Earlier in the summer defensive coordinator Todd Wash told the media that the Jacksonville Jaguars would remain a 4-3 team, however, the catch with those statements is that he didn’t say they would solely be a 4-3 team. Fans witnessed that first hand after the Jags defense whipped out some 3-4 looks this past Thursday against the Miami Dolphins, which were quite successful.
The reason for the new wrinkles in the playbook you ask? Well, simply put, with the selection of Josh Allen the team had to find creative ways to get all their playmakers on the field, which was an argument many fans made this summer.
“It’s obvious we have to get our best players on the field,” Wash Thursday said. “We have two obviously very good defensive ends in Josh and Yannick. We’ve got to come up with ways to get them both on the grass at the same time. To do that we have to be able to tweak our system a little bit, but I think that’s our job as coaches.”
Initially, it sounded as though the Jags were going to use Allen as a third-down pass rusher with his hand in the dirt, so it’s good to see they had a change of heart after seeing the impact Allen could have. Then again, maybe having Allen on the field with Yannick Ngakoue, Calais Campbell and company was the plan all along.
Allen had an impressive showing against the Dolphins, racking up four tackles (two for loss), four quarterback pressures and he also had two quarterback hits. For a team that finished in the bottom half of the league in sacks, that’s simply something you can’t pass on if you’re Wash, who some feel is on the hot seat.
