Jaguars Up-Down drill: A lot more good than bad or ugly from Chargers' blowout

The good, the bad and the ugly from the Jaguars’ 38-10 victory over the Los Angeles Chargers Sunday at So-Fi Stadium.

Up: Road/West Coast exorcism

In one stupendous afternoon, the Jaguars finally put an end to their NFL-record 18-game road losing streak, as well as being 0-for-6 at southern California venues.

They hadn’t won away from TIAA Bank Field or London since Gardner Minshew led a comeback win over the Raiders in their last game at the Black Hole in Oakland in 2019.

Here's more from the Jags' victory:

• Game recap: A look back at Jaguars vs. Chargers

• Trevor Tracker 2022: How do Trevor Lawrence's first three starts compare to 2021? Here's how

• Clean, efficient, deadly: Jaguars offense hums like a well-oiled machine in last two games

Down: Temporary red-zone issues

While the Jaguars played a near-perfect game, they did fail to take advantage of multiple first-half opportunities in the red zone.

They only cashed in on one of four chances to score a touchdown once they crossed the Chargers’ 20, but made up for it by finding paydirt on successive red-zone entries late in the third quarter and early in the fourth.

Up: A doomsday defense

For the second week in a row, Mike Caldwell’s unit put the clamps on an opposing offense by creating turnovers and turning them away on two of three marches into the red zone.

Getting an interception from Devin Lloyd and recovering Dawaune Smoot’s strip-sack fumble in the first half, as well as holding the Chargers to a miniscule 26 rushing yards on 12 carries, made life miserable for Justin Herbert.

He often struggled to find open receivers, especially with Josh Allen accumulating a career-high eight QB pressures.

Up: Trevor’s ascent

After struggling through a terrible rookie season that featured a lot of team dysfunction under Urban Meyer, the NFL is starting to see glimpses the past two weeks of the generational quarterback many thought Trevor Lawrence would be as a No. 1 overall draft pick.

Lawrence’s accuracy with the ball has taken a dramatic leap in wins over the Indianapolis Colts and the Chargers. Lawrence has completed 53 of 69 passes for 497 yards and 5 TDs (no interceptions) for a robust QB rating of 120.26 in those two games.

Up: The Cheech lovefest

With 9:42 left in the third quarter, and the Jaguars taking control of the game, the despondent Chargers’ fans got some comic relief.

That’s when Cheech Marin — one half of the famous comedy duo “Cheech and Chong” that soared to popularity in the 1970s and ‘80s — appeared on the giant So-Fi Stadium video board wearing his Chargers hat and proceeded to mimmick smoking pot, much to the delight of the crowd.

Up: Avoiding the yellow

It appears the emphasis Doug Pederson put on avoiding self-inflicted wounds from the Week 1 loss to the Washington Commanders is taking hold.

For the second straight week, after drawing an NFL-high 13 penalties to open the season, the Jaguars stayed away from the yellow flags with only two penalties for 10 yards against the Chargers.

They have just five penalties for 29 yards combined the past two games.

Up: First-round draft picks

When you consider the Jaguars’ standout performance in back-to-back games — winning by a combined margin of 62-10, the best since defeating the Arizona Cardinals and Cleveland Browns by 92-10 in successive weeks in 2000 — a big part of that has been contributions from first-round picks Trevor Lawrence, Travis Etienne, Travon Walker and Devin Lloyd.

For the first time in what seems like forever, young players in whom the Jaguars are making the biggest investments are paying dividends.

Up:  Bold play-calling

One of Doug Pederson’s tenets as a play-caller is having an aggressive mindset. It doesn’t mean he will be reckless, but Pederson is clearly not the cautionary type either in fourth-down situations.

The Jaguars have converted 4 of 6 on fourth down the past two games, and each of those conversions have led to touchdowns. That’s an impressive batting average.

Up: Balanced attack

It's evident there could be a direct correlation between the Jaguars succeeding on the scoreboard and maintaining a run-pass balance.

The Jaguars ran for 151 yards on 36 rush attempts in routing the Chargers, while Lawrence had 39 pass attempts for 262 yards.

In the past two Jaguars wins, they have 73 rushes while throwing 69 passes. In their Week 1 loss to Washington, the pass-run disparity was 42-18.

Coincidence? Probably not.

Up: J-Rob/Etienne distribution

With James Robinson and Travis Etienne offering different skill sets, it appears the Jaguars' running backs are settling into something close to a 50-50 split in playing time, with a slight edge to Robinson.

J-Rob will likely get a slightly bigger share of carries, though it could vary depending on the game plan, the score and how Pederson wants to attack certain defenses. Robinson has 51 carries for 230 yards (4.5 average), ninth overall in the NFL, and also has four TDs. So far, J-Rob has 123 snaps (56 percent) to 95 (44 percent) for Etienne, though they did get on the field together for one play against the Chargers for the first time this year.

Up: Philly return hype

When the NFL schedule-maker sent the Jaguars to Philadelphia in Week 4 to face the Eagles, any hype for that matchup centered around Pederson’s first game in the City of Brotherly Love since he was fired after the 2020 season.

But with the Eagles unbeaten and the 2-1 Jaguars leading the AFC South, the matchup suddenly carries a lot more significance.

It’ll be intriguing to see how the Jaguars handle some rare national attention.

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 has more good than bad or ugly in routing Chargers