The Jacksonville Jaguars got back in the win column Sunday with a 23-7 victory over the Atlanta Falcons at Wembley Stadium in London.
It still wasn’t the smoothest day for the Jaguars offense, which scored just one touchdown and turned the ball over on downs on its only red zone trip. But Jacksonville avoided the costly mistakes that bogged it down in the last two weeks.
Buy Jaguars TicketsFor the first time in 2023, the Jaguars finished without a turnover. Instead it was Falcons quarterback Desmond Ridder who threw two interceptions and fumbled the ball away to give Jacksonville a 3-0 win in the turnover battle.
Here are the Jaguars players who stood out most in the 16-point win:
Stud: OLB Josh Allen
Allen gave the Jaguars three sacks in Week 1 and added another three Sunday. With six sacks though the first four weeks of the season, the outside linebacker is well on pace to smash the franchise’s single-season record of 14.5 set by Calais Campbell in 2017.
Stud: QB Trevor Lawrence
No, it wasn’t a prolific day for the Jaguars offense. But with Travis Etienne Jr. struggling to find running room and the offensive line allowing consistent pressure, Lawrence did well to keep Jacksonville on the field.
He was an efficient 23-of-30 passing (76.7 percent) for 207 yards with one touchdown and — maybe most importantly — no interceptions. Lawrence also moved the chains a few times with his legs, finishing with 42 rushing yards.
Dud: Jaguars offensive line
The Jaguars made an offensive line tweak, inserting Tyler Shatley into the starting lineup ahead of Ben Bartch. Getting Cam Robinson back from suspension couldn’t come at a better time, though.
Etienne, Tank Bigsby, and D’Ernest Johnson combined for 63 yards on 24 rushing attempts (2.6 yards per carry) and Lawrence was under duress from start to finish.
Stud: CB Tyson Campbell and CB Darious Williams
Tight end Jonnu Smith and running back Bijan Robinson combined for 127 of Desmond Ridder’s 191 passing yards. Testing the Jaguars’ outside cornerbacks didn’t work out well for Ridder.
Tyson Campbell largely kept the clamps on Drake London and Darious Williams recorded a game-changing pick six. The only big play for London was a 15-yard touchdown that came with Tre Herndon III in coverage.
Dud: Jaguars run defense
There wasn’t much mystery about the Falcons’ offensive game plan. They wanted to run the ball with the combo of Bijan Robinson and Tyler Allgeier as much as possible. While the Jaguars bottled up the latter, they allowed Robinson to pick up 105 yards on 14 carries.
It was a good day for the Jacksonville defense, but it won’t be happy with the holes that Robinson was able to exploit, especially early in the second half.
Stud: LB Foye Oluokun
In his first ever game against the team that drafted him, Oluokun put together his best performance of the 2023 season so far. The back-to-back NFL tackling champ had zero tackles for loss through the first three weeks of the season, but lived in the backfield Sunday. He recorded nine total tackles and three for a loss against the Falcons.
Stud: Jaguars special teams
After a nightmare day for the unit last week, the Jaguars’ special teams did just about everything right in London.
Brandon McManus hit all three of his field goals, including a 56-yarder that sailed through with room to spare. Logan Cooke’s three punts averaged 53.3 yards and were all downed inside the 20. And when Parker Washington was hurt on his first career play, Christian Kirk smoothly handled punt return duties without making an error.
