{"id":128745,"date":"2022-01-26T14:00:18","date_gmt":"2022-01-26T19:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/?p=128745"},"modified":"2022-01-26T06:53:24","modified_gmt":"2022-01-26T11:53:24","slug":"what-to-expect-from-byron-leftwich-with-jacksonville-jaguars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2022\/01\/26\/what-to-expect-from-byron-leftwich-with-jacksonville-jaguars\/","title":{"rendered":"What to Expect From Byron Leftwich With Jacksonville Jaguars"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">According to multiple reports across the web, the Jacksonville Jaguars are set to make <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2022\/01\/26\/jacksonville-jaguars-expected-to-hire-byron-leftwich-as-next-head-coach\/\" target=\"_self\">Byron Leftwich their next head coach<\/a>. Leftwich, of course, started his playing career with Jacksonville and spent the past few years as the offensive coordinator for the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/category\/nfl-teams\/buccaneers\/\" target=\"_self\">Tampa Bay Buccaneers<\/a>. Now that he\u2019s back in Jacksonville, how will he perform now that he\u2019s on the sideline?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><strong>Was Byron Leftwich A Good Hire For Jacksonville Jaguars?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<h4><strong>Offensive Philosophy<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Based on what Leftwich did with Tampa Bay, Trevor Lawrence is going to throw the ball a lot. In 2021, the Buccaneers had a 10% pass rate over expected, second in the league only to the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/category\/nfl-teams\/chiefs\/\" target=\"_self\">Kansas City Chiefs<\/a> (11%). Now, a portion of this comes from having Tom Brady as your quarterback, but the fact Leftwich will willing to air it out this much means good things for the future of Trevor Lawrence and the Jacksonville Jaguars.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The pass-heavy approach of the Chiefs, Bucs, and Bills will never work in the playoffs once January rolls around <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/fBkAUjAB4s\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/t.co\/fBkAUjAB4s<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/u33b3L9OtB\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/u33b3L9OtB<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Computer Cowboy (@benbbaldwin) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/benbbaldwin\/status\/1483451462818709505?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">January 18, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Passing is much more efficient than running, and in today\u2019s day and age, you need to throw the ball well if you want to make a serious run at a Super Bowl. All four of the teams that made it to the Championship Game ranked in the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ezlazar\/status\/1485447406691008514?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">top 10 in passing EPA\/play<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, and this is not a one-year trend. If you can\u2019t throw, you can\u2019t compete, and Leftwich will likely do everything he can to move the ball effectively through the air.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Additionally, throwing on early downs actually makes life easier on a quarterback. Now, nobody is saying to never run the ball, but most NFL teams should be more aggressive on first and second down. On early downs, defenses need to think about defending both the run and the pass, whereas they can hone in on the pass on 3rd and long situations. Assuming Leftwich brings his aggressive philosophy to Jacksonville, Trevor Lawrence should be in for an improved second season.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h4><strong>Willingness to Adapt<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While Leftwich is best known for his work with Tom Brady, he actually began his time in Tampa with Jameis Winston under center. Winston is an aggressive quarterback that loves to push the ball downfield, while Brady is more content to make the smart read and methodically work his way down the field. This isn\u2019t to say that Brady won\u2019t stretch the field (he led the NFL in average depth of target in 2020), but it does paint a broad picture of how the two quarterbacks like to play.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The best coaches are the ones that adjust their scheme to the strengths of their players, and Leftwich excelled at that in Tampa. Taking a look at the heat map from @PFF_Moo shows that Tampa Bay\u2019s receivers ran completely different routes during Brady\u2019s 2021 compared to Winston\u2019s 2019.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">I assume Brady played a vocal role in making that change, but that&#39;s night and day <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/85B7J7ZJGf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/85B7J7ZJGf<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Timo Riske (@PFF_Moo) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/PFF_Moo\/status\/1484882399846703111?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">January 22, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To quote the great Bill Belichick: players win games, and coaches lose them. The best coaches realize that they\u2019re only as good as the players on the field, and adjust their scheme to put the guys on the field in the best position to succeed. Leftwich appears to have this quality, which is obviously a huge improvement over the last head coach.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There is no way to know with 100% if Byron Leftwich will succeed or fail in Jacksonville. However, on the surface, all signs point towards a successful tenure. He threw the ball early and often in Tampa and has proven that he\u2019s willing to change his scheme to best fit the talent on the roster.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Main photo:<br \/>\n<a id=\"o9GlHHkXS7xQFXs1zMtV1Q\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/1366669744\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'o9GlHHkXS7xQFXs1zMtV1Q',sig:'fNoqKoqi3Vq_Cj7CujAdVEqkIooQDDBXgthOxSrYNQE=',w:'594px',h:'406px',items:'1366669744',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Jacksonville Jaguars have hired Byron Leftwich as their next head coach, but what should the team expect from the former quarterback?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2376,"featured_media":128746,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[2998,7646],"class_list":["post-128745","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-jaguars","tag-byron-leftwich","tag-jaguars-featured"],"modified_by":"David Latham, Managing Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128745","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2376"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=128745"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128745\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/128746"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=128745"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=128745"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=128745"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}