JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – It’s quickly getting to a point where you run out of ways to say the same thing.
That’s five straight losses for the Jaguars and Sunday’s 34-16 clunker may have been the worst among all those defeats.
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Things aren’t getting better anytime soon.
The offense is a mess.
Whatever progress Gardner Minshew had made to start the season (he looked like he’d made strides in games against the Colts and Titans) is gone. He looks rattled and uncomfortable in the pocket. This isn’t new. This has been ongoing.
We know the defense struggles, but you can’t score 16 points in the NFL and expect to win. I know the defense gave up nearly 200 yards on the ground and a lot of points, but this loss was on the offense.
I think the overall consensus at this point is that Minshew is not a franchise quarterback. I still want to see a full 16 weeks out of him, but each week during this skid has confirmed to me that Minshew can’t carry this football team as it’s currently built right now.
Under those conditions, it’s unexplainable how James Robinson got just 12 carries. I look back in the game against the Bengals and the team’s inability to take advantage of a struggling unit (the offensive line was abysmal) and saw the same thing against Detroit.
The Lions' run defense was allowing 170 yards a game. Yes, 170 yards a game on the ground!
Why not feed the ball to Robinson 25 times and take advantage of that deficiency? Detroit committed to taking the run away, but did the Jaguars really commit to running the ball by giving Robinson a paltry 12 carries? If one avenue dries up, the other should be there to capitalize. That’s not the case with the Jaguars. The team didn’t stick with the ground game long enough to get going and Minshew isn’t at the point yet to be able to exploit a mismatch through the air.
Defensively, we know what this team is capable of, and it’s not very much at all. On a good day with a full complement of healthy starters, we could get a showing like we did against the Colts in Week 1.
The defense started rough but made adjustments and delivered after halftime. To me, that’s the high point of what we can expect. But with guys banged up and inexperience across the board, I don’t see many games from here on out under 30 points. We know the defense is going to give up points week after week. The Jaguars have got to find a way to put more points on the board.