JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Jaguars bounced back in a big way Sunday afternoon with a 34-14 romp over the Titans. News4JAX sports reporter Jamal St. Cyr offers his Four Cents analysis on the win.
Players not plays
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Oh look, it wasn’t that hard. The Jaguars finally got Calvin Ridley involved in a big way. When the Jaguars get Ridley involved good things happen. In Jacksonville’s three losses, Ridley had 92 yards total. Against the Titans, he had more than that (121 total yards, two TDs). After the Jaguars comeback win against the Ravens last year, Doug Pederson said that “we got to think players not plays.” Against the Titans, it looked like the Jaguars finally got back to that. I know many are pointing the finger at the return of Zay Jones to the field, but it looked much simpler than that. It looked like they finally made an effort to make sure Ridley was involved in the offense. They know if the offense is going to be what they want it to be, they need Ridley being Ridley.
Can the Jaguars beat good teams?
That is the only way the Jaguars will be able to answer the one question they haven’t been able to answer yet. Can they beat good teams? So far this year, the Jaguars have beaten up on all of the not-so-good teams they have played. But against good teams (Chiefs and 49ers) it has been a very different story. It’s a debate if you want to put the Texans in that good-team category or not, but the Jaguars didn’t beat them either. Beating up on not-so-good teams will be plenty to get the Jaguars to double-digit wins. But if the Jaguars win 12 or 13 games just to get to the playoffs and get bounced, that isn’t the fairy tale ending fans are dreaming of. There are good teams in the playoffs, and teams that won’t let the Jaguars come back from down 27 points.
Keys to the City
But one thing is for sure the culture has changed in Jacksonville. Arden Key may have taken credit for the change in Jax in his introductory press conference with the Titans. He definitely didn’t do it alone but the culture is changed and now Key has seen the other side of that.
The culture in Jacksonville has definitely changed. pic.twitter.com/yENI8Slcag
— Jamal St. Cyr (@JStCyrTV) November 19, 2023
Who is Trevor?
Speaking of things Key said leading up to the Titans game was that the key to beating Trevor Lawrence was taking away his first read and making him play quarterback. “Arden said that?,” Lawrence asked on Sunday. Is that that book on Lawrence? I don’t think so. If that is the case this season, it is because the O-line hasn’t given him much time to get past his first read. We have seen Lawrence read defenses. We saw him do it against the Titans and the reason he was able to do that is because the O-line gave him time. Sometimes, it is just that simple.