The Jacksonville Jaguars kicked off 2025, their inaugural season under Head Coach Liam Coen with a dominant 26-10 victory over the Carolina Panthers. The Jaguars’ defense collected 33% of their 2024 turnovers while the Jacksonville offense produced their best individual performance by a running back since 2022. Here’s everything you need to know from Jacksonville’s Week 1 2025 EverBank win over the Panthers.
Live blog:
Catch up on all the big plays and best moments from tonight’s game in our live blog!
The following Panthers players did not play in this one: WR Dalevon Campbell, TE James Mitchell, DT Cam Jackson, and WR Jimmy Horn. Horn is an interesting inactive after the team recently traded away Adam Thielen and placed Jalen Corker on injured reserve. That Carolina decided to play third-year undrafted free agent WR Brycen Tremayne over the rookie sixth-round pick was a slight surprise to most. Most notably, Panthers starting left tackle Ikem Ekwonu was made inactive after undergoing an emergency appendectomy late last week. He was unable to practice all week.
For Jacksonville, second-year, defensive tackle Maason Smith, a 2024 second round pick was surprisingly made inactive in this one in what seems to be a healthy scratch. Smith missed much of training camp with an undisclosed training injury and first participated in the third preseason matchup. It’s possible that the team is allowing him time to ramp up his conditioning after missing much of the 2025 offseason. Additionally, the team was without CB Montaric Brown, OL Wyatt Milum, OL Cole Van Lanen, DL Danny Striggow, and DL B.J. Green III for today’s matchup.
1st Quarter
Jacksonville started with the ball, converting an early mid-field fourth and 1 via a 4-yard Dyami Brown rush. After a first-down Robert Hainsey holding penalty, Strange secured his second catch on the drive, this one for a first down. However, the team was unable to convert this drive into a touchdown after a first down, Lawrence 12-yard intentional grounding penalty. The Cam Little 35-yard field goal kicked off the scoring to wrap up the 13-play, 55-yard, 6:45 drive. In total, the Jacksonville offense racked up three penalties for 32-yards on the first series, to add a Brian Thomas Jr drop on a jailbreak screen. (Jaguars 3, Panthers 0)
The Carolina offense opened their drive with multiple strong rushes, getting moderate movement up front against the Jacksonville interior. After an underthrown Bryce Young pass attempt was broken up by Jourdan Lewis the 13-play, 41-yard, 7:39 drive was capped by a Panthers’ 48-yard field goal. Lewis initially was beaten by Hunter Renrow on the route, but didn’t give up, breaking up the pass at the last moment. Interestingly, the Jacksonville defensive line consistently rotated throughout the opening drive, with one snap on the drive occurring with Josh Hines-Allen, Travon Walker, and Arik Armstead all off the field. (Jaguars 3, Panthers 3)
2nd Quarter
The Jacksonville offense, however, went three-and-out on the following drive after a short Travis Etienne rush, an Etienne screen, and a Travis Hunter catch for a loss of yards on third and three. The Jacksonville defense immediately got the ball back with safety Eric Murray nearly intercepting Young. However, Foye Oluokun was trailing the play, securing the diving interception off the deflection.
After a short, 8-play, 35-yard, 4:12 drive Lawrence found TE Hunter Long running alone in the endzone for the 6-yard touchdown. Cam Little’s extra point was good. (Jaguars 10, Panthers 3)
Immediately after the extra point, the game then entered an hour, 16-minute weather delay with 8:32 remaining in the second quarter.
Following the stoppage in play, Panthers put together a promising drive, threatening to score after third-down 22-yard Young rush into Jacksonville territory. However, Jourdan Lewis shut the door on the drive, with a near-sack of Young on third-down resulting in a punt. On the following play, Travis Etienne forced two missed tackles, bursting out from the 9-yard line on a 71-yard race to daylight, before being tackled at the Carolina 20. After a few Bhayshul Tuten rushes, Brian Thomas Jr then walked in untouched for the 9-yard touchdown rush. (Jaguars 17, Panthers 3)
After the Panthers picked an early first down on the drive, Foye Oluokun then forced his second turnover in as many quarters of play, punching the ball out Young’s grasp. Jourdan Lewis recovered the Young fumble with 55-seconds remaining in the half. Lawrence and the offense capitalized via a 23-yard Dyami Brown reception with six-seconds remaining. Cam Little then drilled the 47-yard field goal with one-second remaining in the half. (Jaguars 20, Panthers 3)
At the half, Jacksonville leads the following categories:
Time of possession: 15:44 to 14:16
Yards per rush: 10.3 to 5.3
Rushing yards: 134 to 74
Redzone: 2 of 3 in the redzone vs 0 redzone conversions
Passing yards per attempt: 6.7 to 3.1
Passing yards: 128 to 47
Total yards: 262 to 124
First downs: 12 to 6
Turnovers Forced: 2 to 0 (10 points off of turnovers for Jacksonville at the half)
3rd Quarter
Carolina began the half with possession and immediately marched down the field on the back of a Tet McMillian early catch and a 26-yard pass interference from Jarrian Jones while covering McMillian. However, the Jacksonville defense bent without breaking in the redzone, stopping Carolina on four straight plays while inside their own 10-yard line.
Jacksonville also went three-and-out on the following series, with Lawrence unable to connect with the tightly covered Thomas Jr on third down. Carolina picked up an early first down catch from Hunter Renfrow, before Dawuane Smoot shut the door on the series with a 12-yard sack on third-and-1 to force a punt.
The penalty issue again popped up on the following drive with both Patrick Mekari and Dyami Brown both called for holding penalties while inside of their own 20-yard line. On the following play, Lawrence was intercepted by Jaycee Horn on an underthrown pass to Travis Hunter.
The Jacksonville defense held Carolina to three-and-out with Tyson Campbell forcing a Tet McMillian endzone fourth down incompletion.
4th Quarter
After a shaky third quarter for Lawrence, going 1 for 6 with an interception, the Jacksonville offense picked things up with Trevor going 4 for 6 on the 15-play, 49-play drive, capped by a Cam Little 36-yard field goal. (Jaguars 23, Panthers 3)
With the Jaguars seemingly playing slightly softer, fourth quarter coverage Carolina methodically moved down the field scoring their first touchdown of the matchup - a 27-yard catch and run by Chuba Hubbard. A missed tackle by Eric Murray allowed the Panthers back to waltz into the endzone untouched. (Jaguars 23, Panthers 10)
Anton Harrison left the game during this drive with a back injury. Chuma Edoga filled in at right tackle with Cole Van Lanen previously announced inactive. After recovering the onside kick, Jacksonville, in time milking mode put together a 7-play, 38-yard, 2:50 field goal drive with Cam Little making the 28-yard attempt. (Jaguars 26, Panthers 10)
Jourdan Lewis then put a bow on this one with a tipped pass interception to wrap the Panthers’ final drive. Final score: Jaguars 26, Panthers 10
Best highlight:
Travis Etienne’s 71-yard second quarter rush truly opened up the game for the Jacksonville offense.
Biggest play(s) of the game:
According to rbsdm.com, the biggest play of the game by Expected Points Added (EPA) was Foye Oluokun’s second quarter interception (-4.9 EPA).
Per rbsdm.com, this play was also the biggest play of the game by Win Probability (-12%).
Key stats (traditional):
QB Trevor Lawrence: 19/31 for 178-yards (5.7 YPA) with 1 TD & 1 interception (74.4 QBR)
RB Travis Etienne: 16 carries for 148-yards (8.9 YPC), 3 catches on 3 targets for 13-yards (4.3 YPR)
TE Brenton Strange: 4 catches on 4 targets for 59-yards (14.9 YPR)
WR Dyami Brown: 3 catches on 4 targets (17.3 YPR), and 2 rushes for 6-yards (3.0 YPC)
LB Foye Oluokun: 10-tackles (6-solo), 1 interception, and 1 fumble forced
CB Jourdan Lewis: 5 tackles (3-solo), 1 interception, 3 passes defensed, 1 QB hit, and 1 fumble recovery
DE Dawuane Smoot: 2 tackles (1-solo), 1 QB sack
View the full box score here.
Game balls:
Special Teams: K Cam Little: 4/4 with a long of 47-yards and 2/2 on extra points
Defense: While both Jourdan Lewis (interception, 2 pass breakups, and a fumble recovery) and Eric Murray (big hit and deflection causing the Foye interception) both receive honorable mentions, this award goes to Foye Oluokun hands down
A 10-tackle game with 6-solo, an interception, and a fumble forced in a game where your team scores 10-points off turnovers will get you a player of the game nomination every day and twice on Sunday.
Offense: RB Travis Etienne dominated the day on the ground with 16 carries for 148-yards (8.9 YPC), 3 catches on 3 targets for 13-yards (4.3 YPR). This was the most rushing yard of any Jacksonville running back since Etienne’s 156-yard game in week 8 of the 2022 season against the Denver Broncos.
PFF notable player:
The team over at Pro Football Focus noted the following:
Notable absences:
The following Jacksonville players did not participate in Sunday’s matchup due to noted injuries throughout the week:
OL Wyatt Milum (knee)
OL Cole Van Lanen (shoulder)
CB Montaric Brown (ankle)
Healthy Scratches:
DT Maason Smith (coaches’ decision)
DL Danny Striggow (healthy scratch)
DL B.J. Green III (healthy scratch)
The following players left Sunday’s game due to injury:
RT Anton Harrison (back)
Full highlights:
You can watch the top plays of the Week 1 matchup on the NFL’s YouTube channel here.
Post-game lingering questions:
1. Can the team clean up the miscues?
A familiar story popped up early on in this one with Jacksonville’s offense committing three penalties for 32-yards. The two holding penalties came courtesy of Center Robert Hainsey and Tight End Johnny Mundt. The final penalty on the drive, a first-down Trevor Lawrence intentional grounding penalty from the redzone resulted in a field goal instead of a potential touchdown series. The issue again popped up in the third quarter, with Patrick Mekari and Dyami Brown both called for holding penalties before Lawrence’s interception. As the penalties have been an ongoing storyline throughout the offseason, this will likely continue to be something we keep an eye on throughout the early portions of the season.
2. Turnovers Galore
After a 2024 season where the Jacksonville defense had just 8 defensive turnovers, Anthony Campanile’s unit was able for force three turnovers today. With two interceptions, one fumble recovery, and two turnovers on downs the defense often set their offense up for success, holding Bryce Young to a 48.9 passer rating in the process.
3. Missed tackles continue to be a point of emphasis
With the team nearly able to wrap the game up, the issue of missed tackles continued to show themselves, as Panthers’ running back Chuba Hubbard shed Eric Murray’s tackle attempt to walk into the endzone for the Panther’s fourth quarter touchdown to create a 13-point game. Nevertheless, the defense played really well to recover from those misses, with others hustling to follow the play. Without the QB scrambles, the Carolina run game was limited to 20-carries for 73-yards (3.65 YPC). That’s winning football against a quality rushing offense.
The Cincinnati Bengals are up next for the Jaguars, who will travel up for their week 2 matchup. What are your thoughts from tonight’s game, Jaguars fans? Who surprised you most or disappointed you with their play tonight? Let us know in the comments.
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