By CJ Carlson
Jaguars Weekly – Week 10
This was expected to be a massive test for a young Jacksonville Jaguars team. They’d be getting home-field advantage against a potential Super Bowl contender in the San Francisco 49ers. Unfortunately, Jacksonville got hit with a wake-up call early and they weren’t able to recover down the stretch.
The action got started in the first quarter, with the 49ers outscoring them 10-0. The teams evened it out a little bit in the second quarter to go into halftime with the 49ers winning 13-3. At this point in the game, it could have easily swung either way. The problem was that the 49ers kept their foot on the gas while the Jaguars couldn’t come up with their much-needed answer. The 49ers outscored the Jaguars 21-0 in the second half to run away with a 34-3 final score.
Quarterback Trevor Lawrence completed 17 of his 29 pass attempts for 185 yards, no touchdowns, and threw two interceptions. It was one of the worst outings of the season for Lawrence, with this 49ers defense flying all over the field to interrupt passing lanes. It also didn’t help that Jacksonville couldn’t get the ball moving on the ground.
Travis Etienne had nine rushes for 35 yards, but that was really it. Tank Bigsby had three carries for five yards, and D’Ernest Johnson had three for 12. The bottom line was that nobody performed offensively. Christian Kirk had a nice statistical day with six receptions for 104 yards, though he gave up a costly fumble in the second half which led to seven more 49ers points. Mind you, Kirk lost that fumble in the red zone, halting a drive that could have been six for the Jaguars.
Defensively, they did what they could, but it just wasn’t enough. Brock Purdy threw for 296 yards and three touchdowns, and the team didn’t turn the ball over at all. The only thing that was really a positive for the Jaguars was that they halted Christian McCaffrey’s 16-game touchdown streak. It would have been an all-time record had he scored again here, but he was stopped multiple times at the goal line to end with 16 carries for 95 yards. At least there was a small win in there.
At the end of the day, Jacksonville has work to do if they want to compete for a Super Bowl. This was a wake-up call, and it’ll likely be motivating as they continue down the season.
