The Jacksonville Jaguars had a frustrating Week 2 loss with the offense stuck in the mud and unable to score a single touchdown. But is losing to the Kansas City Chiefs that big of a setback?
Kansas City and Jacksonville, two teams that met in the postseason in January, are expected to be powers for the rest of the season as well as playoff contenders. So it’s not too surprising that the Jaguars’ 17-9 loss didn’t result in a huge tumble down’ power rankings.
Buy Jaguars TicketsWith two weeks in the books and the Jaguars sitting at 1-1 on the year, here’s where experts think the team currently ranks:
USA Today: 10th
Last week: 7th
They’ll get right against Houston in Week 3, right? Well, the “lowly” Texans have beaten Jacksonville five times in a row and eight of the past nine on the road.
No. 1 team: San Francisco 49ers
ESPN: 9th
Last week: 8th
Josh Allen, in the final year of his rookie contract, is not the elite pass-rusher the Jaguars hoped he’d become when they took him No. 7 overall in the 2019 draft. However, he’s a solid rusher who averages seven sacks per season and is very good against the run. That might not be good enough for the Jaguars to sign him to an extension or use the franchise tag on him, especially if the team uses the franchise tag on receiver Calvin Ridley, but there’s no question he’d be a highly sought-after free agent in March.
No. 1 team: San Francisco 49ers
NFL.com: 9th
Last week: 7th
It’s surprising that a team with Trevor Lawrence, Calvin Ridley, Travis Etienne, Christian Kirk, Evan Engram and Zay Jones can go 3-for-12 on third downs in back-to-back games. It might be reasonably excused against what looks like a pretty good Chiefs defense. But when you plop an 0-for-3 red-zone performance on top of it, well, you just can’t have that. It’s easy to look at the new play-caller, but I don’t think Press Taylor is a fair scapegoat, even if the only memorable conversion was Lawrence ad-libbing on his TD pass to Ridley against the Colts in Week 1. The offensive line needs to pick it up these next two games without the suspended Cam Robinson.
No. 1 team: San Francisco 49ers
The Athletic: 15th
Last week: 5th
The offensive resurgence missed Duval County. The Jags’ 4.2 yards per play in Week 2 ranked 31st in the league. Quarterback Trevor Lawrence’s EPA per attempt through two weeks is minus-.10. That ranks 26th in the league, worse than Joshua Dobbs, Justin Fields and Anthony Richardson, among others. Since having seven catches in the first half of Week 1, Calvin Ridley has had three catches.
No. 1 team: Dallas Cowboys
Pro Football Talk: 8th
Last week: 7th
Holding the Chiefs to 17 points should be good enough to beat them.
No. 1 team: Dallas Cowboys
CBS Sports: 10th
Last week: 3rd
The defense played well against the Chiefs, but the offense wasn’t good. The offensive line is a problem right now, which is why the red-zone offense was bad.
No. 1 team: San Francisco 49ers
Yahoo Sports: 11th
Last week: 11th
It was tough to see Trevor Lawrence miss as many throws as he did on Sunday. He has come a long way, but those bad games are still not completely out of his system yet.
No. 1 team: San Francisco 49ers
Touchdown Wire: 8th
Last week: 9th
Kudos to those of you who bet the under for Chiefs-Jaguars. Jacksonville gave the Chiefs all they could handle defensively. If the offense looked even remotely competent, they may be 2-0 right now. Like the Lions, they move up in large part because of the struggles of the Bengals and the Jets being without a certain someone under center. Plus, they only lost by one score to the defending Super Bowl champions. They have their second divisional game in three weeks against Houston next week where they should get back on track.
No. 1 team: San Francisco 49ers
