Urban Meyer Evaluates the Jaguars' Offensive Line Play Vs. the Browns

The Jaguars' offensive line play has drawn a lot of criticism after Saturday's loss to the Cleveland Browns, but does Urban Meyer really believe his line played that poorly?

There are rarely any units in football that draw as much criticism as the offensive line. Oftentimes, those criticisms can be unwarranted to a degree due to all of the factors that go into pass-protection. 

The key for Urban Meyer this weekend was to determine if the outside criticism of his offensive line was justified or not after a three-sack performance against the Cleveland Browns' backup defense in Saturday's 23-13 loss. 

Two of those sacks occurred on the first two drives, with the first one coming on the very first offensive play of the game as Sheldon Day beat right guard A.J. Cann and strip-sacked Trevor Lawrence. The third sack came on the third possession, with the negative play quickly ending Gardner Minshew's first drive and bringing out the punt unit. 

But as Meyer explained on Monday, he saw several performances from his line that were ultimately encouraging -- something the tape backs up as well.

“Cam [Robinson] was pretty solid. Jawaan [Taylor], we are working on some things today. He had a great training camp, so we are good. [He] did not play great to answer your question, didn’t play awful, didn’t play great," Meyer said on Monday, summing up the one-game evaluations of his starting tackles. 

Robinson and Taylor have arguably the most pressure on them of any player on the Jaguars' offense outside of Lawrence. As a result, it wasn't surprising to see so many fans and analysts harp on each's performance as the Jaguars failed to consistently protect Lawrence or Minshew at the start of the game. 

But, as Meyer explained, Saturday isn't cause for concern for Robinson. Robinson was actually a huge reason Lawrence was able to connect with Jones for a 35-yard gain as he picked up a stunt and bought Lawrence extra time in the pocket. With that said, Saturday was a tough day for Taylor both live and upon examination, with the third-year offensive tackle giving up too much ground in pass-protection against Cleveland's backup unit.

But outside of Robinson and Taylor, how did the group play? 

"A.J. Cann played very solid, gave up one pressure, but he’s been really solid all the way through," Meyer said. 

"[Brandon] Linder didn’t play much. Obviously, [Andrew] Norwell has one more week out. But [Ben] Bartch actually did okay in there, so we’re developing that third guard which we need and the third tackle right now." 

Meyer pointing out Cann's game will likely catch raise some eyebrows since Cann was on the losing end of the first sack of the game, but the veteran right guard ended the game as one of Jacksonville's top-performing run-blockers and didn't give up another pressure following the first one. 

As for Bartch, it was his preseason debut following a rookie year in which the COVID-19 pandemic wiped out all preseason games. His inexperience showed at times, but he looked much more in control and confident in his technique than he did as a rookie in 2020. 

Then there is Walker Little. The No. 45 overall pick has been one of the team's top linemen in training camp as he has consistently shut down the Jaguars' pass-rushers in one-on-ones and team drills. 

Saturday was a big night for Little since it was his first official game since September 2019, and the Jaguars clearly wanted to get him some much-needed experience. Little played more snaps than any other player on the offense, logging 49 snaps (73%) at left tackle in his preseason debut.

But while Little was able to get his feet wet, it was still a night that Meyer wants to see considerable improvement from.

"Walker Little struggled. He was playing low hands for some reason, it was on him really fast, so he has to get a lot of reps," Meyer said. "We’re counting on him. He had a really good training camp, so we have to get him going.”

The Jaguars' offensive line will be what drives the offense's success week in and week out. For Lawrence to put points on the scoreboard and for James Robinson and Travis Etienne to break off big runs, they will need the offensive line to take steps forward from Saturday. 

But, as the Jaguars' head coach saw, the line also likely isn't as far off as many may think following the Browns' loss, with the onus now being on Taylor and Little to improve.