Gene Frenette: Few coaches are more battle-tested against great QBs than Commanders' Jack Del Rio
One of the most interesting and overlooked matchups in the NFL season opener Sunday is former Jaguars head coach Jack Del Rio, the Washington Commanders defensive coordinator, trying to match wits with the tag team of first-time offensive coordinator Press Taylor and Jags’ head coach/play-caller Doug Pederson at FedEx Field.
In his 18 seasons as either a DC or head coach, Del Rio has had major input on game plans in going up against nine quarterbacks — Peyton Manning, Drew Brees, Tom Brady, Ben Roethlisberger, Brett Favre, Aaron Rodgers, Philip Rivers, Eli Manning and Russell Wilson – that are either in the Pro Football Hall of Fame or will likely get there.
Del Rio has a respectable 22-29 record facing those quarterbacks, which includes Peyton Manning having two Hall of Famers in receiver Marvin Harrison and running back Edgerrin James for a lot of those matchups when he was the Jaguars’ coach.
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Can the Jaguars’ offensive line protect Trevor Lawrence and neutralize a Washington pass rush, minus the injured Chase Young, that still has formidable tackles Jonathan Allen and Daron Payne, along with edge rusher Montez Sweat?
The Commanders had the NFL’s second-best defense in Del Rio’s first season (2020), then dipped to 22nd last year, so there’s a bit of redemption factor for the 59-year-old coach.
For Pederson and Taylor, heavily involved in the offensive game plan during five years together with the Philadelphia Eagles, the dynamic of one calling the plays and the other being a set of collaborative eyes in the press box should be relatively seamless.
This might be Taylor’s first year as an offensive coordinator, but all that time working with Pederson in Philly makes them matching wits against Del Rio an intriguing story line. Pederson is the ultimate authority, but Taylor is comfortable making suggestions and even second-guessing the boss’ calls if he thinks there’s a better option.
“If you see something that you believe in or you’re onto something, Doug encourages all of those ideas,” Taylor said. “So as long as the communication flows the right way and we hit a situation and you suggest the play, you can find it right then and it gets called. We’re usually all pretty much on the same page.
“Because again, we’ve spent so much time, that’s what we do all day right now. That’s why we spend the hours to make sure we all see it the exact same way, and really, eventually it’s communicated to Trevor [Lawrence] so he sees it and he isn’t caught off guard when a call comes through.”
This will be Del Rio’s third time facing his ex-employer, beating the Jaguars 35-19 as the Denver defensive coordinator in 2014, then 33-16 as Oakland Raiders head coach in 2016. He also beat Pederson’s Eagles twice in 2020 as the Commanders’ DC, but lost as the Raiders’ head coach in 2017.
Game-planning against quarterbacks who were No. 1 overall draft picks like Lawrence in his career, Del Rio’s record is 9-7 in the first meeting and 27-34 overall. Few coaches in the NFL have more experience trying to beat high-profile QBs.
For Del Rio’s defense, trying to counteract the moves by a Lawrence-led offense should be a fascinating game of chess.
Big brother endorses little bro
When it was suggested to Jaguars running back Travis Etienne last week that Florida would likely have his younger brother, Trevor, in a running back-by-committee situation with Montrell Johnson and Nay’Quan Wright, he replied: “Once he gets some experience, it won’t be no running-back-by-committee.”
Trevor’s college debut certainly hinted Travis might eventually be right about his younger brother. Three of five carries by Trevor in a 29-26 win against then No. 7-ranked Utah went for 19, 17 and 21 yards, the last one coming on the Gators’ game-winning drive.
If the Jaguars can get that kind of production from Travis in his NFL debut against Washington, the Etienne family might have another reason to celebrate.
Ramsey dose of humble pie
Everybody remembers in 2018 when former Jaguars cornerback Jalen Ramsey referred to Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen as "trash" in GQ and called the first-round selection a "stupid draft pick."
Well, who looks stupid now? Thursday night, with Allen slinging passes against the Los Angeles Rams secondary in a 31-10 victory, jawing Jalen got his comeuppance.
According to Marcus Mosher of Pro Football Focus, he allowed a perfect passer rating of 158.3 as Bills' receivers had six catches on seven targets for 124 yards and two TDs. Stephon Diggs ran by Ramsey so badly on a 53-yard scoring play, he waited on Allen's pass to get there. Of course, Jaguars' fans resisted the temptation on social media to rub it in Ramsey's face. Just kidding on the last part.
Utah QB’s suspect vision
No matter how many times you watch the replay of Florida linebacker Amari Burney’s game-sealing interception in the 29-26 win over Utah, the biggest question is unavoidable: what made Utes’ quarterback Cameron Rising think he could complete that pass in traffic to tight end Colton Kincaid?
Rising had another down to play with and his team only needed a chip-shot field goal to tie the game. It was just an inexplicable throw for a first-team, All-Pac 12 quarterback, who obviously didn’t see Burney or anticipate the window for a completion would be totally closed.
Norvell’s lucky escape
When Shyheim Brown blocked the PAT from LSU kicker Damian Ramos to seal Florida State’s 24-23 victory, the euphoric celebration overshadowed the huge blunder Seminoles’ coach Mike Norvell made that almost cost his team the game.
FSU led 24-17 and faced a third-and-goal at the LSU 1 with 1:23 remaining. The safe call was a basic handoff or quarterback sneak with Jordan Travis, so if the Seminoles don’t score a touchdown, they force LSU to use their second timeout and then just kick a 19-yard field goal to go up two scores.
Instead, Norvell signed off on a riskier pitch to Treshaun Ward, who fumbled the ball. LSU recovered, then used the remaining time to march 99 yards to get within a PAT of tying the game.
Had FSU lost the game in overtime, Norvell would have rightfully endured a ton of criticism for being so careless in a high-pressure situation that demanded a safe, conservative call.
Quick, parting nuggets
Surprisingly, the Jaguars’ 53-man roster features eight non-Division I players, including starting linebacker Foye Oluokun (Yale), along with likely starters in running back James Robinson (Illinois State) and left guard Ben Bartch (St. John’s, Minn.). The FBS conference breakdown of the Jaguar roster is as follows: SEC (16), ACC (7), Big Ten (7), American (4), Pac-12 (3), Big 12 (2), Mountain West (2), C-USA (2), Sun Belt (1), Independent (1). . . .
St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright, 41, of Brunswick (Ga.) Glynn Academy is six wins short of 200 victories and will likely make only four more starts. Unlike catcher Yadier Molina who will retire after this season, Wainwright (194-114, 3.34 career ERA) has not made his plans known for next year. It’ll be interesting to see if a pitcher as effective as he is at his age will come back to get to the 200 milestone. . . .
To illustrate how much more pressure football coaches in the Southeastern Conference face today, there have been 38 coaching changes since Nick Saban came aboard in 2007 to begin the Alabama dynasty. During Bear Bryant’s 25-season run (1958-82) with the Crimson Tide, there were 29 coaching changes, albeit with two or four less league members. When Steve Spurrier was coaching Florida (1990-2001), the coaching turnover among SEC schools totaled 24. . . .
Rule of thumb when assessing any college football poll: rankings are pretty meaningless before Halloween.
Pigskin forecast
Jaguars over Washington Commanders by 3 (Carson Wentz ghost sightings); Indianapolis Colts over Houston Texans by 1 (happy Gus Bradley return); Miami Dolphins over New England Patriots by 1 (defined play-caller); Dallas Cowboys over Tampa Bay Buccaneers by 1 (stable offensive line); Florida over Kentucky by 7 (cold dishes of revenge); Alabama over Texas by 23 (SEC second-thoughts); Tennessee over Pitt by 3 (Johnny Majors history books). Last week: 4 right, 2 Daniel Snyder organization cultures.
Gfrenette@jacksonville.com: (904) 359-4540
Gene Frenette Sports columnist at Florida Times-Union, follow him on Twitter @genefrenette
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Jaguars facing Commanders' defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio a big test
