No doubt about it, the Jaguars took a step backward on Sunday, losing to a good New Orleans team.
This week it was the offense’s turn to play poorly as Gardner Minshew looked like a rookie quarterback for the first time of the season.
It was by far the worst output by the offense as they were only able to muster 226 yards of total offense and just a pair of field goals by Josh Lambo.
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Minshew simply looked of” as he repeatedly couldn’t get on the same page with his receivers. In his defense, there just wasn’t a lot there. The Saints coverage was impressive and Minshew just couldn’t find open receivers as he has up to this point. The offensive line did a decent job in protecting him, but it didn’t seem like there were a lot of guys getting open.
Every quarterback has a bad game. Every quarterback. You see it week in and week out, even from the best of signal callers.
I’m actually OK with Minshew having a tough day. We haven’t seen him struggle like that before, so I’m really interested in seeing his response.
I’ve been there.
What defines a young quarterback is not having a bad game. It happens. Having the ability and poise to bounce back from that bad game is what makes a young quarterback. I’ve seen enough from Minshew to feel confident that this was just bump in the road. And I certainly wouldn’t be surprised if he came back next week against the Bengals with some of that magic we saw in the first five games of the regular season.
Defensively, the Jaguars stepped up and responded from last week’s effort against Carolina. They faced a potent offense with a lot of weapons. Sure, I know Drew Brees wasn’t in there, but this team can score points. Sunday, they got only 13.
Teddy Bridgewater made a few throws, but the Saints offense struggled. If you hold an NFL team to 13, then it’s on the offense to go win the game. That certainly didn’t happen.
It’s been hard to evaluate this team. One week, the offense is rolling. The next, it’s the defense that steps up.
Still a lot football left, of course, but it’s time to again see a team that puts it all together like the Jaguars did against the Titans. The Bengals game can’t get here soon enough. Go Jaguars!