Jaguars vs. Bengals: PFF notes and grades after Week 9 victory

The Jacksonville Jaguars went out and dominated the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday in a hard-fought throwback of a matchup. How did the players grade out according to Pro Football Focus?

Let’s find out.

Week 9 Jaguars offensive stats

• QB Blake Bortles had quite the impressive display against the Bengals, the quarterback was one of the more accurate passers Sunday, his adjusted completion percentage of 78.8% was the fifth-highest by a QB in Week 9. He ranked eighth among quarterbacks with an overall PFF grade of 72.6.
• Bortles used play action more than any over quarterback in Week 9. 41 percent of his dropbacks used play action but he was much worse when using play action than without it. Against the Bengals he only completed 53.3 percent of his passes for a passer rating of 74.3, compared to a completion percentage of 69.6 percent and a passer rating of 103.4 without play action.
• RB T.J Yeldon struggled in the absence of rookie Leonard Fournette. Despite earning the seventh-highest elusive rating of Week 9 forcing two missed tackles on his 11 rushing attempts, his overall PFF grade of 42.7 ranked 36th among runners. He really struggled in pass protection, allowing a pressure on his four pass block snaps and a pass block grade of 35.1.
• The Jaguars offensive line was strong in pass protection this week. The team didn’t allow a sack against the Bengals and the nine total pressures they did allow ranked 13th. The Jaguars overall pass-blocking efficiency of 82.7 was the ninth best of any team.
• The Jaguars highest graded player on Sunday was guard Brandon Linder. Linder earned an overall PFF graded of 84.7 against the Bengals which was the second highest by a guard in Week 9. He absolutely dominated in the run game with a run block grade of 88.4 which was the second best by a Jaguar on Sunday.

Week 9 Jaguars defensive stats

• Safety Barry Church was the Jaguars highest graded player in Week 9, his overall PFF grade of 85.7 was the fifth-best by a safety. Church had a solid all-around day, with an above average grade in coverage (74) and an excellent run defense grade (92.1). Church registered three run stops on only 17 snaps versus the run, his run stop percentage of 17.6 was the best by a safety in Week 9 plus he wasn’t targeted once in coverage.
• The Jaguars newest acquisition, interior defender Marcell Dareus didn’t disappoint in his Jacksonville debut. Dareus only played 12 snaps but he graded well on those snaps with an overall grade of 81.7, he was strong in run defense with a run defense grade of 82.2, notching two run stops on only seven run snaps for a run stop percentage of 28.6 percent.
• Interior defender Abry Jones was an absolute menace in the passing game (a pass rush grade of 81.5), Jones earned a pass-rush productivity rating of 16.7 against the Bengals which ranked fourth among defensive tackles in Week 9. He collected two total pressures on only nine pass rush snaps.
• Edge defenders Yannick Ngakoue and Calais Campbell were a force to be reckoned with on Sunday, the pair were unstoppable rushing the passer collecting eight total pressures between them. They were both ranked inside the top-five for pass-rush productivity in Week 9 among 4-3 defensive ends (21.7 and 18.1 respectively). The Jaguars defense pressured Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton an 45 percent of his dropbacks, the fourth highest rate of any quarterback.
• Another strong display by linebacker Telvin Smith earned him an overall PFF grade of 81.6 against the Bengals, the ninth best by a linebacker. Smith had the second highest run defense grade by a Jaguars player on Sunday (86.4) and had the highest run stop percentage of any 4-3 outside linebacker with a percentage of 17.6 as he notched three stops on his 17 run defense snaps.