Chiefs 17, Jaguars 9: 5 Observations on Week 2 Loss

The Jacksonville Jaguars let one slip away.

In three games against the Kansas City over the last year, the Jaguars have never had the chances they had in today's 17-9 loss. And that is why, despite it being Week 2, this loss is seemingly as it seems.

With that said, here are our thoughts from today's loss and what it means moving forward.

The Press Taylor conversation is unlikely to end

The Jaguars will continue to field questions about their offense and whoever is pulling the strings as long as the offense looks out of flux. The Jaguars went 3-of-12 on third-downs for the second game row, had several gimmick plays that resulted in negative results such as a double-pass from Christian Kirk to Travis Etienne that resulted in a loss of yards, a jet screen to Jamal Agnew that resulted in a fumble, and a lack of under-center runs while at the goal-line in the game's final quarter.

This isn't Press Taylor's first rodeo, obviously. He called plays during several key comeback victories last season. But for the second week in a row, the offense looked disjointed, out of sync, and not much at all like the offense we saw last year. Offensive line issues are evident, but this offense just hasn't felt right in two games -- something even Trevor Lawrence said after the game. Whose fault that is remains to be seen, but the Taylor conversation will continue until the bleeding stops.

:No, I mean, it's something we got to fix. So it is an issue. Obviously, we're not -- I mean, we scored a lot of points last week, and we still didn't -- I don't think we played to our standard and how good we can play. And this week, I mean, not even close," Lawrence said.

"Almost every play, every series there's something we can all do better. Really sloppy. So I wouldn't say -- I'm not concerned. But it's something we got to fix. It's definitely an issue. We got to all look in the mirror and be accountable and be critical of ourselves. It's all of us. The guys talked about it after the game, just there's plays that we all missed on different series, different plays. Whatever it is. And we got to make them. We got to make those plays and that's what the good and great teams do. And we didn't do it today. But, you know, I'm not concerned. But we got to do it."

Trevor Lawrence still seeking the consistency that helps him reach elite status

Trevor Lawrence had far from a good day on Sunday. He had his flash throws that he has weekly, but he also lacked the consistency that we see from the truly elite quarterbacks. This isn't to say Sunday was the byproduct of purely a poor Lawrence performance -- the line struggled, the play-calls were up-and-down at best, the run game was nonexistent, and there were several drops.

But Lawrence was also 0-for-7 in the red-zone and had several of those throws be just an inch or so away from being a touchdown. In a game the Jaguars didn't score a touchdown in, those are the types of plays that haunt an offense. Lawrence wasn't the reason the Jaguars' offense struggled on Sunday, but he also wasn't always elevating the unit, either.

Credit belongs to Mike Caldwell, defensive roster

There aren't many defenses who can hang with Patrick Mahomes. In his 96 career starts, there have only been seven games where the Chiefs scored 17 or fewer points. Today was one of those days, and Mike Caldwell and the Jaguars' defensive roster deserve its flowers for restricting the Chiefs more often than not. It wasn't perfect, but it was certainly more than good enough.

The Jaguars' offense let the unit down, but the Jaguars' defense flew all over the field on Sunday. Andre Cisco looked like a potential star, Devin Lloyd showed growth despite allowing a touchdown to Travis Kelce, and overall the Jaguars' defense never looked out of it's depth. Yes, this isn't the Chiefs' offense of old and they had a banged-up Travis Kelce, but the Jaguars' defense played their best game vs. Patrick Mahomes in three meetings.

"But, again, you play good teams, you play well coached teams, you can't beat yourself. And that's what we did today. We beat ourselves. You know, yes, the defense; yes, special teams played well. But it takes all three phases, right?" Doug Pederson said. "That's what good football teams do. And we didn't do that well enough today. The opportunities were there and we didn't do it. We got to look at this film and be hard and critical of ourselves and bounce back next week."

Travon Walker continues to take a step forward, but the pass-rush depth issues flared up

K'Lavon Chaisson did a hell of a job to record a sack on Patrick Mahomes Sunday, but the Jaguars' pass-rush depth issues still reared their head in the second half as Josh Allen dealt with a shoulder injury. Travon Walker had a solid game, showing off his athleticism on stunts and dominating the run game while also drawing two holding penalties from Jawaan Taylor, but he can't do it alone.

When the Jaguars didn't have Allen for large chunks of the second half, Patrick Mahomes was able to remain relatively clean, especially on the first scoring drive of the half. Allen was a one-man wrecking crew in the first half, but the pass rush loses it's teeth when either him or Walker are off the field, and it showed up on Sunday.

Anton Harrison had a disastrous day, but he deserved more help

It was a day to forget for rookie tight tackle Anton Harrison. Harrison had one of the toughest matchups of any tackle in the league, seeing All-Pro defensive lineman Chris Jones on his fair share of snaps. Jones, to his credit, is one of the best pass-rushers of his generation and would any offensive tackle issues, let alone one playing in their second NFL regular season game.

But Harrison was a clear issue on Sunday. Jones beat him for one key late-down sack, forced Lawrence to step up into another sack on an early third-down, and ultimately didn't give the Jaguars the type of performance they needed to win. With that said, it didn't seem like the Jaguars went with many chips from the tight ends or running backs to help Harrison. He had a bad game, but he also deserved more help.

"I got all of the confidence in the world in Anton. And, you know, listen, Chris Jones is a great player. He's great player. I mean, he's a very good player, right? And Anton's a good player," Pederson said. "This is a great game for Anton to learn from. And, you know, I -- look, it's week 2. And there's a lot of football ahead of us. It's a good football team sitting in that locker room right now. And we're going to get this thing fixed and turned around and headed in the right direction."