Why Tuten's 'street ball' style could spark a Jaguars at Broncos

The Jacksonville Jaguars (1-0) hope to extend their regular-season win streak to 10 against the Denver Broncos (0-1) this Sunday, with kickoff at 4:05 p.m.

A win would also extend the team's point-differential dominance. They currently lead the league over the last nine regular-season matchups by +177. The next best team is the San Francisco 49ers at +96.

Jacksonville is currently tied 8-8 against the Broncos, including regular-season and postseason results.

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With a win, the Broncos would become the seventh team the Jaguars have a winning record over, including the New York Jets (10-8), Pittsburgh Steelers (15-13), Baltimore Ravens (13-11), Carolina Panthers

(5-4), Las Vegas Raiders (7-5) and the Cleveland Browns (13-8).

Jacksonville's ascent over last year's regular season and a game into this year has coincided with elite play at quarterback from Trevor Lawrence. With a win, Lawrence would join a rare group of four quarterbacks to earn 10 straight regular-season wins while throwing multiple touchdown passes.

The only other quarterbacks to accomplish this feat are Dan Marino (1984), Tom Brady (2007, 2010-11) and Aaron Rodgers (2011).

Still, perhaps Jacksonville won't need Lawrence's superpowers to earn back-to-back wins at Mile High Stadium in Denver, at least if Week 1's result is foreshadowing anything to come Sunday.

Bhayshul Tuten ready for major role in Jaguars offense

After working as a relief player for former Jaguars running back Travis Etienne during his rookie year, second-year RB Bhayshul Tuten is set for an increased role in 2026 alongside Chris Rodriguez Jr.

Last week, Tuten served as the team's bell-cow back, rushing 15 times for 66 yards (4.4 yards per carry) and earning nine more carries than Rodriguez (six) in the first week of the season. Tuten added one 22-yard screen pass.

While Tuten's workload could shift over time, he feels well-prepared for a large role in the offense.

"A lot of that was just understanding the run game, the pass game more, the whole offensive scheme better. I think, once I did that, I could play free, I can read my reads faster and I can play faster," Tuten said in the locker room this week.

Head coach Liam Coen praised Tuten's game after the team's win last week.

"I thought he did some nice things. He ran his tail off, like I said, and if we can continue to get him to run like that and then, okay, you break one more of those tackles in the open field, and we know he can go when he does get some of those creases," said Coen.

Tuten's secret power isn't in his typical stat totals. On Sunday, Tuten forced nine missed tackles (tied for third or fourth in the NFL). He totaled 4.47 yards per carry after contact (fourth among running backs with 10-plus carries).

Tuten's ability to make a man miss is his strong suit and comes from his youth.

"I think I've always been like that. A good deal comes from my childhood playing street ball a lot. That's where I found the grit, and we didn't have pads back then, so you had to stay up unless you [want to] get hit, you don't want to hit the ground," Tuten said.

Tuten also works on his balance and mentioned being 5-foot-9 and having a low center of gravity as another part of the equation.

"All that meshed in one is how I'm able to bounce off it. I'm also strong lower half, upper body, so I can take a hit and still keep going," he added.

Jaguars must contain Bo Nix

Broncos quarterback Bo Nix completed 28 of 47 passes for 352 yards, one touchdown and one interception against the Jaguars last season. Jacksonville stuffed Nix's rushing attempts, allowing zero yards.

They added an eight-yard sack against Nix, running him out of bounds.

Still, they must respect Nix's ability to get outside the pocket and make off-schedule plays. Perhaps Lawrence can help in that regard.

"He can move around back there and make plays and flip his hips and get the ball out 50, 60 yards downfield sometimes at practice, which is pretty impressive. It really is a help to your defensive backs, I think, to play against a guy that can keep plays alive in practice every day," Jaguars defensive coordinator Anthony Campanile said when asked about Lawrence helping the team prepare for Nix.

According to Next Gen Stats, 25% of Nix's throws came on the run, completing 51% of those passes outside the pocket.

Jarrian Jones adds chess piece role for Jaguars

The Jaguars are mixing up their secondary this season, utilizing five different cornerbacks and four safeties throughout the contest, and cornerback Jarrian Jones' role was the most intriguing of the bunch on Sunday.

Jones played four snaps in the box as a linebacker, three as a slot corner and 29 out wide. Jones' versatility has allowed Jacksonville to do "a lot" more on defense, Campanile said.

"Jarrian has worked really hard to understand all the ins and outs of the defense. And he's one of those guys for us that can move around, understands all the roles," Campanile said about Jones and his role.

"He's a really savvy football player, understands everything about our system, and it really gives you a lot of options and multiplicity to have a guy like that."

Jaguars injury updates ahead of Week 2

After holding them back some last week, Coen anticipates offensive lineman Cole Van Lanen and RB LeQuint Allen to play more against the Broncos with Van Lanen playing 100% of the team's snaps at right tackle.

Van Lanen is returning from a knee injury sustained at the end of last season, while Allen has been limited by a hip injury. Both players were limited in practice this week.

"Fully expect [Van Lanen] to be able to go for the whole game this week and moving forward," said Coen.

He also anticipates an increased workload for Allen.

"We wanted to get him going a little bit, but also it was trying to be smart with him in that role on Sunday this past weekend," Coen said of Allen playing just one snap against Cleveland. "Fully anticipate him playing a lot more [against Denver], especially in some of those third down situations."

Demetrius Harvey is the Jacksonville Jaguars reporter for the Florida Times-Union. You can follow him on X (formerly Twitter) at @Demetrius82 or on BlueskyatDemetrius.

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This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Why Tuten's 'street ball' style could spark a Jaguars at Broncos