Jaguars Up-Down Drill: Not much upbeat about Jaguars' 40-14 debacle against Detroit Lions
The good, the bad and the ugly from the Jaguars’ 40-14 loss Sunday to the Detroit Lions at Ford Field.
Up: Trevor toughness
When QB Trevor Lawrence got his left leg twisted up on a sack by James Houston to end the first half, he was initially writhing in pain and stayed on the ground. Though he got up and limped off the field, there was some uncertainty about whether Lawrence would be healthy enough to return. Fortunately, he went out there for the second half and looked like he wasn’t laboring too badly, though his numbers (17 of 31, 179 yards, 1 TD, 82.6 rating) were hardly eye-popping.
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Down: Mike Caldwell
As the Jaguars get deeper into the season, their first-year defensive coordinator is struggling to push the right buttons. Between an almost non-existent pass rush and coverage issues popping up whether in man or zone coverage, the defense keeps going in the wrong direction. The Jaguars are a season-low 25th in total defense (369.1 yards) and 29th in pass defense (255.5 yards), both rankings that are worse than last season when they were 20th and 17th, respectively.
Down: Backed into corner
The Jaguars clearly need to plug some defensive holes, either in free agency or the NFL draft. Two glaring ones are what to do about shoring up the pass rush (19 sacks are 30th in the league) and the cornerback position opposite Tyson Campbell. With Shaq Griffin sidelined and Tre Herndon benched, the Jaguars have turned to Darious Williams as a starter, but the free agent from Creekside High has been inconsistent in his coverage responsibilities.
Down: Bad to last drop
Not that it would have altered the outcome, but the Jaguars had a bad case of the drops. Zay Jones, who had a career-high 145 yards receiving last week against the Baltimore Ravens, dropped three passes and tight end Evan Engram failed to hang on to a couple balls that found his hands. While it didn’t come on a pass, the most untimely drop came when running back Travis Etienne let safety DeShon Elliott strip the ball from him for a costly fumble on the game’s second play.
Up: 2-point PAT trickery
On a day where nothing much went right, the Jaguars did execute a nifty two-point conversion with some shrewd trickery. Running back Travis Etienne took the snap from the Wildcat position, then handed off to Lawrence, who pitched it to receiver Jamal Agnew on a reverse and he easily got to the end zone. That cut the Lions’ lead to 30-14, but the Jaguars did nothing from that point on.
Down: Hutch widens gap
Not that he had a better game than No. 1 overall pick Travon Walker, but Lions’ defensive end and second overall draft pick Aidan Hutchinson did get a half-sack with teammate Benito Jones when he beat Tyler Shatley to put down Lawrence. It allowed Hutchinson to extend his lead in the sack department over Walker with his sixth sack, compared to 2.5 for the Jaguars’ rookie. Walker had 5 tackles and one for a loss, compared to two tackles for Hutchinson.
Down: Shaky starts
Over the opening eight games of the season, the Jaguars were one of the best first-quarter teams in the NFL, outscoring opponents 49-14. But in the last four games they have reverted to their old form of getting off to shaky starts. The Lions led the Jaguars 14-3 after the first quarter, continuing a recent trend in which the Jaguars have been outscored 34-3 in the past four weeks.
Down: Sluggish offense
With Lawrence coming off the best three-game stretch of his career, there was a feeling he could put up monster numbers against the NFL’s worst defense. That never materialized as the Jaguars surprisingly failed to move the chains even once on five of their nine possessions. The offense could only muster up 266 total yards, far below the Lions average per-game yield of 414.5 yards coming into the game.
Up: Lions’ concession prices
Reaching a bit here because there was so little positive to find. For the Jaguars’ fans who made the trip to Ford Field, there was a pleasant surprise at the concession stand for a one-hour period before the game. Not sure if it was “Back to the Future” day or a regular thing at Lions’ games, but some of these prices look like they were rolled back 20 years: hot dog for $2.99; beer (Bud Light, Budweiser, Miller Lite, Coors Light for $3.49; fountain soda for $2.49; water for $2.49; Bloody Mary for $5.99.
Down: Playoff pessimism
The Jaguars (4-8) wasted a much-needed opportunity to pick up a game on the AFC-leading Tennessee Titans, who lost 35-10 on the road to the Philadelphia Eagles. By remaining three games behind Tennessee (7-5) with five games left, the Jaguars pretty much need to run the table to finish 9-8 for any shot at winning the division. In that scenario, they would own the tiebreaker by sweeping two games against the Titans, including Sunday’s matchup in Nashville. Any hopes of landing the third AFC wild-card spot will be more difficult because there are three teams not in first place who are at least 7-5 and two others at 6-6.
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: Breaking down Detroit Lions game
