JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Jaguars continue their preseason schedule on Saturday with a trip to face the Lions. Here’s what you need to know about the game.
When is it?
Recommended Videos
Saturday, 1 p.m. at Ford Field in Detroit.
Watch or listen
The game will be televised on Fox and on the radio on 1010 AM and 92.5 FM.
The line
The Jaguars are currently a 3.5-point favorite over the Lions. The over/under is 39.5 points.
Preseason schedule
Aug. 12, Jaguars 28, Cowboys 23
Aug. 19, at Detroit, 1 p.m.
Aug. 26, vs. Dolphins, EverBank Stadium, 7 p.m.
Why only one home preseason game?
When the NFL went to 17 games, that meant an uneven number of home games for AFC or NFC teams. Whichever conference has the additional ninth home game will play two preseason games on the road and one at home. AFC teams get the ninth regular season game at home in 2023, so those teams will play two of their three preseason games on the road. It rotates annually.
Will the starters play?
Coach Doug Pederson hasn’t said publicly how much the starters will play. Trevor Lawrence and Co. played three series in the opener against Dallas last week, but the team had two joint practices with the Lions this week in Detroit. Detroit coach Dan Campbell said on radio this week that he was not playing his starters on Saturday.
“That’s just something that the coaches decide and they’ll tell me when we talk about that stuff. I think it’s good to get those reps, those live reps where it is full speed, full contact, it’s a game that’s different than being at practice in a red jersey,” quarterback Trevor Lawrence said. “That’s a different speed. I think it’s good to get back into the flow of things, how much that is, I don’t necessarily have the answer for that. I think there’s good to it, to playing.”
What is different this preseason?
The biggest thing for NFL teams is the elimination of multiple rounds of cuts. Instead of cuts after each week of the preseason, the league will have just one week of cuts. NFL teams have to go from 90 players to the final 53 by Aug. 29. That extra time is significant for players who are locked in position battles or trying to make the roster. Jacksonville has a number of too-close-to-call spots right now. Some of those battles would have been decided by roster cuts early in previous years. Now, those will go down to the final hours late this month.