3 concerning stats from the Jaguars’ loss to the Lions in Week 13

1. The Jaguars put no resistance and the Lions didn’t punt a single time

One of the biggest storylines before the game was that the Lions were planning to use rookie wide receiver Jameson Williams as a gunner on special teams. This was a baffling decision when you consider that the Alabama product had spent most of the year recovering from an ACL injury he sustained in January. This prompted analyst Howie Long to say that this is the kind of thing behind Detroit’s long-time struggles.

But Williams ended up not playing gunner because the Lions didn’t punt a single time in the entire game.

This is the type of stat teams don’t want to be associated with and it will leave a stench looming over the Jaguars. How bad does your defense have to be to fail to stop an offense even once? The secondary has been rightfully under scrutiny but the defensive front shouldn’t get a pass.

Rookie linebacker Chad Muma had 1.5 sacks and defensive tackle DaVon Hamilton registered 0.5 but the Jaguars consistently failed to apply pressure up front (consistently inconsistent?) and Jared Goff had plenty of time to find his receivers. The lack of big plays also hurt, and so does coaching.

Doug Pederson told the media Monday that defensive coordinator Mike Caldwell has done a good job in his first year on the job but he also has room for improvement.

“Mike’s done a good job of organizing a really keeping things together. But on the same side of that, we’ve got to do a better job of coaching and teaching and making sure everyone understands their jobs”, Pederson.

So both the coaches and the players have their work cut out if they want to avoid another collapse in what’s left of the 2022 season.