Although he didn’t have much to offer in the way of a pass rush on the handful of occasions in which he came after the quarterback, inside linebacker Lawrence Timmons continues to play the way the defense needs him to ever since getting off to a slow start during the first two games of the season.
Although it’s curious that he has yet to accumulate any statistics this year other than simple tackles, he’s had little problem doing that, which is his primary job. He recorded seven solo tackles against the Jacksonville Jaguars a week after putting up 10 total.
Sometimes it didn’t even matter whether or not he was standing. Such was the case midway through the first quarter when he was knocked to his side by a falling backside tight end, only to get back to his knees and bring down Dennard Robinson at the line of scrimmage.
Timmons was taken out by the running back with a cut block on the next play while rushing the passer, however. With Sean Spence dropping into coverage, Blake Bortles was able to scramble for 11 yards for a first down.
Interestingly, you can see Jason Worilds perfectly handle the cut block by the right tackle on the same play, which in part caused Bortles to take off and run.
Early in the second quarter, Timmons showed off some of his range on this sideline pass, cleaning up the tackle with Sean Spence in coverage. The veteran covered a lot of ground quickly to help out on this play.
On the Jaguars’ next possession, midway through the second quarter, Timmons managed to take on the block of the pulling left guard attempting to push him wide, but the linebacker was able to slide off the block inside and make the tackle on the running back for a short gain.
Timmons also got the second half off to a good start with another tackle from his knees on first down.
The offensive line flowed right, and the right guard cut the linebacker to his knees, but Timmons was able to reach up and pull the running back down by his legs. It’s not often a player is able to make two tackles from the ground in the same game.
A few plays later, he displayed nice reaction time and quickness when Bortles fumbled the snap. Though there was no chance he would beat the quarterback in a footrace, given the distance he had to make up, his pursuit forced Bortles to just fall on the ball, and Timmons was able to tag him down.
