Spinnable Sports Your Sports, Our Spin
Trevor Lawrence made his regular season debut with the Jaguars, and he struggled completing only 54% of his passes and throwing three interceptions on the day. Despite the low expectations coming in, the Houston Texans and Tyrod Taylor came to play and they convincingly beat the Jaguars 37-21.
Offensive Struggles
Urban Meyer made his coaching debut for the Jaguars, but the team was unable to get anything going on offense. Those struggle were then compounded by the fact that the defense failed to slow down Tyrod Taylor and the Houston Texans offense.
Interceptions
Turnovers are the quickest way to give a game away, and Trevor Lawrence finished with three interceptions on the day. Not ideal, but somewhat expected for a rookie making his debut. Not that it makes it any better, but only two of the three interceptions were Trevor’s fault in my opinion.
1ST INT
On this play Lawrence simply tries to do too much, extending the play with his legs and ultimately throwing the ball against his momentum and floats the pass over his receiver’s head right into the arms of an awaiting defender.
2ND INT
This interception is definitely the fault of Lawrence, who absolutely stares down his target throughout the entirety of the play. Defender easily reads the play and jumps the route.
3RD INT
This final pick is on the intended receiver in my opinion. The receiver looked away at the wrong time and was slow in reacting to try to make the catch which allowed the ball to go by and end up in the arms of a defender.
3 and Outs
One of the worst outcomes an offense can have is a drive that results in a three and out. This is damaging to the team’s confidence, field position, and it minimized the amount of time the defense has to rest. The Jaguars had five of their drive end after just three plays.
Penalties
Another all too common absolute drive killer is penalties. Whether on offense or defense, penalties are crippling to any attempt at winning. In this game the Jaguars has a total of eight offensive penalties, which is an unacceptable lack of discipline. That’s a reflection on the coaching and something Urban Meyer will need to address.
3rd Down Conversions
It seems safe to assume that Urban Meyer and the Jacksonville Jaguar coaching staff are well aware that converting on third down is crucial component to success, but the results in today’s game were terrible. The team only managed to convert on 3 of the 11 third downs they faced. Something they will definitely need to improve upon moving forward.
Positive Takeaways
This game was tough to watch from a Jaguars perspective, but despite his three interceptions, rookie quarterback Trevor Lawrence did finish the game with 332 yards and 3 TDs. So he did show some promise and will jst need to clean some things up and improve in certain areas in order to achieve success.
1ST CAREER TD PASS
41-YD TD PASS TO CHARK
Conclusion
I fully expect the Jaguars to struggle this season, and the season opener simply confirmed those feelings. A lack of discipline combined with a lack of experience in key areas will lead to a lot more days like today throughout the season. On the other side, I may have underestimated the Texans with Tyrod Taylor.
With everything going on with the Houston Texans franchise this offseason, it has been assumed the team would struggle without star QB Deshaun Watson at the helm. However Taylor stepped in and delivered in a big way, with 292 yards, 2 TDs and no turnovers while also contributing 40 rushing yards. In the end, I see these two teams battling it out for the bottom two spots in the AFC South, with the Colts and Titans battling to win the division.
