3 positive stats from Jaguars loss to Steelers in preseason Week 2

1. The Jaguars offense is picking up third downs and moving the ball

The Jaguars had the worst scoring offense in the league last year and ranked 29th in third-down conversion rate. Looking back, there were several reasons why they consistently had a hard time moving the ball and picking up a fresh set of downs.

Coaching played a big role and might have been the biggest one. After all, Urban Meyer was overwhelmed and was unfit to run an NFL team. You could make the case that this writer is beating a dead horse but the truth is that Meyer did more bad than good during his short stint with the Jaguars.

Also, there weren’t enough offensive pieces in 2021 to move the ball effectively and put points on the scoreboard. Fortunately, the team’s brass took care of both issues in the offseason. The Jags hired Doug Pederson as the head coach and made several important acquisitions in free agency including wide receivers Christian Kirk and Zay Jones, and the draft. Against the Steelers, Jacksonville’s revamped offense got the chance to show they can do.

The Jaguars’ offense finished the game with a 50 percent efficiency rate on third downs and moved the chains 17 times (plus two extra from penalties). Those are pretty solid numbers and definitely an improvement from last year.

Of course, there’s still work to be done and the Jags must now work on finishing drives and scoring more often if they want to win more games in 2022.