49ers 30, Jaguars 10: 5 Observations on Jacksonville's Week 11 Letdown
There isn't much good to say about the Jacksonville Jaguars' Week 11 effort. From an opening-drive 20-play marathon to the Jaguars falling to 17-0 before they could even get a first down, Sunday's 30-10 loss was as bad as it gets for Urban Meyer and his young squad.
What did we learn from the tough home loss, and what could it mean for the team moving forward? Here are our five biggest takeaways from the day to help give
The Jaguars' positive momentum has now been erased completely
Two weeks ago, the Jaguars were on top of the world after a home upset of the Bills. The feeling after taking down the AFC's best team was that the Jaguars were getting close to turning the corner that has evaded them for so long. And even a week ago in a loss to the Colts, the general feeling was that the Jaguars were close but simply got in their own way and beat themselves. There was still positive momentum, even following a loss. That is all gone now, though. There is no positivity after a 30-10 thumping in which the Jaguars' lone touchdown drive came in garbage time. No positivity for a team that was down 17-0 before their fifth offensive play of the day.
"It hurts it. I think we won two out of three at one point. So you started feeling good. You got victory meals. People starting to get a pep in their step around here a little bit," Urban Meyer said in his postgame press conference.
"Defense was one of the top defenses in the last four games. You kind of feel a little juice going, and then you play like that. We've got to get them back. That's my job, that's our staff's job and our leaders' job. That was a sting to it, but we'll be back."
Getting that momentum and confidence back will be key, especially after a loss like Sunday. Because Sunday's loss wasn't just your standard, run-of-the-mill loss. It was a beatdown from a team that has hovered on .500 all season long. Those kinds of losses can be spirit-breaking. It will now be up to Meyer to ensure that doesn't happen.
It is becoming more impossible to evaluate Trevor Lawrence each week
For those who do not box score scout, Sunday was actually a perfectly fine performance from rookie quarterback and No. 1 overall pick Trevor Lawrence. If you grade him on just his throws on a down-to-down basis, he made few mistakes and even fewer inaccurate throws, things he struggled with a week earlier. It was a step in the right direction for Lawrence, but it doesn't exactly show on the field or on the stat sheet because of how disastrous everything else was around the rookie passer.
The Jaguars' offense wasn't productive in any way on Sunday, but that was largely due to a combination of the game getting out of hand and of the Jaguars simply not being equipped to face off against the 49ers from a schematic of personnel standpoint. Lawrence by himself was fine, but it is impossible to truly evaluate what he would look like in a normal environment by now because the Jaguars, to this point, are anything but.
Lack of secondary depth became apparent as the injury bug hit the defense
The Jaguars were dangerously close to running out of cornerbacks on Sunday. They entered the game without one active cornerback due to Tre Herndon being listed as inactive. Then, Shaquill Griffin went into concussion protocol before the end of the first half. Finally, Tyson Campbell made a terrific play on a fade route to force a third-down incompletion before landing awkwardly on his shoulder. Add in Andre Cisco leaving due to a groin injury following Rayshawn Jenkins' ejection, and the Jaguars had a lot of moving pieces in the secondary.
Despite the Jaguars making it a point to revamp the secondary this offseason, it still feels as if the team is low both on depth and on starting talent. The Jaguars' secondary was struggling before injuries hit on Sunday, so injuries can't be pointed to as the entire reason for the down game. What is concerning, however, is the fact that the Jaguars at one point in the offseason had deep cornerback and safety rooms, but the cornerback room has been pulled apart by trades. The Jaguars exited the offseason with CJ Henderson and Sidney Jones as key pieces but neither stuck with the team in 2021. On Sunday, the consequences of those misfires showed up as Chris Claybrooks and Nevin Lawson took the field to end the game.
Laviska Shenault's rough month continues
Laviska Shenault had his best game of the last month from a production standpoint on Sunday, catching five passes for 50 yards after just nine catches for 52 yards in the previous three games. It wasn't much of a surprise to see him get more defined touches on screens and quick throws either considering the emphasis the Jaguars made throughout the week on adjusting his role and finally getting him going. But even on a day where Shenault finally got involved more, he still faced a down moment that helped change the complexion of the game.
The biggest reason the Jaguars simply couldn't make anything out of yesterday's game is the fact that it was 17-0 by the team's fifth offensive play. That happened in large part to a 20-play opening drive by the 49ers and a subsequent three-and-out from the offense, but the biggest nail in the coffin was a critical mistake by Shenault. With the game already at 10-0, Shenault caught a pass from Lawrence and cut back into traffic to fight for yards, eventually having the ball forced out of his hands by Josh Norman. The fumble would lead to another 49ers touchdown and would put the game away before it ever really started. Shenault got the ball more this week, but it was still one step forward and two steps backward for a playmaker who just can't seem to get going in 2021.
Jacksonville's defensive kryptonite became apparent vs. Kyle Shanahan's scheme
The Jaguars' defense had played a phenomenal last 10 quarters entering Sunday's game, but it was clear from the very first drive of the contest that this wasn't going to continue. The Jaguars were impacted in a big way by injuries and penalties -- the latter of which was mostly self-inflicted -- but even more impactful was the fact that Kyle Shanahan's scheme worked perfectly against Jacksonville's defensive weakness.
The Jaguars' defense has been stellar in terms of creating plays at and behind the line of scrimmage in recent weeks, but it was plays over the middle of the field that have given them trouble. This continued again with the 49ers frequently putting the Jaguars' linebackers and safeties in conflict in the middle of the field on Sunday, with George Kittle and Brandon Aiyuk each doing plenty of their damage from that range. It didn't help that the Jaguars faced multiple injuries, but it was a trend that continued nonetheless.
