The Jacksonville Jaguars have taken a step forward in their 2022 campaign, but they have been plagued by an inability to make winning plays this season. That issue popped up once again in Week 8, where the Jaguars ended up losing to the Denver Broncos by a score of 21-17. Jacksonville had a great opportunity to pull out a much needed win over the Broncos, but fell just short once again.
The Jaguars, who had a pretty good start to the season, have now lost five straight games, which has effectively ended their season. They have regressed on both sides of the ball as the season has gone on, and despite the initial hope that this could be the season where Jacksonville puts all the pieces of their rebuild together, it's clear there is still a lot of work to be done.
The Jags numerous holes popped up frequently in their loss to the Broncos on Sunday, and there don't appear to be any quick fixes for those holes right now. Let's take a look at three players whose struggles created a myriad of different issues for Jacksonville in Week 8, and see why their poor play hurt their team so much.
3. Marvin Jones Jr.
Marvin Jones Jr. has had a confusing tenure with the Jaguars, and it continued against the Broncos. Jones' play runs very hot or cold, and it's safe to say it ran cold against Denver. Jones' inability to impact the game offensively hurt Jacksonville's chances of leaving London with a 3-5 record rather than the 2-6 record they currently boast.
Jones didn't haul in a single pass on just three targets, but did chip in a drop on a crucial third down play along the way. Yes, Trevor Lawrence struggled under center (more on that in a minute) but Jones doing nothing with his targets doesn't help either. He had a favorable matchup considering Patrick Surtain II spent most of his time guarding Christian Kirk and failed to do anything to help the offense.
Jones is going to have to step up as a secondary target that Lawrence can rely on if the Jaguars offense intends on turning things around. This is the second game this season where Jones has failed to record a single catch, and that simply cannot happen. Jones isn't the main person to blame for this loss, but his disappearing act certainly didn't help.
2. Josh Allen
Josh Allen had some big expectations heading into this season, but he hasn't even come close to reaching them so far. He posted another disappointing outing against the Broncos, and now rumors are swirling that he may get traded before the NFL's trade deadline on Tuesday afternoon. At this point, it may be in Jacksonville's best interests to move on from Allen while they can.
Allen finished the game with just two tackles and one quarterback hit, despite spending most of his time going up against backup right tackle Billy Turner. The Jaguars managed to create pressure elsewhere, as they sacked Russell Wilson three times, but none of that pressure came from Allen, which is very concerning.
This is the fourth straight game where Allen has failed to record a sack, and his numbers over that four game stretch (six tackles, one tackle for loss, three quarterback hits) are atrocious. Allen once again failed to help out the Jaguars defense, and considering his salary is set to spike to $11.5 million next season, the team may want to explore trading Allen before the deadline hits.
1. Trevor Lawrence
It's clear that this game falls solely on Trevor Lawrence's shoulders. Lawrence was horrible all day long, and if it weren't for Travis Etienne Jr.'s breakout performance at running back behind him, this game wouldn't have been close. Lawrence had no success passing the football, and it tanked the Jaguars offense from the get go.
Lawrence's stats on the day (18/31, 133 YDS, 1 TD, 2 INT, 3 CAR, 15 YDS) aren't good. He couldn't consistently move the football, and struggled to get in sync with any of his targets. As we saw with Jones, they didn't exactly help him, but Lawrence should be good enough to pass for more than a measly 133 yards.
The Jaguars offense relies heavily on Lawrence, and despite the fact that he got a dominant performance from Etienne on the ground, he couldn't do what it took to lead Jacksonville to a win. Lawrence's struggles are starting to become a very big concern, and unless he turns things around soon, the Jaguars will have to wonder whether or not he is the right quarterback to lead them into the future.
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