The Seattle Seahawks head to Jacksonville to face the Jaguars at EverBank Field on Sunday in an interconference matchup that features two teams trying to cement a spot in the playoffs.
Unlike Seattle, Jacksonville can clinch a playoff berth this week. Both are currently projected as the No. 5 seed in their respective conferences.
After finishing with a losing record in eight of the last nine seasons the Jaguars finally have turned things around this year thanks mainly to their defense, as they sit with an 8-4 record under head coach Doug Marrone.
When facing Jacksonville opposing teams must be wary of a superb defense that is strong on all three levels as they rank first in total defense, pass defense and scoring defense and points off turnovers.
Their defense possesses an uncanny ability to get sacks, led by defensive end Calais Campbell who has 46 combined tackles and 12.5 sacks this season, which also explains why they rank second in the league with +12 in the turnover ratio.
The Jaguars, who have 45 sacks to lead the league, hope Campbell can corral Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson to lead them to victory. Both players know each other well from Campbell’s days in Arizona. They have met 10 times and in that span, he managed to get a 4-5-1 record and 5.5 sacks against Wilson (the most against any quarterback in his career).
It will thus be one of the biggest challenges for the Seahawks offensive line this season to keep Wilson on his feet against the Jaguars skilled front four who applies a lot of pressure throughout the entire game.
To make matters worse, Jacksonville doesn’t allow many sacks because Blake Bortles likes to get rid of the ball quickly or handle it off to running back Leonard Fournette, who is a go-to-guy for them (over 800 rushing yards this season).
The problem for the Jaguars is that they are playing against a Seahawks defense that has been playing lights out ever since their early-season struggles and is allowing just 3.3 yards per attempt since week 3, including last week against the Philadelphia Eagles, which they absolutely dominated.
If the Seahawks manage to make the Jaguars one-dimensional and try to force Bortles to beat them, the Seahawks defense could lead the way to a badly-needed road victory.
