The Jaguars have a brutal stretch of four games that begins on Halloween against the Seattle Seahawks.
The Jacksonville Jaguars’ 2021 schedule isn’t particularly difficult, all in all. According to opponent win percentage from 2020, it ranks just 18th in the league in terms of difficulty. But with that being said, there’s a fairly colossal set of games that begins on Halloween when the team travels to the west coast to take on the Seattle Seahawks.
According to NFL Network’s Cynthia Frelund, it’s the most difficult four-game stretch the Jaguars have all year. The game against Seattle on the road is actually the one the team has the best chance in, per Frelund’s numbers. She has the Jags at a 47.8% chance to win that game.
The next week, the team returns home to take on a Buffalo Bills team that is coming off an appearance in the AFC Championship Game. After that, the Jags have a road matchup against the rival Indianapolis Colts and finally, a home bout against the San Francisco 49ers. Per Frelund, the Jaguars’ chances of winning each of those games sit at about 45%.
The back end of the schedule is a bit less intimidating, though it does still feature road games against Tennessee and the Los Angeles Rams back-to-back weeks. By Halloween, we should have a good idea whether Jacksonville will be competitive in the AFC South or doomed to another early draft pick. But by the end of the stretch following it, there will be no doubt.
Jacksonville won’t have a particularly difficult schedule in 2021 for rookie quarterback Trevor Lawrence to navigate through.
Jacksonville certainly has an uphill climb to get back into position to compete for a playoff spot. Coming off an 1-15 season that saw the team land the first overall pick, the Jags will need Trevor Lawrence to have a similar effect to the one Andrew Luck had on the Indianapolis Colts when he took them to the playoffs as a rookie.
Luckily for the Jaguars, they won’t have to face a particularly difficult schedule to do it. Based on the final 2020 standings, Jacksonville’s schedule ranks just 18th in the NFL in terms of difficulty. It was a big winner from the league’s decision to expand to 17 regular-season games, as that dropped its strength-of-schedule seven spots from 11th.
In addition to their usual divisional opponents, the Jaguars face every team in the NFC West and AFC East, and they also have matchups against the Cincinnati Bengals, Denver Broncos and Atlanta Falcons. Their average opponent win percentage from last season is .491.
Though this is just a projection and there’s no way to know how difficult Jacksonville’s schedule will end up being, it seems like it could be conducive to a major step forward for the team in 2021.
Should the NFL exercise its option to expand the regular season to 17 games in 2021, Jacksonville would likely draw the Falcons at home.
The NFL has discussed adding a 17th game to the regular season for several years now, and it seems that 2021 may be the year that it finally happens.
According to Peter King of Football Morning in America, a 17-game schedule is “highly likely” in 2021, with the NFL and television coordinators operating under the assumption that it will happen. The collective bargaining agreement the players approved last year gave the league the option to expand to 17 games in 2021.
King says that if enacted, the 17th game will be a cross-conference matchup with the division the team faced two years before, in this case during the 2019 season. The opponent is the corresponding team in the other division’s standings from the previous season.
This format is slightly confusing, but since the Jaguars played the NFC South as its interconference division in 2019, they would face the team in that division that finished last during the 2020 season. This would mean the extra game would draw the Atlanta Falcons.
According to King’s report, the AFC would host all the interconference games in 2021, with that set to flip in 2022. This would mean the Jags would host the Falcons, who are an NFC rival of theirs, at TIAA Bank Field.
The Jags and the Falcons typically meet in the preseason, however, a two-game preseason is now in play with the regular season being altered. As for the regular season, the two teams have played each other seven times and the Falcons lead the series with a 4-3 record.
None of this is official yet, but it seems NFL squads could be playing an extra out-of-conference matchup each season from now on.
The Jags only won one game in 2020, but things are slated to get tougher in 2021.
Last season, the Jacksonville Jaguars’ strength of schedule ranked 22nd, and yet, they only were able to register a single win. However, things are projected to get significantly tougher in 2021 for the new regime which is currently being constructed.
Our comrade Allison Koehler of Steelers Wire recently calculated the strength of schedule for all 32 teams, and the Jags’ 2021 opponents registered a .506 win percentage (129-126-1). That figure gave them a strength of schedule that ranks 11th in the NFL.
When looking at the AFC South as a whole, only one of the Jags’ divisional rivals had a harder strength of schedule, and that was the Houston Texans, who were ranked one spot higher (No. 10) with their opponents being 132-124-0 (.516). Meanwhile, the Tennessee Titans (126-130-0, .492) were tied at No. 19 with the Kansas City Chiefs, and the Indianapolis Colts (118-136-2, .465) were tied at No. 28 with the New York Giants.
The Jags registering a tougher SOS figure isn’t the slightest bit surprising when considering they play the NFC West and AFC East in 2021. The NFC West sent two teams into the playoffs (Rams and Seahawks) while the 8-8 Arizona Cardinals were close to a postseason berth. The San Francisco 49ers could’ve been in the mix, too, had they not been hit hard by injuries.
As for the AFC East, they almost sent two teams to the postseason. The division winner, the Buffalo Bills, have made it to the conference championship today and could end up playing in the Super Bowl with a win against the Kansas City Chiefs. The Miami Dolphins, who defeated the Jags in 2020, registered a 10-6 record but just missed the postseason.
Clearly, we’re in the early stages of the offseason, which means it’s simply hard to come up with a prediction for the Jags record-wise. However, what is clear is that they could have a tough road ahead if they don’t make significant improvements to the roster this offseason.
The kickoff for the Jacksonville Jaguars’ last game of the 2020 season (against the Indianapolis Colts) has been changed due to the game having playoff implications. Instead of airing at 1 p.m. eastern time on Sunday, June 3, the game will now take …
The kickoff for the Jacksonville Jaguars’ last game of the 2020 season (against the Indianapolis Colts) has been changed due to the game having playoff implications. Instead of airing at 1 p.m. eastern time on Sunday, June 3, the game will now take place at 4:25 p.m.
While the Jags’ playoff hopes have long been gone, Indy could make the postseason but need one of the three following things to happen in addition to a Week 17 win:
Baltimore Ravens loss to Cincinnati Bengals
Miami Dolphins loss to Buffalo Bills
Cleveland Browns loss to Pittsburgh Pittsburgh
The Jags and Colts have already met once this season. Of course, that game occurred Week 1 and was a 27-20 victory for Jacksonville — their only win of the season.
The Colts were in control of their own destiny and had a playoff spot in their grasp, but lost it after losing to the Pittsburgh Steelers Week 16. As a result, the Jags now have the chance to spoil the Colts’ season if they get the help they need.
Ravens Wire’s Matthew Stevens discussed Calais Campbell, Yannick Ngakoue, and more with Jags Wire heading into Week 15’s game.
The Jacksonville Jaguars will be looking for their first win since Week 1 as they travel north to take on a Baltimore Ravens team that sees a grand opportunity to push for a postseason berth.
With both teams being on opposite ends of the spectrum record-wise and there being a talent discrepancy, many feel the Jags are up for another beatdown like fans witnessed Week 14. However, the Jags have also shown that they can hang with the big boys on occasions, so things could get interesting if they bring the right mindset and the Ravens underestimate them.
To get a little more familiar with the team heading into Sunday’s game, we sat down with Ravens Wire editor Matthew Stevens for a Q&A. Here are five burning questions he was kind enough to answer about the Ravens, who have some interesting history with the Jags:
In our first look at the spread earlier in the week, the Jacksonville Jaguars were underdogs by seven points, however, the spread has now slightly moved to a 7.5 figure, per BetMGM. There was also a shift in the money line as it moved from a +290 …
There was also a shift in the money line as it moved from a +290 figure to +300, which means a $100 wager on the Jags would net a bettor $300. As for the over/under, it moved from 52.5 to 51.5.
The Jags will be battling against a bit of bad history against the Titans, who have a 6-1 record against the Jags in their last seven games. They also have an all-time record of 31-21 against the Jags, though the Jags’ success at home against the Titans is a little better (12-14).
One important tidbit worth noting is that the Jags have lost four of their last five by four points or less and that could be the case Sunday. They will be coming off a 27-24 loss to the Minnesota Vikings that went into overtime, while the Titans will be trying to get over a rough 41-35 loss to the Cleveland Browns that wasn’t as close as the final indicates.
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The Jags and Titans will meet for the second time in 2020 this Sunday, but a lot has changed since the two last played.
The Jacksonville Jaguars only have two divisional games left to be played as they’ve entered the last quarter of the season, and one of those games will occur Sunday against the Tennessee Titans. As many are aware, the two teams would definitely consider the other their biggest rival in the NFL, despite many of the wins going in the Titans’ favor in recent times.
Still, if the game is anything like their last meeting, things will be interesting. To discuss the state of the Titans since meeting the Jags Week 2, we sat down with Titans Wire editor Mike Moraitis. Here are five questions he was kind enough to answer about Sunday’s AFC South battle:
Mandatory credit: Greg Walker
Jaguars Wire: The Titans are coming off of a loss where the Cleveland Browns were very dominant. What were some of the Titans’ biggest issues in that surprising showing from them?
Mike Moraitis: One simple explanation is that it didn’t look like the Titans were ready for the Browns’ pass-first approach, and the lack of adjustments points to bad coaching. And, as has been the case for much of this season, Tennessee was simply poor in coverage and provided zero pressure on Baker Mayfield.
Mandatory Credit: Steve Roberts-USA TODAY Sports
JW: Jadeveon Clowney is out for the season. With that being the case, who are the Titans going to have to rely on to be their main source of a pass-rush Sunday?
MM: To be honest, Clowney didn’t really make much of an impact anyway, so losing him isn’t as big as it seems. The Titans are using multiple players at outside linebacker in Derick Roberson and Tuzar Skipper, but neither has done much to improve the pass rush.
Mandatory Credit: Douglas DeFelice-USA TODAY Sports
JW: When looking at the Jags, what are some things that concern you from the Titans perspective as we get closer to the game?
MM: I think the Jags have an underrated group of receivers, and if Mike Glennon is playing well and can deliver the ball to them, that could present a problem for the Titans’ secondary, which has been underwhelming, to say the least. The good news for Tennessee is that Adoree’ Jackson might be making his 2020 debut this week, although I feel like I’ve said that 100 times this season, and it never happens.
JW: The Titans and Colts currently have records of 8-4. That said, who do you think will finish atop the AFC South this season?
MM: The Titans currently own the tiebreaker, which is division record, so they already have a leg up. Furthermore, Tennessee has a slightly easier schedule down the stretch here, with its opponents having a combined record of 19-29, while the Colts’ opponents are a combined 23-25. I think the Titans end up grabbing their first division title since 2008.
Mandatory Credit: Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports
JW: What are your score predictions for the game Sunday?
MM: It’s December, so you know what that means: time for Derrick Henry to run wild. I think he bounces back in a big way after a bad game last week and puts up video game-type numbers against the Jags. It’s all Titans in this one.
The Jaguars-Vikings game won’t have a win range of coverage down south, but will I the norther part of the Midwest.
The Jacksonville Jaguars will be traveling to Minneapolis Sunday to face a Minnesota Vikings team that has won four of their last five. After a slow start to the season, that run has put them at a game away from .500 and one spot away from a playoff seed.
As for the Jags, they could once again make Sunday’s game very entertaining for their fanbase, who mostly don’t want to win any more games, but don’t mind looking at a watchable product. While they haven’t won since Week 1, three of their four last games have been decided by no more than four points.
As we’ve seen every week aside from when they were on primetime television, the game will kickoff at 1:00 pm EST on Sunday, Dec. 6 on CBS. Per 506 Sports, those who live in the green shaded areas will be able to see the game.
The Vikings will enter Sunday’s game as the leader of the all-time series between them and the Jags with a 5-1 record against them. The Jags’ only win against the Vikings came in December of 2001 in the form of a 33-3 victory. That said, the Cardiac Cats will be battling against a lot of bad history Sunday as they are currently listed as 10.5 point underdogs, per BetMGM.
The Jacksonville Jaguars (1-9) and Cleveland Browns (7-3) will meet at TIAA Bank Field Sunday for a game that has the potential to be competitive. However, both teams will have some injury and COVID-19 related hurdles to get past, which may not make …
The Jacksonville Jaguars (1-9) and Cleveland Browns (7-3) will meet at TIAA Bank Field Sunday for a game that has the potential to be competitive. However, both teams will have some injury and COVID-19 related hurdles to get past, which may not make it the easiest to watch.
Still, Week 12’s matchup feels like the it’s one the Browns should win in the eyes of the national media. That said, here are our thoughts on how the game could go as the Jags host their second consecutive competitors from the AFC North:
This game initially felt like one that was favorable for the Browns, and while it still is, their roster will be severely depleted (especially at defensive end) like the Jags. With that being the case, a shoot out isn’t out of the realm of possibilities, but the confidence in Mike Glennon just isn’t there for me.
That said, the Jags should rely heavily on running back James Robinson. If they do that, this will go down as another competitive game.
There have been times this season where the Browns have looked elite, then times where they’ve looked just absolutely abysmal. While they’ve won three of their last four, the argument can be made that none of those wins have been impressive. That being said, with Mike Glennon making his first start as a Jaguar without D.J. Chark and a veteran presence like Chris Conley, this one is probably going to be an ugly game to watch. The Browns have shown an infinity of playing down to the competition, but I still expect the Jaguars losing ways to continue.
The Jags are in the midst of a nine-game losing streak. During the streak, the Jags have played some of their best ball and some of the worst. I expect the trend of inconsistencies to continue when the Jags host the Browns. James Robinson will continue to be a bright spot for the team and has another solid day, but it isn’t enough to beat Baker Mayfield and company.
Another week, another starting quarterback for the Jacksonville Jaguars as they face off at home against the Cleveland Browns. This week, the quarterback happens to be former Tampa Bay Buccaneers draft pick, Mike Glennon. An already underwhelming secondary is battered and beat and doesn’t look ready for a Browns team fighting for a playoff bid. The Jaguars will once again have to call on rookie James Robinson in order to stay competitive in this one.
Whilst their injuries aren’t as damaging as the situations in Baltimore and Denver, the Jaguars are fielding a shell of their already inexperienced roster this afternoon. With Nick Chubb back healthy and the Browns looking to secure a record of at least .500 since 2007, things could get ugly fast in this one.
