The Jacksonville Jaguars were in cruise control in the AFC South. All of a sudden, however, the top of that division has gotten crowded. The Jags are now tied with the Houston Texans and the Indianapolis Colts for first in the AFC South with 8-6 records after both those teams won this week and the Jags fell at the hands of the Baltimore Ravens by a final score of 23-7. The Jags currently own the tiebreaker over those teams thanks to a 4-1 record in the division, but being marred in a three-way tie for the division after the Jags pushed the eventual champion Kansas City Chiefs in the playoffs last season is not where they wanted to be.
Not much went right for the Chiefs in this game against the Ravens. No one should fault them for losing to the team that sits atop the AFC at the moment. But the Jags have all of a sudden dropped three games in a row and can't afford to lose many more. They didn't play well as a collective this week. Two areas of the team, in particular, really didn't do their jobs.
Jaguars' offense
It's unfair to really criticize the Jaguars' defense, who managed to hold the Ravens to 23 points and Lamar Jackson to 171 yards passing. Baltimore did have their way running the ball, but the majority of Baltimore's rushing success came in the second half playing with a lead. Jacksonville's defense, who had gotten torched by Jake Browning and Joe Flacco the two weeks prior, did their part.
Jacksonville's offense didn't hold up their end of the bargain. Except for the fact that they did. The Jaguars got the ball inside of Baltimore's 40 yard line in four consecutive possessions in the first half. But they didn't get any points out of any of those possessions. The most notable of those came on the last possession of the second half, where instead of spiking the ball before halftime, Trevor Lawrence threw an out route to rookie receiver Parker Washington a few yards in front of the end zone. But Washington was tackled inbounds and the Jags were unable to get another play off. Jacksonville got nothing from that possession, and to make matters worse, Baltimore got the ball to start the second half.
Jacksonville was able to score on a 65-yard bomb to Jamal Agnew, but their only other opportunity to score came late in the fourth quarter on a controversial Calvin Ridley incompletion while they were down 23-7. The Jaguars had their chances but they couldn't convert. They also couldn't run the ball. Travis Etienne Jr., their star running back, was only able to generate 31 rushing yards on ten carries. The Jaguars' offense just had an off day going up against one of the best defenses in the NFL. They can't afford another one.
Brandon McManus
It isn't as simple to tell a kicker to simply make all of their kicks. And it isn't as if two missed field goals would've drastically altered the outcome of this game. But the two field goals Brandon McManus missed in the first half were big. Both misses came at a time when the Ravens were leading 3-0. Jacksonville could've led after McManus' second miss. Jacksonville even picked off Lamar Jackson on the next possession after that miss. They could've seized early control of that game.
Instead, they missed those kicks, fumbled on the next possession, and then had the aforementioned stalled possession before halftime. Brandon McManus could've made up for the mistakes the Jaguars would eventually make by themselves. Instead, his misses were also mistakes Jacksonville couldn't overcome.
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