Tyson Campbell and K’Lavon Chaisson scored as many touchdowns individually as the Jacksonville Jaguars did in Sunday’s pathetic 35-7 loss to the Los Angeles Rams.
Across the pond, the Jags were as lifeless and poorly coached as they have been at any point this year. The offense is in complete disarray and the defense is getting shredded by the pass game.
Yes, being 4-3 after the loss doesn’t mean the sky is falling. Being a game over .500 is well and good but if Sunday’s game was any indication, this team has a lot more chances to add to that loss total. Liam Coen got his team to London early and it didn’t mean a thing as the team that got to London hours before the game pounded them at every turn.
The season is not over. The Jags are still clinging to a wildcard spot. There still are some bright spots, albeit very few, but things need to change over this week’s bye and quickly.
As an aside, thank you to everyone who came to Al’s Pizza for the Big Cat Country watch party. Combined, we produced as many sacks as the Jags did.
What a wasted performance by Travis Hunter today. Leave it to the Jags to play so poorly as to overshadow a rookie’s star performance.
Hunter scored the first touchdown of his career in his first game over 100 receiving yards. With Brian Thomas Jr. effectively useless, the team turned to Hunter to try and jumpstart the offense. The rookie finished with a game-high eight catches on 14 (!!) targets for exactly 101 yards and a score. His defensive snaps were limited as the offense needed him more. Either way, Hunter finally had his coming-out party as a receiver. It’s just a shame the offense is so maligned otherwise that this game by Hunter will be completely forgotten.
Parker Washington, mostly as a returner
The only other skill player that did much of anything was Washington. And even when he did, it was messed up by external forces.
Washington was fine on offense with 52 yards on four catches. He had a drop or two but whatever at this point. What was supposed to be Washington’s highlight play was a punt return touchdown nullified by a phantom block in the back penalty. That penalty was one of 13 overall by the Jags, though I digress.
Washington has been a solid asset in the returning category and he was in London despite the penalty. He is a bit chaotic when he starts to turn his back to the play and runs backwards, but when he gets downhill, he can really cover some ground. Washington is at least trying. He looks like he cares and wants to be out there. That can’t be said for everyone else so he gets to be a winner today.
Ok, it is time to sound the alarms. Something is seriously wrong with Brian Thomas Jr.
When Coen talked about the team’s drops a few weeks ago, he explained the team needed to just look the ball in and not let it cross the faces of the receivers. For a little, it seemed like that message was received. Then Sunday happened.
Thomas Jr. is by no means the only receiver having issues, but for a first-round pick coming off a 1,000+ yard season, drops at this frequency is absurd. Something is wrong. It needs to be fixed.
His shoulder has been giving him issues, so maybe he is more hurt than we know. It’s useless, though, to speculate on anything further than that. Regardless, he is actively hurting the team by being out there. Three catches on seven targets for 31 yards isn’t cutting it.
Trevor Lawrence was sacked seven times. He was sacked seven times last week. The offense ran for 94 yards with our starting running back getting just eight carries. Injuries or not, this unit is the worst on the team after being a huge revelation earlier in the season. Lawrence is going to end up seriously injured if this group continues to play like this.
Speaking of penalties, hello, coach Coen. Question here: What are you all practicing? Because it seemingly is still not how to play football.
The Jags are dysfunctional. I really don’t know another word for it. They are trying to jam a square peg into a circular hole. It isn’t working. This team is playing so poorly the official team Twitter account had to pin a clip of Coen taking responsibility for the errors postgame.
There is a perfectly reasonable argument to be made that Coen is a first-year coach and some of the penalties like the block in the back or Washington’s illegal formation are out of his control, but there is plenty in his control.
What is being done to protect Lawrence? Who is helping Thomas Jr.? What is the plan to stop a team’s number one receiver? Let’s start there and see what happens. Luckily the team has extra time to prepare for whatever the hell the Raiders are. There needs to be a visible and discernible difference when that team comes out in November or we will truly be in rough waters.
Well it was fun while it lasted but hopefully Cam Little was left in London.
His field goal miss wouldn’t have changed the tide Sunday, though it certainly would have helped. His misses certainly helped aid the loss last week against Seattle. Little is only in his second year but kickers don’t usually get a long leash when they are missing. It’s growing ever more likely that when the team plays in Las Vegas, there could be a new kicker.
Two things can be true: 1- Josh Hines-Allen is getting double and triple-teamed. He is playing decently. 2- This version of the defensive line sucks.
In the last three games, the Jags have recorded one sack and it didn’t come Sunday. That is unsustainable and killing the rest of the defense.
Harkon back to the Texans game where a strip of C.J. Stroud quite literally won the game. Remember when Arik Armstead got home and won the game in San Francisco? None of that is happening anymore and the Jags have allowed 55 points in two weeks because of it.
Someone, anyone has to step up. Travon Walker is playing with a club so I suppose he gets a pass but plenty of players have played through that sort of injury. JHA needs to do literally anything. There is no reason Jalen Ramsey should have more sacks than Hines-Allen in any reality.
Ok, wow, these are piling up.
Eric Murray went down. Tim Patrick went down. Thomas Jr. got banged up. The list grows.
It won’t matter if the Jags can’t line up properly soon enough if there are no players to go out there anyway. Drink.