The Jacksonville Jaguars’ 24-21 win against the Houston Texans on Sunday was probably the most important and consequential of the team’s 2023 season so far.
By avenging their 20-point loss to Houston earlier in the year, the Jaguars took a strong command of the AFC South with six weeks of football left to play. And while many have made officiating the story of the game, the Jaguars simply made more plays than the Texans.
It’s no accident that Jacksonville finished with 445 yards of total offense, nearly 100 more than the Houston offense. The Texans recorded no sacks while the Jaguars brought down C.J. Stroud four times.
The analysts at Pro Football Focus graded every player’s performance in the critical Week 12 game. Here’s who PFF thought stood out most Sunday:
5 highest grades on offense
- TE Luke Farrell: 85.1
- QB Trevor Lawrence: 80.3
- WR Calvin Ridley: 73.8
- OT Cam Robinson: 67.4
- RB D’Ernest Johnson: 63.8
Farrell was a surprisingly large factor Sunday, catching three passes for 55 yards, including a 42-yard gain down the right sideline. The strong performance from the duo of Lawrence and Ridley made the big difference in the second half, though.
5 lowest grades on offense
- TE Brenton Strange: 42.0
- TE Evan Engram: 48.3
- C Luke Fortner: 49.1
- OL Walker Little: 50.0
- WR Zay Jones: 56.7
Why couldn’t Etienne get going Sunday? Pro Football Focus thinks the issue was largely the run blocking of Strange, Engram, and Fortner, who they say all struggled to get push.
5 highest grades on defense
- DL Folorunso Fatukasi: 83.2
- DL Roy Robertson-Harris: 80.4
- LB Devin Lloyd: 72.6
- DL Adam Gotsis: 67.5
- DL Angelo Blackson: 66.7
The Texans’ running back duo of Devin Singletary and Dameon Pierce combined for 32 rushing yards Sunday. A tremendous day for just about every Jaguars defensive line is the biggest reason. Lloyd has also become a weekly member of PFF’s top five Jaguars defensive players.
5 lowest grades on defense
- OLB Travon Walker: 37.2
- DL Jeremiah Ledbetter: 39.8
- OLB Dawuane Smoot: 44.7
- S Rayshawn Jenkins: 47.6
- CB Tre Herndon: 48.4
The quality of Walker’s play is wildly different depending on who you ask. Pro Football Focus has consistently graded the 2022 first overall pick poorly and gave him his worst mark of the year, despite a season-high six pressures.
5 other notables
- OLB Josh Allen: 64.5
- RB Travis Etienne: 61.3
- G Ezra Cleveland: 57.3
- OT Anton Harrison: 57.1
- DE Tyler Lacy: 69.3 (5 snaps)
If the Jaguars are without Cam Robinson for a while, the team will slide Walker Little back to his spot at left tackle and insert Cleveland into the starting lineup. Cleveland’s limited play time since being acquired in a midseason trade from the Vikings has given the Jaguars plenty of reason to be optimistic.
