Colts 34, Jaguars 27: 5 Observations on Trevor Lawrence, Shaquill Griffin and More
The Jacksonville Jaguars are in a much worse place today than a month ago.
A month ago, the Jaguars were fresh off a 24-0 shutout of the Colts and starting to pick up the much-needed confidence their franchise has been missing. Now, the Jaguars are left licking their wounds after a 34-27 loss to the Colts dropped them to 2-4.
So, what did we make of the Jaguars' third-consecutive loss? We break it down below.
Trevor Lawrence had maybe the best drive of his career, otherwise made sure not to self-improve the offense
Trevor Lawrence didn't reinvent the wheel on Sunday, rarely throwing the ball downfield and more or less working within the structure of the Jaguars' offense. But he also did two incredibly important things for his development and for the development of the offense: he got out of his way and he led what should have been a game-winning drive.
Lawrence didn't have a single turnover-worthy play on Sunday and other than a bad 15-yard sack he took on the first drive that knocked them out of field goal range, it is hard to nit-pick any of his plays. He scored more touchdowns (three) than threw incompletions (two) and was 6-for-6 on the final drive, while also picking up multiple first-downs with his legs on the 18-play drive. Whether it was big boy throws on third-down to Zay Jones to extend the drive, gritty runs in space or even attempting to push James Robinson over the first-down marker, Lawrence tried and did it all on what should have been a defining drive of his development.
Could Lawrence have been better? Maybe. There were a few plays where he seemed to too quickly take the check-down, for example. But he was on-time with his passes, had several major conversions and used his legs as a weapon, all while not turning it over once.
Even with an Etienne-heavy day, the offense still feels like it needs more Etienne
It feels like the Jaguars just used Travis Etienne a lot, but they didn't. On 59 plays, Etienne touched the ball just 12 times, and this is even after he picked up 70 yards and a 48-yard run on his first five touches. Etienne was a game-changer for the Jaguars' offense on Sunday and it isn't hard to think his performance is a big reason the offense found its footing.
But, it still feels like Etienne wasn't used enough somehow. That is odd to say after he got over 100 yards from scrimmage and in a game where one of his backups scored on a 62-yard touchdown run, but Etienne still felt like more of a compliment of the offense as opposed to a focal point. It will be interesting to watch if the Jaguars ever let him truly take over a game in 2022, or if they continue to opt to spread the wealth.
Where did the pass-rush go?
For the second week in a row, no Jaguars' defensive lineman recorded a sack. It made sense to an extent last week against a Houston Texans team that focused on the run and rarely gave the Jaguars many chances to pin their ears back, but it didn't make sense on Sunday. With one of the most easily-sacked players in the NFL in Matt Ryan and a bad offensive line, the Jaguars didn't record a single sack in nearly 60 pass attempts. The one play it seemed like the pressure impacted Ryan was a roughing the passer penalty on Travon Walker.
For a team that has two first-round picks at edge rusher and multiple high-priced free agents in the middle of the defense, the Jaguars can't afford to go an entire game without sacking the quarterback. But after one sack last week and zero this week, it appears the pass-rush has lost its way. On Sunday, that lost way helped lead to a loss on the field.
Shaq Griffin had a legitimately benching-worthy performance
It is hard to put into words the kind of performance Shaquill Griffin had on Sunday. One of the team's leaders and a prized free-agent acquisition last year, Griffin has had a mostly quiet 2022 until Week 6. Then on Sunday, his name came to centerstage for all of the wrong reasons as he became arguably the biggest individual reason the Jaguars lost on Sunday.
Whether it was giving up big completions to Michael Pittman Jr. or being called for multiple pass interferences in the red-zone or the 32-yard touchdown he allowed to Alec Pierce to seal the loss, it was all bad for Griffin on Sunday. Corner is a tough position to play -- and Griffin did have two genuinely great plays in coverage on the day -- but Griffin had a target on his back all game.
Griffin's game was legitimately bad enough to warrant consideration for a benching. The only real option would be to place Tre Henrdon in the starting lineup and have him and Darious Williams split time between the slot and on the outside, but that was a combo that worked wonders when Griffin was injured in Week 3. Maybe the Jaguars don't pull the trigger this early, but would anyone blame them?
The shine has come off the 2022 season
Before the 2022 season began, I described what I thought the Jaguars would look like this fall the same way, over and over again. I thought they would be a frisky and competitive team that is rarely a pushover but is closer to being a seven-win team with potential than a team that is consistently winning.
I will be the first to admit I moved far too off that prediction after the Jaguars dominated the Chargers on the road in Week 3. Since then, the Jaguars have lost three games in a row -- twice by seven points and once by eight. Far from blowouts, but they have still let one of the NFL's worst defenses to shut them down and one of the worst offense to hang 34 points on them.
Now, the Jaguars look like the team everyone expected them to be. The Jaguars had a chance to take a major step forward when sitting at 2-1 and in first-place in the AFC South, but now at 2-4 and with three winable games slipping through their hands, the Jaguars' season has now likely teetered into development mode. They would need to win seven of their next 11 games to even have a winning record, and they just lost two of the most winnable games on their entire schedule. There are plenty of positives to take away from 2022 so far, but the season it looked like it could have been has instead evolved into the season everyone expected.
