Jaguars’ offense shines in 1st combined practice with Falcons

Since Doug Pederson announced that the Jaguars starters won’t play in Saturday’s preseason finale against the Atlanta Falcons, Wednesday and Thursday’s combined practices offer the best chance for Trevor Lawrence and company to work against someone other than their own teammates before the season opens on Sept. 11 against the Washington Commanders.

During Wednesday’s session, the offense had the chance to work against the Falcons’ defense and Lawrence called the offense’s day a good one.

“It was great, just getting to go up against another team,” Lawrence said. “We’re so used to going against our guys. You see the same looks, with some different changes. So it’s good. It challenges you.”

The Jaguars’ offense excelled in the red zone in particular, an area where they have struggled during preseason games so far in 2022.

“I just thought guys did a good job of adjusting routes getting open,” Lawrence said. “I thought we looked sharp. We ran the ball great today too, which was really good to see.”

The Jaguars will conduct one more joint practice on Thursday, then after a day off Friday, the teams will face one another at 3 p.m. Saturday in the final preseason game of the year. After that, rosters must be cut to 53 by 4 p.m. on Tuesday.

The Jaguars kick off the regular season on Sept. 11 at the Washington Commanders in the first game since the team rebranded to the new name.