Tag: Travon Walker

Studs and duds in Jaguars’ 23-7 loss vs. Ravens

Which Jaguars players stood out most to you Sunday night?

The Jacksonville Jaguars fell to 8-6 on Sunday night when the Baltimore Ravens handed them a third consecutive loss.

It was an all too familiar formula that doomed the Jaguars in the 23-7 loss. Despite finding 333 yards of offense, Jacksonville’s only points came on one 65-yard touchdown.

The Jaguars drove inside the Ravens’ 40-yard line five times and the red zone three times, but somehow finished with zero points to show for it. Quarterback Trevor Lawrence fumbled away one of those possessions, made a crucial error that ran out the clock on another, and turned the ball over on downs late in the fourth quarter. The other two were missed field goals.

Jacksonville had its opportunities and simply didn’t come nearly close enough to capitalizing on them. Here are the players who struggled most Sunday as well as those who stood out in the losing effort:

Report: Saints don’t expect right tackle Ryan Ramczyk (knee) to play vs. Giants

NOF’s Nick Underhill reports that the Saints don’t expect right tackle Ryan Ramczyk (knee) to be in the lineup against the Giants and Kayvon Thibodeaux:

This is a big loss. The New Orleans Saints are not expected to have starting right tackle Ryan Ramczyk (knee) in the lineup on Sunday against the New York Giants, per NewOrleans.Football’s Nick Underhill. Ramczyk was limited in practice this week with a knee injury and was officially listed as questionable for Week 15’s game but it doesn’t sound like he’ll be able to play.

That’s big news for Kayvon Thibodeaux. The Giants defensive end has primarily rushed off the left side of the defensive line in recent weeks (on 71% of his pass rush snaps, per Pro Football Focus charting), going up against right tackles, which puts him on a collision course with Ramczyk’s backup. The Saints brought up Cameron Erving from the practice squad for this game in anticipation of Ramczyk’s absence.

Erving has held up well before. The Saints asked him to fill in for Ramczyk earlier this season against the Jacksonville Jaguars and while Erving didn’t match up with Jaguars sacks leader Josh Allen he did hold his own against Travon Walker and Dawuane Smoot. Thibodeaux is a unique challenge, though. He’s bagged 11.5 sacks this year after earning AP Defensive Rookie of the Year votes last season. It’s a lot to ask Erving to block him one-on-one. Let’s see what the Saints’ plan is for slowing him down.

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Ten Jaguars players to watch in Week 15 matchup vs. Ravens

We’re looking at ten Jacksonville Jaguars to watch when they face the Baltimore Ravens in Week 15 on NBC’s Sunday Night Football

The Ravens are 10-3 among the four teams that can clinch postseason berths in Week 15.

Baltimore visits the Jacksonville Jaguars (8-5) on Sunday night in what could be a potential playoff preview.

Jacksonville will look to rebound after suffering their second loss in six days, as quarterback Trevor Lawrence finished 28 of 50 for 257 yards and three interceptions.

With preparation underway for both teams, here are 10 Jaguars to watch for in Week 15.

Why the Jaguars’ defense, and the ‘other’ Josh Allen, deserve your attention

The 8-3 Jacksonville Jaguars are getting it done with a defense that may have escaped your attention. It’s time to take a closer look.

Quite under the radar, the Jacksonville Jaguars have assembled a 8-3 record, and they’re currently the AFC’s three-seed, behind the Baltimore Ravens and the Kansas City Chiefs. The prime mover for this improvement for a team that finished 9-8 last season, snuck into the playoffs, and lost to the Kansas City Chiefs in the divisional round, is a defense that currently ranks fifth in the NFL in DVOA — eighth against the pass, and first against the run.

And the prime mover in that defense is clearly EDGE Josh Allen — the Josh Allen who’s having the better season of the NFL’s two Josh Allen’s. The 2019 seventh-overall pick out of Kentucky has the league’s fifth-most pressures among edge-rushers, and his 13 sacks ranks third.

Against the Houston Texans last Sunday in a 24-21 win, that defense and Allen in particular made rookie phenom C.J. Stroud as uncomfortable in and out of the pocket as he’s been in his professional career. Per Pro Football Focus, Stroud was pressured on 28 of his 46 dropbacks, and that’s exactly what it looked like on tape.

“They really didn’t do too much,” Stroud said after the game of Jacksonville’s pressure looks. “They sent some pressure, but not as much as they did early on [in Week 3, when the Texans beat the Jaguars, 37-17]. They got us a couple of times in some weird fronts with some pressure looks. I’ve got to be better with throwing the ball high and things like that, but they really didn’t do much different. They’re a sound team. They’re up front. Josh Allen and [fellow EDGE Travon] Walker set the tone.”

Allen’s two sacks in this game showed how defensive coordinator Mike Caldwell and defensive line coach Brentson Buckner are dialing things up in subtle ways to affect and upset opposing quarterbacks.

The first sack came with 3:14 left in the first quarter. Linebackers Foyesade Oluokun and Devin Lloyd mugged left guard Juice Scruggs. This made it a six-man pressure look with Olokun dropping and Lloyd occupying left tackle Laremy Tunsil, while Allen came off the left edge unblocked — not a great idea. At the same time, safety Tre Herndon blitzed from the other side on a delay from slot depth.

Allen’s second sack came with 2:24 left in the fourth quarter. Here, Allen was to Tunsil’s outside shoulder, and defensive tackle Angelo Blackson was to Scruggs’ outside shoulder. Blackson occupied Scruggs, and then Allen just made a great play, slipping through Tunsil and Scruggs and chasing Stroud down. This is a defense that can get after your quarterback in multiple ways.

In this week’s “Xs and Os with Greg Cosell and Doug Farrar,” the guys go deep on this Jacksonville defense, the secret stars that make it work, and how this can set the Jaguars up for success as the season continues.

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You can watch this week’s “Xs and Os,” featuring all of Week 13’s biggest NFL matchups, right here:

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You can also listen and subscribe to the “Xs and Os” podcast on Spotify…

…and on Apple Podcasts.

Jaguars PFF grades: Best and worst performances vs. Texans in Week 12

Who was the best player on the field Sunday in the Jaguars’ 24-21 win?

The Jacksonville Jaguars’ 24-21 win against the Houston Texans on Sunday was probably the most important and consequential of the team’s 2023 season so far.

By avenging their 20-point loss to Houston earlier in the year, the Jaguars took a strong command of the AFC South with six weeks of football left to play. And while many have made officiating the story of the game, the Jaguars simply made more plays than the Texans.

It’s no accident that Jacksonville finished with 445 yards of total offense, nearly 100 more than the Houston offense. The Texans recorded no sacks while the Jaguars brought down C.J. Stroud four times.

The analysts at Pro Football Focus graded every player’s performance in the critical Week 12 game. Here’s who PFF thought stood out most Sunday:

5 Jaguars players to watch vs. the Titans in Week 11

Which Jaguars players need to step up in a big way Sunday against the Titans?

With a division opponent next up, the Jacksonville Jaguars are in need of a major bounce back.

Jacksonville was walloped in a 34-3 loss to the San Francisco 49ers in Week 10. Now, the team will stay in Duval to play the Tennessee Titans in their first of two games against the division rival this year.

The Titans haven’t had a great season so far, but head coach Mike Vrabel and his team also seem to be a threat to steal a game from the Jaguars.

Here are five Jaguars players to watch when they play the Titans in Week 11:

Studs and duds in Jaguars’ 34-3 loss in Week 10 to 49ers

It was a rough day for almost every Jaguars player Sunday against the 49ers.

The Jacksonville Jaguars didn’t think they came out flat against the San Francisco 49ers. They simply got dominated.

“That’s what’s most frustrating is when you play like this and you can’t point to something during the week,” Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence said after the game. “I thought we had a great week of practice, we had the right mindset, obviously there was some disconnect at some point to play that way, but I thought the energy was really good.

“We were all amped to play we knew this was a big game, knew this was a good team coming in here and we felt like we could take advantage of this opportunity and beat a good team and we didn’t. We played our worse game of the year.”

So who deserves the blame for the embarrassing 34-3 loss? And which players did alright, despite the lopsided score? Here are some studs and duds from the Jaguars’ Week 10 blowout loss:

5 Jaguars players who underachieved in the first half of 2023

These five Jaguars players are off to a slower start in 2023 than expected.

The way the Jacksonville Jaguars ended last season, it wasn’t hard to understand why there were high expectations in Duval — for both the team and several individual players, alike.

The Jaguars ended the regular season with five straight wins and beat the Los Angeles Chargers in dramatic fashion in the playoffs. Going into the 2023 season, more of the same was expected.

The Jaguars have started the season with a 6-2 record, but despite the impressive record, they haven’t gotten what they were expecting from a few players.

Here are the Jaguars’ five biggest underachievers through the first half of 2023:

Studs and duds in the Jaguars’ 20-10 win vs. Steelers

Who stood out most in the Jaguars’ fifth straight win?

The Jacksonville Jaguars turned the ball over three times and failed to score a touchdown on three trips to the red zone, yet still managed to pick up a fifth straight win Sunday.

With a 20-10 win against the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Jaguars are rolling into a much-needed Week 9 bye with a 6-2 record, a hefty lead in the AFC South, and a share of first place in the AFC.

Not much is going wrong in Duval, but the Jaguars aren’t quite blowing out teams either. Against a Steelers team that went three-and-out on its first four possessions and turned the ball over on its last three, why was the game in contention so long?

The positives certainly outweigh the negatives for the Jaguars, but the latter isn’t non-existent. Here’s who stood out most in the team’s Week 8 win at Acrisure Stadium:

Mike Tomlin: ‘Sacks don’t represent the havoc Travon Walker causes’

Mike Tomlin says the Steelers have to be mindful of the Jaguars’ “wrecking ball,” Travon Walker.

Jacksonville Jaguars outside linebacker Travon Walker has just 2.5 sacks so far in 2023. It’s a pretty disappointing total through seven weeks for the No. 1 pick in the 2022 NFL draft, especially considering the other top five picks from last year — Aidan Hutchinson and Kayvon Thibodeaux — have combined for 10.

Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin says sacks don’t tell the whole story, though. With a Week 8 matchup against the Jaguars on the way, Tomlin says his team still has to be mindful of Walker on Sunday.

“We’ve got to do a really good job of managing their bigs,” Tomlin said in a press conference Tuesday. “The edge guys really capture your attention. Josh Allen and Walker, in particular as a tandem, wreak a lot of havoc. I think Josh Allen’s got seven sacks.

“I think often times sacks don’t represent the havoc that Walker causes. I felt that way in an analysis of him leading up to the draft. He’s just a guy who wrecks a lot of things. He plays with a violence of play. He’s a wrecking ball.”

The Jaguars are fourth in the NFL in run defense and are allowing just 3.6 yards per carry. Walker has played a significant role in that.

“They’ve got a 3-4 structure, but boy, those are some big outside linebackers,” Tomlin said. “It’s almost like they’re doing it with 4-3 people. And it really creates challenging regarding creating space and moving them for running lanes, for example.”

The Steelers rank 31st in total offense and are 29th in rushing yards per attempt with an average of 3.3.

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