Report Card: Jaguars Struggle Across the Board vs. Broncos
At the end of the first half of the Jacksonville Jaguars Week 2 matchup with the Denver Broncos, this was shaping up to be another solid report card for second-year coach Liam Coen’s squad.
However, after the Jaguars gave up 17 unanswered points and scored just three through the second half to lose 20-13, the collapse puts Jacksonville in worse shape than last week’s straight As.
Offense: C-
The Jaguars offensive line had the most undesirable showing. Quarterback Trevor Lawrence was consistently under pressure throughout the contest, getting sacked twice and hit seven times. He was under duress on 35.5% of his dropbacks, according to Pro Football Focus, a stark contrast from Week 1, where it was just 17%.
Lawrence struggled under pressure, completing 17 of 29 passes for 189 yards, zero touchdowns and an interception.
“It was tough sledding for us on offense the entire game,” Lawrence said.
The wide receivers’ production also dwindled compared to Week 1. Brian Thomas Jr. was at the forefront of the struggles for the wideouts, grabbing just three of his eight targets and recording two drops.
The Jaguars weren’t able to do much on the ground either. Bhayshul Tuten had a solid outing, recording 65 yards and a touchdown on 13 carries, but his counterpart in the backfield, Chris Rodriguez Jr., contributed just 13 yards on six attempts.
The explosive plays that keyed the Jaguars’ success against the Browns were nowhere to be found in the air or on the ground for the bulk of the game.
Defense: C
If the game had ended after the first half, this grade would be in B territory. To start the contest, the Jaguars’ defense was stifling despite struggling to get to Bo Nix. It had back-to-back impressive stands in the red zone in the first half, holding the Broncos to just a field goal in the first and intercepting Nix’s pass on third down in the second.
However, the defense slipped as the Broncos offense began to find its footing. It allowed two touchdown drives in the final frame as the red zone defense let up.
By the end of the evening, the Jaguars had recorded zero sacks and just three quarterback hits to Denver’s seven. They gave up 392 total offensive yards and 22 first downs.
The Jaguars managed to stop the run well enough, with just 104 of those yards coming on the ground, but the pass rush struggled immensely as Nix completed 22 of 31 passes for 288 yards.
“If we’re going to beat a team like that, then we’re going to have to create some pressure,” Coen said. “They caught us in a couple blitzes that they identified pre-snap when we were going to blitz and bring more. They ended up flipping the protections to pick some of that stuff up. That’s something we have to look at as well in terms of when we’re bringing pressure.”
It was also a rough day for the Jaguars’ secondary, which gave up crucial explosive plays throughout the game, including a 49-yard grab from Jaylen Waddle to put Denver on the 1-yard line.
Jourdan Lewis’ interception in the end zone was the bright spot of the secondary’s play Sunday — and it was not accompanied by many more positive results for the unit.
Special Teams: B-
The special teams unit was not exempt from the struggles Sunday.
After hitting his first two field goals from 44 and 23 yards out, Cam Little stepped up again with the score tied at 13, but missed wide left from 54 yards. The miss came at a crucial time, when Jacksonville could’ve used a score to curb Denver’s rapidly growing momentum.
While there were no glaring issues, the punt return game was certainly not impactful, and on the other end, they allowed one significant punt return. Tyler Badie placed Denver at the 40-yard line with a 38-yard return.
Special teams was certainly not the most crucial issue Sunday, but there are certainly areas to smooth out.
“In all three phases in the second half, specifically fourth quarter, we just did not win,” Coen said. “We didn’t win it, we didn’t coach it good enough, we didn’t play it good enough and we did not finish.”
Category: Feature Sports News, Jacksonville Jaguars, NFL
