Jacksonville Jaguars need to regroup after Week 1 loss, 3 takeaways
It was reasonable to think that the Jacksonville Jaguars would have no trouble beating the Houston Texans in Week 1 after watching them make the upgrades in the offseason. But the Jags couldn’t take care of business and lost their first game of the 2021 NFL season. Now, it’s too early to call head coach Urban Meyer’s tenure a failure. After all, there’s is more than enough time for the organization to get on the right path and win games.
However, more was expected from the Jaguars. Although they spent the offseason putting an emphasis on strength and conditioning, the Texans looked like the faster and stronger team on Sunday. Also, there’s no way around Jacksonville’s defense allowing 37 points in Week 1 even though that they bolstered both the defensive front and the secondary.
On offense, the Jaguars looked disjointed and overwhelmed. While running the ball shouldn’t become the identity of this team, you can’t just outright abandon it either and must field a balanced offense. The fact that the fed running back James Robinson the ball just five times is outright puzzling.
Meyer must shoulder most of the blame for the Jacksonville Jaguars’ loss.
The Jags lacked disciplined, committing ten penalties for 82 yards. So what does Meyer think about the teams’ performance? He told the local media that this is a marathon, not a spring, and is on to the Denver Broncos.
"I’ve been warned for a long time that this is a marathon, not a sprint. So calm down, relax, and relax but on onward, soldier, move on. And now, let’s go Monday and get back to work. We’re still a work in progress as you’ve seen, I did not anticipate that today I thought our guys worked really hard. I believe deeply in this team and so we worked our tails over light up and go again."
In theory, that’s a great approach. You can’t simply dwell on a loss too much, and you need to move on at some point. However, the Jaguars must have a sense of urgency moving forward. It’s true that there are still 16 games left on the schedule but if the Jaguars don’t start to fix their flaws right now, it may be too late by the time they do it.
Meyer has been the subject of criticism throughout the offseason, and it will only get loader if he can’t manage to win early and often. Here are a few more observations about the Jaguars’ Week 1 loss.