Jaguars vs Chargers: Can We Get a Dome?

JT: It’s Butt A$$ cold out and the sun is still shining.

I am remembering back to the beginning of the season when I was begging for a cool breeze. Anything to cool the dripping sweat from my brow. Now, meaningful football in January means I have to break out my winter hunting gear just to stay warm in a stadium in the state of FLORIDA. I’m sporting camo long johns for chrissake. Ridiculous. But anything for Dougie P. and this Jags team. They have put in the work to get us, the fans, a playoff home game, the least we can do is show up and freeze our butts to the seats like Flick’s tongue to the flagpole. Ah, the ol’ triple dog dare.

We can’t really talk about the week three route of the Chargers by our Jags because this Chargers team is completely different. Although, Mike Williams being injured and not playing this week does make it more difficult for LA. Herbert, however, is fully healed from his early season rib ailments and Keenan Allen is back. LA’s RB, Ekeler, is arguably the best in the NFL with 915 rushing yards and 722 receiving. That’s insane, but not even the craziest stat. Ekeler has 18 touchdowns this season. EIGHTEEN! That’s phenomenal considering Herbert has only thrown for 25 total all year, and Herbert is a quarterback. This means that the key to a Jags victory is limiting touches for Ekeler. The key to doing that is by jumping out to a big, early lead. An early Jags lead will force the LA passing game to take over. Playing defense against a one dimensional passing team, with Williams riding pine, benefits the Jacksonville defense greatly. The other key to a Jags victory is keeping Justin Herbert off the field. Best way to achieve that goal is for the Jags to run the ball efficiently and eat up clock. Last week the Tennessee Titans had a 10 minute drive against Jacksonville. That is what Jacksonville needs to do against the Chargers this week. ETN needs to show up and hold on to the ball. The key being, Hold. On. To. The. Ball. The Chargers defense is not great at stopping the run and the Jags just so happen to have a 1000+ yard rusher in the backfield (not to mention, JaMycal Hasty and Jamal Agnew ain’t too shabby either). I’m thinking Agnew might have himself a game with the offense tonight.

If the Jacksonville defense shows up like they have the past several weeks then I see no reason why the Jags fans won’t leave The Bank happy tonight. It’s kind of interesting that when Jacksonville and Los Angeles played each other in week three the Jags were very similar to who they are now. They were playing great defense then, they are playing great defense now. They were playing great offense then, they have been playing great offense over the past several weeks (last two weeks weren’t the best, but only a few plays away from being great). So the week three Jags and the wildcard playoff Jags are eerily similar. That bodes well for the team that dominated week three 38-10. A lot of fans that we have talked to today, outside TIAA Bank, feel more confident about today’s playoff game than they did about last week’s AFC South Division Championship game against the Titans. We here at JaguarsTalk are equally nervous.

Tonight’s game should be high scoring and more “fun” to watch. Hopefully Jacksonville’s defense and special teams will continue their winning ways and give Trevor Lawrence and the boys good field position. It is key that the Jags not get behind as they have so many other times this year. But if that were to happen, they know how to handle the situation. There is no panic in this JAX team, only a will to win. So to re-cap this hastily written pre-game column (as I sit here freezing my fingers off at our tailgate across the street from The Bank). The first key to victory for the Jags is to get out to an early lead, big enough to negate Ekeler as a runner and create a one dimensional Chargers team. The second is for them to eat clock with long sustained drives in order to keep Herbert (the LA QB) off the field. You mix these two ingredients with a little field position, special teams sauce and you have a Jaguars victory leading to (most likely) a rematch with Patty Mahomes and the KC Chiefs.

Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below. When we thaw from the tonight’s festivities we will give ‘em a read.