The Jacksonville Jaguars lost to the Houston Texans in Week 1 of the 2021 NFL season. Now, nobody expected the Jags to go undefeated, and if you know someone who does, tell them there may be a bridge in Brooklin he may be interested in buying.
The problem isn’t that the Jaguars lost but rather that they did it in an embarrassing fashion. Their offense couldn’t keep up with the Texans and their defense had no answers for quarterback Tyrod Taylor. Looking back, there are many things that went wrong. In particular, three stats explain why Jacksonville dropped their first game of the season.
1. The Jacksonville Jaguars couldn’t tackle.
The Jaguars allowed a 63.7 percent completion rate against Houston. There are some passes you will never come close to defending but if you allow them, at least tackle the player that caught the ball. The Jags’ inability to defend the pass was concerning but so was their dreadful tackling.
In total, Jacksonville’s defense missed nine tackles in Week 1. Many times, players were in a good position to make plays but instead of stopping the Texans cold, they gifted them a fresh set of downs. Cornerback C.J. Henderson missed two tackles and so did defensive tackle DaVon Hamilton.
One of the Jaguars’ most egregious missed tackles came near the end of the second quarter. The Jaguars were trailing 20-7 and the Texans had the ball on their own 40-yard line. On third-and-1, Taylor dropped back and Chaisson could have brought him down. Instead, he missed the tackle and allowed the quarterback to complete a 52-yard reception to wide receiver Brandin Cooks that set Houston’s next touchdown pass, which gave them a 27-7 lead before halftime.
Cornerback Shaquill Griffin gave up the reception but if Chaisson had sacked Taylor, the Jags would’ve killed the drive and would have gone into halftime trailing a more manageable 13 points instead of 20.
2. The Jacksonville Jaguars ran the ball just 16 times in Week 1.
Heading into the regular season, the Jaguars’ running back room run looked like a strength. Even though Travis Etienne is out for the season, they still James Robinson, who showed in his rookie campaign that he can carry a heavy workload.
Knowing Jaguars’ offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell’s preference for running the ball, it was reasonable to think that Robinson would get a heavy workload in Week 1. Instead, the former Illinois State product got just five carries and 11 total touches. Why would you not make a Pro Bowl-caliber running back a bigger part of your offense?
Meanwhile, quarterback Trevor Lawrence threw 51 passes! Had the Jaguars gotten into a shootout with the Texans, it might’ve made sense for the coaching staff to have their rookie quarterback drop that amount of times. However, Jacksonville trailed for more than 20 points in the second half. Head coach Urban Meyer told the local media Monday that he never felt like they were out of the game. If that’s the case, the Jags should’ve kept feeding Robinson the ball.
Keep in mind that the Jaguars averaged almost five yards per carry. They abandoned the run by choice, not because they weren’t having success at it. To make matters worse, veteran Carlos Hyde got more carries than Robinson. You simply can’t win football games if you don’t get your best players the ball. The Jags can’t afford to become one-dimensional once again and have to craft a better, more balanced game plan for Week 2.
3. The Jacksonville Jaguars gave up big plays at an alarming rate.
You can’t give up as many plays as Jacksonville’s defense did in Week 1 and expect to win. Cornerback Shaquill Griffin surrendered that 52-yard reception to wide receiver Brandin Cooks before halftime but he wasn’t the only Jaguar that struggled in coverage. C.J. Henderson just allowed one reception but it went for 32 yards. The same is true for safety Andrew Wingard, who surrendered just one pass but it traveled 29 yards.
The worst offender might have been rookie Tyson Campbell. The Georgia product gave up every single pass thrown his way, including a 40-yard completion. The Jaguars’ secondary should get a boost when Tre Herndon returns to the lineup. He’s currently nursing an MCL injury and is week-to-week. In the meantime, secondary coach Tim Walton needs to work with Campbell and help him improve his ball skills. The rookie has trouble tracking the ball when it’s on the air. Also, the team’s brass surely wants a better return from the investment they made in Griffin this offseason.
Then again, not everything falls on the back seven. Outside linebacker Josh Allen, who logged the Jaguars’ lone sack of the game, was their only defensive player that constantly applied pressure upfront. You can’t simply stop opposing quarterbacks if you don’t constantly rattle them and force them into making bad throws. Jacksonville’s front seven’s got to help the secondary moving forward. Having an efficient pass rush would help the back seven perform better.