With the Jaguars set to take on the Atlanta Falcons later today, one thing has been made clear with the offensive woes surrounding this team over the past month: the players need to step up, especially surrounding the rookie QB in Trevor Lawrence.
Over the past four weeks of the season, the Jaguars have scored four total touchdowns, including one last week against the San Francisco 49ers and none in Week 9. For Lawrence, he’s tossed just one touchdown over that same span, late in the team’s 31-7 loss to the Seattle Seahawks in Week 8.
This season, the Jaguars are ranked 30th in points per game at 15.90, 24th in yards per game at 319.4 yards and have been the worst team at converting third downs at 31.67%.
While its run game has helped, coming in at No. 4 with five yards per carry the team hasn’t had many opportunities to do so, running just 22.7 times per game, good for No. 29 in the NFL.
All of these woes have been something the Jaguars are attempting to fix, and that will continue later today against the Falcons. For Jaguars offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell, the team needs to play better, and especially after last week, play better around Lawrence in order to succeed.
“Last week was a good game for him and I like some of the things that he is doing,” Bevell said of Lawrence’s performance against the 49ers.
“Using his legs and you can see him getting through some of his progressions. All of us have to help kind of lift him as well. You know he can not do it by himself, but neither can anyone else. It takes 11 guys working together.”
Lawrence would post a respectable game last week, completing 16 out of 25 of his passes for 158 yards. He also ran three times for 23 yards on the day.
During the game, there were at least three drops by the team’s receivers, including one that would hit receiver Tavon Austin right in the chest, ultimately falling incomplete.
Even beyond that game, the Jaguars haven’t executed. Against the Indianapolis Colts, Lawrence couldn’t get anything going, and much of that had to do with the play around him, too.
Though many have bemoaned the Jaguars’ play-caller for not getting a bit more creative, using rub routes and other route combinations, the team has done more of that over the past few weeks, and still the results have remained the same.
A good example of the Jaguars doing this came against the 49ers last week. While this play was called via an audible by Lawrence, the rookie correctly changes the route concept to a rub with Marvin Jones Jr., allowing Jamal Agnew to get open with ease, completing the pass for a first down.
Though it hadn’t been a heavily used part of the team’s offense over the course of the year, it has been as of late, and scheming players open, so to speak, has been occurring, contrary to popular belief.
Sometimes, that’s not good enough, though, and head coach Urban Meyer has even come out and said the team must get more creative. That creativity could come via more handoffs to Shenault, or different plays to get the offense going, but as Bevell said on Wednesday, it looks creative when the offense moves down the field and scores points.
“I felt like early in the year we were kind of on an upward trajectory and I thought that we were improving each and every week, but I think we have kind of leveled off or even taken a step back,” said Bevell.
“The guys - we have great guys and they are working their tails off to get better. We are trying to be creative with the things that we are asking them to do and put guys in positions to be successful and we will continue to work that way.”
The Jaguars have been dealt a tough hand this year. The team entered the year with questions at the receiver position, signing a 31-yard-old veteran in Marvin Jones and a couple of special teams players that haven’t made much of an effect elsewhere in their careers.
Then, in Week 4, the team lost their top receiver in DJ Chark Jr., setting a chain reaction in play with Jacksonville attempting to desperately find help via long-shot players such as Tyron Johnson, and most recently, John Brown as the team’s deep-threat options.
One of the team’s top receivers over the past few weeks was a career return specialist prior to his emergence as a receiver in Jacksonville in Agnew. Now, Agnew has been lost for the year, and even more attrition is occurring in the room.
Since Week 1, the Jaguars have dropped 25 passes, tied with Panthers for the most in the NFL, according to Sports Info Solutions.
That’s a significant number of passes to let fall incompletely, and it contributes mightily to the team’s inability to move the football, and Lawrence’s ability to look “good” during games that are inherently close due to the talent level the Jaguars currently have.
Of course, Lawrence isn’t immune to criticism, and he himself has said plenty of times that he needs to play better. Last week, he mentioned it again, it’s a team effort.
“We just have to get better,” Lawrence said on Wednesday. “We have to execute. It’s the details and the stuff that is in, whatever the install is or whatever our game plan is, we have to know it like the back of our hand and execute that.
“I think that’s the starting point. I think going from there and then you can add wrinkles, you can do whatever, but I just think that’s where we have to start out.
So, today, when the Jaguars take the field against the Falcons, remember some of the issues that go beyond the team’s rookie QB, or even its coordinator at times. Sometimes, it really just is that players need to play better, that they’re not as good as they need to be.
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November 28, 2021 at 08:00PM
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Jaguars OC Darrell Bevell on Trevor Lawrence: ‘He cannot do it by himself’ - Big Cat Country
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