Christian Kirk manages to score but Jaguars still trailing Chiefs

Things haven’t gone the way the Jacksonville Jaguars probably expected in Week 10 and are trailing the Kansas City Chiefs 21-7 at halftime. On the bright side, safety Andre Cisco got a massive break when he wasn’t flagged for a massive hit he laid on wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster. Also, the Jags managed to avoid getting shut out but they still have plenty of ground to make.

It’s been a bad day for the Jags. Although they got off to a strong start and got an extra possession thanks to an onside kick by Riley Patterson, they haven’t managed to score a single point and have not been able to stop the Chiefs’ high-powered offense.

Drops haven’t helped the Jaguars. Wide receiver Christian Kirk had one that could have gotten Jacksonville to the Chiefs’ red zone but he couldn’t hold onto a well-placed pass by Trevor Lawrence. In a later drive, running back JaMycal Hasty also dropped a dump-off that could have given the Jags a first down.

The defense on the other hand had allowed Kansas City’s offense to move the ball at ease. More often than not, their receives and tight end Travis Kelce had plenty of space to work with. Both Kadarius Tooney and Marquez Valdes-Scantling were wide open when they reached Jacksonville’s end zone.

Similarly, the Jaguars’ defense has missed several tackles. Besides Devin Lloyd’s fumble recovery early in the game, one of the few bright spots has been Andre Cisco, who has pulled no punches and has delivered a couple of hard hits. The former Orangeman laid the first one in JuJu Smith-Schuster and for a moment, it looked like he was going to get flagged for it but it wasn’t. The second one landed on Valdes-Scantling but wasn’t penalized either. Here’s the first one, via Laurie Fitzpatrick of Touchdown Wire.

The Jaguars managed to narrow the Chiefs’ lead before halftime

It looked like the Jaguars were going to go scoreless into halftime but wide receiver Marvin Jones Jr. hauled in a 33-yard catch that would end up playing a big role in a five-play, 61-yard drive that ended on a 3-yard touchdown pass by Christian Kirk, who had four catches for 50 yards in the first half.

The Jaguars’ special teams then managed to recover the ball and give it back to the offense before halftime but Riley Petterson missed his second field goal attempt of the game and the Jags finished the first half 20-7.

Even though it’s good to see Jacksonville avoid getting shut out, they’re still trailing the Chiefs by 13 points and if they want to have a shot at coming back the way they did against the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 9, they’ll need to start stopping Kansas City’s offense and cut down the number of drops and missed field goals.