Jaguars Defense Must Strike This Critical Balance This Season

Jaguars must defend without fouling

The Jacksonville Jaguars' defense was finally able to earn back some of its pride against the Los Angeles Chargers. They nearly pitched a shutout versus Justin Herbert, with their pass rush constantly putting him under duress with 17 pressures and two sacks. They almost had a third from undrafted rookie B.J. Green II, but his was called back due to a controversial roughing-the-passer call.

It's not the first time the Jags have had a huge defensive play wiped out by a flag. Travon Walker also had one on Davis Mills and the Houston Texans that drew a polarizing whistle. Two of Jacksonville's losses this season included defensive pass interference calls, one on Travis Hunter Jr. against the Cincinnati Bengals and another on Jarrian Jones versus the Texans, which extended the opponent's game-winning drives.

All of the flags mentioned above could have easily gone the other way, but ultimately, the Jaguars need to find ways to defend without fouling or even putting themselves in precarious situations to have their games decided by the referees. Defensive Coordinator Anthony Campanile spoke on how he can help his team find the right balance of aggression and discipline:

"You’ve just got to coach the fundamentals of that. Running through the strike zone, trying to get your head to the side, not slamming the quarterback through the ground, all that. I don't think any of that stuff is easy for a defensive player. The game was different when I was playing, so that stuff that you're constantly looking at and talking to other people about."

"Like, how you can do a great job of that and not be penalized, because when you do make a great play like B.J. did the other day, and Tra made a great one the other day against Houston. That's hard. We’ve got to do a great job of that as coaches, trying to put them in a situation where we don't want to take the aggressiveness away from our guys. That's the bottom line. We want them to go a thousand miles an hour, and get right up to the point of contact, and making sure you're doing it within the rules. That's really my best answer for you.”