Jaguars @ Chargers - We Predicted 27-20 but We’ll Take 38-10

JT: Your AFC South leading Jaguars just dominated a consensus Super Bowl contender

I guess the best place to begin is at the beginning. Doug Pederson was hired and all was right in the land. The End. It’s kind of got that feeling. Everyone wondered what a Doug Pederson hire would bring. Then the draft happened and instead of looking at the positives, it was assumed that because Baalke and Pederson took Travon Walker and not Aiden Hutchinson, that they blew it. A collective “hear we go again” could be heard all around Duval. JaguarsTalk was at the Daily’s Place draft party that night and analyzed all of the Jaguars picks. Not only was it a solid draft but it was paired perfectly with the off season acquisitions, another source of contention from the Jags naysayers. Pederson and Baalke assembled the perfect machine, piece by piece. The only thing left to figure out was whether or not this collection of players would mature and gel quickly enough to become a playoff contender this year. I think that question has now officially been answered.

It’s interesting because when the Jags gave away game one, everyone said they expected it. Few people looked beneath the surface to see that this team was different. When the Jags shut out the Colts everyone said Matt Ryan didn’t have Michael Pittman, we will see how they do next week. Then all I heard during the Chargers blowout tonight (by the announcers) was how the outcome just shows how much Justin Herbert really misses Keenan Allen and how the Chargers lost Joey Bosa after one quarter. Rarely does anyone ever give the Jaguars credit for being really good. Frankly, we prefer it this way. It’s the often talked about under dog mentality. It’s not difficult to play with a chip on your shoulder when you outscore your last two opponents 62-10 and yet your team gets no credit for it’s dominance. Next week when the Jags head to Philadelphia to face Doug Pederson’s old team it will be interesting to hear what the excuses are that day.

Today, however, was the Jaguars day. It was Jacksonville’s day from their second drive until the end of the game. After the first drive Jacksonville sent their punter home. If I am not mistaken, at one point the Jaguars scored on five straight drives. The first half was filled with LA turnovers, long drives and a lot of field goals. In our previous columns JaguarsTalk stressed the importance of our place kicker. Stressed that we would need those three pointers this season. Thankfully, even though Coach Pederson is a gambler and often goes for it on fourth down, he also knows when to put points on the board and kick it between the uprights. Three times the Jags got in the red zone and settled for a field goal (though one of those times Evan Engram had a great TD catch, for which there was not indisputable evidence to overturn the call on the field, yet they overturned the call on the field). Each and every time I prayed to God above that Pederson would be happy with three more points and thankfully he was. It is a supreme bonus to have a coach that realizes when to gamble and when to be cautious.

#33 had his second interception of his young career. Devin Lloyd’s turning out to be a pretty damn good linebacker. Most of the evening he was spying on Herbert and it paid dividends. He intercepted a deflected pass and later in the game he reached out with his big paw and knocked a Herbert throw out of the air before it could get to it’s target. On the replay you could just see Lloyd watching Herbert’s eyes and the jumping the route to break up the play. The guy has instinct and quickness. Travon Walker and Josh Allen were constantly collapsing the Chargers offensive pocket. Herbert didn’t get sacked a lot but he was hurried and hit quite often. Rattled would be a good description of how he play most of that game. Many weeks ago quarterback Trevor Lawrence said that the thing other teams will be most surprised about when playing the Jags would be their team speed. Someone needs to make a meme with Jaguars players on the SPEED bus in place of Keanu and Sandra Bullock. Please do that and send it to us.

Trevor Lawrence had another banner evening. He was 28 of 39 for 262 yards and three TDs with no INTs. This is the second week in a row where Lawrence hasn’t turned the ball over and has thrown for multiple touchdowns. He also spread the ball around very liberally against the Chargers. He threw to everyone. Zay Jones quietly had a great game while Marvin Jones Jr. joined in with a few catches including a pretty impressive juggling catch close to the goal line. Lawrence threw TD passes to Kirk, Zay Jones, Marvin Jones, and had an Evan Engram TD called back. The Jaguars finally got the attention of sports writers outside of Jacksonville with this convincing win. Charles McDonald of Yahoo Sports said “Trevor Lawrence is playing like the star we expected.” It’s amazing what good coaching can do for a team.

Lawrence wasn’t the only bright spot for the Jaguars offense. James Robinson continued to shine tonight. His best moment came on a fourth and one call from the Jaguars own 49 yard line. Robinson took the ball and broke left around the end of the entire Chargers line, untouched for a 51 yard touchdown. It seemed that play was the beginning of the end for LA. This Jaguars team is a really good team. I know this because Trevor Lawrence said, “we’re a really good team,” in his point game presser. Dawuane Smoot chimed in saying, “we’re turning the corner to something special. We just have to keep it rolling.” The best way to keep this rolling is through preparation.

Head Coach Doug Pederson said “I’m just so proud of these guys. The way they work during the week. It takes hard work and preparation.” The most important part of winning in the NFL is preparation. Without it, you lose. With it, you can win. What is great for Jacksonville is the timing of everything. The Jaguars are a very young team, the third longest in the NFL, so they’ve yet to develop bad habits. Being young they are impressionable so they are still sponges able to absorb coaching. Shad Khan put Super Bowl winning coach, Doug Pederson in charge of them at this young and impressionable stage combining the ingredients for a winning formula. In life, timing is literally everything, and in Jacksonville that proves true this season.

Robinson ended the night with 100 yards. Etienne garnered quite a bit of carries this game as well. Each starting receiver caught a touchdown pass. The Jaguars defense had two take aways (Foye Oluokun with a fumble recovery from a Smoot strip and Lloyd with the INT). The Jaguars offense was uber efficient once again. Jacksonville crushed the time of possession and dictated everything about this game. The last two games for the Jacksonville Jaguars could literally be used as a course on how to play the perfect NFL game.

Next up is Jalen Hurts and the Philadelphia Eagles. The tests just keep getting more difficult. What do you think will happen in Philly? let us know in the comment section below.