
Dak Prescott, Jason Garrett and the Dallas Cowboys have the opposite issue heading into a Sunday matchup with familiar faces on both sidelines.
Bortles has a chance to be just the fifth NFL quarterback with at least 375 yards passing in three straight games after establishing a career high in consecutive weeks. He also had a career-high four interceptions last week, which helped explain a 30-14 loss to undefeated Kansas City.
There was something else that bothered Marrone against the Chiefs: a season-low 17 rushing attempts to go with Bortles’ personal high of 61 throws. The only other game this season with fewer than 20 carries? The other loss for Jacksonville (3-2), against Tennessee. “That’s not the way we want to play,” Marrone said. “I probably should have done a better job of that. I just felt like we were pressing and trying to make plays. I just think overall I have to do a better job of managing that.”
Of course, the Jaguars have some pretty good reasons to tilt toward the pass. Running back Leonard Fournette will be out for the fourth time in six games with a hamstring injury. Jacksonville is on its third left tackle in Josh Walker.
The Jaguars signed two-time All-Pro running back Jamaal Charles this week and expect him to contribute behind T.J. Yeldon against the Cowboys (2-3).
“I think we were pretty fortunate last year as far as staying healthy,” Bortles said. “This year we haven’t been quite as lucky. These next three weeks, not looking ahead or anything, but to get to the bye week are important with the amount of guys we have down.”
The Cowboys aren’t looking for 375 yards passing from Prescott because they have the NFL rushing leader in Ezekiel Elliott. But inefficient throwing is the biggest reason Dallas has a losing record and questions inside and outside the locker room about play-calling.
The bright side for Dallas: another home game. The Cowboys are trying to win the first three at home for the first time at 9-year-old AT&T Stadium. The worst of the offensive issues have been on the road.
“You just keep banging away,” Garrett said. “There’s a lot of good things we’re doing offensively. We have to continue to build on those. There’s plenty of things we’ve got to shore up and we’ll try to address those things as directly as we can.”