The Jacksonville Jaguars are ineffective against the Dallas Cowboys

The Jacksonville Jaguars could not find a way to beat the Dallas Cowboys on the road in a game the visiting team needed on Sunday.

The Jacksonville Jaguars headed to AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas for a game against America’s Team.  The Jaguars had a poor game against the Kansas City Chiefs last week and were hoping for redemption.  Instead, disaster struck and the Jaguars played poorly on both the offensive and defensive sides of the ball.

The final score was a dismal 40-7. Frankly there is very little positive to say about this game.

First Half

The Jaguars started with an immediate three and out.  The Cowboys drove 9 plays for 59 yards and kicked a field goal.

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Another three and out for the Jaguars followed by a 7-play 48-yard drive for the Cowboys that culminated in a Dak Prescott 17-yard touchdown pass.

This game was starting to look scary.  The second quarter saw Blake Bortles sacked as the offensive line appeared unable to block.  The previous injuries to the left tackles obviously took their toll.

The Jaguars added to their woes by having 12 men on the field during a Dallas punt giving Dallas a first down.

Prescott followed this with a 17-yard pass to Cole Beasley that finished a 9-play, 84-yard drive. This was basically the end of the game for the Jaguars.

Second Half

Actually the less said about the second half the better as the Cowboys went on to win the game 40-7. The Jaguars had one score. Bortles threw a touchdown pass to Dede Westbrook to avoid a shutout.

While the scoring drive gave Jaguars fans hope, the offense could not find any rhythm again as they were stopped on the very next drive and forced to punt back to the Cowboys.

What went wrong

To start the offense had 64 total yards in the first half.  Most of the yards after that were garbage time yards.  The Cowboys followed the Chiefs philosophy and gave Bortles a very small window In which to throw and stopped the crossing routes.

The defense did not appear to play with the attacking style that made them successful. However, teams have learned ways to take advantage of their aggression and use it against them. Bottom line…they made Prescott look like a combination of John Elway and Russell Wilson.

The offense did little or nothing and as the TV announcers said the offensive problems trickled down to the defense.

Finally, injuries to the left tackles and Leonard Fournette have hurt the offense.  The moves the Jaguars made during the week did not pay dividends yet.

Pointless to go on and on. Bottom line is that adjustments must be made.

What can we do?

First, on offense,  we live and die with the run. We went away from it again.  The game can’t be put in Bortles hands.

Leon Jacobs played very well against the run.  We need to play a defense with Jacobs on the field to stop the run

The defensive players look frustrated but are having to pace themselves because the offensive woes leave them on the field way too long.  The offense needs to make first downs even if they don’t score to give the defense a rest.

Finally, the coaches need to burn the midnight oil to come up with plans to get the team back on track.