It’s been a tough few weeks for the Jacksonville Jaguars since upsetting the Buffalo Bills 9-6 in Week 9. First, they lost on the road to Indianapolis after overcoming an early 17-0 deficit. Then, on Sunday, they fell in an early hole once again against the San Francisco 49ers, but no comeback was in the cards.
The 49ers dominated Jacksonville 30-10, and it seemed to regress defensively against an offense that has a lot of speed after playing much better in recent weeks. This week’s game against the Atlanta Falcons may not present as much of a challenge, but despite sitting at 4-6, this is a team that still has some outside playoff hopes, and it has more to play for than the Jaguars do.
However, the Jags do have one advantage this week: they should be getting two key players back on offense this week. Tight end James O’Shaughnessy and center Brandon Linder have been removed from the injured reserve and are expected to be active on Sunday. However, Jacksonville doesn’t have a totally clean bill of health.
Cornerback Shaquill Griffin will miss this one after suffering a concussion in the loss to the 49ers, and though the Falcons don’t have an especially intimidating receiving corps, rookie tight end Kyle Pitts is already playing at a pretty dominant level. You certainly can’t have a linebacker cover him, and unless he plays a considerable amount of time on the outside, that responsibility may fall on nickel Rudy Ford.
Quarterback Matt Ryan has been turnover-prone this season, tossing 10 interceptions. The Falcons as a whole have 17 turnovers, which ties for the fourth-most in the league. However, the Jags have been abysmal when it comes to forcing takeaways, and they only have five on the season.
Something has to give in this one, and Jacksonville may need to force some turnovers to win this game, as its offense hasn’t found much success at all in recent weeks, and things will only get tougher as the fastest receiver on the team, Jamal Agnew, is now out for the season.
Luckily for quarterback Trevor Lawrence, this isn’t a very fearsome Atlanta defense. It ranks just one spot above the Jaguars’ defense, though it is better against the pass than the run. That could mean a big day for James Robinson, who hasn’t seen a major role the last few weeks as he has been a bit limited by injuries.
This seems like a potentially good matchup for the Jags, but it’s hard to predict how this team is going to play on any given week. One thing is for sure, though. Jacksonville needs to find some sort of spark on offense to help out Lawrence down the stretch of the season. If it can find that spark this week, it has a solid chance to earn the win.
What do you think? Will the Jaguars be able to reach three wins this weekend? Let us know in the poll below.
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