Jaguars report card: Glass half-full, half-empty after heartbreaking loss to Commanders
Times-Union sports columnist Gene Frenette grades the Jaguars’ performance against the Washington Commanders based on execution, effort and game circumstances.
Offense: C-minus
Things got off to a horrible start in the first half as the Jaguars repeatedly came up short in the red zone, squandering three chances for touchdowns, including twice on first-and-goal situations.
A total of 10 plays in the red zone resulted in a net loss of minus-1 yard.
More from Sunday's Jaguars-Commanders game:
Game recap: Washington Commanders deny Jacksonville Jaguars rally in season opener
What to know: Five takeaways from Jacksonville Jaguars' season-opening loss to Washington Commanders
Trevor Tracker 2022: How did Trevor Lawrence compare to his first start in 2021? Here's how
Better, but not enough: Trevor Lawrence rallied the Jaguars' offense in the second half
Trevor Lawrence was 1-of-8 for minus-5 yards, the result of Travis Etienne catching a ball and fumbling it backward on a big hit by Darrick Forest. But Lawrence (24 of 442, 275 yards, 1 TD, 75.0 rating) can’t miss Etienne by floating a pass too long when he has three steps on a defender in the end zone.
He also led Zay Jones too much when he had a step on cornerback Kendall Fuller.
Christian Kirk (6 catches, 117 yards) showed he might be worth that $72 million investment.
James Robinson and Etienne combined for 15 carries and 113 yards. So there were good things from a production standpoint, but the Jaguars left too many points on the board.
Defense: C-minus
This is a glass half-full, glass half-empty evaluation. The biggest positive was Mike Caldwell’s unit got three turnovers, including two on the Commanders’ side of the field that led to 10 points.
The only game in 2021 where the Jaguars had that many takeaways was the 9-6 win over the Buffalo Bills.
Two of those turnovers — interceptions by the super-athletic Travon Walker and Tyson Campbell — led to 10 points that spearheaded the Jaguars erasing a 14-3 deficit.
But it cannot be ignored that Carson Wentz threw four touchdown passes, something he hasn’t done since 2017, and dropped two perfect dimes from 49 yards to Terry McLaurin and a 24-yarder to Jahan Dotson in the fourth quarter that won the game.
Cornerback Shaquille Griffin got torched badly on the McLaurin catch and Campbell couldn’t knock the ball loose on Dotson despite reasonably tight coverage.
Special teams: C-plus
A big downer going into halftime came when Riley Patterson, after another red zone failure, hit the right upright on a 37-yard field goal attempt to keep the score 14-3.
While the Jaguars did take a second-half lead, those missed three points were big as it altered play-calling on both sides after the Commanders scored a touchdown to cut the lead to 22-20.
Patterson redeemed himself by nailing field goals from 43 and 45 yards in the second half, but anything inside 40 yards is relatively automatic in the NFL these days.
The Jaguars’ kicker situation remains fluid, with Patterson showing decent leg strength as four of his six kickoffs were touchbacks. There were no return opportunities for the Jaguars beyond a 2-yarder off a punt for Jamal Agnew.
Logan Cooke had three punts for a net average of 42.7 yards.
Coaching: B-minus
Despite the gut-wrenching defeat, Doug Pederson gets high marks for his team showing no panic after things went mostly sideways in the first half.
All three Jaguars’units demonstrated great poise by seizing control of the game early in the fourth quarter, grabbing a 22-14 lead, which could bode well for the growth of this team as the season moves along.
As disappointing as it was the Jaguars gave up two huge pass plays that allowed Washington to win the game, those are on the cornerbacks to not get beat deep and the pass-rushers for not putting enough heat on Wentz.
Now Pederson did mess up by going for a two-point conversion when the Jaguars cut the lead to 14-9 early in the third quarter. He would have loved to have that point for a two-score lead when it was an eight-point margin.
Still, how the Jaguars handled a double-digit deficit in a road environment is a sign of a well-coached team. However, the 13 penalties (90 yards) is too high a number, of which six happened before the ball was snapped.
Gene Frenette Sports columnist at Florida Times-Union, follow him on Twitter @genefrenette
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Grading the Jacksonville Jaguars: Loss to Washington is a mixed bag
