The Jacksonville Jaguars enter their London road trip with one tick in the win column for the first time since last season, following their 37-34 victory over Indianapolis.
It was a feel-good victory for a franchise that needed it and saw its offense play its best football of the season. While there were still some inconsistencies with the offensive play-calling and decision-making by the coaching staff, the Jaguars should feel good as they make the trip overseas.
This week, Jaguars Wire takes a closer look at the All-22 to explore some of the standouts from Sunday’s triumph. Let’s take a deeper dive into the game film.
Jaguars QB Trevor Lawrence’s big day
Two games ago, talk began of whether the Jaguars were right to extend Lawrence following a string of games where the former No. 1 draft selection looked lost and broken as a passer. After one game against the lowly Colts defense, that narrative has quieted significantly.
Lawrence was excellent in Sunday’s victory, completing 28-of-34 passes for 371 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. His completion percentage over expected was 10.3 percent along with a 10.8 EPA. The film matches the box score and analytics and it was exciting to watch.
The former Clemson Tiger standout did an excellent job spreading the ball around, including passes to nine different receivers. His offensive line also gave him opportunities to keep himself and the offense on schedule, allowing him to get the ball out with efficiency.
Throughout the game, Lawrence made the correct reads and had great full-field progressions on longer-developing plays. He was accurate and on time with his passes, fitting passes into tight windows and trusting his reads and progressions. Lawrence was able to make the big throws when they were available, including two big completions to wide receivers Brian Thomas Jr. and Christian Kirk.
While Lawrence was excellent, he wasn’t perfect, as seen by his interception. Midway into the third quarter on a second-and-intermediate, the Jaguars came out of empty against the Colts’ Cover 4. Instead of taking the open outlets to Kirk in the middle of the field or tight end Brenton Strange underneath off the left tackle, Lawrence chose to test the field vertically and it cost him with a throw into double coverage.
Overall, though, Lawrence must continue stacking performances close to this each week. It will allow him to gain more confidence as a passer while helping his team rack up more wins.
Key Jaguars defensive performances
While defensive coordinator Ryan Nielsen gave up 34 points and nearly 450 total yards, there were still plenty of standouts from this defense despite a rough day.
Cornerback Montaric Brown had a solid day, despite some big plays given up, he never seemed out of position overall. He’s a physical tackler in the run game and is generally a solid press-man corner who displays adequate one and two-hand jams at the line of scrimmage.
Brown will play with physicality in the five-yard contact window and use that to his advantage. He also flashes a patient backpedal that will allow him to mirror receivers more consistently.
In the trenches, pass rusher Travon Walker had an exceptional day with three sacks and three tackles for loss. His speed-to-power was freakish and makes a handful for any opposing offensive tackle. His rare get-off and athleticism will overwhelm them and that was the case on numerous pressures and a couple of his sacks.
The scary thing about Walker is that he has added more rush combinations that make him a better player. If he continues to take over games like he did Sunday, the rest of the league will begin to take notice of an edge rusher who is on his way to being one of the best in the game.
Second-year linebacker Ventrell Miller was steady against the Colts with seven tackles while displaying a level of competency in coverage drops. He’s also a physical tackler and doesn’t see ball carrier break his tackles often.
Miller showed straight-line explosiveness to close through the alley and make tackles for short gains, proving Sunday that he could be in store for more playing time as the linebacker room gets healthy.
Young skill players showed out with explosive games
When Jacksonville drafted Brian Thomas Jr. in the first round this offseason, he offered the ceiling to be a top vertical threat in the NFL in a short time while having plenty of room to grow as a playmaker.
Sunday was the day Thomas finally made a significant impact where defenses had to respect his vertical ability. On his 85-yard touchdown reception, the former LSU standout reached a top speed of 22.15 mph, the fastest by a ball carrier this season and by a Jaguars player in the Next Gen Stats era.
Thomas continued to show progression as a receiver with separation underneath on short in and out-breaking routes. While he did get free vertically on his long touchdown due to blown coverage, his speed was a sight to see as he zoomed away from the Colts secondary.
As it’s been known for some time, Thomas is great with separation on vertical planes, using the threat of speed to create it. He is still learning, yet progressing, finding spots against empty zone areas while making himself a potential outlet for Lawrence in run-after-catch opportunities.
Second-year running back Tank Bigsby had his breakout game against the Colts, displaying a possible idea of him taking over as the bell-cow ball carrier on Jacksonville’s offense. Bigsby showed quick and choppy footwork that allowed him to work the base of the line of scrimmage and find creases outside the tackle box.
Bigsby is a shifty runner with adequate contact balance and explosive second-level acceleration. What may come as a surprise is that he leads the NFL in yards after contact per attempt at 5.1, according to Next Gen stats. This is an example of the Jaguars having explosive elements on their offense but not being able to put them in places to succeed consistently within the unit.
The former Auburn running back is still growing more than a quarter of the way through his second season. His ceiling remains high and big reason why he could find his way as the team’s RB1 by next year.
