Winners and Losers of the Jaguars' Bye Week
Bye weeks in the NFL can often come at just the right time for a team. Whether it is a team facing injury issues who needs some time to get players back to full health, or a club coming off of a rough game that just needs some time away, the bye week is typically met with welcome arms.
Such is the case for the 4-5 Jacksonville Jaguars, who most recently lost in a 26-3 thumping at the hands of the Houston Texans and have also been facing a case of the injury bug. Thankfully for Jacksonville, the team's Week 10 bye seems to have come at just the right time.
But even with the positivity that is the bye week, there have been some Jaguars who have benefitted from the week off more than others. Which Jaguars are winners from the bye week, and which are losers?
Winner: Nick Foles
This one is obvious. Foles went down with a clavicle injury only 11 snaps into his Jaguars career during Week 1 and was replaced in the lineup for the next eight games by rookie quarterback Gardner Minshew II, but head coach Doug Marrone announced Tuesday that Foles would be the team's starter moving forward into the second half of the season.
For Foles, the bye week couldn't have come at a better time. The first game he has always been eligible to play in following his injury is Week 11 at the Indianapolis Colts, and with Marrone's decision coming early it eliminates that early question of who will start and gives Foles a headstart on preparing for the Colts game. Many pondered if Foles would be able to get his job back from Minshew, so being named the starter so early on in the bye week is clearly a big win.
Loser: Gardner Minshew II
Don't cry because it is over. Smile because it happened. '
Minshew Mania drew to a close for an underdetermined period of time after Foles was handed back the reins of Jacksonville's offense this week. In eight starts Minshew, a sixth-round afterthought, went 4-4 and dazzled Jaguars fans and NFL analysts alike. Unfortunately for Minshew, his worst game came in his final start as he committed four turnovers vs. the Texans in London and this likely made Marrone's decision that much easier.
It always looked like Foles would get his job back once he was healthy enough to play, so it is tough to lay too much blame at Minshew's feet. Foles never actually lost the job to begin with anyways, he simply was held out of the lineup with injury. Nonetheless, the end of Minshew's time as a starter (for now) makes him someone who lost during the bye week.
Winner: Chris Conley
Nobody is theoretically going to benefit more from Foles entering the lineup than wide receiver Chris Conley, as long as he can get out of his own way. With Minshew as the Jaguars' signal-caller, Conley was very uneven despite having a tremendous skillset. He posted 23 catches on 46 targets for 461 yards and two touchdowns with Foles out of the lineup, showing he can flash in big ways with big gains but he also has a bad drop problem.
Conley's traits hypothetically match Foles much, much better than with Minshew. Foles will stand in the pocket and test defenses vertically, giving Conley a chance to outrun defensive backs and use his big body frame to make plays downfield. With Minshew, Conley had to win over the middle of the field and as a possession receiver more, something that just never seemed to suit him. He is a big winner after the Foles decision.
Loser: Tom Coughlin
Hear me out here: Taven Bryan is a really solid interior defensive lineman for the Jaguars this season after having a poor rookie season. And this is significant considering the Jaguars' depth issues at the position.
But when you watch Lamar Jackson make plays like these and remember that Jacksonville's front office, led by Tom Coughlin, willingly passed on Jackson in the 2018 NFL Draft despite having an anchor the quarterback position, it is hard not to wonder what could have been.
Winner: Doug Marrone
Head coach Doug Marrone is a winner of the bye week for two reasons. First of all, his team will be able to use the bye week to get a few key players back from injury. Slot wide receiver Dede Westbrook missed Week 9's game with a neck/shoulder injury, but Marrone expects the uber-important Westbrook to return to practice on Monday. The same exact scenario applies to nickel cornerback D.J. Hayden, who also missed Week 9 with a neck/shoulder injury, but the Jaguars will be getting his services back on Monday as well.
As for the second point, Marrone is a winner at the bye week simply because the Jaguars' season has yet to be put on life support. Despite the Jalen Ramsey fiasco and Foles' injury, Jacksonville is still only one win away from matching their 2018 win total. Marrone deserves the week off for the mostly solid job he has done so far in 2019.
Who do you think has won big for Jacksonville at the bye week? Let us know in the comments below!
