5 Broncos questions<\/a>.<\/p>\nMHR: What is the prevalent feeling for Jaguars fans right now? How are they feeling about the team\u2019s standings and where they\u2019ll finish?<\/p>\n
Gus: Vibes are through the roof in Duval County. Trevor Lawrence is finally looking like the guy who was compared to Andrew Luck and John Elway as a college prospect, and Liam Coen seems to have the juice to be both a playcalling whiz and top NFL head coach. I\u2019m sure Jaguars fans have enjoyed the race for the playoff\u2019s No 1. seed, but so long as the team doesn\u2019t lose its first-place spot in the division, they\u2019re sure to be thrilled with the final regular-season standings.<\/p>\n
MHR: Why are Trevor Lawrence and Jacksonville 10-4? Is this the best Lawrence has played in the NFL?<\/p>\n
Gus: His stretch in the back half of 2022 comes close, but yes, this is the best Lawrence has played in the NFL. After his 6 total touchdown performance last week, Travis Etienne said, \u201cI don\u2019t think I\u2019ve ever seen Trev like this, and we won a national championship together.\u201d Jacksonville has ripped off five straight wins since its Week 10 collapse in Houston. In that span, Lawrence leads the league in passing touchdowns (13) and ranks in the top three in yards per attempt (8.6), average depth of throw (8.0), big-time throw rate (8.0%), passer rating (107.0), and PFF passing grade (90.0). He\u2019s slingin\u2019 it.<\/p>\n
The Jaguars\u2019 depth chart might not be quite championship caliber, but its new coaching staff is getting the most out of every player. Stars like Lawrence, Etienne, and Josh Hines-Allen are having career-best seasons, while young defenders like Devin Lloyd, Antonio Johnson, and Montaric Brown are starting to shine. Even former backups like Cole Van Lanen, Robert Hainsey, and Andrew Wingard have been instrumental as glue guys. Jacksonville is largely 10-4 because they have a coaching staff that \u201cgets it\u201d \u2014 look out for defensive coordinator Anthony Campanile as a 2027 head coach candidate \u2014 and a franchise quarterback, but that\u2019d be selling the rest of the roster short.<\/p>\n
MHR: How will the Jags get the win on Sunday? What does Jacksonville need to do to defensively and offensively against the Broncos?<\/p>\n
Gus: On offense, Jacksonville must be efficient on the ground and explosive through the air. You don\u2019t want to face Denver\u2019s defense at all, but especially not on 3rd-and-longs, so it\u2019s imperative that Jacksonville finds success on early downs. Look for Coen to use tight ends Brenton Strange and Quintin Morris as run game chess pieces, and to use motions and bunches to free up space for Jakobi Meyers and Parker Washington in intermediate areas of the field. Those two, plus Strange and Etienne, should get a heavy dose of targets, assuming Pat Surtain II shadows Brian Thomas Jr.<\/p>\n
On defense, Jacksonville must stop the run and contain underneath passes to force Bo Nix into 3rd-and-long situations. The first task should be doable, as the Jaguars boast the league\u2019s best run defense since their Week 8 bye. Opposing offenses run against Jacksonville at a league-low -2.9% rate over expected, per S\u016bmerSports, because they know they\u2019ll find much more success in the passing game. The Jaguars don\u2019t have much star power in their secondary. True WR1s have had their way against them, so expect them to shade coverages towards Courtland Sutton. I think they can cause problems for the Broncos offense as long as Sutton doesn\u2019t go nuclear.<\/p>\n
MHR: What is your best bet for Sunday\u2019s game at FanDuel Sportsbook? How do you feel about the spread?<\/p>\n
Gus: I think the spread is pretty fair. This would be an even spread on a neutral field, and while I do think the Broncos have a slightly better team, I think the Jaguars have more momentum going into this game. That\u2019s weird to say with the Broncos being the winners of 11 straight, but the Jags have just been a different football team in the best way possible during their own winning streak. I definitely see this being a one-score game, so I\u2019d think it makes sense to take the points with Jacksonville. They\u2019re 3-0 on the West Coast so far this season. As for a best bet, I would suggest over 2.5 receptions for Washington.<\/p>\n
MHR: What are your expectations and predictions for Sunday\u2019s game?<\/p>\n
Gus: I think this game will come down to which quarterback causes the most damage (to his opponent) down the field. Lawrence and Nix are pretty even in that regard, but the Broncos have a far better four-man pass rush and probably a better offensive line as well. Since the Broncos are better in the trenches and have home-field advantage, I\u2019ll pick them to win a close one: 24-23. Duval faithful should be nervous about Sutton against Jacksonville\u2019s cornerbacks on deep targets, and about Nik Bonitto against Cole Van Lanen in obvious passing situations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Trevor Lawrence and the Jacksonville Jaguars are playing incredible football. The Jaguars currently sit at 10-4 and are…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":90496,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[48184,48183,116,118,117],"class_list":["post-90495","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-denver-broncos-game-information","tag-denver-broncos-news","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90495","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=90495"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90495\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/90496"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90495"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90495"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90495"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}