JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – This offseason, Urban Meyer used the word “speed” multiple times when he described his vision for the Jaguars’ offense. Well, there are many words that I would use to describe how the offense has looked, but speed is not one of them.
Since the bye week, the Jaguars’ offense has averaged a lowly 10.7 points per game. If they keep on that pace this will go down as the worst-scoring offense in Jaguars history. The current record is held by the 2011 team that scored only 243 points.
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Lucky for the Jaguars the Falcons have only scored three points in their last two games combined. This could be a good situation for the Jaguars to get their third win of the season, but here are the four factors that they will need to get the W.
Score, score, score and score again
Rule 1 of football, the team with most points wins. The Jaguars and the Falcons both seem to have forgotten that recently. The Jaguars’ offense has been a letdown this year, but the Falcons’ defense is not exactly a brick wall.
According to the PFF rankings, the Falcons have the 25th-ranked defense and have the lowest defensive pressure rate in the NFL (applying pressure on only 23% of passing plays). That is a recipe for Trevor Lawrence to have something he is not used to having this season TIME. With time to operate, it will be on Lawrence to manufacture some scoring plays.
Don’t dig a hole
In the last two weeks, the Jaguars found themselves in a deep hole as soon as the game started. Against Indy, they were down 17 in the first quarter. Against San Francisco, they were down by 17 before the offense had run its fifth play of the game. That just can’t happen. Myles Jack said, “we are not good enough to make mistakes.” That is a true statement. The Jaguars need to play mistake-free football to have a chance to win. Part of playing mistake-free is not putting yourself that far behind early in the game.
Stop the “unicorn”
Kyle Pitts is one of the most athletic tight ends in the NFL. Urban Meyer is on record saying he would have loved to trade up and bring Pitts to Jacksonville. But that price was far too high and now the Jaguars have to find a way to slow Pitts down. It is not a coincidence that the Falcons won when Pitts exploded for over 100 yards against the Jets and Dolphins. Pitts is the top threat on the Falcons’ offense and the Jaguars should make it a priority to slow him down.
Convert on third down
It is tough for the offense to put up points when you can’t convert on third down. The Jaguars are converting only 31.7% of their third-down attempts this season. That is awful! To put in perspective, in 2020 when the Jaguars won just a game they converted 40.6% of their third downs. The problem is a combination of early down play calling, third-down play calling and personnel. The play calling can be fixed easily. The personnel problems, not so much.