How the Jaguars Offense Is Preparing for Round Two Against the Colts

Amidst a two-game skid, The Jaguars look to bounce back against a familiar foe.

Last week’s 13-6 slugfest against the Houston Texans showed that the Jaguars' offense has a lot of work to do. The unit was able to gain a significant chunk of yards on the ground and in the air but two more turnovers from Trevor Lawrence and the impressive play from the Texans' special teams limited their ability to put up points.

Failing to convert in the red zone was the ultimate killer for the Jaguars' offense. Offensive coordinator Press Taylor stressed the importance of being able to move the ball down to the red zone and set yourself up for scoring opportunities.

“Certainly,” Taylor said. “We want to move the ball every single play, every single opportunity we get. At the end of the day, you got to score points. That’s the what we haven’t been able to do the last couple weeks, or the last two weeks particularly, in the red zone. 

"That’s a big part of it, those are big plays, those are four point plays a lot of times, especially on third down in the red zone. You can never turn the ball over, especially in the red zone. You’re taking points away from your team right there.”

Getting to the red zone is one thing, executing in the red zone is a whole different ball game. Timing is a major factor for the red zone execution to come together and something the Jags are going to need if they hope to triumph over the Indianapolis Colts again.

“I don’t know if I’d say it’s the last piece to come together, but its certainly an aspect that there’s a lot of timing, there’s a lot of chemistry, the field just gets condensed,” Taylor said. 

“All the bodies end up in a little closer proximity. Things happen so fast, windows close so fast. It’s certainly an aspect that we want to continue to improve on. We have not had the success that we need to have in that aspect of our offense. That’s just something we continue to work through.”

For the Jaguars, getting the opportunity to play the Colts for the second time in four weeks leaves a fresh reminder of their last encounter, while giving the team a blueprint to guide their preparation throughout the week. Taylor explained that while the Jaguars did get the upper hand in the first matchup, they will not become complacent and do what must be done in order to come out victorious once again.

“Yeah, the benefits are you have a good feel for their personnel, their schemes, how they want to play, and then I think the fact that we had success in Week 2, you hope the guys bring that confidence to it,” Taylor said. “Until they change the rules and let us carry over 24 points into this game, it really has no bearing on this game right now. It’s a whole new situation. A lot of times the second half of the game gets dictated by the first half of the game, well when you start a new game, all that’s out the window. 

"That has nothing to do with this, it’s about execution, it’s a game of execution, it’s a play-to-play mentality right here. Especially if we’re going to say that the league is week-to-week and we’re going to flush the week before this, we can’t back and say, ‘Well, we did this in Week 2, this is going to work again.’ You got to watch the tape, you got to understand how they evolved in a new scheme as well, and where they’re at in Week 6. Everybody understands our opponent, they’ve made some personnel adjustments as they’ve gone with people, they’ve had injuries up and down, they’ve made some changes in the backend with personnel. It’s on all of us to understand who they are and what they want to do at this point in the season.”