What adjustments should the Jaguars make during the bye week?

An early bye week is something most teams don't usually desire. However, it may be a good time for the Jaguars as they have some things to figure out with this team, and the next three games could determine the fate of the current coaching staff. The bye week gives coaches time to make their biggest adjustments they can in season, and give a true self evaluation of where the team is at. Team adjustments are constantly talked about on this site, but here are some of mine that the Jaguars should consider.

1. Start Myles Jack at the Otto, even if Dan Skuta is healthy.

The Jags coaching staff probably took three weeks too long to get Myles Jack on the field, but when they did finally get him on the field last Sunday, Jack impressed as many expected. Sure, Jack was not flawless throughout the game, but that is expected from a rookie starting in his first game. It was easy to see that Jack gave the Jags defense a different level of athleticism they lacked with Skuta on the field. While I don't think Skuta is atrocious, having him and Poz on the field at the same time gives the Jags too slower linebackers, and hurts them in pass situations in their base 4-3 defense.

While I would also prefer for Jack to play middle linebacker on 3rd down or passing situations, I understand this coaching staff is not realistically going to take Poz off the field this season barring a few terrible games. Injury forced the coaching staff to play Jack, and while they might not have wanted to put Jack in that role, Skuta's injury may have saved the coaching staff, as I don't see a way they can bench Jack again after the way he played against the Colts.

2. Please, please run less stretch plays.

Since Gus Bradley's time in Jacksonville started, they have wanted to run a zone blocking scheme as their primary run  scheme. However, lack of personnel for most seasons have limited that, and they have been forced to do more power run scheme blocking. I'm not sure what the average yards gained has been on stretch plays this year, but I can assure you it hasn't been good. I want to pull my hair out when they run stretch plays with Chris Ivory, who needs to be a north and south runner, and who seems to struggle with making the one big cut on the stretch play. I'm not saying to never run the play at all, but cutting it down would be a good idea. Giving Ivory and  TJ Yeldon quick forming power runs has seemed to work better for both. If this offense really wants to get buzzing again, they will need to establish and at least average running game. In order to do that, they need to be creative on how they construct their running attack.

3. Run more play action, up the tempo of the offense more.

In Blake Bortles time with the Jags the two things he seems to excel at the most are passing out of the play action, and running a hurry up offense. Bortles still struggles with his reads, even in his third year, so getting him on the run where he is comfortable, or speeding of the offense for him gets him in a better rhythm. One reason I think Bortles has struggled this season is because he looks unsure of where to go when standing in the pocket. Running more play action plays, and speeding up the offense lesser the extent of how much Bortles is reading and processing, while also allowing him to play fast, which has him playing more naturally then tensed up. I still think Bortles can be really good, guys don't throw 35 touchdowns by accident. But the coaching staff needs to cater toward Bortles a little bit more, especially if the want to win games.

4. Consider all the options at nickel cornerback strongly.

I thought about this originally as " Should Davon House be benched?". However, the more i thought about it, the more I realized why House has been more exposed this year. Last year, aside from two games against the De Andre Hopkins, House was the Jags best corner. So essentially, other teams were picking on other guys. With the additions of Jalen Ramsey and Prince Amukamara, House has become the third best corner on the team, probably where he should be on the landscape of a good secondary. This means however, that teams are picking on House this year, because they'd rather not throw at the two other guys, especially Ramsey.

With Aaron Colvin coming back form injury, and Josh Johnson playing an effective game against the Colts, the Jags have some intriguing options on their 3rd cornerback spot. Colvin has been ok in his first two years, but nothing to get excited about. Johnson is the most intriguing, but we only really have a one game sample size of him playing effectively. I think they will stick with House for now, but the Jags are deep at the cornerback spot, a problem what most teams would love to have.