Jaguars vs. Ravens: 3 keys to victory, including gettin Travis Etienne involved
After starting 2-1, the Jacksonville Jaguars have lost six of their last seven games. Things haven’t probably gone the way the Jags expected since they beat the Indianapolis Colts and the Los Angeles Chargers in consecutive weeks but the Trevor Lawrence told the media Wednesday that he and his teammates haven’t lost sight of what they want to accomplish this year.
“We feel like we’ve been focused“, Lawrence said. “We haven’t lost sight of what we’re trying to do. We had some bumps in the road along the way, a tough stretch. And every day, we’ve never really lost that, that vision of what’s in front of us and what we still can accomplish this year”.
“That’s one thing that this team has done a really good job of is keeping that insight and keeping that in front of our mind of what we can accomplish and what’s still in front of us. The same thing, we got back on Monday. Everybody’s ready to work, we’re treating this like a new season, a seven-game season”.
The Jags will next take on the Baltimore Ravens and although making the playoffs in 2022 seems unlikely, they will surely want to get back into the win column and build momentum toward the end of the season.
With that in mind, here are three things the Jags must do to beat the Ravens in Week 12.
3. The Jaguars must contain Lamar Jackson in Week 12
Lamar Jackson was the league’s MVP in 2019 and has become a better passer since then. However, his ability to take off and break off big runs is still there. This season, the two-time Pro Bowl selection has amassed 666 yards on three touchdowns.
Meanwhile, the Jags had struggled to apply enough pressure on mobile quarterbacks in recent weeks. In Week 10, they couldn’t bring Patrick Mahomes down and you could make the case that Jackson is an even better athlete.
Head coach Doug Pederson met the local media Friday and said that the Jags will need to play sound, mistake-free football if they want to contain Jackson.
“He’s a great player, Pederson said. “And listen, you just gotta go play, and just trust your instinct, trust your technique, trust how you’ve been coached during the week and try to corral the guy. He’s a tremendous athlete, both with his legs and throwing the football. You just got to execute your game plan”.
The problem with dealing with Lamar Jackson is that the Jags can’t devote too many resources to keeping him from running the ball. Otherwise, their secondary run the risk of getting torched.