Jaguars @ Lions
JT: Battle of the Big Cats
Jacksonville will be traveling to the Motor City, 8-mile, Detroit, this Sunday to face the Lions. Believe it or not The Transfer, Dre Foge, from Ventura College is captaining an NFL team these days. If the Jaguars don’t look past the neck tats and the giant facial mole to the arm behind the hair, then Foge may throw all over the Jacksonville defense. That’s right we are talking about Jared Goff, and if you didn’t know that, stop what you’re doing and YouTube Jared Goff The Transfer. Then promptly resume reading. The Detroit Lions are 4-7. They have one of the best and most explosive offenses in the NFL. On the other side of the ball, however, things tend to differ, in that they have the absolute worst defense in the entire NFL. Like dead last. So bad they wouldn’t even get a participation trophy. This is Alanis Morissette type ironic given the most interesting story line of the game stars the 2022 #2 draft pick Aidan Hutchinson and #1 draft pick Travon Walker. Both are DEs and both expected to be picked first overall. Jacksonville took Walker and Hutchinson’s feeling are hurt. The over/under according to Vegas is 51 points. That means while a lot of us will be watching the Walker/Hutchinson duel, Vegas couldn’t care less about either of them. A 51 point over/under screams defense be damned, ain’t nobody stopping no-one in this game. Might come down to whomever has the ball last. And we all know how Trevor Lawrence handled being in that position last week against the Ravens. I know technically the Ravens had the ball last, but 14 seconds doesn’t count. Twenty seconds would have counted. Those extra six seconds would have given the Ravens 5-10 more yards and the win, thanks to Justin Tucker's golden leg. But 14 seconds, well, 14 seconds falls just short (pun intended).
There are a lot of interesting story lines in this game. Goff and Lawrence were both number one overall picks. Detroit and Jacksonville are both highly sought after beautiful places to live (just making sure you’re still paying attention). Riley Patterson, the Jags kicker who has done an okay job for JAX was sent packing by the Lions. Special teams extraordinaire and part time wide receiver/TD specialist Jamal Agnew was let go by Detroit at the same time as Marvin “shin control” Jones Jr. Both of these fine pass catchers/returners currently reside on, and heavily contribute to the success of, the JAX offense. In addition to the personnel story lines there exist playoff implications now that Jacksonville has knocked off Baltimore to move to 4-7. If the Jaguars manage to travel to Detroit and bring home the victory AND the Jalen Hurts led Philadelphia Eagles, with sexy Batman (one of these days New Heights Podcast will read this column), take care of business against the Tennessee Titans then your Jacksonville Jaguars hold their playoff destiny in their own hands. Win and you’re in, baby. Well, slap my thonged ass and call me Jaxson de Ville. Who saw that one coming? The AFC South may have left the door open for our boy Trevor Lawrence, who like Mikey in Swingers “is all growns up.” If you haven’t read JaguarsTalk’s previous column The 75 then 1) go read it and 2) understand that T-Law has arrived. ‘Cause he’s growns up and he’s growns up and he’s growns up. Oh, and 3) go watch the cult classic movie Swingers, it will always and forever hold up. The question is will the Jaguars defense always and forever hold up against a prolific Detroit offense? And that, my friends, is how you perform a proper segue.
Detroit can put points on the board. At running back they have Jamaal Williams (177 for 734 yards, 13 TDs and averaging 4.1 per carry), who has been a fantasy machine all year for my team. He is backed up by D’Andre Swift who would start on almost any other NFL squad. Amon-Ra St. Brown (65 receptions for 716 yards, 4 TDs w/average of 11.0) isn’t just a hand full to say, he is also a handful to guard as the Lions #1 receiving option. Make no mistake about it, he can catch, as can DJ Chark (insert Baby Shark tune here) at 6’4” is a beast that’s just getting back into action. The only thing Jaguars fans can be thankful for this holiday season is that Detroit traded away TE TJ Hockenson. That’s one less pass threat for which accounting would need to be done. We already know that the guy responsible for getting the pigskin to these others is none other than Jared Goff and he can toss the rock. I’m sure that Mike Caldwell, who seemed to switch a few things up over the bye week before the Baltimore game, will have some new defensive schemes in place for JAX to take further advantage of the skill sets of our defensive dogs of war. Rest assured MC has watched tape on Goff’s famous “Halle Berry” audible call and JAX will be ready for that one. There has been a lot of chatter on the Twittersphere about mixing in some 4-3 formations, throwing Dewey Wingard out there (see the Ravens game), and switching Travon to inside line, while seeing what first round pick Devin Lloyd can do to a quarterback off the edge. I will say this…if there was ever a time. Defensive coordinator Mike Caldwell needs to seriously consider shooting his shot this week. It’s the biggest game of the season with HUGE playoff implications. This is when we see if they’re made of brass or if they don’t belong on the same sideline as a head coach who eschews the extra point to go for the win with a two-point conversion. If just being around such iron clad nerves, such ice-in-the-veins play calling, doesn’t rub off on the rest of the staff then I’m not sure that person is cut out to lead part of this team. Jacksonville has turned a corner on offense and it is this game, this time, this week, that the Jaguars defense follows suit. MC called a good game last week with a few hiccups that can easily be forgotten since the overall outcome was a W. Let’s build upon it, surpass it, elevate it, and leave Ford field having shown the Detroit Lions why they should have bought Chevy.
I’m hyped up for this game. I’m excited to see what offensive wonderfulness Doug Pederson puts on display against the absolute worst NFL defense in years. I’m anxious to see if our offensive line can put Aidan Hutchinson in his place and keep Trevor upright. Robinson, Shatley, Fortner, Scherff, and Taylor have one job this week as far as I’m concerned. Shut down Aidan Hutchinson. It will be the job of the entire line. I don’t care if T-Law is sacked 100 times (I absolutely do care), I just don’t ever want Hutchinson getting to him. This is a big task but I think we have some big boys who are up to it. Am I right Cam Robinson, or am I right? Only two prognosticators have picked one of these teams to score over 29 points and they both picked the Lions to do so. It seems that nobody watched the Jaguars offense completely dismantle the Baltimore Ravens defense last week. Nor have they been paying attention to the fact that Trevor Lawrence has been playing lights out for the past several games. I confidently project the Jaguars offense to be the ones scoring in the 30s. In addition, I have full faith that Mike Caldwell has learned from his bye week tinkering success and will play to the strengths of our defensive roster in order to make Jared Goff’s Sunday afternoon a living nightmare.
The keys to this victory are simple for Jacksonville. Both teams have great offenses but the Jaguars have a slightly better defense. So roll with that. Our O plays equal to theirs, and our D plays a little better. That means JAX should walk away from Detroit with a couple-3 more points than the Lions. Cue Johnny Drama from Entourage…”VICTORY!” Jags 38 - Lions 34. One last thing, while Jared Goff may be The Transfer, Dre Foge just doesn’t quite stack up to Chad Powers. Think fast run fast boys, think fast run fast. Go Jags.
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