Roy Miller injury: Jaguars lose important cog on defense

Jacksonville Jaguars defensive tackle Roy Miller went down with an Achilles injury mid-way through the team’s loss to the Oakland Raiders on Sunday and it appears he will be out for the remainder of the season.

Once it was announced Miller wouldn’t come back in the game and the injury was an Achilles, I knew it couldn’t be good for the big man, who really is the heart of the Jaguars defense and arguably the most underrated and underappreciated player on the defense.

Losing Miller is a big blow to the defensive line, as he was a key reason why the Jaguars were able to slow teams down in the run game. Miller plays the shaded nose tackle position, which means his job is to eat up space and force runs to the pockets on the defense the Jaguars want, which lets them keep teams a little one dimensional. Once Miller was out on Sunday, the drop off from his play to his back up was noticeable and the Raiders were able to just bleed the game out.

With Miller down, it’s likely Abry Jones will pick up most of the snaps, as he’s really the only other pure nose tackle type the Jaguars have on their roster. Jones is an adequate player in his own right, but as mentioned Miller was really good at his job in clogging up the middle and stopping the run. The injury also comes at the worst possible time, on a short week headed into a road game against the team that likes to run the ball.