How about the freaking Jaguars?
Jacksonville traveled out to Denver – a team riding an 11-game win streak and the league’s best red zone defense – and won, 34-20, while converting on four of five trips
in the red zone. The win didn’t clinch the playoffs just yet, but it sure as hell put Jacksonville in the driver’s seat with two games to go in the regular season.
This isn’t the Jags of old. This isn’t the Jags of last year or even a few weeks ago. This is a Jags team that’s as hot as any in the league and hasn’t lost in five straight games. With an 11-4 record, Liam Coen’s bunch is humming at the right time with two easily winnable games left on the schedule at Indianapolis and at home against the Titans.
It hasn’t felt like this in a long, long time. And the Jags seemingly are just getting started.
WINNERS
Trevor Lawrence
There is one central theme to this win streak the Jaguars are on. That theme is incredible quarterback play.
The Jaguars are winners of 11 games so far this year because in the last six of them, they have had the best quarterback on the field. In the past two games alone, Lawrence has accounted for 10 total touchdowns. Lawrence hasn’t thrown a pick in four weeks. Up against one of the NFL’s best all-around defenses on the road, Lawrence went ahead and tossed for 279 yards and three touchdowns while running in a score.
Coen has done an incredible job building up Lawrence into the quarterback he’s supposed to be. A ton of the credit goes there. But Coen can only do so much. At the end of the day, it’s up to Lawrence to dive for late first downs and absolutely missile balls into a receiver’s gut in the red zone.
Since Week 13, Lawrence has gone for over 1,000 yards in the air. He has 14 total touchdowns. That’s winning football towards the end of the season and that’s true and utter development from the franchise QB. Lawrence’s first two touchdowns against the Broncos should have sent a shockwave through that stadium that Lawrence was there to play.
There still will be the Richard Shermans of the world who don’t watch the Jags play and don’t care to talk positively about Lawrence because in the past he has never hit this level of consistency. Ask Travon Walker how he feels about those people. For those of us who actually watch and actually are witnessing what Lawrence is doing, it’s a thing of beauty.
That win over Denver showed the Jags are a legitimate playoff team with a legitimate quarterback to lead them. It feels so nice to say that.
Liam Coen
If this guy isn’t in the top two for NFL Coach of the Year, then something is wrong.
The Jacksonville Jaguars are Liam Coen and Liam Coen is the Jacksonville Jaguars. Teams are supposed to embody their coach, which turns out both good and bad. For the Jags, it has been extremely good in totality. The dude is taking pot shots at Sean Payton’s bitchass after the game. How much better can it get? When you watch Coen and the team celebrate after games, how can you not say that this guy hasn’t already left an indelible mark on this franchise and its current team?
Case and point on how good Coen is is through watching Lawrence. There isn’t a better quarterback in football over the past four or so weeks than Lawrence. A huge reason for that is Coen and offensive coordinator Grant Udinski.
This guy is incredible and so fun to watch. He has changed what it means to cheer for the Jacksonville Jaguars, he has changed what it means to play the Jacksonville Jaguars and he has changed what it means to even talk about the Jacksonville Jaguars. This team has won 11 games and is on track to finish with 13 regular season wins and maybe even the top spot in the entire AFC.
What a hire.
Travis Etienne
It didn’t start out great. It certainly seemed like the Broncos were keying in on Etienne after his three touchdown day a week ago. That all was for naught in the end.
Etienne is playing like a man who knows he is on the precipice of life-changing money this offseason. His stat line of 50 yards rushing and 16 yards receiving isn’t ridiculously impressive but half the time it’s just the way Etienne gets the yards that matters.
He caught yet another touchdown Sunday moving him to six on the year. For the record, he had just one receiving touchdown in his three previous seasons in Duval County.
During Coen’s time in Tampa Bay, he was seen as a guy who could unlock the running back position and make his backs better especially in the passing game. You see that in full effect with Etienne.
It was tough sledding in the run game but he still churned out over three yards a carry. At the midway point in the year, it seemed up in the air on whether or not the Jags would re-sign Etienne. At this point, it seems like a must.
Special Teams
It almost feels like a joke to mention special teams sometimes, but this unit really did a great job against the Broncos.
Signing this week, Deejay Dallas had an awesome 35-yard kick return on one of his two returns of the day which set up a touchdown drive. Cam Little made both of his field goals and all four extra points. But the big day was had by none other than Logan Cooke himself.
Cooke stepped in for six punts and put four of them within the 20-yard line. His most impressive of the day was probably his last punt down to the Denver 2-yard line to essentially end the contest.
Special teams truly do matter and the Jags’ collection of special teamers did their part in Denver. Seeing how juiced up Coen was on Cooke’s final punt is all you need to know about how much faith the team and coaches have in this group.
Parker “Parker Washington” Washington
This guy does scare me when he returns punts sometimes, but then he has games like Sunday on offense and it makes nothing else matter.
Calling Washington’s day against the Broncos a monster affair would almost not be doing it justice. He led the game in receiving with 145 yards, hauled in a touchdown and took one catch for 63 yards. His 145 receiving yards were, unsurprisingly, a career high. Also unsurprisingly, Washington leads the Jags in receiving through the year with 645.
The signing of Jakobi Meyers has done wonders for this Jags team. Some of those wonders come by way of clearing the game up for guys like Washington. You can only expend so many defenders to cover everyone on offense, and eventually, you’re going to get favorable 1-on-1 matchups like we saw with Washington and Riley Moss. Advantage went to Washington by game’s end.
This hasn’t been a single-game thing either. This has been a whole year of positive development from the former Penn State receiver. I feel like there is a certain former offensive coordinator and a certain quarterback to thank for a ton of that!
The wood was chopped and the water was carried by Washington in Denver. Had Washington not stumbled late in the fourth, this easily could have been a 200-yard game for him.
LOSERS
Injuries
Ok, now that the fun stuff is over, let’s rehash some injuries because there were quite a few.
Offensive linemen Robert Hainsey and Patrick Mekari both went down. It was obviously an up-and-down day for the offensive line against a great defensive line, even with these two in, but them both getting hurt is a cause for legitimate concern.
Cornerbacks Buster Brown, Greg Newsome and Jourdan Lewis all suffered some form of injury during the game. Newsome was out for a while but all three did come back and play. Can’t speculate, but if there is a group that is equally as banged up and thin as the offensive line, it’s the secondary.
In terms of skill players, Washington was shaken up but seemingly played through whatever was bothering him. Strange looked to be laboring a bit during the game but also played through. LeQuint Allen got evaluated for a concussion; however, he cleared protocol and returned. Lawrence got his ankle taped up after getting knocked around a bit but also didn’t seem to be too hurt. This list also doesn’t include the guys already hurt.
Nothing can be done immediately, but fingers have to be crossed that no one suffered anything too bad on Sunday afternoon. If the Jags are to make the playoff run it looks like they are capable of, it will take everyone to do so, especially up front on offense.
Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
