National Football League

Jaguars have big concerns, but they still control their playoff destiny

Published Dec. 13, 2023 2:55 p.m. ET

The Jaguars have major concerns. There's also no reason to panic.

Both things can be true.

Jacksonville dropped to 8-5 with its loss Sunday at Cleveland. The Jaguars have now lost consecutive games for the first time since Weeks 2 and 3.

The defense, which has been the strength of the Jags all season, has faltered in the past two weeks to backup quarterbacks. Between Jake Browning and Joe Flacco, Jacksonville allowed a 70.7% completion rate for 665 yards, five total touchdowns and created just two takeaways.

The performance against Cleveland was particularly embarrassing. Each of Flacco's three touchdown passes went to wide-open receivers for 34 or more yards. Jacksonville had allowed five touchdown passes of 34 yards or more in the first 12 games combined.

"Turned around and saw nothing but green grass," said Browns receiver David Bell of his 41-yard catch-and-run touchdown on a Jaguars' fourth-and-3 blitz in the fourth quarter. "I was surprised. Not a little, I was a lot surprised to keep it real. It just felt like Little League when I was back in second grade, just seeing that much green grass. I haven't seen that much since I was about 6 or 7."

Offensively, the Jaguars will have to adjust to life without leading receiver Christian Kirk, who will be out at least the next three games on injured reserve following core-muscle surgery. His absence was felt in Cleveland, where Jacksonville had pass-catching struggles. Calvin Ridley and Zay Jones had just nine catches combined on 27 targets and no touchdowns.

In the second quarter, Lawrence and Jones had a miscommunication on a deep pass that led to an interception — Jones broke inside on a deep route, while Lawrence threw outside.

Lawrence was even more out of sync with Ridley. The QB had two interceptions targeting him, the first being inside the two-minute warning of the second quarter, when Jacksonville was just outside the red zone. Ridley ran an in-breaking route and Lawrence's pass sailed behind him and was picked off before he'd even whipped his head around.

"There's no excuses," Lawrence said Sunday of being without Kirk. "Nobody cares. That's the thing about this league: No one really cares who you are missing. There are a lot of teams who are missing players at this point in the season, but 100 percent miss Christian. He's one of our best players. Makes a huge impact on this offense and this team.

"We have to find a way to still win games without him. That's not going to change in the next few weeks. … We have to get better. We have to communicate. We have to get on the same page. Too many mistakes."

NFL Rankings: Where do the Jaguars stand?

The offensive line is also an area of concern.

The Jags on Sunday were down to their fourth-string left tackle, Blake Hance, after Ezra Cleveland — who typically plays inside — injured his knee in the game. Starter Cam Robinson was placed on injured reserve Nov. 27; his backup, Walker Little, was inactive for the game with a hamstring injury. Lawrence, playing through a high ankle sprain, was sacked four times and hit 12 times overall.

The offensive-line shuffling has impacted the run game, too. The Jags have rushed for fewer than 82 yards in four of their past five games. In that span, they're averaging a league-worst 3.1 rushing yards per carry, according to Next Gen Stats.

The outlook for both Little and Cleveland sounds positive — coach Doug Pederson said they're both day-to-day as of Wednesday — but the team has a lot of work to do upfront. The Jaguars have had eight pre-snap penalties — false starts and delay of games — in the past two games, including five against the Browns on Sunday.

"Quite honestly, they show up in practice during the week," Pederson said Monday of the recent uptick in pre-snap penalties. "That's where it starts. I'm a big believer that you're going to play like you practice. When you don't have the crisp practice during the week, sometimes those things can creep into a game. It gets magnified in a ballgame; everything matters. … Those are things that are concerning and alarming, because those are things that are holding the offense back right now."

All of that said, it's not the end of the world for the Jaguars.

Both the Colts (7-6) and Texans (7-6) also lost on Sunday, preserving Jacksonville's one-game lead atop the AFC South. The Jags aren't necessarily a step below the AFC's other top teams either. There's plenty of parity atop the conference. The Chiefs (8-5), on a two-game losing streak, continue to have offensive issues and lead the AFC West by just a game. Depending on Tyreek Hill's health moving forward — he suffered an ankle injury in Miami's loss Monday — the Dolphins (9-4) could be vulnerable down the stretch, as evident by their Week 15 collapse to a struggling Titans team.

"This time of year is where teams begin to separate. You start to get a better picture or a clearer picture, at least, of the postseason," Pederson said. "For us, it's a matter of just continuing to focus on us, be us, be who we are."

We'll find out who the Jaguars are in the next four weeks.

Ben Arthur is the AFC South reporter for FOX Sports. He previously worked for The Tennessean/USA TODAY Network, where he was the Titans beat writer for a year and a half. He covered the Seattle Seahawks for SeattlePI.com for three seasons (2018-20) prior to moving to Tennessee. You can follow Ben on Twitter at @benyarthur.