Jaguars Film Review: Hines-Allen, Thomas Come Up Huge

Brian Thomas struggled with drops and miscommunication again against the Texans, but he made the biggest play of the game with the 46-yard catch-and-run reception that put the Jaguars in position to win the game late in the fourth quarter. However, it came close to never happening. Following the two-minute warning, the Jaguars have first-and-10 from their 44-yard line. The offense comes out of a tight shotgun formation with Thomas lined up to the field side.

This was supposed to be a run to the close side, however, the Texans have seven players in the box, forcing quarterback Trevor Lawrence to check out of the run and call an audible, as you see No. 17 Tim Patrick adjusts his stance and alignment wide to compensate and Etienne aligned to Lawrence’s hip for extra protection from the overload side of the field. Houston sends six on the blitz, and now this is where things start to formulate.

With this being a six-man rush, it’s man coverage across the board with routes to beat it. The field side concept was a dig-out with a spot/hitch from Patrick on the close side. Washington provides a first down with some yards after the catch if Lawrence goes his direction. Even so, Thomas runs a great 10-yard dig and gets ample separation on the cornerback, Kamari Lassieter. 46 yards later, the Jaguars are set up with first-and-goal from the Houston 10-yard line to set up the go-ahead touchdown.

"That was a huge play and a big-time moment," head coach Liam Coen said about the play. "We got to get it cleaned up, but [Brian Thomas Jr.] should absolutely take confidence from that play and be able to continue to go forward."

"The Tip" by Josh Hines-Allen

An early candidate for assistant coach of the year is defensive coordinator Anthony Campanile, who has completely transformed Jacksonville’s defense into an elite unit that takes the ball away at a high clip. A big part of that is the Jaguars' pass rush, which is getting consistent pressure on opposing blockers, including edge rusher Josh Hines-Allen, who is on a stellar start to the year.

Pressures are always more important than sacks in the grand scheme of things. Despite just having a half-sack, Hines-Allen is second in the NFL in pressures only behind Texans’ Will Anderson Jr., according to Pro Football Focus. His final pressure against Houston won the game for the Jaguars.

As we see from the sideline angle, Campanile runs a variation of Cover 6 match, with the field side playing Cover 2 match and quarter match coverage to the close side. The Jaguars play out of a 3-2-6 formation with Devin Lloyd acting as a stand-up three technique and a three safety look with Andrew Wingard as the dime defender, and Antonio Johnson and Eric Murray playing from a split alignment.

The coverage leaves the middle of the field open for C.J. Stroud to hit Christian Kirk for a touchdown on the post, which would be the correct read. However, as we see from the end-zone clip, Hines-Allen is winning his repetition against rookie left tackle Aireontae Ersery with ease.

Hines-Allen does an excellent job setting up a half-man relationship with the blocker before utilizing a club-swipe and reducing surface area under the tackle. Hines-Allen gets his hand on the arm of Stroud, affecting the throw that would be picked by Johnson, who made a great effort to get back to the middle of the field to make a play on the ball.

There will be more plays like this throughout the season as Hines-Allen and Travon Walker, who also won his matchup on that final play, look to torment opponents on the remainder of their schedule.

Travis Hunter flashes on both sides of the ball

In my pre-draft evaluation of Hunter, I saw him with a higher ceiling at cornerback, and Sunday confirmed some of what I had envisioned for the rookie two-way sensation. He flashed tremendously in press-man alignments, especially against Houston playmakers such as Christian Kirk and Nico Collins, and in run-after-catch opportunities.

There was great patience in his backpedal with good footwork at the line of scrimmage to maintain leverage and stay at the hip pocket. Hunter is the type of cornerback that, even if the receiver has a step of separation, he has the elite athleticism to recover and execute at the catch point or through the pass-catcher. This is still a player you’d rather not have as a consistent last line of defense in the run game early in his career, but Sunday was a great day for him at cornerback.

Quick-hitting All-22 takeaways

• Lawrence completed 50 percent of his passes for 222 yards and an awful interception into double coverage, never seeing Texans nickel Jalen Pitre lurking in the flat. This is a gunslinger who will always take risks– that’s who Lawrence is, and he won’t change that mentality, even with Coen as his head coach, and the goal is to limit the mistakes, which, with a new system and issues leaking from the preseason, will take a chunk of this season.

• Devin Lloyd, you deserve a round of applause. This was one of his best games of his career and was arguably the top player on the field this weekend in Jacksonville, a great start to a contract season for the former first-round draft choice. Lloyd did an excellent job keying and fitting the run with consistency, getting pressures on Stroud when asked to blitz, and played the hook, curl, and flats superbly.

• Brenton Strange is quickly becoming, at worst, a Top 10 tight end in the NFL. This is a player with a great combination of size, athletic ability, quality pass-catching skills, route-running nuance, and blocking ability that make him an all-around great player for this offense. As the current team leader in receiving yards, the sky's the limit for No. 85 in 2025.

• Anton Harrison is making quality growth at right tackle. The former first-round pick out of Oklahoma has had his ups and downs to start his career. However, he has allowed only two pressures in the first three weeks combined, exhibiting patience in his pass sets, good mirroring ability against players like Anderson and Danielle Hunter, and accurate punches and strikes at the point of attack.

Tune in this time next week for the next All-22 review, and ensure you follow on X (Twitter) @JaguarsOnSI and @_John_Shipley so you never miss the latest news and analysis from the No. 1 source for everything Jaguars.