Jacksonville Jaguars Wednesday Warm-up: Touchdowns, not field goals
By Daniel Lago
Before last Sunday’s disappointing loss to Philip Rivers and the San Diego Chargers, the Jacksonville Jaguars had won 3 of their last 4 games despite playing less than stellar football. The Jaguars won those 3 games by a combined 11 points, including a win against the Baltimore Ravens that happened solely because of one of the most zany endings in the history of the NFL.
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One of the reasons that Jaguars can’t pull ahead of teams and stay ahead is their inability to get touchdowns when they get in the redzone. The Jaguars 41.67% touchdown rate in the red zone is
, ahead of only Cleveland and San Francisco. Before scoring the garbage touchdown at the end of the Chargers game, the Jaguars had an embarrassing streak of redzone failures to their name:
Three TDs in last 14 red zone trips for #Jaguars O. ... Myers 28FG cuts Chargers lead to 21-12.
— Ryan O'Halloran (@ryanohalloran) November 29, 2015
Jaguars score in red zone! Bortles to Robinson for 8 yards. Chargers 31, Jaguars 25 (missed extra point)
— Mark Long (@APMarkLong) November 29, 2015
In the Buffalo Bills game in London, the redzone woes were highlighted by Toby Gerhart‘s inability to get into the endzone from 2 yards out with 4 straight runs. In the Jets and Ravens games, the Jaguars tried to mix it up with some passes near the goalline to no avail. Then in the win against the Tennessee Titans on Thursday night, the Jaguars inexplicably handed the ball to Denard Robinson 3 straight times near the goalline.
Last week? The Jaguars didn’t give it to a running back at all near the goalline. While the coaches did call some run plays, Bortles checked out of them each time.
Bradley says there were two calls that had run-pass option in red zone and Bortles went pass instead of going to Yeldon. #Jaguars
— Michael DiRocco (@ESPNdirocco) November 30, 2015
Next: Jaguars vs. Chargers Superlatives
The Jaguars seem to have a different issue each week when they get to the redzone and it finally cost them a game outright last week. The Jaguars should have had at least 24 points after their opening second half drive against the Chargers – instead they finished with 12 thanks to 4 Jason Myers field goals.
With weapons like Allen Robinson, Julius Thomas, Allen Hurns, and T.J. Yeldon all at his disposal, it’s astonishing that Blake Bortles is struggling so much to get the ball in the endzone.
This week, the Jaguars absolutely have to capitalize against the Titans when they get to the goalline. The Jaguars almost lost their Thursday night game to the Titans due to their inability to get touchdowns and it’s unreasonable to expect the defense to keep the Titans to 13 points again. The Jaguars need to score touchdowns instead of field goals on Sunday to avoid their 8th loss of the season.