Jacksonville entered Sunday’s game against the Houston Texans as a seven-point favorite, the largest spread in favor of the Jaguars in recent memory.
When the final buzzer sounded, it was the Jaguars who were down 7, a demoralizing 13-6 loss on a day when the team was honoring its first Hall of Famer, Tony Boselli.
At 2-3, all is not lost for the Jaguars, but they are certainly a tough team.
After a tough Week 1 loss to the Washington Commanders, the Jaguars completely dominated the Indianapolis Colts and Los Angeles Chargers.
They then came up big against the undefeated Philadelphia Eagles, but squandered a 14-0 lead and lost on a cold, rainy day.
While that loss was tough to swallow, the elements were certainly a factor in quarterback Trevor Lawrence losing four fumbles. It didn’t help that Miles Sanders ran for 134 yards and two touchdowns.
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Explaining the loss to the Texans is much more difficult.
Houston entered the game as the NFL’s only winless team, with a one-dimensional offense comprised of running back Dameon Pierce.
Even knowing what Houston would do, the Jaguars couldn’t stop Pierce. He rushed for 99 yards and the only touchdown of the game.
This week, the Jaguars travel to Indianapolis for the second time this season to play the Colts. This is a division win that a team needs to have.
In the first meeting in Week 2, the Jaguars defeated last year’s rushing leader Jonathan Taylor in a 24-0 rout of the Colts.
Taylor is questionable for this weekend’s game, as is backup Nyheim Hines, who left Thursday’s game against the Denver Broncos after suffering a scary head injury.
Regardless of who plays, many wonder what this Jaguars team is — a continuation of last decade’s futility — or a team on the rise struggling with growth issues.
That and more will be discussed with Jaguars Beat Writer Demetrius Harvey of the Florida Times-Union in Jacksonville, this week’s guest on the USA TODAY Network’s “Florida *State* Sports Podcast.”
I’ll ask Demetrius what he sees watching this team every week from the press box.
How can Trevor Lawrence go from being the best offensive player in the AFC against the Chargers to having two terrible performances in a row?
“I think Trevor is very persistent. Of course he would never say that,” Demetrius says during the podcast. “That Eagles game, you know, you could almost give him a mulligan or a pass because of how awful those conditions were. Both sides of the football looked very sloppy.
“But (the Texans’) game was beautiful. It was a perfect game with the weather. I think it was about 80 degrees, something like that. The sun is shining. There were no excuses for him to play like that.”
Demetrius also addresses the question of where has the running game gone?
“Travis Etienne and James Robinson, these are your cows,” he said. “I think that’s something they’re going to turn on this week, and if they don’t, then we’re probably going to see another loss.”
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