JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Jaguars got in the win column and got out to a good start in the preseason. Now, how do they build off that?
The Jaguars turned in a solid performance in Dallas on Saturday night, winning their preseason opener 28-23. The final score isn’t necessarily the main thing to leave an exhibition game with, although Trevor Lawrence said that players want to win every time there’s a scoreboard on. But the play late in the second half by roster bubble guys and third string quarterback Nathan Rourke was good to see.
It’s one step closer to the regular season with a lot of work left to do before it begins. One of the big growth areas is getting out to a faster start. Jacksonville turned it over on its second play of the game in Dallas, then punted on its next drive. Sluggish starts were something that the Jaguars struggled with last year.
“For us, it’s just a matter of continuing to work at it. We’ve got to work at it in practice. I relate it to how we start practice, how we attack our individual period or team period,” coach Doug Pederson said. “Early in practice, that’s the way we have to start a football game. It’s just got to be a mindset. We’re just continuing to work on it, we weren’t very good a year ago with some of our opening possessions, whether they ended up in a punt or turnover, you just can’t have that. Those are things that I focus on, both offensively and defensively.”
There aren’t many positions among the starting 22 that are thought to be open, save for the nickel cornerback spot. Depth and backup roles are what Pederson and the staff are looking for in camp. The Jaguars have two joint practices with the Lions this week before facing Detroit Saturday at 1 p.m. in the second preseason game.
Pederson said that he wasn’t sure what playing time for the starters would look like, but noted that the competition on the roster was more intense than last year.
“A lot of the young guys who got to play the other night, get their feet wet, they’ll get better this next go around, this week in Detroit,” Pederson said. “They’ll learn from the good and the bad and apply it this week. And I think we’re in a better situation from a depth perspective than we were a year ago, and that’s a positive.”
Many of those depth-type players emerged in spots against the Cowboys. Second-year cornerback Gregory Junior was in on two takeaways, forcing a fumble after a catch and recovering a fumble on a punt. Rookie offensive lineman Cooper Hodges, a Baker County High School graduate who was a seventh-round draft pick, played very well in the second half. Receivers Jacob Harris and Elijah Cooks both had strong games and finished with 42 receiving yards apiece.
The depth production was nice, but the Jaguars need to see that from its No. 1s, especially with two joint practices with Detroit on Wednesday and Thursday.
“It was good to get back out there, get the juices flowing for us as an offense, especially the guys who are going to be starting, to get back out there, work out some of the kinks,” said receiver Christian Kirk, who caught a touchdown pass from Lawrence. “We know we weren’t the cleanest when we got out there. It was good to get out there, get some stuff on film be able to see where were at and where we need to get better going forward.”
Play from guys who aren’t big names is a good thing to see, and it will be a major point of focus the rest of the preseason. Lawrence said after the game that this was the deepest that Jacksonville has been. And while it’s premature to say any bottom of the roster spots have been sewn up after just one week, the competition is going to make decisions far more difficult this season than a year ago. The big question for the Jaguars last year was what receiver would emerge? Tim Jones earned that fifth receiver spot with a strong final preseason game.
“This is what you love about training camp, you love the competition aspect of it, you love the backend guys that are competing for either that fifth or sixth roster spot or practice squad spots,” Pederson said. “They make it hard on us, that’s the one thing that I can appreciate about the effort that these guys have really given us all of training camp so far and it showed up in the game this past Saturday.”