JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Wins have been hard to come by for the Jaguars this season. They have been even harder to come by on the road in Nashville, where the Jaguars haven’t won a game since 2013. This week, the Titans will be without Derrick Henry.
That makes the task of winning a little bit easier but the Jaguars still need to play better. Honestly, that is the best way to put it — just play better. Here are the four biggest things they need to do to just play better this week.
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Free J Rob
In the last two weeks, James Robinson has fumbled the football and been sent to the sidelines for extended periods. Of course, part of playing better would be not fumbling the football but the coaching staff should also show some trust for Robinson. This week, Trevor Lawrence voiced his opinion that he wants to see Robinson on the field. And he should.
Robinson is one of the Jaguars’ best playmakers. Taking him off the field after a mistake for nearly an entire half is not smart football. Plus, the last time the Jaguars played the Titans, he ran for 149 yards. Free J Rob and let him run.
Try and throw deep
Sometimes you need to just take some shots. The Jaguars’ vertical passing game has been nonexistent this season but that can’t stop them from trying. Because of injuries and ineffective play, the Jaguars haven’t been able to get the production they need from their receivers.
Early in the year, Lawrence took some shots deep that turned into turnovers. Since then, he has done a much better job protecting the ball. Part of that protecting the ball has meant Lawrence taking little to no looks down the field. He has got to at least take some shots deep to keep defenses from creeping up.
Stop the run
The defense has been the best part of the Jaguars team for weeks now, but last week the Rams were able to run all over them. Without Derrick Henry, the Jaguars will see a combination of the different backs but they still need to bring their big boy pads and slow down that running game. A few weeks ago, the Titans ran for 270 yards on the Patriots. They still lost that game. If they run for nearly that much on the Jaguars, they definitely will run out with the win.
Micromanage
I am not someone that likes to be micromanaged, but I need Urban Meyer to start micromanaging the coaching staff. Every time there is a questionable decision made during the game it leads to Meyer saying he doesn’t like to micromanage his coaches. But that is a head coach’s job. I’m not saying he needs to worry about foot placement or hand placement, little things like that, but he should be managing the usage of his best player and if they call a trick play on the 20-yard line.
Meyer said this week that early in his career he would micromanage everything, but during his time at Ohio State, he started stepping back to allow his coaches to coach. Well, the Jaguars don’t need laid-back Buckeye Urban, they need the micromanaging control freak Urban that was at Florida.