The Jacksonville Jaguars defeated the Indianapolis Colts to deny them a spot in the playoffs. Jacksonville, seemingly with nothing to play for, shocked the world with the win and kept the Colts out of the playoffs. Indianapolis had every reason to show up and show out. Let's get into some takeaways from this game.

Jacksonville Jaguars Week 18 Takeaways

3. Trevor Lawrence shows flashes

Rookie quarterback Trevor Lawrence, the former Clemson star and the #1 overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft, produced arguably his best game of the season, and of his professional career to date, in Week 18. Lawrence completed 23 of his 32 passes for 223 yards, with two touchdowns and zero interceptions. That last number might be the most important for Lawrence and the Jaguars, as he had some trouble keeping the football away from the defense throughout this season.

Lawrence showed off his ability to stay calm and play-making ability, as seen above.

2. Addition by subtraction

Earlier this season, Jacksonville fired their head coach, Urban Meyer after a disastrous half-season stint with the team. This season was Meyer's first at the professional level, after multiple successful stints at the college level. That includes winning three National Championships, two at Florida and one at Ohio State.

However, Meyer's tenure with Jacksonville was mired in controversy practically every step of the way. Whether it was problematic decision-making, problematic behavior (some of which was caught on video), deflecting blame, or mistreating players and assistant coaches alike, there was always drama surrounding Meyer.

Early in his tenure, Meyer hired Chris Doyle. Doyle was accused of mistreating Black players during his time coaching at Iowa. During Meyer's tenure at Ohio State, he was also involved in a situation regarding hiring Zach Smith, who, among other things, was alleged to have been abusive towards his then-wife. Although it is not clear exactly how much Meyer knew regarding this situation and when he knew it. That wasn't his only scandal at college.

 

Meyer was also caught on video suggestively dancing with a young woman who was not his wife after a game this season. While his team traveled back to Florida after a game, Meyer stayed behind in Columbus. Meyer apologized for causing this external drama, but there was still additional internal drama to deal with.

Rumors had been floating around that players and assistant coaches didn't feel that they were treated fairly by Meyer. This culminated with allegations that Marvin Jones Jr. essentially quite the team after Meyer criticized Jones and the rest of the wide receivers, and that Jones needed to be persuaded to return to the team in the aftermath of the situation.

Finally, Josh Lambo, the team's kicker, alleged that Meyer had kicked him in practice, and then verbally taunted him and cursed him out in front of other players.This public embarrassment proved to be the final straw for owner Shah Khan, who officially relieved Meyer of his duties. This past weekend, the team seemed very relaxed and was able to go out and play loose and free, playing without fear and just putting forth their best effort to try and gut out the victory.

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1. Playing with heart

Regardless of draft position, the players on the field for Jacksonville this past weekend played their hearts out and came away with the victory. This is a good sign for a team that struggled as much as Jacksonville has this season. This team showed up to play for interim head coach Darrell Bevell. They took pride going out there to fight for a win. Although he only had 15 carries, Jonathan Taylor, one of the top running backs in the league, was held to just 77 yards rushing.

The Jaguars also held Carson Wentz to under 200 yards passing, allowing just one touchdown through the air while coming away with a pick as well as sacking Wentz six times for 46 yards.

This game was a gutsy performance that should give this young group something to build on going into next year. These players and coaches can hang their hats on the fact that they never gave up. They were able to play spoiler. This being despite the fact that Jacksonville seemingly had nothing to play for. Yet, they played with pride and an opportunity to shock the NFL world.

The Jaguars defense showed flashes this season that they can line up and match almost anyone. They dominated Josh Allen and the Bills, and held Jonathan Taylor to a season-low in rush yards. Offensively, Lawrence has a tough season, but people forget, he's a rookie. That's what rookies are supposed to look like.