The Seattle Seahawks ( 8-4) will enter the Jacksonville Jaguars ( 8-4) den Sunday afternoon looking win to make it three in a row after wins at San Francisco and last Sundays home win against the Philadephia Eagles. Sunday’s task will be no walk in the park. The Jags have won four of their last five games and are coming off an impressive 30-10 home victory over the Indianapolis Colts.
The Jaguars lead the league in sacks, interceptions, passing yards and touchdowns allowed. The Jaguars defense is relentless against the passer and stingy inside the red zone. While the Jags offense is ranked seventh it is number one in rushing attempts, rushing yards and fourth in rushing yards scored.
HERES IS WHAT THE COACHES HAD TO SAY ABOUT SUNDAYS MATCH UP
JAGUARS HEAD COACH DOUG MARRONE
(On what Calais Campbell has brought to a young defense in terms of experience and leadership, other than the sack numbers)
“It’s everything, obviously, when you go through the free agency, you try to do as much background as you can just like the draft. Everything that came out about Calais was all positive. Obviously, as a player, it’s easy to see.
Just look on tape, watch the way he plays, so when he came into this locker room, he has really embraced his teammates and his teammates have embraced him. I think that is a credit on both sides and he is a great example for a lot of the younger players on our team of how to work during the week and how to take care of your body, how to go out in practice and I think not only has he done a good job vocally, but more importantly he has done a good job by example.”
(On Chris Ivory’s season)
“He has done a nice job. Early on, we were trying to manage the backs that we have. Obviously, we feel like we have four good running backs back there with the different guys, so we are just trying to manage everything. What Chris has done in there, he has done a great job when he has had those opportunities.
We feel very comfortable of putting him in there and going in and playing. He is always ready to go and works his butt off in practice so between him, Leonard [Fournette], [T.J.] Yeldon and Corey Grant, we feel like we got four good guys back there and it’s always tough when you have four good players at one position, trying to manage it.”
(On if it adds to the challenge of preparation for teams that don’t play often and don’t watch film on each other)
“You know players, players watch a lot of things and a lot of tape. Seattle has been a dominant team in the NFL for a long period of time, so a lot of people probably have studied both sides of the football.
I’m just saying for myself, because I was in college for a while when he [Russell Wilson] first came into the league and then having not played them when I was with, the last time I played Seattle, I believe I was with, the Saints, so that was a long time ago. I just really haven’t seen a lot of him or really studied him.
I’ve seen a lot of him on highlights and things, but I never really studied him and he is much more impressive when you study him and you watch every single game and everything that he does. It’s a credit to him. He is an outstanding football player.”
Head Coach Pete Carroll
OPENING
“OK we are already cranking for big preparation for this trip coming up. We’ve got a really good looking opponent. Very similar in the makeup to the team we saw last week in their commitment to the run, their commitment to the defense, the front on defense, these guys are leading the NFL in rushing, they are leading the NFL in total defense and scoring defense and their special teams are tough too.
This is a very similar matchup for us and of course, the names and the faces change but it’s a good club and I know they are fired up and it’s going to be a big game for us.”
(On how good is the Jaguars’ defense)
“Yeah, well they are the best in the NFL, OK, by a pretty good margin here in scoring and all that. It starts up front for them. They have a big rotation of guys, a big variety of guys that they can throw at you, their linebackers can fly and the secondary are a bunch of ball hawks back there. They cause you all kinds of problems. 45 sacks tells you the story and all the turnovers and the turnover ratio tells you the story.”
(On the offensive line)
“I think we’ve been improving steadily. This is week three of our guys being together on the left side, they’re getting to work together, they’re getting to log some time where they can start to relate and communicate on a good level. They’re two brilliant football players. There’s nothing holding these guys back. It’s already been a factor. I think as soon as Duane got on the field it was a factor and we could tell. We are thrilled to have him. He’s affected our play in general.
Think about how important that is, one guy goes to left tackle and things shift, so it has. Russell has been the beneficiary some and we all have. We can get better, we can continue to improve and this stretch right here is huge and we are going to keep working at the fundamentals and the basics of it and see if we can’t end on a really high note.”
