The Jacksonville Jaguars beat the Kansas City Chiefs fair and clean on Monday Night Football. They were better in all three phases of the game and delivered when it mattered the most. Heck, the Jags came out on top despite the fact that Kansas City wasn't penalized on three pass interference calls.
However you look at it, it was a complete and validating win for Jacksonville, one that proves it is a potential playoff team. However, a couple of analysts are looking for ways to justify the Chiefs' loss, going as far as saying that the score didn't matter; they were the better team.
Colin Cowherd and Kevin Clark think the Chiefs were better than the Jaguars
Colin Cowherd said during his show that Kansas City put up better stats, so they were the better team. He does praise the Jaguars, especially Devin Lloyd, but appears to deligitimize his Pick 6 by arguing that's the kind of play quarterbacks miss.
"Jacksonville is a ridiculous winning team," Cowherd said. "I told the staff this morning the Jaguars are a David Lynch film. Even the ones I like make me uncomfortable; they're just ridiculous. I mean, Kansas City averaged 7.6 yards of play before last night, a team that averaged 7.5 yards of play. Had won 33 straight games. I don't care what the final outcome was, yards, yards for play, first down rushing red zone. Kansas City is a better team."
Cowherd, "Patrick Mahomes did not see Devin Lloyd on a pick-six. He didn't see him. Tom Brady had picked sixes one in a Super Bowl. It happens. He did not see him, and the Jags deserve credit. Lloyd's a very good player right now. They're, I mean, they lead the NFL at interceptions. I don't think it's sustainable, but that's a great play. But I was impressed with the team that lost."
On the other hand, Kevin Clark of Unexpected put the Chiefs at No. 3 in his power ranking while giving the Jags their 19th spot. He knew he was going to get backlash for the questionable ranking, so he tried to come up with an explanation.
"I expect that the biggest complaints about my rankings this week will come from Jaguars fans, so they'll be my deeper dive of the week," Clark wrote. "Starting with the most recent results in Week 5, their victory over the Chiefs looked much better than the fundamentals indicated, with the adjusted scores seeming the Chiefs, as perhaps the biggest swings I've ever seen."
Clark continued, "The Jaguars offense is currently 16th in EPA per play, 14th in success rate and 16th in yards per play. The defense has fared a bit better at 6th, 16th and 10th, respectively. With an emphasis on the predictiveness of success rate versus higher variance metrics, the Jaguars appear roughly average both offensively and defensively."
So the Jaguars are average on offense on defense? Fine, you can't argue with raw data. What you can do, though, is point to Clark's flaws in his analysis and decision to assign spots in the power rankings.
Even if the adjusted scores had the Jags scoring 10 fewer points, they did ultimately beat Kansas City 31-28, and that's what matters. They made plays when it mattered the most and made fewer mistakes than the Chiefs. That's why they came out on top.
Like Cowherd, Clark is looking for ways to give credit to Jacksonville while trying to rationalize the Chiefs' loss.
The Jaguars showed vs. the Chiefs they're a serious playoff team
Contrary to what defensive end Chris Jones says, the Jaguars didn't beat Kansas City on a fluke play, nor was their victory an aberration. The week prior, they trounced a tough San Francisco 49ers team.
And that's the thing, you can say what you want about the Jags, but they are winning games. In fact, that makes the argument that the Chiefs are a better team silly. If they are truly superior, why are they losing to lesser clubs? If anything, it would be embarrassing if a good team loses to a bad one, such as Jacksonville.
Ultimately, talking heads can keep trying to overlook the Jaguars, but that won't stop them from beating other teams.