The Jacksonville Jaguars dropped a third straight game in Week 15, losing 23-7 in a mistake-filled performance against the Baltimore Ravens that put their postseason hopes in jeopardy.
To make matters worse, Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence landed in the NFL’s concussion protocol and may be unavailable Sunday against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
A team that once looked like it had a chance to compete for the No. 1 seed in the AFC is now just desperate to add another notch in the win column.
While the team has a relatively easy stretch of opponents down the stretch — the Jaguars finish 2023 with the Panthers and Titans — there’s no margin for error with the Indianapolis Colts and Houston Texans now tied for the AFC South lead.
With three weeks left in the season, not many experts are impressed with the Jaguars. Here’s where Jacksonville landed in the latest power rankings:
USA Today: 13th
Last week: 12th
Losing three in a row, all to AFC North teams, has completely eroded what had been a comfortable lead in the AFC South. Fortunately for the Jags – mathematically anyway – their final three games equate to the league’s easiest remaining schedule (based on opponents’ collective winning percentage).
No. 1 team: San Francisco 49ers
ESPN: 11th
Last week: 10th
Biggest improvement: Third-down conversions
The Jaguars were one of the worst in the league at converting third downs in the first month — just 29.7%, which ranked 29th. From Week 5 on, however, they’re converting 40%, which ranks 15th. They’ve fared better at converting third-and-7 or longer since Week 5 (22.4%) than they did in Weeks 1-4 (11.8%), and that has been a big boost.
No. 1 team: San Francisco 49ers
The Athletic: 16th
Last week: 16th
Surprise: That Trevor Lawrence isn’t better
The No. 1 pick in the 2021 draft is good, but he was expected to be great. Lawrence is ninth in the league in passing yards (3,525) but just 21st in touchdown-to-interception ratio (1.8) and 23rd in EPA per attempt (.08). Sunday’s loss highlighted some of the frustrations with Lawrence, who threw an ill-advised pass at the end of the first half that cost the Jaguars points, and he simply dropped a ball without being touched on a scramble.
No. 1 team: San Francisco 49ers
Pro Football Talk: 12th
Last week: 10th
The table was set for the No. 1 seed. Now, they might not even make the playoffs.
No. 1 team: San Francisco 49ers
CBS Sports: 10th
Last week: 9th
Three straight losses has them in a position where they might not make the playoffs. Oh, how this season has gone bad for this group.
No. 1 team: San Francisco 49ers
Yahoo Sports: 11th
Last week: 11th
The Jaguars have opened the door for the Texans and Colts to steal the division. It’s a three-way tie now. Jacksonville has the easiest remaining schedule among the three and tiebreaker advantages too, but they should have run away with the AFC South and didn’t. And it doesn’t get easier with Trevor Lawrence in concussion protocol.
No. 1 team: San Francisco 49ers
Touchdown Wire: 11th
Last week: 9th
The Jaguars have a lot to figure out. Offensively, they couldn’t get a point on four drives that ended in Ravens’ territory. Defensively, they allowed the Ravens to run all over them despite entering the week at No. 2 in defensive rush success rate. This team still has a ways to go before they are Super Bowl contenders.
No. 1 team: San Francisco 49ers
Jaguars Wire: 14th
Last week: 11th
The procedural errors and careless mistakes, or BS as Doug Pederson called it, shouldn’t be plaguing this team in mid-December. After all, it’s a team that returned 21 of its 22 starters from the 2022 season when it found its form late in the year and rattled off a win streak to get into the playoffs. There’s always a chance the Jaguars could clean things up and be a contender again, but right now they just look aggressively average.
No. 1 team: San Francisco 49ers
