The Jacksonville Jaguars are nothing short of a disaster right now.
While mistakes plagued the team in three straight losses to open December, the team has never looked as clueless and lost as it did Sunday in a 30-12 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
The Jaguars turned the ball over four times, the Buccaneers scored on their first six possessions, and the only points of the day for Jacksonville came well into garbage time. The Jaguars finished with only 37 rushing yards and 35 came from quarterbacks Trevor Lawrence and C.J. Beathard running in the second half.
“It doesn’t even look like we practice,” Lawrence aptly put it after the game.
Positives were few and far between in the loss while the negatives were abundant. Here are some studs and duds for the Jaguars’ in their Week 16 loss:
Dud: QB Trevor Lawrence
It seemed miscommunications with Parker Washington and Evan Engram led to Lawrence’s pair of interceptions Sunday. But it’s impossible to say that the Jaguars’ third-year quarterback is blameless. The team can’t seem to avoid handing its opponents free possessions and Lawrence is at the root of the issue.
Dud: K Brandon McManus
The once reliable kicker can’t seem to make anything as of late. When a 52-yard field goal try Sunday sailed wide right it was a fifth miss in his last six field goal attempts.
Dud: Jaguars offensive line
The Buccaneers were officially credited with four sacks Sunday, although one was wiped out by a pretty questionable roughing the passer penalty. Even worse than the pass blocking was the ground game. Travis Etienne found only 12 rushing yards on six attempts.
Stud: WR Calvin Ridley
All 12 of the Jaguars’ points Sunday came from Ridley. He caught six passes for 90 yards and showed up in Tampa Bay even if the rest of the offense didn’t.
Stud: Jaguars run defense
Buccaneers running back Rachaad White averaged less than two yards per carry Sunday, finishing with 39 yards on 20 attempts. Chase Edmonds didn’t fare a whole lot better with 25 yards on 10 carries. Ultimately, that effort didn’t matter much because Baker Mayfield only had to drop back to pass.
Dud: Jaguars pass defense
Jacksonville had its starting secondary back with Tyson Campbell and Andre Cisco returning from injury, but it sure didn’t help much. Mayfield picked apart the Jaguars, completing 74.3 percent of his passes for 283 yards with two touchdown passes to Mike Evans.
Dud: CB Tyson Campbell
Campbell just can’t seem to get his season back on track. Ever since suffering a hamstring injury in mid-October, the third-year cornerback has struggled in the times he’s been healthy enough to be on the field. That included Sunday when he couldn’t do much to stop Mike Evans.
Stud: WR Elijah Cooks
The undrafted rookie showed a lot in preseason, but hasn’t seen the field much during the regular season. With Zay Jones out of action, Cooks finally saw some targets and caught all three for 38 yards. Why all three came on one drive and wrapped up his involvement for the day is a mystery that’s hard to understand.
Dud: OLB Josh Allen
It’s been a career-year for Allen, but he’s been a non-factor for a while now. The pass rusher is arguably the Jaguars’ best defensive player, but has finished without a sack in three consecutive games.
Dud: Doug Pederson
Come for Press Taylor all you want, but the Jaguars’ main issue right now is that they’re a lifeless team that looks wholly unprepared and wildly mistake-prone. That lands at the feet of Pederson, who has to find a way to get his team re-energized.
