2022 Jacksonville Jaguars Offensive Preview
Outlining the passing concepts and philosophy Doug Pederson brings to his second NFL team in the Jaguars.
The Jacksonville Jaguars’ coaching search was anything but conventional, but they may have backed themselves into a home run hire. Doug Pederson was my favorite coach on the market this past offseason and one of the better offensive coaches in the league.
The biggest winner of the hire is without a doubt Trevor Lawrence, who despite raw box stats. I believe had a very encouraging rookie year. Pederson is mostly known for his part in developing Carson Wentz into an MVP candidate in 2017 before an ACL injury derailed his progress. Pederson wasn’t very hands on with Wentz, but he communicates his offense to the quarterback in a way that eases any apprehension.
Pederson was a former quarterback himself, and having a former quarterback as a play caller does wonders for young passers. The coaches can help them compartmentalize the offense and learn the reason why behind the concepts that are called.
Passing Concepts
Pederson is of the west coast offense tree, the core of his offense is to give the quarterback quick and defined reads. His route trees have a ton of sight adjusts, which lets the receiver alter their route depending on the leverage and coverage of the defense.
One of his most called concepts is a dropback pass he calls Tampa.
The first read of Tampa is the quick flat route. The second is the sight adjusted arrow route, and the third is the 12 yard dig route unless the QB alerts the corner route pre-snap. The corner route gives this concept a triangle read, making it easier to read out the concept with all of the routes in the QB’s line of vision. The vertical stem of the corner or dig route widens the strong hook, opening the window for the arrow route.
Another of Pederson’s frequently called dropback passes is Stache.
Any concept that includes an inside stemmed sit route from the slot or Y, the sit route will always be the first read. The second read would be of Stache would be the inside fade route. Against one high man coverage or a favorable matchup on the corner, the QB will alert the fade route and look to that first.
Detroit is a play action concept that is essentially just a sail concept.
The play action pulls down the linebackers, the inside stem of the route makes the defense think a simple play action pass behind the linebackers is coming, until the route breaks back to the outside and rounds out at 15 yards. In the example below against the Giants, the curl flat player (Landon Collins) passes off the route because of the inside stem, and the route is able to get behind him and open up a window.
Other than traditional mesh, Pederson’s seemingly favorite way to beat man coverage is a weak side option route from the running back out of the backfield. A play Travis Etienne will see a lot of production from.
Pederson’s use of RPOs and quick reads forces the defense to bring a defender into the box and play tight man coverage. HB Read is one of the best ways around the league to beat that and is used by almost every coach.
From 2016-2020 when Pederson was the coach of the Eagles, they were routinely one of the best screen teams in the league. Pederson has a great understanding of when to use screens and how to free them up and get the numbers advantage in space. Often using motion and shifts. My favorite way he called a screen was by motioning to a four strong formation and faking a screen to it, just to throw it backside to a tight end screen, like the first example in the video below.
RPOs
In 2017 Doug Pederson’s use of RPOs blew up. Of course teams have used them before that, but his Super Bowl run was what drew everyones attention to them. In reality, his RPOs aren’t complicated or intricate at all really, they’re pretty simple. The two most commonly called ones are his Slant Bubble RPO, and his Omaha RPO.
Those concepts are just a small fraction of the ones you’ll see Doug Pederson call for Jacksonville, and going over every single on is pointless because Pederson understands you have to form your offense around your personnel, and not the other way around.
Such good stuff!