Which Jaguars Need to Elevate Their Game Over Final Six Weeks?
Entering Sunday's game against AFC South rival Tennesee Titans at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, the Jacksonville Jaguars have found their season on the brink of collapsing. Jacksonville entered the season with playoff aspirations, but things have unraveled in recent weeks, leaving the team at 4-6.
With only six games remaining, every game is a must-win for Jacksonville moving forward. The margin of error available no longer exists, and the team simply has to figure out ways to pull out wins if they hope they make their season extend past 16 games. The AFC South and the AFC in general are both tight right now, and 9-7 is highly unlikely to get a team into the playoffs.
If Jacksonville wants to be playing meaningful football in January, they will need a few members of the team to elevate their games during the home stretch. Which Jaguars will need to step it up over the final six weeks? We examine below:
QB Nick Foles
Nick Foles has played less than five quarters of football this season so he doesn't have a large sample size of playing poorly, or playing really in any way, for Jacksonville, but he is the most important player over the next six weeks. His performance vs. the Indianapolis Colts in Week 11, where he threw it 47 times but didn't eclipse 300 yards and didn't lead a second scoring drive until the final few minutes of a blowout loss, can't be something that replicates itself over the final six games.
Jacksonville gave Foles a $88 million contract this offseason with hopes of him providing stability to the quarterback position. Too often in the past Jacksonville got sub-optimal play from the position and wasted good defensive units and offensive playmakers. The hope when signing Foles was that he would, at worst, be an above-average passer and not be one of Jacksonville's primary problems.
Only two starts into his Jaguars career, Foles is clearly not one of Jacksonville's biggest issues that led to the 4-6 record. But for the team to be successful over the next six weeks, they will need Foles to be one of its strongest assets, and quickly. It isn't too fair to Foles that he has been asked to step in and lead a team with an already razor-thin margin of error, but it is the reality of the situation, and he will have to make it work.
DT Abry Jones
Ever since Marcell Dareus was placed on injured reserve with a core muscle injury following Week 7, Jacksonville has lacked a true consistent presence at nose tackle. Dareus was not having a spectacular season, and Jacksonville got gashed in the run game even with him in the lineup at times, but it is clear that there has been a drop-off from Dareus to veteran Abry Jones.
Jones has had issues with holding his ground at the point of attack and keeping the second level clean this season, despite being a more than a serviceable run defender in the past. For whatever reason, he has been moved easily by blockers in 2019 and Jacksonville's run defense has suffered because of it.
In the last two games, Jacksonville has allowed 480 rushing yards and four rushing scores. For that trend to end, Jacksonville will need their starting nose tackle to be more stout.
LB Myles Jack
If Abry Jones is the player Jacksonville needs to improve the most along their defensive line, then Myles Jack is clearly the player at the next level who has to play better. Jacksonville made Jack the third-highest paid middle linebacker before the season started, but he has yet to consistently perform like a top linebacker.
Per Pro Football Reference, Jack has missed 11 tackles already this season after missing 12 in 16 games last season, and his missed tackle rate is a worrisome 15.7%. He has been in the wrong position too many times and has been the primary culprit behind a good chunk of the various explosive runs teams have been able to perform against Jacksonville.
For the Jaguars' defense to play winning football, they need their man in the middle to step up his game. Jack is the signal-caller for the defense and is regarded as one of the true leaders of the unit, but his play needs to reflect that top role.
LT Cam Robinson
Cam Robinson has had an up and down 2019 season following his recovery from a 2018 ACL injury that ended his sophomore season early. He has been a truly dominant run blocker and his return to the lineup in Week 3 was one of the biggest reasons why Leonard Fournette has been so productive this year. But his pass blocking has at times left a lot to be desired.
Gardner Minshew II could mask a lot of Robinson's pass protection issues thanks to his mobility and ability to extend plays outside of the pocket, but Foles is a far cry from the athletic Minshew. Foles is more often than not going to stay in the pocket and attempt to win from there as a passer. He doesn't have the mobility to bail his offensive tackles out of poor plays as Minshew did, and thus the margin of error for Robinson has shrunk considerably.
HC Doug Marrone
Since starting 3-1 in 2018, Doug Marrone's team has struggled mightily, going 6-16 since last season's hot start. Marrone is not solely responsible for this obviously, as injuries and poor play at the quarterback position in 2018 played a giant role. But in recent weeks, Marrone hasn't been able to get his team ready to play.
Jacksonville's two most important games of the season so far have come in the last three weeks and both were vs. AFC South opponents. They were must-win games that Marrone needed his team to be dialed in and show up to perform for. But alas, the Jaguars dropped both games and were outscored 59-16 in the process.
Marrone is a solid CEO-type head coach and by all accounts, he has the support of his players. But, for whatever reason, what he has been doing recently hasn't been working. For Jacksonville to get back to winning football, Marrone needs to find the right buttons to push, and fast.
