Jaguars Game Balls
JT: We’re gonna need more balls
This Chargers/Jags game produced only good and literally no bad, unless of course, you know, you were pulling for LA. Fortunately, here at JaguarsTalk we don’t care about those fans. We’ve been charged with the dubious task of narrowing down the Good Times in this game (we will call them the Jimmy J.J. Walker moments - “Dyn-o-mite”). Pulling a number out of a theoretical hat, we came up with four game balls to give away. There are four quarters in a game and thus four balls with which to play. Let us begin.
The first Jimmy J.J. Walker game ball is awarded to running back James Robinson. Need I actually explain why? Let me see if I can narrow it down. 100 yards rushing. 50 of those yards on a fourth and one resulting in six points and sealing the victory for the Jaguars. At that point in the game The Chargers had stopped Jacksonville on third down at midfield. Herbert had just driven his team downfield on a fairly easy touchdown drive. Had LA stopped JAX on that fourth and one attempt, then not only would the game have taken the opposite tack, but I’m fairly certain Los Angeles would have won. The faith that Head Coach Doug Pederson has in James Robinson to call a run play, that bounced to the outside to gain just one yard, is enough of a reason to award James with a game ball. Add to that the fact that J-Rob trucked it all the way to pay dirt to seal the deal and we couldn’t not award Robinson with this weeks first J.J. Walker game ball. Robinson is definitely, dyn-o-mite!
Staying with the very same play, there is no way Pederson trusts James Robinson to get that first down without also knowing that the Jaguars offensive line would clear the way. That play was constructed and executed perfectly. The Chargers stacked the box, loaded all 11 up on the line to stuff the inside run. Or, as it turned out, to easily allow the Jaguars to execute their play which just so happened to be the perfect call for that Chargers defense. Everyone on the Jaguars O-line did their job and as one entity they sealed the entire left side of the field with the exception of one lonely Chargers defensive back. This poor guy was staring down the barrel of all-pro pulling guard Brandon Scherff, who was running full speed in front of J-Rob to clear his path. After Scherff flicked the defender out of the way Robinson turned on his newly implanted cyber achilles and flew to the end zone untouched. The entire offensive line will be receiving the second Jimmy J.J. Walker game ball. I realize this is cheating, giving an entire O-line one game ball, but since I am already breaking the rules I am going go even further and add Evan Engram to the O-line for this award. He was instrumental in sealing off the end of that line, helping to build what some have called the “Duval Wall.” For these reasons the Jags O-line and Evan Engram were dyn-o-mite!
I appreciate you readers. I really do, but I don’t think you realize how difficult it is to narrow down these J.J.’s to just four players (or group of players as referenced above). It would be so easy to reward the entire receiving core who seem to be uncoverable. Each of them caught a TD pass (even Evan Engram, though he was robbed by the replay ref in a horrible overturned call debacle). Zay Jones came to play, catching the lions share and getting wide open for the first TD of the evening. That humble young man needs to get the ball more often. Speaking of getting the ball more often, Marvin Jones Jr. had his first TD catch of the season with an acrobatic, back of the end zone, jumping grab to put the exclamation point on this game. It would be very easy to reward these guys, who week in and week out just get open and catch the ball. They know their job and they just do it. But, it would be cheating to give the entire receiving core a J.J. Walker especially after breaking the rules for the big boys up front.
It would also be cheating to reward Coach Doug Pederson, OC Press Taylor, and DC Mike Caldwell with a J.J. game ball as well. Without the meticulous preparation by the coaching staff during the week leading up to this game, such a young Jaguars team would not have been as ready to play as they were. The confidence level displayed by every single player on Jacksonville’s team was 100% due to the fact that they were fully prepared. The preparation was the result of excellent game prep during the week. Prep that good comes directly from the coaching staff. They deserve a Jimmy Walker for the way they ensured that your Jaguars would be more than ready for anything LA threw at them. But again, we only have four game balls. We can’t give them to everyone.
Trevor Lawrence threw for 260+ yards, three TDs, and no INTs. He made no stupid throws, no stupid decisions. He checked down, through his progressions, in a timely fashion and executed his passes to the correct, open receivers. Lawrence took what the Chargers defense gave him and didn’t try to force anything. The trust that has developed between T-Law and his receiving core, in such a short amount of time, is so valuable because it has allowed Lawrence to have faith that one of them is always going to be open. Lawrence also has such trust in his offensive line (which wasn't there in week one against the Commanders, that is until the “correctable mistakes” were corrected) that he knows he has time to run through his progressions to find his open man. This is trust in all facets of the offense. This is something that usually takes months if not years to build and your Jaguars (thanks to Dougie P.) have accelerated that time table to week two and three. With the defense that Trent Baalke has assembled this year, all Trevor Lawrence has to do is not turn the ball over and kill some clock. He has performed masterfully in those duties. So much so that he decided to take things a step further and add methodical, efficient, full quarter consuming drives resulting in multiple field goals and touchdowns. What a show-off. For the unreal leap forward that T-Law has made since week one of this season, we here at JT award Lawrence with his very own Jimmy J.J. Walker game ball. Trevor Lawrence is, for sure, dyn-o-mite!
The difficulty has only increased as this column progresses. The fourth and final game ball could be rewarded to Josh Allen for his eight QB hurries, four hits, and total disruption of the Charger backfield and pass protection unit. It could go to Travon Walker for his QB hurries, hits, and pass defense. Yes, Travon dropped into coverage and knocked a pass to the ground. But we are going to give this one to him 33, Devin Lloyd. The Utah product had his second NFL interception in as many games. Both should have been returned for pick 6s but I guess we can be happy with a basic turnover. For missing the entire preseason nursing a nagging injury and for being a rookie learning a new system, this bloke is fire (that’s how the kids say it, right?). He was so good against the Chargers that Josh Allen refused an interview and instead pointed them in the direction of the deserving Lloyd. I am not sure who that says more about, Lloyd or Allen, but I do know it means Jacksonville is completely stacked on defense. Devin Lloyd you get this games final Jimmy J.J. Walker game ball for being truly dyn-o-mite against LA.
Ladies and gentlemen of the First Coast, what we are witnessing here is truly something special. This team, their trust in each other, their level of play, their pure atheleticism and talent combines to form the perfect storm. Nothing like this has been seen since the ill-fated Andrea Gail ran into such a Duval Wall of water on the Flemish Cap. Enjoy this, as it rarely happens in life let alone professional sports. Let us know what you think in the comment section below.