Jaguars Pass Defense Gives Chiefs QB Matt Cassel Another Good Opportunity

Kansas City Chiefs QB Matt Cassel will get another opportunity for a solid game against the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday. Cassel has been a hot topic of conversation around Kansas City because in three of the Chiefs five games he's had some pretty miserable stats. That's the downside. The upside is that in two games Cassel has performed well in two of the games -- San Francisco 49ers and Houston Texans -- putting up three touchdowns in each game.

The most recent game was against Houston's 32nd ranked pass defense. Cassel looked comfortable throwing the ball and was part of the solution despite the Chiefs 35-31 loss to the Texans.

On Sunday, he faces a Jaguars team that, like the Texans, struggles against the pass. They're the 28th ranked pass defense (by yards) despite being 13th in pass attempts against. They've given up the second most touchdown passes.

So what will the game plan be against the Jaguars?

My guess is that you won't see much change from last week against the Texans. Against the worst ranked pass defense the Chiefs ran the ball 38 times compared to 29 passes. Clearly their focus was on running the ball -- and that was against the Texans top five rush defense. The Jaguars are 20th against the run and present a much better matchup in that regard.

Expect to see a similar ratio of pass plays to run plays against the Jaguars. Cassel was opportunistic against the Texans completing key third down passes while the Chiefs focused on the run the rest of the time. If anything I suspect we'll see even more rushing plays on Sunday.

The Chiefs passing offense is 29th in attempts, 27th in yards and 17th in touchdowns. The rushing offense is No. 1 in the NFL.

This matchup may once again scream for the Chiefs to pass the ball but they had plenty of success against a similar pass defense last week in Houston. Remember, the offense put up four touchdowns last Sunday. They did their part. There's no reason for the Chiefs to change their approach against the Jaguars.