Another week in the NFL, and another ugly win for the Jacksonville Jaguars. In a game where it seemed like half the team was out, the backups and second stringers stepped to the plate and helped quarterback Trevor Lawrence lead the Jaguars (5-3) to their fifth win of the season in a down-to-the-wire, exciting overtime victory over the Las Vegas Raiders (2-6).
It wasn't perfect, and it sure didn't start pretty, but a win is a win. In addition to their injuries, Lawrence was playing with an illness "after throwing up throughout Saturday night and Sunday morning." Now it's time to "Monday morning quarterback" this thing and take a look backward. From the comfort of our own homes, let's examine their victory and see how the NFL talking heads are grading them.
Related: Unlikely Jaguars hero saving the day is a massive win for Liam Coen's coaching
CBS Sports gives the Jaguars respectable B+ after win
I'll come out of the gates and say I'm typically critical of NFL "grades," especially by national media outlets who, by default, can't examine every team with the level of scrutiny truly required to accurately grade a performance. With that said, I agree with CBS Sports analyst John Breech with this one: The Jaguars deserve their B+ grade (though an argument can be made that it should be a touch lower).
"Whatever Liam Coen said to his team at halftime," Breech writes, "he might want to bottle some of that up and save it for the future, because it definitely seemed to work. After struggling through the first half, the Jaguars scored on all five of their possessions in the second half, including overtime. Travis Etienne Jr. paced a rushing attack that kept the offense humming in the second half, and Trevor Lawrence also made several big throws, including a 15-yarder in the final minute that helped set up a game-tying field goal."
Breech continued: "The Jaguars also got an All-World performance from Cam Little, who set an NFL record with a 68-yard field goal right before halftime (He also sent the game to overtime with a 48-yarder in the final seconds of regulation). The defense didn't do a great job of slowing down the Raiders' offense, but DaVon Hamilton came up with the biggest play of the game when he knocked down Geno Smith's 2-point pass in overtime."
Now, the Jaguars are 5-3 and in a prime position to catch up with an Indianapolis Colts that lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 9. That said, they'll need to cut down on the penalties, which remain an issue even after the BYE.
Related:4 critical observations from the Jaguars' breathtaking win vs. the Raiders
Final thoughts
The Jaguars' win over the Raiders might be a microcosm of their entire season: avoidable penalties, an offense that scores only when it has to, and a bend-but-not-break defense that makes plays at the right moment. That definitely feels like a B+ performance, though it's encouraging that many of this squad's weaknesses are self-inflicted, meaning they can (hopefully) be corrected.