It is fair to say that the Jacksonville Jaguars should have never lost their Week 5 matchup against the Houston Texans, especially since that was Houston’s first win of the 2022 NFL season. Only putting up two putrid field goals against a struggling team is not how to continue a fast start, so let’s take a look at major takeaways from this contest.
Coming into the game, the Jaguars had dropped an eight-point game to the still-undefeated Philadelphia Eagles, in a game where the offense mightily struggled. Things did not get better on that side of the ball Sunday against Houston, as the main contributors struggled to produce any sort of sustained ball movement.
Defensively they held their own, holding the Texans to under 250 total yards, only 14 first downs, and 5-13 on third-down conversions. This unit has been one of the more improved defensive units this season, and they did what they had to do to keep the team in the game.
3. Trevor Lawrence needs a reset
Getting out to a fast start helped get some of the critics off the back of Trevor Lawrence, but the second-year Clemson QB seems to have reverted to some of the struggles that plagued his rookie campaign
Houston boasts a below-average defensive unit, but they managed to keep Lawrence in check on Sunday, only allowing 285 passing yards and forcing two interceptions. The relationship that Lawrence had established with Christian Kirk failed to show up for the second week in a row, helping undo their impressive showing in their first three games.
To be fair, Lawrence is still getting used to Doug Pederson’s offense, but these past two weeks Lawrence has looked like a shell of himself from his first three games this year. Barely producing a 50 percent completion percentage is not a sign of a confident quarterback, something that Lawrence must improve upon moving forward.
Both Marvin Jones (7/104 on 11 targets) and Evan Engram (6/69 on 10 targets) were the main recipients of Lawrence’s focus Sunday, while Kirk (1/11 on 3 targets) saw an even smaller target share in an offense that really could have used his presence. As long as Lawrence is able to dig himself out of this rut that he is in, he certainly can regain the confidence that he had earlier this year.
But if Sunday’s performance was any sign of what is to come, the Jaguars are in for a long, long season.
2. Missing Person – Christian Kirk
Sunday marked the first game of Kirk’s time with the Jaguars that he received fewer than six targets, a healthy sign of just how much this offense runs through him. Unfortunately, he has been on a downward track the past two games, and Week 5 was the worst one to date.
All receivers are going to have their off games, but Kirk has produced two duds in a row, even though in his Week 4 showing he still earned nine targets. The good thing about Kirk being able to bounce back is that this was the only week he had a low target share, so the offense usually is run through him.
The Jaguars obviously should have tried to incorporate Kirk back into the offense after his bad Week 4 showing, but since they went away from him even more, that is a big part of why they did not win, plain and simple.
1. Things are finally looking up for Travis Etienne
This was the week that we were all building up to. This was the week that Travis Etienne took over the backfield in Jacksonville.
Granted, 13 touches is not a lot (and is not the most he has had in a game this year), but his workload seemed to be less dependent on how the game was going and more so because the offensive staff wanted to give him that work.
Etienne only touched the ball one more time than James Robinson did, but Etienne received more looks in the passing game (five targets to two targets) and that area of the offense is going to be key for Etienne increasing his workload. His 71 rushing yards were the second-highest for Jacksonville this year, and his 43 receiving yards were the most by any JAX RB this year, helping also give Etienne his first 100-yard output this season.
While this loss was one that was easily avoidable for the Jaguars, they certainly have plenty of takeaways from it that hopefully can help this team get back on track for Week 6 and beyond. Next up on the docket for Jacksonville is already their final matchup with the Indianapolis Colts, a team that they shut out in their home opener back in Week 2, 24-0.
Follow Us
Subscribe