JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Jaguars took care of business in their regular season opener, but things get considerably more difficult quickly.
Jacksonville is an underdog for Sunday’s game against the Bengals (3.5 points) and faces what can be a dynamic offense with perhaps the best receiving duo in the league. The Jaguars won a game that they were supposed to win against Carolina in Week 1, but how will they play on the road against a team that they’re not projected to beat?
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“I think you’re going on the road playing a team that plays in a physical division that has played in a lot of physical football games over the course of their last four years or so,” said head coach Liam Coen. “That has to be our style of play, needs to show up this week, and then also, hey, facing adversity again, right? Like, yeah, Sunday that was okay, lightning delay. It wasn’t really adversity; it wasn’t, so it was a glitch.”
Addressing the Tank trade
Entering Week 2 at Cincinnati, the Jaguars will look a bit different in the backfield. Jacksonville traded its No. 2 running back Tank Bigsby to the Eagles on Tuesday, getting a fifth- and sixth-round selection in next year’s draft for the third-year player.
It wasn’t surprising that deal happened, only when it happened. Jacksonville kept four running backs after final roster cuts, with Coen acknowledging it was going to be challenging to have all four of those players active on game day.
The Jaguars drafted Bhayshul Tuten and Le’Quint Allen Jr., (above) and the logic suggested moving on from one of the veteran backs. With Allen and Tuten both playing well in the opener and Travis Etienne seizing the starting job in camp, that made Bigsby the odd man out.
Coen said the decision to trade Bigsby came down to a numbers game, and Jacksonville felt good about how things worked out after Week 1. Coen also said Bigsby didn’t ask to be traded.
“No, it really just came down to, after some time of evaluating and just working through some things, just felt like, especially post Sunday, probably best to move on, to just give him an opportunity to go and same with us,” Coen said. “We feel good about where we’re at moving forward. I wish him nothing but the best, and he’s a good dude and just worked out that way. So, really feel confident, obviously, with some of the way that those other guys stepped in, did some good things. It’s hard to rotate four and wish him nothing but the best.”
The Jaguars are now on to the Bengals.
Cincinnati beat Cleveland 17-16 in Week 1 and didn’t look good in doing it. It was all about defense as the Browns sacked Joe Burrow three times and held him to just 113 passing yards. Jacksonville had an excellent debut on that side of the ball, limiting Carolina to just 250 yards of offense and forcing three takeaways. Linebacker Foye Oluokun had a hand in two of those (interception, forced fumble). On Wednesday, Oluokun earned AFC Defensive Player of the Week honors for the third time in his career.
More work for Hunter
It was a relatively quiet debut for No. 2 overall draft pick Travis Hunter. He started at receiver and had six catches for 33 yards. On defense, Hunter had just six snaps. Jacksonville said it didn’t expect to use Hunter as much on defense against the Panthers because of the offensive design. Carolina is a heavier running team than it is a passing offense, so the Jaguars didn’t put Hunter out there as much.
That will change against the Bengals, who have an elite quarterback in Joe Burrow, and two of the NFL’s best receivers (Tee Higgins, Ja’Marr Chase).
“Likely. It’ll be a likely uptick. It’s more so, going into Week 1 it was OK, we know that it’s not going to be a ton on defense,” Coen said. “The goal is to increase and continue to increase. It just so happens that we’re playing Cincinnati with two good wideouts this week.”
Good game for Trevor
It wasn’t the best statistical game for Trevor Lawrence against the Panthers, but the Jaguars didn’t need him to try and light Carolina up. Lawrence passed for 178 yards and a touchdown (19 of 31) and was picked off once. But he looked better than he did last season, more confident and not as skittish in the pocket. Jacksonville didn’t allow a sack.
Coen said Lawrence will continue to get better and better.
“So, it’s like, ‘OK, it’s there.’ It’s just the consistency of it, not having those five to six plays that you could be sitting there at 25-for-31 for 200-plus, and now you’re like, OK, shoot, this is a good outing,” Coen said of Lawrence. “So, I think there were great things to work from and I do believe we can continue to see an improvement week in and week out.”