Report Card: Jaguars Earn Straight A’s vs. Browns
After the season-opening spectacle the Jacksonville Jaguars put on Sunday afternoon against the Cleveland Browns, it’s hard to dock any unit points.
It is just Week 1, and there are still improvements to be made across the Jaguars’ squad, but they earned straight As coming out of the season opener with a 34-10 win.
Offense: A
Trevor Lawrence clearly earned a gold star for his first showing of the season.
He threw four touchdown passes and logged the 100th of his NFL career in the bout. He finished an impressive 18-of-23 passing for 245 yards and four touchdowns and took care of the ball throughout, logging zero turnovers.
“I feel really good,” Lawrence said. “I feel really comfortable, really confident with what we’re doing.”
The Jaguars’ wide receiver corps lit up EverBank Stadium, headlined by a dominant performance by Parker Washington.
Washington tallied the team’s first touchdown of the season and added 83 yards on five receptions. Behind him, Brian Thomas Jr. finished with three receptions for 40 yards, and Jakobi Meyers added a 32-yard touchdown grab — one of his two catches on the afternoon.
Rookie Josh Cameron capped off the explosive night for the wideouts, logging a 4-yard touchdown in his first NFL outing.
The tight ends also excelled, with rookie Nate Boerkircher grabbing a 9-yard pass and blocking well in his first showing. Brenton Strange once again headlined the unit, though, wasting no time reverting back to his elite 2025 form. He caught two passes for 23 yards and a touchdown.
The running back unit also silenced many of the questions about its productivity without Travis Etienne Jr. Bhayshul Tuten got the bulk of the snaps, logging 15 carries for 66 yards, while Chris Rodriguez Jr. added six carries for 23 yards.
Ameer Abdullah, the team’s most explosive back, posted four carries for 32 yards, averaging a team-high 8 yards per carry.
After battling numerous injuries throughout training camp, the Jaguars’ offensive line also impressed.
Lawrence was under duress on just four of 24 dropbacks, per ESPN research. He had all the time he needed to make good decisions for the bulk of the contest.
“They did a great job,” Lawrence said. “You look at that front, the front is good, Cleveland’s front. I think those guys really protected well. We ran the ball pretty well for the most part, too. I thought they did an awesome job.”
Defense: A
The defense shone just as much as the offense, completely stifling Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson. The Jaguars sacked Watson five times, forced two fumbles and recorded an interception in the opening drive.
As a unit, the defense held Cleveland to 272 yards of total offense and 87 on the ground, while keeping the Browns out of the end zone until the final minutes of the game.
“I wanted to hold them to zero all game,” Jaguars defensive end Josh Hines-Allen said. “Kept them to under 100 rushing yards. I know they had that one explosive last play of the game, but we stopped the run, eliminate explosive, create turnovers.
“That’s our recipe for success, and we accomplished 89 percent of it, so I’m happy with that.”
One of the more uncertain groups following the departure of Devin Lloyd in the offseason, the linebacker unit excelled.
The veteran Foyesade Oluokun logged the interception to open the game, and he added four tackles and a pass defended. However, Ventrell Miller made the largest impact.
Miller’s blitz forced the initial interception, and he recorded a team-leading 10 total tackles. He also forced a second-quarter fumble by Browns receiver K.C. Concepcion, which Hines-Allen recovered and turned into a Brenton Strange touchdown five plays later.
“We trust Ventrell,” Hines-Allen said. “It was definitely a grind for him knowing the expectations that was set on him, but for him just to play his game, get comfortable in the system, communicate, run fast, be physical, which he already is, and once he starts to understand the scheme of everything and lining up and just knowing where the ball was going to be, we knew what type of play we were going to get from him.”
The edge duo of Hines-Allen and Travon Walker also dominated. They each recorded 1.5 sacks, with the pair combining on a first-quarter strip-sack of Watson. Hines-Allen added two quarterback hurries to his day, while Walker added a pass defended and a quarterback hurry.
Special Teams: A
Cam Little once again impressed in the debut. He made both of his field goal attempts — his longest from 47 yards out.
As a whole, special teams was solid, with long snapper Ross Matiscik and Logan Cooke both doing their jobs efficiently and cleanly.
Cooke had two punts, and each went an average of 54 yards. Matiscik also made the tackle on Cooke’s punt with 1:45 left in the second quarter. He took down KC Concepcion at the Cleveland 30-yard line.
Category: Feature Sports News, Jacksonville Jaguars, NFL
