Jaguars 23, Dolphins 20: Game Balls

Who gets the nods for our offensive, defensive, and special teams game balls following the Jaguars' first win of the season? We break it down below.

The Jacksonville Jaguars got back in the win column on Sunday, beating the Miami Dolphins 23-20 on the heels of a last-second Matthew Wright field goal as time expired. It took a lot of lucky breaks, but for the first time in 21 attempts, the Jaguars have won -- and it was all due to some key performances from up and down the roster. 

With that in mind, Jaguar Report's John Shipley and Kassidy Hill hand out their game balls for the Jags' Week 6 game.

Offense

Hill: There was serious consideration for James Robinson here, given his huge play to get the Jaguars in the redzone and then respond with the touchdown. However Robinson no longer has to be the primary playmaker on this offense any longer. That works in his favor, since he can stay fresh. Instead it's Trevor Lawrence who time and time again steps up to make the play this offense needs when it's needed. He was transcendent, yet again, going 25-41 (61%) for 319 yards and a touchdown. His only turnover on the day came on a sack fumble when the right side of the line gave up pressure. 

He had so many, on the money throws in clutch situations than we can't even recap them all. But his touchdown throw to Marvin Jones was a perfect arch, the tight window throws to Jamal Agnew twice moved the chains (while being much more careful about where the ball goes after starting the first three games with multiple interceptions) and his connection with Laviska Shenault changed the game...twice, both on fourth down. 

A perfectly placed strike with awareness of the chains moved along a drive that would end in a touchdown in the first half. And at the end of the game, Urban Meyer finally got a chance to put the game in Lawrence's hands. He placed and timed a perfect throw to Shenault on 4th-and-8 to get the Jaguars in to game-winning field goal range. 

Shipley: Trevor Lawrence and James Robinson got consideration from me, but I am going with Marvin Jones. Jones led the team in receiving against a banged-up Dolphins secondary, catching seven passes for 100 yards and one touchdown on 10 targets. Jones made at least three catches that were of extremely high levels of difficulty, including his 28-yard touchdown catch in the corner of the end zone. On a day where Laviska Shenault and Dan Arnold struggled with drops, Jones was a consistent outlet in man coverage for Lawrence, winning every single one of his contested catch situations and turning in two of the Jaguars' three biggest plays of the day.

Defense

Hill: This game ball goes to Josh Allen, because he made the play of the game. Without Josh Allen, the Jaguars never get the ball back for Lawrence to have the opportunity to connect with Shenault and give Matthew Wright a shot at winning the whole thing. On 4th-and-1 from near midfield, the Dolphins handed the ball off to Malcolm Brown. It was linebacker Josh Allen—who is still fine tuning his role within Cullen's defense—who came up and made the stop. On the stat sheet, Allen got some help from linebacker Chapelle Russell, but it was the captain Allen who made the initial stop that gave his team a chance. 

Shipley: This one is tough. Nevin Lawson deserves some credit for picking off Tua Tagovailoa, but it was a horrid pass from the Dolphins' struggling quarterback and Lawson otherwise had a tough day. Shaquille Quarterman made some solid tackles in the second half, but the sample size is small. I gave some consideration to Josh Allen for consistently putting pressure on the Dolphins' passing game, but he failed to get home on any of his near-sacks. 

With all of this in mind, I opt to give this week's defensive game ball to cornerback Shaquill Griffin. Griffin was the lone Jaguars' back-seven defender who wasn't burned for at least one big gain, coming up big on several plays as he stopped the Dolphins short of the sticks. Griffin has been rock-solid in coverage in 2021 and that continued on Sunday as he proved to once again be the Jaguars' only reliable cover man.

Special Teams

Hill: Too many months of watching the Jaguars struggle at the kicker position will keep me from saying the problems at the position are solved. But at least for one day, Jacksonville got everything they needed and more from Matthew Wright. Activated off the practice squad for the second week in a row to kick in place of Josh Lambo, Wright saved the day for the Jaguars. For that matter, he saved the risk of the Jaguars soon owning the longest losing streak in NFL history. 

The Jaguars had not made a field goal all season. Wright made three on the day, including two from 50 plus yards out, and the game winning 53-yard field goal. To make a field goal of that distance, in that moment with that much pressure was stuff of legends. 

Shipley: There is no "Wright" choice for this one outside of Matthew Wright. After the Jaguars failed to make a single field goal in the first five games of the season, Wright nailed all three of his attempts in Sunday's win -- including 54- and 53-yard field goals made in the final four minutes of the game. Wright bounced back from a bad showing a week ago and put to rest (for now) some questions about his leg strength, coming through in the clutch for a Jaguars team that has seen the kicking game be a net negative for each of their 20 losses beforehand.