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It wasn’t pretty, it wasn’t easy and it nearly got derailed by the inevitability of Joe Flacco, but the Jaguars may — and I emphasize may — have saved their season on Sunday with a 37-34 thriller of a game in Jacksonville. The Jaguars’ victory gave them their first win on the year, meaning there are no more winless teams in the NFL and also ensuring Doug Pederson will still be with this team when they travel to London next week.
Whether he’s with the team when they come back may still be up for grabs, but for now the Jaguars have life. And how it happened may be even more important than the actual result, because for the first time in what was getting dangerously close to a full calendar year, Trevor Lawrence actually looked like a high-level, franchise-caliber quarterback en route to throwing a career-high 371 yards. Quite a 25th birthday party!
Lawrence was aided by excellent protection and/or a bad Colts pass rush, rarely getting pressured on Sunday. Lawrence wasn’t sacked once, and when he did see pressure, he looked calm, poised and delivered the ball where it needed to be. Lawrence completed more than 80% of his passes, especially critical because the Jaguars offense actually possessed some verticality on Sunday.
Sunday was also a breakout for rookie Brian Thomas Jr., who had been bordering on an eruption game all season. The LSU product exploded for an 85-yard touchdown early in the game, showcasing his speed on the way to the end zone.
Per Next Gen Stats, Thomas hit 22.15 mph on his score, the fastest for a ball-carrier all season. This rookie wide receiver crop is truly ridiculous, with Marvin Harrison Jr. and Malik Nabers headlining things. Thomas has a chance to be just as good as anyone in this class. His speed is lethal and he’s already shrugging off any real concerns about being too raw a route runner and a one-trick pony.
The defense, on the other hand, did…
Source link : https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/sorting-the-nfl-sunday-pile-week-5-jaguars-save-season-bengals-botch-joe-burrows-big-day/
Author : Will Brinson
Publish date : 2024-10-07 00:51:21
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