Jaguars Put Forth Lackluster Performance in Atlanta, Lose 24-12 to Falcons

Despite some positive vibes around the Jacksonville Jaguars following the firing of executive vice president of Tom Coughlin earlier this week, the Jaguars couldn't translate that positivity into on-field performance, losing 24-12 to the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday.

With the loss, Jacksonville has dropped to 5-10 and is on the verge of their third 5-11 season in the last five years, a symbol for how consistently bad Jacksonville has been in recent seasons outside of 2017.

It is hard to point to any one thing that led to Jacksonville losing to the 6-9 Falcons, who have now won five of their last seven. Jacksonville failed to total 300 offensive yards on the day (totaled 288) and was weak on defense, allowing the Falcons to notch 518 offensive yards in 73 plays, a 7.1 yards per play average.

The same day there was a report from NFL Network's Ian Rapoport about how Jacksonville could retain both head coach Doug Marrone and general manager Dave Caldwell in the wake of Coughlin's firing, Jacksonville came out playing flat and simply didn't look like its roster had the same caliber of talent as the Falcons do, despite the Falcons having a terrible season.

Atlanta led the game 14-0 before Jacksonville's offense even took a snap, an early sign that the game would not go the Jaguars way. The Falcons drove 82 yards in only six plays on the first drive of the game, leading to a 17-yard Devonta Freeman touchdown run.

Then on the ensuing kickoff, Jacksonville rookie kick returner Michael Walker fumbled the ball at the 25-yard line and set up an easy touchdown drive culminating in an eight-yard touchdown catch by Freeman. Despite having only four touchdowns on the season before today, Freeman had his way with Jacksonville. Along with his two scores, he ran 13 times for 53 yards and caught nine passes for 74 yards.

Things didn't get much better for Jacksonville following the disastrous start. An 11-play, 62-yard drive on the third drive of the game following a Tre Herndon interception was the line bright spot, setting up a 40-yard Josh Lambo field goal.

Aside from that, Jacksonville's offense was completed stuck in the first half, punting on every possession but the aforementioned drive that ended in a field goal. Rookie quarterback Garnder Minshew II once again struggled to get anything going in the first half, going into the locker room with 3-for-10 passing for a meager 21 yards. This came only a week after Minshew went 3-for-10 for 69 yards in the first half vs. the Oakland Raiders.

Minshew was able to recover from his bouts of inaccuracy in the second half to an extent but still finished with one of his worst state lines of the season. He ended the game 13-for-31 passing for 181 yards and one touchdown. His lone touchdown was a beauty, however, a 42-yard bomb that led Chris Conley perfectly down the right sideline.

Minshew also got Jacksonville to the Falcons' four-yard line with about 5:00 left in the game thanks to two fourth down conversions, including a 4th-and-10 completion to Conley for 12 yards. But the Jaguars were ended up being forced to turn the ball over on downs after four straight incompletions, including two that hit DJ Chark's hands in the end zone.

On the flip side, Jacksonville couldn't stop Atlanta's passing offense if it wanted to. Outside of the Herndon interception and a third quarter interception by Jaguars safety Jarrod Wilson, Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan had his day with Jacksonville. Ryan was largely kept upright as the Jaguars' pass rush faltered, resulting in only one sack and plenty of chances for Ryan to make a big play.

Ryan spread the ball around the offense and was accurate and on time with each, ending the game 32-of-45 passing for 384 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions. Atlanta was also uber-efficient on third down, going 7-for-13. In comparison, Minshew and the Jaguars' offense was 3-for-14 on third down.

Ryan's favorite weapon was wide receiver Julio Jones, who had his way with Jaguars' cornerback A.J. Bouye, as well as any other back seven defenders Jacksonville tried to cover him with. Jones was targeted 15 times, meaning Ryan threw to him on every third attempt. He ended his dominant day with 10 catches for 166 yards, leaving a trail of Jacksonville defenders in his wake.

Jacksonville had a few chances to fight back into the game, but poor game management and lack of execution prevented them from doing so. Marrone opted to kick a 27-yard field goal on 4th-and-4 from the Falcons nine-yard line with 2:32 left in the third quarter, but then decided to be aggressive and go for two after Conley's touchdown with 12:08 left in the game. It seemed like Marrone wasn't sure if he wanted to gamble or not, and it hurt them once the field goal meant little and the two-point conversion failed.

Jacksonville will host the Indianapolis Colts in Week 17 to close out the 2019 season. Today's loss was Jacksonville's sixth loss in the last seven games, showing that despite the good feelings from last week's win in Oakland, this is still not a very good football team.

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