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The Jacksonville Jaguars had each alternative to make the 2023 season successful. As an alternative they made it a catastrophe, culminating with their 28-20 loss at the Tennessee Titans on Sunday afternoon. The Jaguars wanted solely to beat a 5-11 staff to clinch the AFC South. However Trevor Lawrence threw two interceptions and got stacked up shy of the goalline on a decisive fourth-and-goal keeper from the Titans’ one-yard line. A final-gasp effort by the Jaguars wasn’t sufficient to beat a 15-point deficit getting into the fourth quarter. And now the group embarks on an offseason of determining how a 12 months with such promise went so awry. The Houston Texans, not the Jags, will represent the division within the playoffs.
The Jaguars have been awful for many of the twenty first century, they usually reached contemporary depths of ignominy after they posted the league’s worst report in each 2020 and 2021. (Within the latter 12 months, the franchise grew to become a particular sort of embarrassment due to the slapstick management of an overmatched head coach, City Meyer.) However the staff made a quantum leap in 2022. Lawrence, the franchise quarterback they’d drafted with the primary choose a season earlier, blossomed into one of many higher quarterbacks in soccer. Edge rusher Josh Allen led a feisty protection. The Jaguars mounted a late-season cost to win the AFC South, after which pulled off a thrilling comeback win over the Los Angeles Chargers. They even scared the eventual Super Bowl winners, the Kansas Metropolis Chiefs, within the subsequent spherical.
This season was the inverse, because the Jaguars began 8-3 after which pale to the tune of a 1-5 end to go 9-8. The report was the identical as a 12 months in the past. The sensation surrounding it couldn’t be extra completely different.
Lawrence performs the sport’s most vital place and didn’t have the 12 months he absolutely envisioned. The 2021 No 1 total choose was removed from horrible, however he wasn’t capable of elevate an offense that lacked an actual No 1 receiver and revealed depth issues when key goal Christian Kirk missed the final month of the season with an harm. Lawrence had an in depth reference to tight finish Evan Engram and pulled off some explosive performs with wideout Calvin Ridley, however the passing recreation by no means clicked into higher than common manufacturing. The Jags have been fifteenth within the NFL with 6.2 yards per throw getting into the week and 18th in passer score. Lawrence has an amazing arm however didn’t get top-end outcomes from it, and his final – and most vital – cross of the season was airmailed over Engram’s head on fourth down. It was the sort of second the place somebody like Patrick Mahomes or excels.
Of specific concern: Lawrence halved his interception charge from 2.8% of his throws in his rookie 12 months to 1.4% in 2022. However in 2023 the speed jumped to 2.5%, aided by these two picks on Sunday. It’s unfathomable that the Jaguars received’t nonetheless make Lawrence their long-term signal-caller, and it’s value remembering that he performed the stretch with out one among his high wideouts and with a shoulder harm that appeared to canine him. However he, and his staff, need to develop.
Sticking by Lawrence is a straightforward name, however the Jaguars have more durable choices forward of them. The most important of these is Allen, who had 17.5 sacks this season to tempo the protection. He’s a free agent after making $10.9m in 2023. Somebody pays him handsomely, and it stays to be seen whether or not that might be Jacksonville. Ridley, one of many staff’s key receivers, can also be set to hit the open market. And the Jaguars can also need to look carefully at administrative modifications, possibly together with (to start out) changing Press Taylor as offensive coordinator. After a last two months just like the Jaguars simply had, even individuals increased up the org chart will obtain scrutiny.
MVP of the week
Nico Collins, extensive receiver, Houston Texans. There have been a number of beneficiaries of the Jaguars’ meltdown, none larger than the Texans, who claimed the AFC South because of this. However Houston needed to make their very own luck, and Collins, the third-year receiver out of Michigan, delivered. On Saturday towards the Indianapolis Colts, Collins caught all 9 targets from CJ Stroud and posted 195 yards and a landing on them in a 23-19 victory. A 75-yard rating on Houston’s first play from scrimmage set the tone, and Collins made one other key catch late within the second quarter on a 3rd down, establishing Houston’s subsequent landing.
Stat of the week
1935. That was the final time an NFL division noticed every of its groups end with a profitable report. That season predated by 35 years the AFL-NFL merger that shaped the trendy league. However the AFC North matched the feat on Sunday, when the Cincinnati Bengals beat the Cleveland Browns 31-14 in a recreation with no playoff stakes for both staff. (The Browns have been assured the AFC’s No 5 seed; the Bengals have been out of the hunt.) The Baltimore Ravens have the convention’s finest report at 13-4, and the Steelers closed with three wins to complete 10-7 and lengthen Mike Tomlin’s career-long streak of 17 years in a row without a losing campaign. Each staff within the AFC North, besides the Bengals, will proceed enjoying within the postseason.
Video of the week
Does something sum up Invoice Belichick’s season higher than the pinnacle coach shivering on the sideline because the New England Patriots misplaced to the virtually as woeful New York Jets? And Sunday might effectively be the final time we see Belichick lead the Pats. Fox insider Jay Glazer, reported Sunday that Belichick won’t return to the Patriots for the 2024 season. It was probably the most express report but from a reputable outlet to point Belichick’s time in New England is up. The sport itself was a becoming finish to an excruciating marketing campaign for the Pats: a 17-3 loss to the Jets, a fellow non-competitor within the AFC East. In becoming vogue if it was Belichick’s final recreation, the defeat ended a 15-game New England win streak towards the staff that has gone longer with out a playoff look (2010 was the final) than another within the NFL. The Pats ended the season with a 4-13 report, the worst of Belichick’s marketing campaign. A minimum of he – or his potential successor – have the comfort of a top-five draft pick.
Elsewhere across the league
— The Buffalo Payments aren’t the juggernaut they’ve been in latest season however give up is noticeably absent from their recreation. On Sunday, they received their fifth recreation in a row to seize the No 2 seed within the AFC, one thing that appeared fairly distant after they have been floundering midseason. Josh Allen mentioned Sunday was a mirror of the season as a complete: they trailed the Miami Dolphins 14-7 at halftime and he had been intercepted twice earlier than they fought again for a 21-14 victory. Allen additionally mentioned this staff is the most effective he has performed for by way of “togetherness”. The Dolphins, in the meantime, appear to have issue killing off video games regardless of their offensive weapons.
— The Detroit Lions, having a dream season as NFC North champions for the primary time for the reason that division’s formation, sustained a probably main blow. Tight finish Sam LaPorta, who earlier set the rookie catch report at his place with 86 grabs, left the Lions’ 30-20 win over the Minnesota Vikings after he hyperextended his knee. That LaPorta was within the recreation in any respect was mildly curious, because the Lions have been all however locked into the NFC’s No 3 playoff seed and his well being for subsequent weekend’s wildcard recreation must have been a precedence. Alas, his standing is now unsure, and so is the Lions’ passing recreation for so long as their playoff run lasts. A flicker of fine information got here after the sport from head coach Dan Campbell: “It’s not as unhealthy because it appeared, however it’s not excellent news,” he mentioned, including the staff would study extra on Monday. “I do know it appeared terrible.”
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— The Lions face the Los Angeles Rams in the playoffs. Few tipped the Rams to do much this season and even fewer (maybe no one) would have predicted their fifth-round pick Puka Nacua would help get them there by setting rookie records for receiving yards (1,486 yards) and catches (105). The customary asterisk needs to be added as this is a 17-game season but it’s still a brilliant surprise performance to match – and perhaps surpass – Brock Purdy’s Mr Irrelevant heroics from last year. One other note from the game: Matthew Stafford now faces his old team, the Lions, in the wildcard round. Lions fans were mostly behind him when he won the Super Bowl with the Rams. They won’t be so accommodating this time around.
— Dallas Cowboys kicker Brandon Aubrey started his career on an astonishing run: He knocked through 35 successful field goals in a row, the longest streak in league history for a kicker at the beginning of his career. That run of flawlessness ended on Sunday when the Washington Commanders’ Joshua Pryor blocked an Aubrey attempt and set up a 66-yard touchdown runback by his Washington teammate, Jace Whittaker. NFL kickers have gradually become better and better in recent years, but Aubrey’s run of no misses was excessive even by the freakishly accurate standards of his kicking colleagues.
— Jordan Love’s first full season as the Green Bay Packers didn’t turn out too badly then. He threw for 30 touchdowns – better than Brett Favre or Aaron Rodgers in their first full seasons (caveat: this was a 17-game campaign) – and he led the Packers to the playoffs after Sunday’s win over the Chicago Bears. Once again, it looks like Green Bay have handled a quarterback succession with aplomb.
— Yes, the Philadelphia Eagles rested plenty of starters and suffered injuries to AJ Brown and Jalen Hurts on Sunday but their 27-10 loss to a bad New York Giants team was … ouch. They’ve now lost five of their last six games as they prepare to face the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the wildcard round. Luckily for the Eagles, the Bucs didn’t look brilliant as they claimed the NFC South by scraping past the worst team in the league, the Carolina Panthers. But this Eagles team doesn’t look anything like the version that came so close to winning the Super Bowl a year ago.
NFL wildcard playoff games
NFC: Philadelphia Eagles (5) v No 4 Tampa Bay Buccaneers (4)
Green Bay Packers (7) v Dallas Cowboys (2)
Los Angeles Rams (6) v Detroit Lions (3)
AFC: Cleveland Browns (5) v Houston Texans (4)
Pittsburgh Steelers (7) v Buffalo Bills (2)
Miami Dolphins (6) v Kansas City Chiefs (3)
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