Against the Jacksonville Jaguars, the Buffalo Bills could look to replicate their latest success from before the bye week. The Bills used early aggressive play calls to get the Jets to back off and open the run game. To do that, Brian Daboll will need to have the Bills attack a formidable cornerback duo of Jalen Ramsey and A.J. Bouye. Of those two, most coordinators would choose Bouye as the less daunting of the two. If Daboll and Josh Allen attack Bouye, here’s what to expect.
Play 1
A.J. Bouye reads runs right away and needs to get by Travis Kelce to get into the play. Bouye extends his arms before Kelce to dictate how the contact goes down. Bouye uses this action to give him space to step around Kelce and get in on the tackle.
Play 2
On this play Bouye is playing safety essentially. Jacksonville likes to have him roam the back end like this on anticipated run plays. This short pass gets a good chunk of yards but Bouye does his job well. His angle to the sideline helps corral the play and would have put him in position to make the tackle himself if needed.
Play 3
A.J. Bouye does a few nice things here. The coverage on Sammy Watkins makes sure he’s not a viable target for Patrick Mahomes. When this turns into a quarterback scramble Bouye reads it in time to get to the sideline and make sure this isn’t a touchdown. This play occurred on third down and took four points off the board.
Play 4
If the Bills decide to attack Jacksonville like they did against the Jets, this kind of one-on-one match on the outside might be what to expect. Bouye shows good speed and instincts in coverage. The Bill can create opportunities, but Bouye won’t make it easy.
Play 5
Here’s a similar look but with a little stop-and-go. There’s some room for a timing pass to be set up from the initial separation created by the hesitation move. Bouye recovers and a deeper pass becomes tricky.
Play 6
A.J. Bouye is often in man coverage, but isn’t unfamiliar with zone like in this play. Bouye’s discipline is good here. Knowing where his help is on the back end, Bouye keeps his eyes on the developing play and is ready if the play comes his way.
Play 7
The above isn’t to suggest that Bouye wont give anything up. The Jaguars commonly ask Bouye to line up with a decent cushion such as this one. A rare errant throw from Ben Roethlisberger is the reason this play fails.
In Conclusion
A.J. Bouye is a good corner who provides tremendous versatility for the Jaguars. Bouye is asked to cover man-to-man and follow talented receivers on either side of the field. He shows up well in zone looks and even plays a bit of safety for good measure. There’ll be opportunities to be had though in what should be a good test for the returning Josh Allen.