The Falcons’ pass defense will be stretched to its limits against the Jaguars, who love to throw deep.
The Falcons, who are last in the NFL with 15 sacks, are giving up 243.2 yards per game, which is 18th in league. Jacksonville quarterback Blake Bortles has thrown 30 touchdown passes, third in the league behind New England's Tom Brady (33) and Arizona's Carson Palmer (31).
However, Bortles has been sacked 39 times, which is second-most in the NFL behind Kansas City’s Alex Smith, who’s been sacked 40 times.
“We’ll have our rushers ready,” Falcons linebacker O’Brien Schofield said. “We’ll keep them fresh and be able to get him off the spot. We are switching some guys up to create some good matchups. So, it will be interesting to see how that works early in the game.”
Bortles likely can’t wait to see the Falcons’ secondary, which gave up touchdown passes of 74 and 46 yards to Carolina’s Cam Newton last week. Cornerback Robert Alford, who stopped running on the 74-yarder, likely will be targeted.
Cornerback Desmond Trufant will be assigned to Bortles’ top weapon, wide receiver Allen Robinson.
“We are going to feature him a little bit more than we have in the passing game,” Schofield said of Trufant. “We have a good package for coming after the quarterback and making him uncomfortable.”
About the Author
