Jacksonville offense vs. Cincinnati defense

	JAGUARS OFFENSE
	Ranking in the NFL:
	Run	3
	Pass	21
	Tot. Yds.	14
	Scoring	9
	Int's allowed	4
	Sacks allowed	7
	BENGALS DEFENSE
	Ranking in the NFL:
	vs. Run	14
	vs. Pass	20
	Total yds. allowed	16
	No. of INTs	3
	No. of Sacks	15
	Turnover differential	-13

The bye week probably could not have come at a better time for the Jaguars. Mark Brunell has had time to rest, while the entire offense has been able to go back and look at some film. The Jaguars, originally touted as one of the most balanced offenses and toughest teams to defend against in the league, rank third in the NFL in rushing (133.3 yards per game) and 20th passing (205.5 yards per game). This is the week, however, that the Jaguars will finally put it all together.

Cincinnati would like to play aggressive defensively, focusing on stopping the run with the healthy return of RB Fred Taylor, but the Bengals will have to be careful not to get burnt in doing so. Teams have been able to double team WR Jimmy Smith on the outside without Taylor in the lineup because of Taylor's ability to break contain and pick up so much yardage backside. James Stewart has been extremely effective in Taylor's absence, but Stewart does not have the same game-breaking ability that defenses must protect themselves against.

Now that TE Kyle Brady has proven himself as reliable receivers in the middle of the field, along with Taylor and Stewart out of the backfield, the Bengals are going to have to play more zone coverage underneath instead of rushing the passer.

SS Myron Bell will play closer to the line of scrimmage than usual, but will be there to spy the running back. On passing downs, Bell will be responsible for covering the back out of the backfield, which leaves FS Corey Hall to give help to his corners in the deep third. Seeing that Smith is the bigger deep threat of the two Jacksonville receivers, it would seem natural for Hall to cheat to Smith's side. However, CB Artrell Hawkins, the team's top cover corner, will be matched up with Smith, and the Bengals are going to be forced to give help on the far side to CB Roosevelt Blackmon, who is matched up against Keenan McCardell. Hawkins will have to play off the line of scrimmage, something that he is not accustomed to doing, and give Smith room underneath because he knows he will have little help behind him.

The outside linebacker, Adrian Ross, will be responsible for reading the pass and getting into the flats on crossing routes and short slants. Blackmon, opposite Hawkins, will press McCardell and take away everything underneath, knowing that Hall is rolled over to his side and can help over the top. The key to playing this man/zone is great communication underneath and for Hawkins to give up space underneath instead of letting Smith by him.

On top of heading into Sunday's game with a banged up quarterback and running back, OG Brian DeMarco (elbow) and Willie Anderson (knee) will be out for the Jacksonville game. What this does is add pressure on the young quarterback because the Bengals are going to struggle to run the ball. Ideally, Cincinnati would like to run the ball 35-40 times against the Jaguars to control the clock and keep the Jacksonville offense on the sideline. Instead, the Bengals are going to look to go up top with the ball early on, trying to catch the Jaguars out of position.

Cincinnati has excellent receivers that can make the plays down the field, but have not been productive because of the quarterback situation as well as their inability to run sharp routes and break from man-to-man coverage. Carl Pickens and Darnay Scott will look to stretch the field on Sunday by running a lot of deep slants and post corner routes.

The key for the Bengals will be the ability of Akili Smith to sit in the pocket and wait for his receiver to come out of their breaks. Smith is going to be under tremendous pressure due to the Jaguars ability to get to the quarterback and their lack of respect for the Bengal passing game.

The biggest reason for Jacksonville's turnaround defensively this season has been the pass rush, which now ranks 4th in the league with 22 sacks in six games (one behind the leaders). The difference for the unit this year has been the aggressive style of play. The defensive line is twisting and stunting, while the linebackers are coming on the blitz with great consistency.

DT Larry Smith has been a big boost for the unit. His quickness and moves in pass rush give the team a great presence inside in nickel situations. However, the fact that the corners have been able to play a lot of man-to-man coverage without getting burnt is the reason that Capers' defense has been so effective. CB's Fernando Bryant and Aaron Beasley are dominating most of their matchups off the line of scrimmage and have been able to gamble and play more bump and run because veteran Carnell Lake is behind them in coverage.

The communication of the secondary, for such a young unit, has been extremely impressive. The corners seem to know when they can take risks and when to back off, and in the same breath, Lake always seems to be in the right place at the right time. Of course, this is the design of the scheme, but for such an inexperienced unit to show such great communication is rare.

Tremaine Mack has burst back onto the scene as a return man, averaging 24.8-yards per kickoff return. The Bengals missed his production, but they have been unable to take advantage of the field position he has offering since returning. Will Brice was forced to attempt another eight punts last Sunday, but averaged just 35.8-yards, landing two inside the twenty-yard line.