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Jaguar Report

5 Observations From the Jaguars' Win Over Dallas, Including a Comfortable Lawrence and an Improved Henderson

The Jacksonville Jaguars wrapped up their preseason with a win over the Dallas Cowboys. Offense, defense and special teams all found an efficiency that had been missing in the first two preseason games. We examine the performance to gather these five observations.
Kassidy Hill|
5 Observations From the Jaguars' Win Over Dallas, Including a Comfortable Lawrence and an Improved Henderson
5 Observations From the Jaguars' Win Over Dallas, Including a Comfortable Lawrence and an Improved Henderson

Finally, the Jacksonville Jaguars were able to put together a complete team performance. Finally, they were able to move the offense at a tempo that benefited quarterback Trevor Lawrence. Finally, they were able to stretch the field. Finally, they were able to set the edge on defense.

In the final preseason game before the regular season starts in two weeks, the Jacksonville Jaguars finally won, 34-14, defeating the Dallas Cowboys in dominating fashion. Granted, the Cowboys were sitting a large portion of their starters. But the Jaguars found an efficiency on both sides of the ball, executing with a crispness that should carry over to Week 1 versus the Houston Texans.

That was the primary difference according to quarterback Trevor Lawrence.

"It’s about executing. I thought we had a good plan last week and just didn’t execute, so every week that’s the challenge.”

So how did the Jaguars actually execute? What worked well this week that maybe didn’t in the first two weeks? We examine some of the bigger points in these five observations from the Jaguars' win over the Cowboys.

Lawrence Shotguns the Touchdowns

Trevor Lawrence stayed in for the first three drives of the game, playing all of the first quarter, and finishing the drive that rolled over into the second quarter. On those three drives, he came away with two touchdowns and went 11-12 for 139 yards, finishing with a 154.5 quarterback rating. That’s just shy of a perfect 158.3 rating. Over the course of those three drives, the Jaguars ran 16 plays. Well, technically 17 plays, but a Carlos Hyde touchdown was nullified by a holding penalty.

Of those 17 plays, Lawrence was in shotgun for 15 of them. The two times he was under center, he rolled out right on a naked bootleg off of play action and dumped the ball off to Pharaoh Cooper and James O’Shaughnessy respectively, for a total of 18 yards.

The decision to keep Lawrence in the shotgun—and roll him out the limited times he was under center—was all about keeping him comfortable, loose and moving quick. It’s how he played as a Clemson Tiger, and Meyer wants to see it replicated in Jacksonville. It took three games to get to that point, as the Jaguars kept most of their new playbook close to the chest. But allowing Lawrence time to loosen up and tune up was the larger goal on Sunday.

“It’s just something that obviously that’s what he did in college,” explained Meyer. “We’re gonna be—I liked the rhythm. I liked the fact on 3rd down and four, we took a shot. I’d like to be more aggressive than we’ve been the first two weeks and I thought [Offensive Coordinator Darrell] Bev[ell] did a great job. But we’re gonna do what a player does well.”

Shut the Screen Door

After the first preseason loss against the Cleveland Browns, Head Coach Urban Meyer summed up—quite succinctly—“it was like we never saw a screen before.” It’s been a knock on the Jaguars' defense for some time, and based on the two previous preseason games and practices, looked to be an issue once again. But on Sunday, as the Cowboys attempted to take advantage of the perceived weakness, the Jaguars defenders from Sidney Jones IV to K’Lavon Chaisson, CJ Henderson, Rayshawn Jenkins and others controlled the edge. Defensive lineman Taven Bryan, in his first preseason action, even blew up one opportunity, and Shaquille Quarterman was able to make the tackle.

The Jags' run defense had taken incredible jumps this preseason. That continued on Sunday, holding the Cowboys to 75 rushing yards. Again, this was without starters, and therefore without Ezekiel Elliot. But the execution was there, and being supplemented by sniffing out the screens can be huge for this defense moving forward.

Laviska Shenault? Laviska Shenault.

With Marvin Jones Jr. and D.J. Chark Jr. both out nursing injuries, Laviska Shenault became WR1 for the Jaguars against the Cowboys. He’s always been touted as a versatile wildcat who could make plays from multiple areas on the field. He received more chances to show that on Sunday and on the drive that scored the second touchdown, Shenault did a bit of everything.

On the first play of the second quarter, from the 23-yard line, Lawrence threw a screen to his left for Shenault. The former second-round pick took it 20 yards, stopping just short of the end zone but dragging multiple Cowboys' defenders with him for the majority of the run.

Shenault picked up four yards before getting initially hit but bounced off that defender. At the 15-yard line, corner Nahshon Wright jumped on Shenault's back and he easily carried him to the 10-yard line, at which point they picked up another rider. He then dragged both guys another seven yards, before finally being brought down at the 3-yard line.

After the Carlos Hyde touchdown was called back for holding—thus placing the Jaguars at the 13-yard line—Shenault took a post for another nine yards. The next play, with an empty backfield, Lawrence found Shenault in the corner of the end zone for the score. Shenault had slipped past his man and easily hauled in the over-the-shoulder throw.

He finished with three receptions on three targets, for 33 yards (28 YAC) and a touchdown.

Meyer admits he wanted to see more from Shenault on Sunday, even purposely using him, to see if the receiver could make up for a performance last week in which the coach was not pleased.

“I was really disappointed actually in the first couple—the first game was alright, the second game, not very good. He looked heavy-legged and we’re just really challenging him to take care of himself. We do practice it and one thing is we’re gonna practice hard here always. I felt him, today, we tried to get him the ball a few times before we got him out of the game.”

CJ Henderson Looks Fine

Asked to give his assessment of the defensive performance overall, Meyer specifically said, “I thought CJ Henderson really played well.” The second year corner infamously missed the first part of training camp, but through three preseason games, has worked his way back into a starting role. On Sunday versus the Cowboys, in his limited appearance, he sniffed out two plays for two tackles, coming up out of coverage to stop one short of the chains. His coverage downfield once allowed K’Lavon Chaisson and Dawuane Smoot to get a quarterback hurry, and another time—along with Sidney Jones IV—led to a throwaway from Dallas.

The worry that he might not be able to catch up in time for the season—after missing the second half of the 2020 season and much of the early 2021 offseason with injury—seems to be unfounded. 

Tight Ends Impress

The very first offensive play of the day for the Jags was a shot over the middle to James O’Shaughnessy. The veteran tight end would show up several more times, from being in position for a dump off, staying in the backfield for pass protection and building a box in the middle of the field to haul in a tough pass from Lawrence with two defenders crashing. He finished with three receptions on three targets for 27 yards, averaging nine yards per reception.

Manhertz (84) helped the tight ends move the chains against the Cowboys. Mandatory Credit: Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports

After the tough throw in the middle of the field to O’Shaughnessy, the Jags went right back to a tight end. The next was a pass to the blocking tight end, Chris Manhertz, who nabbed the reception at the sideline, then used his big body to make it 11 yards after the catch, defenders unable to bring him down.

Even Tyler Davis, a second-year tight end who we highlighted as someone needing to impress, hauled in both of his targets to help move the chains for 15 yards total.

The Jacksonville Jaguars now head home and prepare to cut their roster down to 53 men. Week 1 is just two weeks away, with kickoff set for 1pm EST against the Houston Texans on September 12. 

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Kassidy Hill
KASSIDY HILL

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