An interesting matchup awaits as Jacksonville’s hopeful new ground game was found sputtering in Week 1 while Washington’s run D started the season with a fair day, minus safety Ryan Clark’s tackling troubles.
Toby Gerhart forced a pair of missed tackles on his way to working for 35 yards after contact in his Jaguar debut. Problem was, those 35 yards made up the majority of his ground work for the day, totaling 42 in the end. Supplying the subpar 0.38 yards before contact on his 18 carries was a group that included two tight ends (Marcedes Lewis and Mickey Shuler) and the entire right side of the line (Jacques McClendon, Brandon Linder, and Cameron Bradfield) with significant red grades in run blocking.
Only two Washington defensive starters finished their Week 1 game with below standard run D grades while rotational front men Chris Baker (+1.3) and Jarvis Jenkins (+1.2) each landed in the green, Baker recording four stops. The aforementioned Clark, who didn’t have a steller year as a run support safety in Pittsburgh last year, let five tackles get away in his first appearance as a Redskin and Perry Riley continued his established struggles against the run as well.
Jacksonville Jaguars
Red Bryant – Brought over from Seattle this offseason, Bryant’s reputation was that of a strong run stuffer with limited impact as a pass rusher. Such was the case last week as Bryant put up a +2.7 run defense grade in just 16 snaps against the run.
Will Blackmon – Last week Blackmon surrendered six catches, something he only did once in 2013. He’ll have his work cut out for him facing off against a solid Washington receiving corps.
Allen Hurns – A Top-20-graded preseason for the rookie led directly to Hurns' having an impact in the opener with a +2.4 overall mark and a 135.4 WR Rating on the eight targets he saw.
Washington Redskins
Jason Hatcher – After several excellent years in Dallas, Hatcher seems to have adapted to life in D.C. without skipping a beat. A sack, hit and a batted pass helped earn him the highest grade on Washington’s defense.
Desean Jackson – Known for being one of the premier deep threats in the league, only one of the eight passes sent his way last week traveled more than 10 yards in the air. Not a bad showing, though, as Jackson caught all eight.
Robert Griffin III – Is this 2012 RG3? Griffin currently leads all quarterbacks with an Accuracy Percentage of 90.6%, completing all of his passes aimed less than 20 yards in the air.
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