JaguarsTalk: Jacksonville Jaguars vs. Pittsburgh Steelers - NFL Preseason Game 2
JT: Hope Springs Eternal but the Pudding Provides the Proof
The third (technically the second pre-season game, but JAX played in the HOF game so, you know…we’re going with the third) preseason installment of the revamped Jacksonville Jaguars took the field last night against the formidable Steelers of Pittsburgh. It was a pretty evenly matched contest, both on the field in terms of play, and in the stands in terms of fans. I’m doubting that these Steelers fans traveled from PA for a preseason match-up, so it’s my guess that there exist thousands of Pittsburgh transplants in the First Coast area. Brief tangent, I also witnessed several people wearing Tampa Bay Bucs gear and even a guy donning an Indianapolis Colts jersey. This left me thoroughly confused as I wasn’t aware it was random jersey night at The Bank. Anywho, while the final score of the game was essentially a dead heat, the path to reach those numbers was circuitous. A pattern has seemingly developed in Jacksonville and that pattern is what we have all gathered here today to discuss.
The pattern of which I speak, while mostly positive, has the propensity to hit a few speed bumps. You see, Doug Pederson and Trent Baalke have put together a very solidly efficient NFL offense. Middle of the road, if you will. JaguarsTalk has always said that Jacksonville’s offense is not their strong suit. It’s not where they’ll be hanging their hat this year. It is, however, good enough to “not lose” games. By that I mean they are a solid enough group to move the ball, put some points on the board, and not turn the ball over (we are speaking specifically of the first string). Let’s take a statistical trip around the bases and analyze the Jaguars offense during the Steelers game. We’d like to take this opportunity to point out that this is the Pittsburgh Steelers defense, not the Cleveland Browns defense. The Steelers D brings a little more to the party. Just keep that in mind when reading about what the JAX offense was able to achieve and maybe also not so much achieve.
Good - Trevor Lawrence was 14-21 for 133 yards with zero interceptions. He threw multiple completions to the second and third level (including a sweet 22-yard pass to Christian Kirk).
Bad - No Touchdowns. The offense made it inside the Steelers 40-yard line on every drive but only into the red zone once, and never converted a TD. Always settling for field goals (if JAX can even make them) will start to weigh on the back of the Jags collective defense as games progress.
Good - All of Jacksonville’s first team offensive drives were clock eating, multiple play drives which included several third down conversions. Hell, there were even times when the Jags decided not to wait until third down to get a first down (a highly preferable move for the anxiety level of everyone in The Bank not wearing black and gold). Lawrence made a nice throw to Marvin Jones Jr. on 2nd and seven, resulting in a first down. T-Law also regaled us with a pretty twelve-yard pass to Zay Jones for another first down. As an aside, I’d like to sincerely request that the play-by-play announcer at TIAA Bank Field try harder to use the “Jr.” portion of MJJ’s name instead of just announcing that Lawrence completed the pass to “Jones,” leading me to believe that Zay had swapped jersey numbers, when in fact he hadn’t. And let’s not forget about Christian Kirk who took the field for the first time and promptly snagged five for fifty-four. All said and done the Jags receivers accounted for 118 total yards in the first half, 54 belonging to former Cardinal, CK, and 40 brought down by MJJ. Even Etienne (pronounced Travis) joined in the fun with some solid running, including an impressive 10-yarder on a 2nd and 10. Doug Pederson’s biggest focus for the offense this week was to improve in the area of third down conversions and turning field goals into touchdowns. They certainly responded by frequently moving those chains.
Bad - They forgot about the touchdown part. Jacksonville’s offense repeatedly settled for field goal attempts (often long ones). Trevor Lawrence missed some wide open, drive-extending throws that would have placed the Jags in the red zone with a fresh set of downs (twice he missed a wide open Kirk). Throws that Lawrence has since said he wishes he had back. Pederson commented on this very issue saying, “we’ve got a couple of weeks left here in camp, and we’ll try to get better.”
One final take on the offense, I know Snoop Conner is not the first team running back but we just want him to take a very quick breath and find the hole. No dancing around in the backfield is needed. No indecisive lateral movement. Just a short, quick, split-second moment to find that running room. There was one play when Snoop took the ball and ran straight into a pile of big men. Had he instead taken a quick sec to peek to his right, he’d have found a sizable hole gifting him several more yards. Don’t get me wrong, I love me a North/South head banger. I can’t stand the running backs that dance for dozens of lateral yards before being tackled for a loss. I fancy myself a Mike Alstott kind of guy. All we are asking for here is a teeny tiny hesitation to find that slightly easier route for the extra yard… or twelve.
We here at JaguarsTalk understand that there exists good and bad in everything (except butter, everything's better with butter). The biggest “good” takeaway from the first team offense is a lack of turnovers. As we all witnessed last night, with EJ Perry at the helm, turnovers will cost you the game. The biggest “bad” takeaway is the love of the three pointer. Steph Curry would be proud, but JAX could use more sixers instead. A bonus “bad” is that when given the chance we don’t even make all the field goals. Scoring touchdowns solves all problems. All said and done, with three Jags pre-season games in the books, JaguarsTalk is not worried for Jacksonville’s offense, as the progress made from last year to this, is already extremely evident.
Time for the good and the bad of the JAX defense. This is where we parrot everything we’ve already said, over and over, multiple times, in every column ever written. The Jacksonville defense will win the games if the offense doesn’t lose them. This Band of Brothers will shock and awe the heck out of many an opposing offense in 2022. Major Richard Winters, or at the very least Damian Lewis, would agree that the Jaguars have assembled a formidable fighting force. It certainly isn’t Easy Company of the 101st (as few will ever compare), but Jacksonville’s defense is markedly better. Not just better than they were a year ago, but better than a lot of offenses on this year's schedule. They shut out Pittsburgh’s first team offense for the entire first half UNTIL the final Steeler drive, when they frankly seemed like they were holding the door open for them. It was a pitiful display and believe you me, they will learn from that. It will not happen again. Drives like that sting. Drives like that leave a lasting impression, a feeling of failure that doesn’t want to be felt again. Drives like that are best to get out of the way in the pre-season so that learning can occur, and changes applied when it counts. Yes, it was awful to watch. Yes, the halftime show mascots could have done better had they been on the field, but it was the only mistake this defense has made in seven straight offensive possessions. I will take that all day long.
Good - Defensive lineman Arden Key went beast mode. It’s as if Key rode into the pre-season on Battle Cat because he definitely has the power. Three sacks in three games. In this particular game he was a chaos causing force, wrapping up Mitch Trubisky on a 3rd and eleven resulting in an eight-yard loss, ending Pittsburgh’s drive.
Bad - The final drive of the first half.
Good - Dawuane Smoot with a safety. I realize that technically Smoot isn’t a starter, however he will be rotating in with the starters throughout the regular season because of plays like this. Smoot was just about to firmly introduce himself to Mason Rudolph, forcing the red nosed reindeer to throw the ball away, resulting in an intentional grounding call in the endzone. That, my friends, equals the elusive two-point safety.
Bad - The final drive of the first half.
Good - Jacksonville’s starting defense held the Steelers to 24 yards rushing. More impressively they held Pittsburgh to 1.7 yards per carry. I realize that Pittsburgh’s starting running back, Najee Harris, didn’t play, but it wouldn’t have mattered. For those of you who think it would have, you didn’t watch the game. Jacksonville’s front seven is dominant, fast and swarming, and that’s without stud starting linebacker Devin Lloyd. Imagine what they will be able to do when he finally gets on grass. These are some very bad boys. They are the reason Jacksonville, sitting in the worst division in the entire NFL by a long shot, has a legitimate chance at winning the Div. title this year. Gentlemen, the defense was rebuilt. Jacksonville has the technology, the capability to make a dominant front seven. Better than they were before. Better…Stronger…Faster. Steve Austin would be proud.
Bad - The final drive of the first half.
To sum up, and this is the pattern of which we spoke at the beginning of this column, this Jaguars defense will win games for Jacksonville (8 or 9 this year to be exact). This Jaguars offense will be good enough to eat clock and not turn the ball over (which we fondly refer to as “not losing” the game). What Khan, Baalke and Pederson have built will net the First Coast with a significantly improved team as a whole. It gets exhausting reading all of the comments and emails about how they aren’t going to make the playoffs and therefore they are the same old Jags. First of all, I’m not so sure they won’t make the playoffs simply due to the less than mediocre AFC South. Secondly, the Jags won four games in two years. Winning 6,7,8,9+ is a huge improvement worth being excited about.
Three things I want you to take away from this column:
1) Time to sign a few more kickers and get that crap nailed down.
2) Any quarterbacks with initials for a first name need to step it up and lock it down.
3) If Jacksonville can build a formidable and dominant defense in one off-season (along with an efficient O), just imagine what they will look like this time next year when the main focus of next off-season will be the offense.
Let’s hear them. Your thoughts. Right now. In the comment section below