Jacksonville Jaguars: In Gardner Minshew We Trust

The Jacksonville Jaguars defense dominated Thursday night’s game against Tennessee, but quarterback Gardner Minshew kept the team rolling on offense.

It’s a good thing the Jaguars do not have to rely on Gardner Minshew to win football games, but it’s nice to know the rookie has been a steady influence in the offensive scheme since stepping onto the field in the first half of Week 1 of the NFL season.

Minshew’s cult-like following aside, the sixth-round pick out of Washington State has been better than when the coaching staff had hoped for and Thursday night was just another step in the neophyte’s education as an NFL quarterback. Two early touchdowns and steady play down the stretch was the perfect balance to a defense that registered nine sacks in a 20-7 win over the Tennessee Titans.

Getting the first win of the season for Jacksonville was important. Beating a division rival was even better. I know many fans hate when writers say this, but the Jaguars should be 2-1 at the moment with road games ahead of them that are winnable at both Denver and Carolina. But with the victory on Thursday night and the defense playing at a level that resembles 2017 – which also seems so long ago – the balance for Minshew and this offense is that much easier to deal with.

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The Jaguars are still searching for better offensive line play and more out of running back Leonard Fournette, who was the only running back on the field Thursday night.

"“It was awesome to experience it with these guys,” Minshew said after the game Thursday night. “We’ve been battling our tails off getting closer and closer and to finally do it on our home field, it was a lot of fun.”"

Fun is the operative word here. Nothing was fun about a 5-11 season in 2018. After a 3-1 start, the bottom fell out and everything was saturated in losing. The best thing was to move forward, erase the awful memories and change the narrative. It wasn’t supposed to be Minshew making those changes, but since Nick Foles is dealing with a fractured collarbone, the former Cougar hero has been thrust into the spotlight and he has delivered with moxie and patience.

The Jaguars haven’t had a quarterback with this much presence in the huddle in years.

"“Minshew, whose mustache and personal style has endeared him to not only Jaguars fans but NFL fans overall, on Thursday followed an impressive performance in his first NFL start in Houston a week before with an equally impressive performance,” John Oehser of Jaguars.com added."

Minshew has a 110.6 quarterback rating, which in itself is impressive. He also has five touchdowns and one interception, meaning he is making good decisions and not putting the football in places where mistakes can happen. His ability to move around in the pocket is also creating more plays downfield and avoiding sacks – which could kill drives given the offensive line is still a work in progress.

Minshew has been dropped only five times so far.

Now comes the true test of a rookie quarterback to take a big win and parlay it with a big road trip to Denver where despite the Broncos issues so far this season, is a tough place to play and win. The emergence of DJ Chark and Chris Conley in the passing game has helped make Minshew’s job easier.

It’s now just a matter of all three weapons on offense continuing to perform at a high rate as the team moves forward to the next two weeks before returning home to face the New Orleans Saints.