Just wow. I was expecting a closer game, and I think I wasn't alone in that, but the Jacksonville Jaguars certainly looked like the Duval of old this past Sunday against the Los Angeles Rams. Inefficient. Boring. Uninspiring.
It was a bad outing by any stretch of the imagination. I'll be straight: If you'd have told me before the season started that the Jags would be 4-3 going into the bye week after London (with a win over Kansas City), I'd have been satisfied with that. Heck, I would have beene ecstatic.
But this team has shown us much better this season. They gave us hope! They were taking the ball away at an impressive pace, the running attack was potent, and the passing was...well, sufficient, at least. But London—and, to a lesser extent, the loss in Week 6 against the Seattle Seahawks—started to reveal some of the cracks in the Jaguars' roster that perhaps three takeaways per game were hiding.
With this in mind, her is the one winner from London, and a whole smattering of losers.
Jaguars winner No. 1: Wide receiver/cornerback Travis Hunter
It's really difficult to pick out a positive from a 35-7 rout, especially when those seven points come during fourth-quarter garbage time, when the game was all but decided. But rookie wide receiver/cornerback Travis Hunter finally got his chance to shine on offense. Sure, he's had splashes that hinted at what he can do. In London, however, he put together an offensive-centric performance that included eight catches for 101 yards and a touchdown.
But even he knows that's not enough.
"I ain't worried about the stats," he said after the game (0:40 mark). "We gotta do better on the football field. We gotta come out, and we just gotta win. That's what I'm most focused on. Just doing my job, and having the other guys do their job, and we come out on top...We didn't do it how Coach taught us, and it came back to bite us. We [weren't] fully locked in, and [we] gotta do better on that point."
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Jaguars losers: Just about everybody else...
I'm going to give you a few wild stats: The Jaguars threw for 114 more yards than the Rams. They ran for five more yards, which isn't overly impressive, but they also average 1.8 more yards per carry. They had 12 more total plays on one less drive and averaged 4.8 yards per play against the Rams' 4.4. The Jaguars and Rams were matched in third-down efficiency with 20%. The time of possession was only off by just over three minutes.
So, why was the score 35-7? Let me give you a few more stats: Jacksonville committed 13 penalties for 113 yards against Los Angeles's five for 35 (eight of the Rams' 26 first downs came from penalties—almost a third). The Rams were four for four in the Red Zone, while the Jags were zero for two. Quarterback Trevor Lawrence was sacked seven times (just like last week) for 32 yards, while Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford never went down.
The Jaguars beat themselves. Hard. And violently. And publicly. There isn't one, single loser on the team. The offensive line failed, Lawrence missed some open targets, receivers dropped a few dimes, Cam Little missed another field goal, and the defense didn't register a single takeaway and gave the Rams eight first downs on penalties. Another penalty canceled out a Parker Washington punt return for a touchdown—the second week that a penalty took a TD off the board.
Jaguars senior writer John Oesher talks about their inefficiency: "The Jaguars drove past midfield on six consecutive possessions without scoring—and over the course of the second and third periods drove to at least the Rams 32 on four consecutive possessions."
As with most losses in the NFL, this was a whole team effort. Here's hoping the bye gives them the time they need to reevaluate and improve, because if they keep playing like this, it might be another 4-13 season.
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Final thoughts
It was as frustrating a loss as is possible in the NFL. The Jaguars appeared lost, confused, and uninspired throughout the 60 minutes. Add in the many (many, many) self-inflicted wounds, and it looks like the Jags are limping into their bye week just in time.