Jacksonville Jaguars running back Travis Etienne Jr. entered Sunday on a streak of five straight games with at least 100 yards from scrimmage. That came to an end when the Kansas City Chiefs defense held Etienne to just 45 rushing yards and 28 receiving yards.
“The backside backers were shooting gaps,” Etienne explained after the game, via Mia O’Brien of 1010XL. “So they weren’t letting us get outside to the perimeter and the cutback’s not there because the backers were shooting the gaps. I feel like we should’ve done more inside zones, you can see we came to it and got a couple good gains.
“So they had a good game plan, I just gotta be better, I feel like. Make a guy miss or something, just do something special and make a spark for the team.”
Another way the Chiefs limited the Jaguars’ running game was by racking up a 20-0 lead in the first half. Jacksonville spent the majority of the day trying to play catch-up with quarterback Trevor Lawrence throwing 40 passes on the day. Etienne had 11 rushing attempts and caught three passes.
While the Jaguars won’t play many teams with offensive explosiveness nearly on the level of the Chiefs, the Jacksonville offense will need to adjust to defenses that aim to replicate Kansas City’s success at containing Etienne. That’s something the running back says he and the team will be ready for.
“We are not here to justify a loss or make ourselves feel better about anything,” Etienne said. “I feel like we have to put the feelings to bed and find ways to get better. Obviously, people are going to key on me going into the future and I have to find a way to make something out of nothing. I have to continue to get better.”
Through 10 games, Etienne has 725 rushing yards and 202 receiving yards with four touchdowns. With 275 more rushing yards over the last seven games, Etienne could join Fred Taylor, Maurice Jones-Drew, Leonard Fournette, and James Robinson as the only players to eclipse 1,000 yards on the ground in a season with the Jaguars.
