Jacksonville Jaguars: 5 players who must shine to avoid losing streak

Jacksonville Jaguars player who must shine No. 3 – James Robinson

Running back James Robinson comes across as the kind of player that doesn’t care about racking up individual stats as long as the team wins. The problem with that is that the Jaguars opted not to make him a big part of the offense versus the Texans and still lost the game by 16 points. To make matters worse, the margin of victory might have been larger had the Jaguars not managed to score in the fourth quarter.

Robinson ended up getting just five carries and 11 total touches. It could have made sense to decrease his workload if he hadn’t been playing well but he averaged five yards per carry. To add insult to injury, the coaching staff felt that giving veteran running back Carlos Hyde more carries was a solid strategy.

Hyde is certainly a dependable back who posted a 1,000-yard season as recently as 2019 but Robinson is the better running back, so not giving him the ball more times in Week 1 was rather puzzling. The former Redbird already showed last season that he can carry a big workload.

The coaching staff needs to remember they have a talented running back at their disposal and use Robinson more often (in both the running game and passing game) when they welcome the Broncos. Denver has a stout defensive front that allowed just 60 yards on 20 carries in Week 1. It won’t be easy but the Jaguars’ will need to pound the ball if they want to avoid becoming one-dimensional.