Jacksonville’s vaunted defense suddenly seems vulnerable to big plays.

The Jaguars (10-6) have allowed nine scoring plays of 25 or more yards – and several more that led to points – in the last six games. It’s a negligible but noticeable nuance for a unit that is among the NFL leaders in nearly every defensive category.

”We’re really good in the red zone Womens Ryan Shazier Jersey , so we try to give up the long ones,” defensive coordinator Todd Wash joked Thursday. ”We’re excelling at that.”

Wash actually sounded more concerned than his players, pointing the finger at himself for trying to get the defense in the ”perfect call” and giving his players too much to think about before and after the snap.

”There are some things we’ve got to get cleaned up,” Wash said. ”We’ve got to just let them play. I think the other team gets paid, too. I know we’re not the only team in the league that gets paid. You’ve got to give credit to them also, but we need to eliminate the long plays and just get them down.

”If there’s a blade of grass, we have to do a good job of defending it.”

Jacksonville’s recent defensive trend has been problematic. The Jags limp into Sunday’s wild-card game against Buffalo (9-7) having dropped consecutive games for the first time all season and three of their last six.

In all three losses, explosive plays against Jacksonville’s defense proved costly:

– Tennessee’s lone touchdown in a 15-10 victory last week came on a 66-yard screen pass from Marcus Mariota to Derrick Henry in the second quarter.

– San Francisco scored on a 30-yard run in a 44-33 victory the previous week.

– Arizona connected on TD passes of 29 and 52 yards in a 27-24 victory in late November.

”When we do it right, when we have everybody doing the right thing, nobody gets big plays,” defensive end Calais Campbell said. ”When we make mistakes, a big play happens here of there. We just know we have to be more disciplined and everybody has to be accountable for their assignment. If we do that, we’ll be successful.”

Even in Jacksonville’s last three victories, the defense has been lax at times:

– Houston’s DeAndre Hopkins had catches of 45 and 25 yards in a span of four plays against Pro Bowl cornerback Jalen Ramsey in mid-December, the second one going for a touchdown .

– Seattle’s Russell Wilson torched the Jaguars with TD passes to Doug Baldwin (26 yards), Paul Richardson (61) and Tyler Lockett (74) in the second half the previous week.

– And Indianapolis’ lone touchdown in two games against Jacksonville this season came on a fourth-and-2 play in the third quarter in early December when T.Y. Hilton got behind the defense for a 40-yard score.

”Luckily we not letting them bite us in the (butt) too hard,” defensive tackle Malik Jackson said. ”But from a defensive standpoint, if that’s the only thing that’s keeping us from being in that No. 1 spot, then it matters. Then again, if we’re not losing, then we can live with that. But it’s not a good thing.”

It’s definitely a concern for a team built to play stout defense and take some pressure off an inconsistent offense.

It might even be nitpicking considering the Jaguars rank second in the NFL in points allowed (16.8 a game), yards allowed (286.1 a game), sacks (55), takeaways (33) and interceptions (21).

Regardless, it’s a tendency the Jaguars hope to end to open the postseason.

”We want to somehow get to the perfect game,” Wash said. ”I don’t think it’s ever happened in the 24 years I’ve been coaching. But that’s what our expectations are, so when we do give up some chunk plays and we don’t play well, not only is the staff upset, the players are upset. We want to play the perfect game Youth Antonio Brown Jersey , and that’s the expectations that we have each time that we go out.”

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Forget the anomaly that was Friday’s low-scoring game.

In May, the Arizona Diamondbacks averaged 2.9 runs per game, fewest in the major leagues. So far in June, however, they are averaging 6.5 runs, including 37 in five games against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

The Diamondbacks (42-33) and Pirates (36-39) play the third game of a four-game series Saturday at PNC Park in Pittsburgh after Arizona’s 2-1, 13-inning win Friday.

The Diamondbacks this month have 178 hits, nine triples, 81 walks and 32 homers.

A couple of players — leadoff batter Jon Jay and Paul Goldschmidt — seem to have sparked Arizona’s offense.

Jay has multiple hits in seven of his 14 games since he was acquired by trade June 6 from Kansas City. He has reached base in all but one game and reached base twice in eight games. He has scored 16 runs with eight RBIs.

“He’s come in and he’s been unbelievable for us at the top of the lineup,” Diamondbacks general manager Mike Hazen told the Arizona Republic. “Almost every day he’s getting on base a couple of times and he’s just sparking us in so many different ways. He’s giving us professional at-bats. That’s something that we weren’t putting together consistently during that rut in May, which we’ve come around to doing now. It’s all sort of adding back up together again.”

Don’t look for Jay to cough up any secrets.

“I’m just trying to go out there and be myself,” he told MLB.com. “I just try to keep it simple. We’ve got a great core group of guys here. I’m just trying to be a complement to the group we have already.”

Goldschmidt is batting .475 with six doubles, a triple, eight home runs and 20 RBIs in his past 16 games.

The Diamondbacks got caught in a pitchers’ duel Friday but won their second straight game and third in their past four. They have won six of seven on the road.

Pittsburgh has lost three straight and four of five.

On Saturday, Pittsburgh right-hander Joe Musgrove (2-2, 3.68 ERA) is scheduled to face Diamondbacks righty Zack Greinke (6-5, 3.90).

Musgrove will be making is sixth start since beginning the season on the disabled list. He was dynamic out of the gate but was flat in his most recent outing, an 8-6 loss Sunday against Cincinnati when he gave up six runs and eight hits in 4 1/3 innings, with six strikeouts and one walk.

“I felt OK. That’s my first day game in a while. Just trying to get my body alert,” Musgrove said. “It was hot out there. I felt drained. But that’s something I’m aware of now, and that’s something I’ll try to prepare for.”

Saturday’s game also is a day game, although with a late-afternoon start.

“I don’t feel like I’m lost right now. I still feel really good,” Musgrove said.”

Musgrove is 0-0 with a 2.45 ERA in two career appearances, including one start, against Arizona. That start was June 11 when the first five of his six-plus innings were scoreless in what became a no-decision. He ended up allowing three runs (two earned) on five hits in six innings.

Greinke has won three of his past four starts. He is 7-4 with a 4.91 ERA in 12 career starts against Pittsburgh. In his one start against the Pirates this season, Greinke gave up five runs on five hits and four walks over 4 2/3 innings. He took the loss in that June 13 game, which ended with a 5-4 Pirates victory.