Jaguars vs Texans: The Embarrassment

JT: “You see in this world there’s two kinds of people, my friend. Those with loaded guns, and those who dig. [The Jaguars] dig.”

Ugly can’t even begin to describe how the Jaguars played against the Houston Texans this past Sunday at TIAA Bank Field. Actually let me take a step back. The Jaguars defense played extremely well. It was the offense that threw up a goose egg in the second half and only accounted for two field goals in the first. Just pitiful. What makes it even more pitiful is that the Jacksonville offense put up 422 total yards. That’s a pretty good number. Respectable, some might say. But to follow that up with six points is downright embarrassing. It’s disrespectful to the organization and the fans paying A LOT of hard earned money to sit in that oven of a stadium for a one o’clock game and just bake from the inside out, all to see an offense that actively lost the game.

If you are looking for a reason for that Sunday debacle, it is that the Jaguars actively lost the game. Actively is the key word (hence the bold lettering). They didn’t play poorly and not have a shot at getting into the endzone to put points on the board. They had plenty of chances. Like we said earlier, they gained 422 total yards. That’s pretty good. They didn’t just miss wide open receivers, overthrow, underthrow and throw behind them, they sometimes ignored them all together. In looking back at some of the plays from yesterday, Lawrence just wasn’t “on.” He didn’t have “it” during that game. He either didn’t go through his progressions to the point of getting to the open man or he saw the open man and decided to ignore him. The key to winning in the NFL is to take what the defense gives you. Instead Trevor Lawrence ignored that and tried to force passes where they didn’t belong. This resulted in an interception in the endzone, on a pass that never should have been thrown. In fact, Trevor could have walked to the first down marker without getting touched and stepped out of bounds earning his team a fresh set of downs with which to work and earn a touchdown. Instead he tried to force something that was not there and actively lost the game by throwing an interception. Lawrence took seven Jaguars points off the board with that single horrible decision. You can argue that Lawrence did the exact same thing during the Eagles game in week four when he stared down his receiver and threw a pick inside the red zone. But there were quite a few additional things in that game that actively lost it for Jacksonville. Back to this Houston interception. I will give T-Law credit for the ensuing tackle as it was a pretty damn good take down. For that reason alone I can’t say that Trevor didn’t tuck and run because he is afraid of contact, as some have claimed. As you saw, once Stingley Jr. picked him off, he darted to the one yard line to take him down.

JaguarsTalk has been writing since the draft that the defense was going to be the focal point of this team, and win the games for them, as long as the offense was just efficient and didn’t actively lose the game. All Trevor Lawrence has to do is not turn the ball over. All Doug Pederson needs to do is call a game that eats the clock and chews up yardage. If one thing isn’t working and the other is, then adapt and overcome. Get in field goal range or touchdown range, we will take whichever at this point, and let the defense do their job and demoralize the other team with their stifling play. What we have gotten the past two weeks, from the entire offense, is an abomination. Horrible play with one exception, the run game. The past two weeks the receivers have been dropping passes. We thought it had to do with the rain in Philly (week four) but on a perfect day at TIAA Bank Field yesterday balls were hitting grass like it was pee wee league. You know what the coaches do in the pee wee league because the kids aren’t developed enough to make good passes or catch the ball? THEY RUN IT. Well, the Jacksonville Jaguars ran it during the first quarter of the Houston game to the tune of 8.3 yards per carry. That’s an amazing number. An amazing stat. So amazing nobody in their right mind would stop running the ball during a 6-6 game, against arguably the worst run defense in the NFL (Texans). However, it was not the logic to which the Jacksonville coaching staff wanted to adhere. They had their own logic to follow, to the tune of 10 passes for 40 yards averaging 4 yards per pass (in the first quarter). That was the path down which the Jaguars traveled for the rest of the game. Why? Don’t ask us. We wrote in the Halftime Speech column that Pederson needs to get back to the run game. We posted it during the actual halftime, while sitting in the stands with the rest of the JAX faithful watching Tony Boselli receive his Hall of Fame ring. All Doug needed to do was to read it. It was his blueprint for walking away from that game with a “W.” Someone get him this website for the next game please.

There was a lot of ugly to go around in this game. Travon Walker extended the Texans scoring drive by first jumping offsides and then slamming the QB to the ground like a rag doll, all while whistles were being blown all over the field. That was on a third and 20 play, mind you. The drive would have been stopped and Houston would have punted the ball. That play didn’t directly lose us the game like Trevor Lawrence’s interception did, but damned if it isn’t a really close second. The Jags are 0-3 in one score games. And in each, Trevor has actively lost the game. So we have to ask the question, is Trevor Lawrence him? Some people say “generational,” others call it the “it” factor, but what I see is a lack of desire. I don’t see that fire when your back is against the wall. That determination or confidence you need to persevere. Jacksonville needs a William Wallace type speech from its leader before beginning that final two minute drill down the field to win the game. Instead, Trevor looks like a deer in headlights playing a game that has sped up way too fast for him to play comfortably. Are these growing pains? Is this normal for such a young QB? I don’t know the answers, but I do know that this defense is ready to dominate, and if the offense doesn’t stop getting in its way, a division amongst the team will occur. That chasm will not bode well for anyone in Jacksonville.

We here at JaguarsTalk said this Houston matchup was going to be a statement game for the Jaguars. We were right. We were just, oh so very wrong, about the type of statement. Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below.