JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Another embarrassing afternoon at the Bank.
San Francisco jumped on Jacksonville quickly and never looked back in a 30-10 romp at TIAA Bank Field on Sunday. In a season filled with countless listless performances, this may have been the worst of them all for coach Urban Meyer.
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Jacksonville trailed 17-0 before it even managed to run its fifth offensive play. Starting safety Rayshawn Jenkins was ejected for throwing a punch. Cornerback Shaquill Griffin, rookie safety Andre Cisco, left tackle Cam Robinson and receiver Jamal Agnew all left with injuries and didn’t return.
FOUR TAKEAWAYS | Offense doing Jaguars no favors
And a Jaguars defense that had turned a corner since the bye week couldn’t get San Francisco (5-5) off the field in a one-sided effort that will continue to ratchet up the calls for something to happen.
“I was extremely disappointed with everything about today, but you keep going and keep working. There’s times we played excellent football. Today wasn’t one of those days,” Meyer said. “So we’ve got another chance to prove to our home crowd that we love them, care about them, and we’re going to play hard next week against the Falcons. That’s the way I look at it.”
The offensive effort will continue to keep the pressure on Meyer and offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell. The Jaguars didn’t do anything well and remain a piecemeal offense after the bye. Trevor Lawrence has just one passing touchdown in the past four games and hasn’t gotten help from the offensive line or his receivers.
“Season’s not going to get canceled. ... We’ve got a lot of ball left. [We have to] just get better every week. But yeah, I’m not going to sit up here and say all the positive things that came out of it. There’s not much of it today. We got our butt kicked,” Lawrence said. “It didn’t look good all the way around. Where you go from here is just keep going to work, everybody stay together, keep fighting. I know I will.”
Lawrence finished 16 of 25 passing for 158 yards. He was sacked three times. Even with James Robinson back in the lineup, Jacksonville’s ground game scratched out just 54 yards on 16 carries.
Jacksonville’s lone touchdown of the game came with 3 minutes and 4 seconds to go, a garbage time score when the game was already over.
Packaged together it was another pitiful effort by Jacksonville’s offense and a step back from what had been an improving defensive unit. The Jaguars couldn’t get San Francisco off the field. San Francisco scored on its first five possessions and put points on the board in each quarter.
It was ugly from the opening quarter.
The Jaguars (2-8) gave up a staggering 20-play drive that ate up nearly 14 minutes to open the game and led to a 20-yard field goal by Robbie Gould.
“You don’t lose [any] confidence. Our confidence is still where it’s at. We’ve got to fix the mistakes and stuff,” said defensive tackle Malcom Brown. “The things that happened today that we normally don’t do or we’re getting better at and things that started pop up again, we need to just hone back in on those things.”
That was an ominous sign of what was to come.
The Jaguars went three and out and the Niners scored seven plays later on a Deebo Samuel 25-yard touchdown run. Laviska Shenault lost a fumble on Jacksonville’s fourth offensive snap and the 49ers tacked on another score, this one a 6-yard toss from Jimmy Garoppolo to Brandon Aiyuk. Garoppolo went 16 of 22 passing for 176 yards and a pair of touchdowns. The ground game racked up 171 yards on 42 carries against Jacksonville.
San Francisco’s first three scoring drives chewed up a combined 34 plays. The Jaguars ran four plays in that same span. Things never got better.
Jacksonville punted four times, lost a fumble and muffed a punt that San Francisco turned into points. It led 30-3 in the fourth quarter before the Jaguars mounted a solid drive, a 75-yard trek that Robinson capped with a 1-yard scoring run. By that time, the Niners had eased off the defensive coverage and allowed Lawrence an easier time to find receivers.
Meyer said there was no truth to a report from CBS Sports’ Jason La Canfora about there being a disagreement among the coaching staff about the development of Lawrence. The report said there was turmoil amongst the staff and changes were expected in the offseason.
“No, the only report, all due respect, is the report from me? We’re a very transparent staff, and I’m very transparent and have always been. I have high expectations,” Meyer said. “When someone’s not performing well, yeah, we have hard conversations, but that’s the game of football. So that report is incorrect. Do I have high expectations for position groups? Absolutely. Very high expectations. If it’s not fulfilled, then we have to have a conversation about it.”