Jaguars Up-Down drill: The good, the bad and the ugly from 34-27 loss to Colts
The good, the bad and the ugly from the Jaguars’ 34-27 loss to the Indianapolis Colts Sunday at Lucas Oil Stadium.
Up: Trevor turnaround
After back-to-back eyesore outings, quarterback Trevor Lawrence responded with an accurate, efficient performance that should have been a victory payoff. He engineered a methodical 18-play, 84-yard fourth quarter TD drive on a 4-yard scoring toss to Christian Kirk, giving his team a 27-26 lead with 2:48 left.
It marked the first time in Trevor’s career he delivered a go-ahead touchdown in the fourth quarter. His accuracy (20 of 22) and QB rating (112.7) were by far Lawrence’s best numbers in any of his 18 career defeats. His previous best rating in a loss was 92.1 against the Tennessee Titans last year in a 37-19 home setback.
More game coverage:
Colts stun Jags: 4 takeaways from Jacksonville Jaguars' 34-27 loss to Indianapolis Colts
Game recap: A look back at Jaguars vs. Colts
Trevor Tracker: How do Trevor Lawrence's first six starts compare to 2021? Here's how
Down: Shaquill Griffin
You never want to pin any loss on one player, especially the defensive side of the ball. But the Jaguars’ veteran cornerback, only in the second year of a contract paying him $40 million, was continuously victimized by Matt Ryan. The Colts’ quarterback often targeted whichever receiver Griffin was covering.
Not only did Griffin get beat on the 32-yard, game-winning touchdown pass to Indy rookie receiver Alec Pierce, he also got flagged twice for pass interference on separate Colts touchdown drives. Griffin did have two pass breakups on back-to-back plays and two tackles for a loss, but those positives will be largely forgotten in an otherwise nightmarish day.
Up/Down: Travon Walker
On the Colts’ second series, it appeared RB Deon Jackson would pick up a first down. But Walker won a strength battle and kept him from lunging forward, stopping him one yard short of the chains. That three-and-out was followed by a Jamal Agnew 8-yard punt return that put the Jaguars in good field position at their own 44, setting up their first touchdown.
The downside is Walker, who had an unnecessary roughness penalty last week that kept the Houston Texans’ game-winning drive going, picked up an untimely roughing-the-passer flag on a Colts’ TD drive in the third quarter. Walker’s infraction came on a third-and-12 incomplete pass that would have got the defense off the field.
Up: Big holes
The Jaguars’ offensive line established its presence early as Phil Rauscher’s unit opened up three gigantic holes in the opening 19 minutes. The running room allowed Travis Etienne to run 48 yards into the open field, then James Robinson rambling for 14 yards.
On a third-and-1, the Colts loaded the box and third-team back JaMycal Hasty got through a huge opening on the right side for a 61-yard TD.
Etienne also broke off a 27-yard run on the first second-half possession that led to another score.
Down: Cam protection issues
With the Jaguars well within field goal range, left tackle Cam Robinson couldn’t keep DeForest Buckner from getting immediate pressure on Lawrence. The QB turned right into a Buckner sack that lost 14 yards, the Jaguars’ biggest negative play of the season. The Jaguars were forced to punt, thus wasting Etienne’s 48-yard run earlier in the series.
Robinson also gave up another sack to defensive end Ifeadi Odenigbo that sabotaged the Jaguars’ last first-half series. That's not what you want out of a left tackle the Jaguars just signed to a three-year, $54 million contract extension.
Up: New contributors
It's always good for a team to see players who get minimal opportunities show up positively on the stat sheet, primarily because you never know when they might be called upon to assume bigger roles.
Three Jaguars — Hasty, WR Tim Jones and TE Luke Farrell — each had those moments. Hasty had the biggest one with a 61-yard TD run when the offensive line opened a wide enough hole so he could get into the open field and to the end zone without getting touched.
With Marvin Jones sidelined, the other Jones had his first catch of the season, a 20-yard reception that preceded Lawrence’s 2-yard TD run. On that same series, Farrell also had his first reception of the year, an 11-yarder to move the chains right before Tim Jones’ catch.
Down: Defensive letdown
Coach Doug Pederson said all week the Jaguars would be facing a much different and hungry Indianapolis Colts team than the one they obliterated 24-0 last month. It turns out the Jaguars’ defense that showed up at Lucas Oil Stadium resembled nothing like the unit from that first meeting.
The offense gave them a 14-3 cushion and Mike Caldwell’s defense squandered it with a listless performance. The Jaguars allowed 31 points on Indianapolis’ last five possessions, more than it had given up in an entire game this season. The defense failed to get a sack or a turnover, which hadn’t happened since a 50-10 loss to the New England Patriots last December. Their ineptitude came against a Colts offensive line playing their fifth different combination in six games.
Up: Creative play-calling
Pederson isn’t afraid to go deep into his playbook or throw new wrinkles at a defense. That happened on the Jaguars’ first touchdown drive on back-to-back plays that accounted for 41 of the 56 yards.
A play-action screen pass to Etienne got the Jaguars into the red zone at the Indy 20, which was followed by a Lawrence fake handoff to Etienne, then flipping the ball to Jamal Agnew on a reverse that gave the Jaguars a first-and-goal at the 1.
A Lawrence read-option play on fourth-and-1 where he pitched to Etienne resulted in a loss of two yards in the third quarter, but the call wasn't something the Jaguars employ very often.
Down: AFC South tailspin
The Jaguars looked like they might be a division favorite two weeks ago, but consecutive losses to the Houston Texans and Indianapolis continues an AFC South slump that has been a disturbing trend over two decades.
Unless the Jaguars win their last three division games, this year will be the 19th time in 21 seasons they fail to have a winning AFC South record (the Jaguars were 4-2 in 2005 and ‘17).
Under the current four-team division format since 2002, the Jaguars are 44-79 and have lost nine of their last 10 meetings to Indy at Lucas Oil Stadium, as well as nine straight overall to the Texans.
The Jaguars still have two games left against the Tennessee Titans, winners of nine of their last 10 matchups.
Up: Etienne surprise start
Nothing against Jaguars’ leading rusher James Robinson, but Etienne getting the first start of his career was an interesting change-up pitch.
It also paid off almost instantly as the second-year back from Clemson delivered a 48-yard run on the team’s third play from scrimmage.
Etienne, who found out in pregame from running backs coach Bernie Parmalee that he would be starting, finished with 86 yards on 10 carries, compared to 54 yards on 12 carries for J-Rob.
The Jaguars have two backs with different running styles, both capable of long runs that can demoralize a defense.
Moving forward, it doesn’t really matter which of the Jaguars’ 1-2 punch gets the start. Just keep rotating Etienne and Robinson, not worrying about who gets the bigger workload on any given day.
Down: Stop the slides
It seems the Jaguars are always trying to put an end to some kind of negative streak, and next up comes a visit from the New York Giants and one of the most embarrassing ones in franchise history.
The Jaguars have lost a league-record 18 straight games to NFC opponents, the most by any NFL team in the modern era against opponents from the other conference.
During that streak, the Jaguars have lost to every NFC team except the Giants, the last NFC opponent to lose to the Jaguars, 20-15, in the 2018 season opener.
The Jaguars can ill afford to extend their three-game losing streak. Over the previous four seasons, they have had losing streaks of 8 and 5 last season), preceded by streaks of 15, 5 and 7 games. The Jaguars have had a losing season every year in which they had a losing streak of four or more games.
Gene Frenette Sports columnist at Florida Times-Union, follow him on Twitter @genefrenette
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Jaguars Up-Down drill: the good, the bad and ugly from loss to the Colts
