Jaguars @ Chiefs Re-Cap

JT: Andre Cisco vilified for clean play, defense needs to make a big change

We’re just going to start this column the same way Head Coach Doug Pederson started the KC game, with great big nerves of steel. Pederson called a surprising on-side kick to start the game. Our on-side kick to start this column is in statement form and might not be all that surprising at this point. Mike Caldwell needs to go. There is absolutely no way that so much defensive talent can crap the bed so often, in so many games. Josh Allen, Travon Walker, Arden Key, Smoot, Oluokun, Muma, Lloyd, Fatukasi, Hamilton, Harris, Gotsis. These guys make up the front seven for the Jacksonville Jaguars. If, as a coach, you can not figure out how to correctly use such a plethora of young talent in order to, at the very least, get close enough to breath on an opposing quarterback, then you have to go. None of these players are bad. They are obviously NFL caliber, at the very least. Oluokun led the entire NFL in tackles last year. Walker was a top five draft pick on everybody’s board in 2022. Riggo’s Rag, professionals who write about the Commanders, had Lloyd and Muma as first and second round linebacker picks for their team, because they are that good. We can go on but I think you get the point. Yes they are young and yes some are rookies but there's no arguing that the talent is there. It exists. These guys are very good players with the potential to be great. That’s the thing about potential, it needs to be nurtured. It needs to be poked and prodded until it rears its head. Potential needs to be “coached” out of a player. Mike Caldwell has thus far proven that he is not the coach for this job. Man, starting on such a negative takes the wind right out of the sails. Let’s talk about this Jaguars/Chiefs game and see if we can find an inkling of positivity. It won’t be easy, so don’t get your hopes up.

Sticking with the defense, the DBs have been a mixed bag this season. Some weeks Andre Cisco has a really bad game (last week against Davante Adams for example) and some weeks Cisco plays out of his mind (this week against KC). Cisco is unfairly being accused of targeting on two very legal, very good, very physical football plays. Juju Smith-Schuster, whom we all hope is okay and has no ill effects from the legal tackle that injured him yesterday, actually knocked himself out of the game. JJSS is the player who lowered his head into the side of Andre Cisco’s. Cisco was clearly leading with his shoulder. Not only should a flag have been thrown on Juju for targeting Cisco, but a fumble should have been called on that play and the ball should have belonged to the Jaguars. JJSS lost his defenseless designation when he took two steps after the catch, turned and lowered his head into Cisco. Those were all football moves that constituted control of the pass. Cisco’s clean hit, which jarred the ball loose, was a fumble recovered by Cisco, who never quit on the play. Rayshawn Jenkins has played well for most of the year and certainly had a decent game against KC. Tyson Campbell is playing out of his mind and Darious Williams, Tre Herndon, and Montaric Brown are proving to be good plug-ins where needed. I do not think we will see Shaq Griffin in a Jags uniform ever again. So with all of this talent, how did Patrick Mahomes throw four touchdown passes to four different players who were all WIDE OPEN? Nobody was around them. Kadarius Toney was open by 21 yards. The closest Jaguar player to Toney, when he caught his touchdown pass, was 21 yards. 21 YARDS! How does this happen, especially inside the red zone? How was the Jacksonville defense so bad that there wasn’t a single player within yards of any of the Chiefs touchdown catches? It isn’t talent. It’s scheme, it’s play calling, it’s coaching. The buck stops with Mike Caldwell and while I don’t believe a change will be made during this season, Caldwell should not be back as the Jacksonville DC next year.

I heard someone say that Travis Kelce was kept in check during the game, a statement with which I wholeheartedly disagree. He caught 6 of 7 for 81 yards with an average of 13.5 and a long of 46 yards. He also had a very important touchdown, and a very important catch for a first down, to ice the game. I wish Chad Muma would have made that tackle before the sticks, but Kelce just made a great move. Bottom line is that Kelce was not kept in check, whatsoever. In addition, the Jaguars are solely responsible for every fantasy league’s waiver wire run on RB Isiah Pacheco. This rookie out of Rutgers carried the ball 16 times for 82 yards at 5.1 yards per carry. Wow. I thought the Jaguars defense was built to stop the run? Yes Pacheco was kept to under 100 yards for the game, but he isn’t Saquon Barkley. He’s a rookie from Rutgers. I cringe at the thought of Derrick Henry, two times before the end of this season. Maybe Mahomes' passing ability opened up the run game. Patty passed to nine different receivers against the Jags. He passed for 331 yards, 4 TDs for an average of 9.5 yards per pass and a QB rating of 129.6. On the other side of the ball Trevor Lawrence threw for 259 yards, completing 29 of 40 for 2 TDs with a 6.5 yard average for a QB rating of 106.1. Lawrence performed very well. He threw to eight different Jags pass catchers. The biggest difference was Lawrence was sacked 5 times for a loss of 30 yards. Mahomes was not sacked at all. Not one time. For a total loss of zero yards. Other contributing factors to this loss was the ever present inability to turn red zone trips into touchdowns. Even non-red zone field goals were a problem in KC. The Jacksonville offense, as they seem to do every single week, left points on the field. They left 10 points off the board against KC, to be exact. What was the final score? 27-17, a difference of 10. It hurts to continually type this, but you can’t beat a team when you are busy beating yourself. Unlike any other loss this season, the Jags never ever really seemed to be in this game. It was just too easy for the Chief’s offense. KC coasted to this victory.

Okay let’s talk about the takeaways from this game. Cisco needs to figure out his inconsistency and perform in every single game the way he did against KC. Two phenomenal, legal hits, three tackles, one interception, and what should have been a fumble and recovery. It was a step in the right direction. Defensive Coordinator Mike Caldwell needs some reevaluation. The Jags need a DC that can coach the potential out of the current players and use them correctly. Trevor Lawerence has been fire these past two weeks (I love the youngin lingo). I feel like T-Law is having the same season this year that Tyson Campbell had last year. He is getting noticeably better as the season progresses. His touch pass to Christian Kirk in the corner of the endzone was spot on. T-Law didn’t make any stupid decisions and he didn’t turn the ball over. He was on-point. Christian Kirk had a game. He caught 9 passes for 105 yards and 2 TDs. Zay Jones was forgotten about until the second half (must have read JaguarsTalk Halftime Speech written during the actual hafltime of the KC game). Trevor found him for a total of 8 catches for 68 yards, including important third down receptions. One of the things Doug Pederson needs to do in the future is incorporate ETN into the passing game. KC had Travis Etienne’s number as far as the run game is concerned (11 carries for 45 yards), so why not get him the ball through the air. Split him out wide, put him against a linebacker. My money is on ETN in those situations. Another offensive takeaway deals with JaMycal Hasty. Why is he on the field? Jacksonville drafted Snoop Conner, so let’s play Snoop Conner. Hasty isn’t doing anything that Conner can’t do. With all of the negatives surrounding the Jaguars defense and the Jags offensive line, allowing five sacks this week, Jacksonville was still in the game. They weren’t blown out. They left 10 points on the field. Those points were solely their mistake and had nothing to do with the Chiefs. So, while the Jaguars are 3-7 heading into the bye week, they are not the same three win team as last year. They are on the cusp. Lawrence is getting better every game. Calvin Ridley waits in the wings. And the defense is stacked with talent. Talent that just needs to be unlocked and utilized correctly. Once that is figured out, then watch out. I am forced to go back to what John Oehser said at the beginning of the season, the Jags are a six or seven win team this year, and that is great improvement. John seems to be on the right track, but I don’t think even he expected to be in every single game to the point where the Jags could have won. This KC game was the first where Jacksonville never led. To end on a positive note, the Jags forced three (should have been four) takeaways, didn’t turn the ball over, and successfully recovered a surprise on-side kick.

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