We are now entering Week 14 of the NFL regular season, and the Jaguars look to get back in the win column as the team heads to Cleveland to take on the Browns on Sunday.
The Jaguars are coming off a devasting 34-31 overtime loss last week on Monday Night Football against the Cincinnati Bengals.
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Besides the loss, the game was also devastating to the team in terms of injuries.
While Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence left the game in the fourth quarter with an ankle injury, the team also lost wideout Christian Kirk to a groin injury and Tre Herndon to a concussion. Left tackle Walker Little and defensive lineman Folorunso Fatukasi also left with injuries.
Kirk was placed on injured reserve Friday.
The Jaguars are now 8-4 after the loss and while they are still in first place in the AFC South, they have a lot less room for error in these last five games of the regular season.
Cleveland is currently third in the AFC North with a record of 7-5. It is coming off of a loss this past week against the Rams 36-19.
They are also dealing with a lot of injuries of their own.
The Browns have been without their top running back Nick Chubb since he suffered a season-ending knee injury in Week 2. They also lost starting quarterback Deshaun Watson to a season-ending shoulder injury in Week 10. And this past week, the Browns lost their top wideout Amari Cooper to a concussion.
Cooper didn’t practice for a second straight day on Thursday, and it is still unknown if he will be good to go on Sunday.
Cleveland’s top pass rusher Myles Garrett talked about the long list of prominent player injuries.
“Of course, it’s tough not having star players,” Garrett said. “No one asked for the situation that we’re in, but we’re in it. Can’t complain. Can’t moan about it. Just got to go out there and put in the work, find a way to win.”
Veteran quarterback Joe Flacco got the start this past week in the team’s loss to the Rams. Flacco went 23 of 44 for 254 yards, two touchdowns and an interception in the loss.
While the numbers looked pretty good for Flacco, he was moved back to the team’s practice squad following the loss.
The Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski told reporters on Monday that he is unsure of who will start at quarterback against the Jaguars.
Stefanski said Flacco did some really good things and put the offense in good positions, but they just weren’t able to come away with points.
The Browns have a couple of options at the quarterback position. Rookie backup Dorian Thompson-Robinson missed Week 13 but could be back on Sunday and has already started three games for the Browns this season. Cleveland also has P.J. Walker, who backed up Flacco against the Rams and has started two games this season.
“We’ll see how it goes this week,” Stefanski said. “Dorian is still in the protocol but he’s working his way through.”
On Wednesday, Thompson-Robinson returned to practice with his teammates for the first time in several weeks.
“He continues to get better,” Stefanski said. “He got better throughout the preseason. Has gotten better throughout the regular season. We’ve all seen his skill-set, know what type of player he is, but I think he’d working very hard to continue to improve as this season wears on.”
Stefanski is keeping his cards hidden for now so that Jacksonville will have to try and guess who the starter will be.
“I think for us, you really have to worry about the week we’re in and focus on the week you’re in,” Stefanski said. “We talk every week it’s how do you win this game and that’s what you’re focused on.”
tefanski says a decision on the starter will come at the appropriate time and he wants to see how this week of practice goes.
On Thursday, Flacco spoke to the media after practice about how he is feeling.
“It’s invigorating, it’s exciting, this is what you want,” Flacco said.
At running back, the Browns have been using a three-headed monster consisting of Jerome Ford, Kareem Hunt and Pierre Strong Jr. The Browns rushing attack hasn’t been the same in its last couple of outings and unit knows it can be better.
“We just have to get back to ourselves,” RB Pierre Strong Jr. said. “As you can see, we haven’t been ourselves running the ball. We haven’t been running as well as we can. Being back at home and getting back comfortable with movements, we will get back rolling.”
Ford says the team’s mindset will be crucial moving forward.
“I think we just kind of go back to that same resilient mindset that we had in the past.” Ford said. “Dealing with injuries and losses and we come together, and we work to get the job done.”
The Jaguars defense is ranked 11th in yards per carry with 4.1 and tied for fifth in rushing yards allowed with 1,117. However, Jacksonville’s run defense struggled this past week giving up 156 rushing yards in the loss to the Bengals.
When it comes to the defensive side of the ball for the Browns, they currently lead the league in yards allowed by defense with an average of 260.5 yards per game.
But recently the team hasn’t played as well, allowing 303.4 yards per game during their most recent road games. They have also struggled to get pressure on the quarterback and get takeaways, forcing just one in the past three weeks.
Browns defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz is ready for his team to get back to getting after the quarterback.
“For us, that’s not us,” Schwartz said. “We’re not built that way. We’re built, we put a lot of resources up front. We have a lot of good players up front. We have a lot of talent up front. We’re at our best when we can generate pressure with four-man pass rush, and in that game the only time we were really able to generate any pressure was some blitz stuff.”
Since the Jaguars haven’t named a starter for Sunday, Schwartz knows the team must prepare for both options.
“Maybe Trevor Lawrence plays and he’s himself, he has his full mobility; maybe he plays, and he doesn’t have his mobility; and then maybe he doesn’t play at all and Beathard plays,” Schwartz said. “So, I think that our game plan is probably about 25% bigger this week. And it’s not actually going to be 25% percent bigger within the game, it’s going to be 25% bigger to be able to handle all the different things that have come up.”
In 12 games so far this season, Cleveland has given up 30.7 points and 346.3 yards per game on the road. That is drastically different than the 10.2 points and 296 yards allowed when playing at home.
Browns safety Juan Thornhill had some words about Browns struggles on the road following the loss to the Rams.
“It’s always harder to play on the road, honestly. I mean, you don’t have the energy, you don’t have your fans, but you have to find a way to bring your own energy.” Thornhill said. “So, you can’t use that as an excuse. We’ve got to find a way to play better on the road for sure.”
This defense at home can definitely cause some challenges for a Jaguars offense that may not have their starting quarterback and will be without their top wideout.
Browns defensive end Za’Darius Smith talked about the potential of playing against a less than 100% Lawrence.
“Everybody’s licking their chops because we all know he’s not going to be able to move how he’s supposed to because he is coming off an ankle sprain,” Smith said. “But if they go to last week, man, they probably try to get the ball out fast and do more chips on the edge just to try to slow us down. So we just got to keep practicing, man, and get better at him.”
While the Jaguars are 6-0 when playing on the road this year, the Browns are 5-1 when playing at home this season. Cleveland has outscored visitors 113-61 and has outgained opponents by 722 yards at home this season.
Browns safety Grant Delpit is excited to be back at home this week and talked about the importance of the crowd.
“We are going to play behind our home crowd.” Delpit said. “We can’t wait to get back in front of our home crowd. It has been a long two weeks. We lean on our home crowd this weekend.”