The Jacksonville Jaguars open their season Sunday on the road against the Indianapolis Colts.
It’s a matchup most are expecting the Jaguars to win after taking the AFC South title last year while the Colts finished with only four wins. Jacksonville has third-year quarterback Trevor Lawrence fresh off a Pro Bowl campaign and Indianapolis has fourth overall pick Anthony Richardson making his NFL debut.
Buy Jaguars TicketsThere’s plenty of reason to think the Jaguars should win, but how can they get the job done Sunday?
Here are five keys to Jacksonville starting its season 1-0:
No early turnovers
The Jaguars’ 2022 season was fueled by fun comebacks with the team erasing fourth quarter deficits against the Ravens, Cowboys, and Titans late in the regular season before digging out of a 27-0 hole against the Chargers in the playoffs
It was a testament to the mental fortitude of a young Jaguars squad, but the team would rather just avoid getting in those situations in the first place.
Step one: stop the nasty habit of early turnovers.
Six times during the 2022 regular season, the Jaguars turned the ball over on their first offensive possession. In the playoffs, Trevor Lawrence threw four interception, including picks on Jacksonville’s first two possessions.
Starting fast has been an emphasis in the offseason, but the Jaguars turned the ball over on their first possession in two of their three preseason games. That trend has to stop and Sunday’s the perfect place to start.
Contain Anthony Richardson in the pocket
The Jaguars are prepping to play a quarterback without much tape available for them to study. Fourth overall pick Anthony Richardson is making his first career start Sunday after playing two preseason games.
That presents challenges, but there are also some things that jump off the page about Richardson.
For one, he’s an incredible athlete with 4.43 speed at 6’4, 244 pounds. And for obvious reasons, it’s likely the Colts’ game plan will be about putting that athleticism to use.
“[We have to] make sure we have eyes on him,” Jaguars linebacker Foye Oluokun said of Richardson on Monday. “We know that so far in preseason, it seems like he likes to get out and run, especially when plays break down. So make sure we have eyes on him and when he breaks the pocket, be able to keep running our feet through contact as if he’s a runner.”
What’s not quite as scary are Richardson’s passing skills. He completed only 54.7 percent of his passes with the Florida Gators and 44.8 percent of his preseason pass attempts.
The Jaguars would be wise to focus their defensive efforts on keeping Richardson contained in the pocket and forcing the rookie to pick them apart through the air. The numbers suggest that wouldn’t work out well for Indianapolis.
Pick apart the Colts secondary
Indianapolis has a veteran defensive front seven with players like DeForest Buckner, Shaquille Leonard, and Grover Stewart. The secondary is the polar opposite.
The starting outside cornerbacks on the team’s depth chart are Dallis Flowers, an undrafted signee in 2022 who had a 49.5 grade from PFF last season, and Darrell Baker Jr., a second-year undrafted player who didn’t play a single defensive snap during his rookie season last year.
Jacksonville’s wide receiving corps looks to be the strongest position group on the roster. It’s time for them to go to work.
Avoid the drive-ending sacks
After shutting out the Colts 24-0 last year in Week 2, the Jaguars found a way to give up 34 points and lose in the road rematch a month later.
On Wednesday, Jaguars coach Doug Pederson gave a few reasons why his team couldn’t pull off the season sweep vs. the Colts.
“Offensively, I thought the first half, looking back on it, we take the opening drive and I think Trevor [Lawrence] took a sack,” Pederson said. “It knocked us out of field goal range early in that football game. There’s three points there. The way we started the second half, there was some explosive plays, but there was a couple of drives in there we didn’t execute very well.”
Jacksonville got down to the Colts’ 26-yard line before DeForest Buckner sacked Lawrence for a 14-yard loss. Another drive in the second quarter ended when Lawrence was sacked on a third-and-2. Later that quarter, a first down sack put the Jaguars too far behind the chains and the team went three-and-out.
With Walker Little and Anton Harrison at offensive tackle and a veteran Colts defensive line in front of them, the Jaguars need to do whatever they can to keep Lawrence upright.
Don't play down to the competition
There are high expectations in Duval after an AFC South title and a trip to the Divisional Round last season. You can’t win a Super Bowl in Week 1, though.
With a Week 2 matchup against the Kansas City Chiefs not far off on the horizon and high hopes for the entire year, it would be pretty easy for the Jaguars to feel like the road trip to Indianapolis will be a walk in the park.
Last year, the Jaguars found a way to lose to the Colts, Texans, and Broncos, three of five teams that finished the 2022 season with less than six wins.
There’s a reason the Jaguars are a five-point road favorite Sunday. Now it’s on them to go out there and look the part.
