Jaguars Wild Card Mailbag: Can Travis Etienne Have a Big Day vs. the Chargers?

The Jacksonville Jaguars are set to kick-off a monumental game in the Doug Pederson and Trevor Lawrence era on Saturday night, hosting the Los Angeles Chargers at TIAA Bank Field for an exciting Wild Card battle.

To preview the game, we opened up to questions for this week's mailbag about the Chargers and how the Jaguars matchup. You can submit your questions every week by tweeting them to the Jaguar Report Twitter handle or by submitting them here.

This week we take questions on the Jaguars' upcoming game vs. the Los Angeles Chargers, what the result means for the Jaguars' future, Travis Etienne, and more.

Q: Have you seen any improvements from Devin Lloyd in the recent time that the defense has been playing well? And outside of Darius Williams moving outside and the matchups that allowed the pass rush to be successful, what are the other keys to the defense playing relatively well? And do you think they are up to the challenge of stopping Herbert and Keenan Allen this week?

A: I do think there have been improvements to Devin Lloyd's game for sure. He has been a better tackler in recent weeks, for example, and there have been far fewer coverage busts. It is worth noting, too, that Lloyd is playing one of the NFL's most difficult positions as a rookie. He went from a Pac-12 defender who was rarely asked to operate like an NFL off-ball linebacker to starting in the middle of the most advanced defense vs. the most advanced offenses of his football life. So I do think Lloyd has improved with time, and time is what he really needs.

I think the Jaguars have benefitted from playing some weak quarterback matchups in recent weeks such as Zach Wilson, Davis Mills and Joshua Dobbs, but it is worth noting that their defense also had some strong flashes vs. Lamar Jackson, Dak Prescott and Ryan Tannehill. Overall the defense has simply been better at making the game-changing turnovers and sacks, something they didn't do during their five-game losing streak.

I think Keenan Allen will probably have a strong performance. He is a tough matchup for any cornerback in the NFL, so Tre Herndon will have his hands full. With that said, the Jaguars can divert their entire attention to the middle of the field and focus on Allen with bracket coverage from the safeties.

Q: Was it always the Jaguars?

A: This has been trademarked so I have no stance.

Q: Do you believe the Jaguars will rely heavily on the run game and ETN due to the Chargers having one of the worst rush defenses in the league?

A: The interesting thing about the Chargers' run defense is their best run-defenders are on the edge, which is also where the Jaguars have seen their most success running the ball. Tosses and outside zone have been some of the top concepts the Jaguars have ran this year, but the Chargers are built to defend this with Joey Bosa, Derwin James and Khalil Mack.

Where the Chargers' defense struggles is down the spine of the defense: the defensive linemen and the inside linebackers. The Jaguars can get their linebackers with bad eyes by using motion, while Etienne has done well on interior rushing schemes such as trap and power. I think the Jaguars may be built more for rushing on the edge, but they have the ability to win inside, too.

Q: What will we see more vs the Bolts: aggressive, 15-yard throws from Trevor, or rather death by 1000 cuts? Duuuval from Hungary!

A: I think the Jaguars did a good job vs. the Chargers in Week 3 of just getting the ball out of Lawrence's hand and letting the receivers, tight ends and running backs do their thing after the catch. I expect the Jaguars to take their shots at times, but overall I think they once again enter the game with the idea of not holding onto the ball so they can neutralize the Chargers' pass-rush.

Q: It’s nice to see Tyson Campbell and Darious Williams both playing so well right now. Why do you think it took so long for this staff to see the benefit in moving Williams to the perimeter?

A: This is a good question, and I am honestly not sure. Williams just never seemed like a slot cornerback, and there must have been a reason he was rarely in the slot during his terrific career with the Los Angeles Rams. Williams became a cornerback worth adding in free agency thanks to his work as an outside cornerback, so it was never far out to think that he would play better once moved back outside.

I do think one reason, though, is because the Jaguars knew they would be giving up big plays because of a hole at one cornerback position no matter what. If Williams was inside, teams would target them outside. If he is outside, teams have more often or not attacked the slot. It should have happened sooner, but that is my only real answer.

Q: Why do you think Trevor struggled so bad in the second half against the Titans?

A: It was a really weird game for Lawrence because he was terrific in the first half. He was 11-of-13 for a touchdown and had one drop from Zay Jones, so he really missed just one pass. Then he came out firing on the drive to get into the red-zone before badly missing Zay Jones for what should have been an easy touchdown in the left side of the end-zone.

Maybe Lawrence let the miss carry over to the rest of the half, with Lawrence looking visibly upset walking off the field after the incompletion. That doesn't sound like Lawrence, though, considering he has made having a short-memory a key part of his game.

Ultimately I think you just have to give credit to the Titans. They pressured Lawrence more in the second-half than the first half, forcing him out of position and off-rhythm a number of times. Lawrence said there were some communication issues up-front, too, pointing out there was one play the Titans had two players in one gap and the Jaguars didn't account for it. So, Lawrence was just off some, but the Titans also played a good game.

Q: Where did "It was always the Jags" come from? I know Dewey yelled it after a road win against the Titans and it stuck but is there more to it than that?

A: I think that is where it came from, but the Jaguars' entire message has been to focus on themselves only and nothing about what the other team is doing. In short, try to not shoot yourself in the foot. I think the saying can be rooted in with that. I don't know, though.

Q: For the 2023 offseason, for our FA, who do you think we should cut to free up cap room? Restructure contacts if any? Who should we resign? Who should we let go and not even try to resign?

A: Ah man. This is a layered one.

I think the Jaguars will have to move on from Shaquill Griffin and either move on or renegotiate with Jamal Agnew and Roy Robertson-Harris. Re-sign wise, I would franchise tag Evan Engram and re-sign Dawuane Smoot and Arden Key, while letting Jawaan Taylor walk in hopes of earning a compensatory pick.