Jaguars must continue to limit negative plays in 2025
The Jaguars had the fewest number of negative plays in 2024. And it's a factually true statement.
It's hard to believe, considering just how bad the 2024 Jacksonville Jaguars were. Despite everything, the Jaguars managed to avoid negative plays more than any other team in football.
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While this statistic doesn't include turnovers, it does include all run and pass plays that resulted in lost yardage as well as all offensive penalties.
If yards were lost, this statistic adds it to the count. Kneeldowns were also excluded for obvious reasons. After totals were calculated, the Jaguars found themselves at the top of the list.
Jacksonville featured a total of 114 negative offensive plays last season, 33 rushing, 40 passing, and 41 penalties.
The Cardinals, Chargers, Chiefs and Lions rounded out the top five, a solid group of teams. There was actually a bigger difference between the first (JAX) and second place teams (ARI)
than any other spot on the list. Arizona totaled 122 negative plays on the season. Why might this statistic make more sense than one might originally think?
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Well, the Jaguars low time-to-throw and penalty count have a huge part in this. The Jaguars fast time-to-throw limited the team's pressure rate and therefore their sack rate.
The Jaguars were also very good at avoiding penalties on both sides of the ball under Doug Pederson, a positive during the former Jaguars coach's tenure. In his three seasons, the Jaguars ranked 5th in 2024, 4th in 2023, and 15th in 2022 at avoiding any dirty laundry on the field.
Jaguars' fans would hope this is one aspect of Doug Pederson's tenure that carries over into the Liam Coen era. I'd imagine the fast time-to-throw doesn't change much either as both Coen and Lawrence both have a preference for getting the ball out quickly to playmakers.
The Jaguars' AFC South rival Houston Texans find themselves at the bottom of the list in 31st place. The Texans did a very poor job protecting CJ Stroud, resulting in 67 negative pass plays.
Their 52 negative run plays weren't any better, also 31st in the NFL. Overall, the Texans had a whopping 187 negative plays on the season. The Titans fared only slightly better in 28th with 173 of their own. The Colts did alright for themselves, finishing with just 128 negative plays in 2024, sixth best.
Some good or even great teams had many negative plays last year, however, they have the offensive talent to offset those negative plays with plenty of great ones as well. For a team like Jacksonville, coming off of a disappointing season in the midst of staff and roster changes, it's probably best to take their chances limiting as many mistakes as possible
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