By CJ Carlson
The Jacksonville Jaguars are on a three-game losing streak, giving the Houston Texans every possible opportunity, they can to steal the division from them. This losing streak has made clear a few things, with the biggest being that the team simply can’t run the football effectively with how things are constructed. Let’s look at their 23-7 loss to the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday night.
Quarterback Trevor Lawrence didn’t throw an interception, yet he coughed the ball up twice. One of them came in the fourth quarter, at a critical junction in the game. That fumble essentially sealed the deal for Baltimore. Lawrence also completed just 58 percent of his passes; a trend that’s been continuing since Christian Kirk went down a few weeks ago.
The only reason Lawrence even ended with a touchdown pass in this game was due to a 65-yard score from Jamal Agnew. Other than that, the Jaguars offense couldn’t put points up. Oh, and Lawrence is now headed into the league’s concussion protocol following the loss, leaving next week’s game uncertain for him.
The Jacksonville Jaguars Kept Missing Opportunities
The story of the game was about missed opportunities. They had nearly 200 yards of total offense in the first half, getting into scoring range four times. In those four chances, they had two missed field goals from Brandon McManus, a fumble from Lawrence inside the red-zone, and then watched Lawrence try for another end zone shot instead of spiking the ball down at the five-yard line.
That last one saw Lawrence complete a pass to the Ravens five-yard line with 15 seconds left. Most teams would spike it, but he took another pass to a receiver that wasn’t in the end zone, and who didn’t get out of bounds in time.
But the one problem that keeps on popping up is their inability to run the ball. This past week, if you take out Lawrence’s scrambles, their backfield combined for 13 carries and totaled 34 yards. Star running back Travis Etienne had 10 rushes for a measly 31 yards, averaging just 3.1 a carry. D’Ernest Johnson had two rushes for five yards.
Lawrence had four carries for 41 yards of his own, though he’s not going to be running the football at a high clip every game. Jacksonville has to do a far better job at getting their ground game going, and not passing the football over 40 times a game. There’s no question, this group has some soul searching to do.
