Winners and Losers From the Jaguars Blowout Loss vs. the Colts
When the Jacksonville Jaguars turn in a performance like the one they put forth in Sunday's 33-13 loss to the Indianapolis Colts, it can be hard to find too many positives. Jacksonville was outplayed on both sides of the ball as they fell to 4-6 on the season, with the entire AFC South race and playoffs now completely in jeopardy.
From a defense that was bullied for four quarters in the running game to an offense that only scored once before garbage time, the Jaguars had an abundance of failures on Sunday. Unfortunately for the Jaguars, those failures were more or less the same ones that have hurt the team all season.
When you take the entire game into account though, which performances stood out the most, both positively and negatively?
Winner: DJ Chark
While the Jaguars' offense was in complete shambles for the vast majority of Sunday's game, second-year wide receiver DJ Chark looked unstoppable when Nick Foles was able to get the ball in his hands. Chark exploded for eight catches for 104 yards and two touchdowns, but perhaps more importantly, he was targeted on 15 of Nick Foles' 47 passes, almost 33% of his throws.
While the Jaguars' offense was completely anemic on Sunday, Chark showed he still has the ability to produce on a dormant day. He has elevated his game this season, and now has eight touchdowns on the year thanks to it. The Jaguars' offense failed Sunday, but Chark didn't.
Losers: Jacksonville's coaching staff
For the first time in Jacksonville Jaguars history, the Jaguars ran the ball less than nine times. The Jaguars didn't run the ball a single time after there was 10:30 left in the third quarter. Leonard Fournette, the player who the Jaguars' offense is supposed to run through, only had eight carries all game. Whatever offensive coordinator John DeFilippo's gameplan was, it failed spectacularly and the Jaguars' only mustered one scoring drive before garbage time as a result.
Defensively, the Jaguars were dominated by a Colts offense that was without most of its top playmakers. For the first time in Colts' history, two players ran for 100 yards or more. Take away two kneeldowns at the end of the game, and the Colts ran it 34 times for 236 yards. The Jaguars knew coming into the game that the Colts were going to try to run the ball, but defensive coordinator Todd Wash couldn't find an answer his unit's issues despite this.
For the second time in three weeks, head coach Doug Marrone failed to get his team prepared for a critical AFC South game. Marrone has done a lot of good this season but eventually, it needs to be answered why the Jaguars fail so drastically in big games in 2019.
Winner: Jarrod Wilson
For the second straight game, Jarrod Wilson forced the defense's lone turnover. While the turnover didn't come until the game was already decided, much like the game before when he forced a fumble late vs. the Houston Texans, it was still an encouraging play from the first-year starter.
This week, Wilson made a heads up play following a Tre Herndon deflection and intercepted a fourth quarter pass for his first career interception. While things went mostly bad for Jacksonville's defense on Sunday, Wilson once again flashed.
Losers: Entire front seven
We talked about the Colts' running game completely trouncing the Jaguars' defense, but it needs to be pointed out once more just how badly Jacksonville was against the run. For example, the Colts had 9 runs of 10 yards or more on Sunday. That is the same amount of carries the entire Jaguars' offense had. In nine runs, the Colts marched more than a distance down the field.
From the defensive line consistently getting moved at the point of attack to the linebackers vanishing in a big way, the Jaguars simply did not get it done in any regard vs. the run, and every member of the front seven shares some blame.
Loser: Nick Foles
Most were hoping to see more from Foles in his second start of the season. After being given a four-year, $88 million contract in the offseason, Foles was supposed to be a reliable piece under center that would elevate the Jaguars' offense and mask other issues on the team. Instead, Foles did not look dramatically better than Gardner Minshew II did in his eight starts, and he only completed six passes that were over 10 yards.
While his early touchdown to Chark was a nice play, Foles was merely average to below average for the rest of the day. He underthrew too many deep passes and tried to fit it in vs. double or even triple coverage too often. For the Jaguars to do anything of significance this season, they will need Foles to look more like the passer he is being paid to play like and less like the passer he was vs. the Colts.
Winners: Yannick Ngakoue and Josh Allen
Yannick Ngakoue and Josh Allen combined for two sacks and a forced fumble on Sunday, with both coming in the first half. The duo is only guaranteed to remain together for six more games since Ngakoue is in the final year of his rookie deal and so far has not made any progress toward signing an extension, so it is important to point out what they do now.
While the Jaguars' front seven was dominated at the line of scrimmage in the run game, Allen and Ngakoue provided consistent pressure as pass rushers and sacked their way into Jacksonville's history books.
