Cardinals 31, Jaguars 19: Game Balls

Who gets this week's game balls for the Jaguars' Week 3 loss to the Arizona Cardinals? We examine the candidates and break them down below.

The Jacksonville Jaguars are getting closer, but not to the point where they need to be. After a 31-19 loss to the Arizona Cardinals in which the Jaguars held a lead consistently, only to give up a nine-point lead in the middle of the second-half, there are plenty of positives and negatives to take away from the Jaguars' Week 3 loss. 

With the 0-3 Jaguars now moving forward to a Week 4 Thursday Night Football clash, we take a look at which Jaguars stood out in a positive way on Sunday, and what it means moving forward.

Offense

Shipley: James Robinson had a terrific game as both a receiver and runner and Marvin Jones was once again a reliable security blanket for rookie quarterback Trevor Lawrence. But instead, I am going to go with right tackle Jawaan Taylor. The third-year right tackle had an encouraging game against the Denver Broncos in Week 2 and then was even better in Week 3, even when tasked with Chandler Jones. Things will get only slightly easier in Week 4 against the Bengals, but Taylor has so far seemingly taken the step the Jaguars needed him to at right tackle. 

Hill: Good things happen when James Robinson is given the football. After two weeks of coaches promising the run game would get more attention, it finally happened on Sunday—at least relative to what it had been. Of the Jags 66 offensive plays, 29 were rushes for 159 yards and a touchdown. While Carlos Hyde was admirable with 44 yards on eight carries, it was Robinson who provided a spark in the ground game. He finished with 15 carries for 88 yards and the score. He also caught six passes, on six targets no less, for 46 yards.

Head Coach Urban Meyer called Robinson "fantastic" after the game and he was just that. On one eight-play touchdown drive, Robinson had six carries for 66 yards and the score. Perhaps most notable about Robinson's performance? He averaged 5.9 yards per carry. That's a positive every way it's sliced. Maybe now that coaches have seen him give the Jags a chance to change the game and win, he'll receive even more snaps next week. 

Defense

Shipley: This is a tough one. The Jaguars had a good overall showing in the first-half thanks to team defense, before allowing too many big plays and conversions in the second-half. I am going to go with Andrew Wingard, who recorded the Jaguars' first interception  and turnover of the entire 2021 season. Wingard missed a few tackles in space but he overall had a terrific day in coverage and was able to completely limit yards after the catch, attacking underneath routes with good timing and ferocity. Wingard had a second good game in a row on Sunday, and is starting to distance himself in the running for the starting safety role.

Hill: You'd be hard-pressed to find a player who goes harder on defense than linebacker Myles Jack. A team captain yet again, Jack knows it's his duty to pull together this hodgepodge defense. The offensive side of the ball can subsist on individual performances a little more. Defense can't operate with independent contractors. But on a defense made up of more new faces than not, individual performances are a danger while guys develop chemistry. Jack does a great job—as much as possible anyways—keeping guys in position, moving them around and injecting energy when it's needed most.

He flies to the ball, sideline-to-sideline, and as such came away with a team-high 10 tackles. 

Special Teams

Shipley: Jamal Agnew, because who else? The Jaguars have one of the best punters in the league in Logan Cooke and Rudy Ford has been a terrific gunner, but Agnew is arguably the best return man in the NFL right now. He seemingly got out of his early funk from Week 1 and the start of Week 2 and has now dominated special teams with two consecutive games with a return touchdown of at least 100 yards. Agnew made it look easy on a 109-yard touchdown and seemingly looked likely to go the distance from the moment he had the ball, which is a wild reality.

Hill: Jamal Agnew is a given and his 109-yard missed field goal touchdown run may be one of the best special teams plays we see in the NFL all year. But Rudy Ford deserves all the recognition he can get, because he is changing the Jags special teams. Sunday versus the Cardinals was no different. From his spot on the ST coverage units, Ford made it a habit of not giving the Cards any room in which to start a return. Logan Cooke punted six times. Arizona's Rondale Moore only returned two of those (average 13.5 yards per game) with Ford forcing him into fair catches on a couple. He even beat the punt once, standing in front of Moore, daring him to move.

Perhaps Ford's best special teams moment of the day though came late in the first quarter. A Cooke punt hit the sweet spot just between the 20-yard line and the endzone (for a touchback). Ford, yet again, was ready and waiting, downing the punt at the 5-yard line. The Cardinals were forced into a three-and-out from the spot.

Between Cookie, Agnew and Ford, the special teams unit is arguably a place kicker away from being the Jags' best side of the ball, top to bottom. And yes, we know how weird that place kicker line feels to say.