The Jacksonville Jaguars will begin the Doug Pederson era on the road Sunday against the Washington Commanders.
While the Jaguars have fared relatively well in season openers over the course of the franchise’s history, the team started its Urban Meyer era a year ago with five straight losses, including a 37-21 loss to the Houston Texans in Week 1. Trevor Lawrence threw three interceptions in that defeat and the Jaguars defense allowed the Tyron Taylor-led Texans to rack up 449 yards of total offense.
After spending an outrageous amount of money in the offseason and adding two first-round picks on defense, a similar performance against the Commanders would be demoralizing.
So here are three keys for the Jaguars to avoid a fate akin to their 2021 opener:
1
Avoid turnovers
No quarterback in the NFL threw more interceptions in 2021 than Trevor Lawrence. Was it all his fault? No. Multiple Lawrence picks first bounced off a receiver’s hands before finding their way into the defense’s.
Regardless of where those interceptions came from last year, the giveaways have to be cut down drastically in 2022.
Jacksonville finished second in the NFL in turnovers last season with 29.
New offensive coordinator Press Taylor listed “protect the ball” as one of his “three commandments” for the team this season. That’ll be a must to limit the Commanders’ opportunities.
2
Get pressure without selling out on blitzes
Carson Wentz has been wildly inconsistent throughout his NFL career, but the one thing he hasn’t been is shaky in a collapsing pocket. Despite being prone to an occasional play that’s so boneheaded that it’s hard to tell what he was even trying to do, Wentz is generally better than most under pressure.
So it’s probably not the wisest idea for Jaguars defensive coordinator Mike Caldwell to send several extra rushers to move Wentz off his mark.
On Thursday, Caldwell said the goal this season is to create pressure with just four players. Primarily, it’ll be outside linebackers Travon Walker and Josh Allen who will be responsible for winning one-on-one battles against opposing offensive linemen.
If that combo can get to Wentz while seven Jaguars are back in coverage that could be enough to coax a disastrous mistake out of Washington’s new quarterback.
3
Find explosive plays
Creating big plays is one of Press Taylor’s other commandments this season. And it’s imperative that the Jaguars find them after spending big to acquire Christian Kirk in free agency.
Kirk scored five touchdowns from more than 50 yards in his four seasons with the Arizona Cardinals and accrued more than 30 percent of his career receiving yardage after the catch.
Jacksonville will also finally get to see the debut of Travis Etienne, a 2021 first-rounder who missed his entire rookie year with a Lisfranc injury. During his time at Clemson, Etienne was a big play machine with a career average of 7.22 yards per carry.
Jacksonville made serious investments with the expectation that they’d get explosive plays out of Kirk and Etienne, as well as more opportunities for big plays for other players like James Robinson, Marvin Jones, and Jamal Agnew.
Sunday will be the first look at whether it was money and draft picks well spent.
