JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Next up for the Jacksonville Jaguars — games that count.
The Jaguars put the finishing touches on a clunker of a preseason with a 31-12 loss to the Atlanta Falcons on Thursday night at TIAA Bank Field. Not that it looked like the actual Jaguars.
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The team held out a preseason-high 40 players (yes, 40!) and let backups handle things two days before rosters are trimmed to 53, and just 10 days before the season opener against Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs.
Rookie quarterback Gardner Minshew, starting in place of Nick Foles again, got the bulk of the work under center for the Jaguars and was largely underwhelming as he attempted to stamp his name on the backup position. Minshew finished 11 of 26 for 79 yards and had a quarterback rating of 50.0.
For the Falcons, Danny Etling did most of the damage on the Jaguars early leading Atlanta on drives over the first two quarters that put them in front 14-0. They’d go up 21-3 on an Etling 12-yard scoring pass to Christian Blake. The Falcons had no trouble with Jacksonville's defense, averaging nearly 7 yards per carry between just three ball carriers, Etling, Tony Brooks-James and Qadree Ellison.
Brooks-James rushed for 137 yards and a pair of scores on just 15 carries.
Jacksonville’s highlights of the night came from Josh Lambo, who hit field goals of 48 and 52 yards, and third-string quarterback Alex McGough, who had a 16-yard rushing touchdown with 1:08 left.
The Jaguars sat out 32 players in their preseason opener and 27 in Week 2.