The Jacksonville Jaguars picked up where they left off last year. After finishing 13-4 in 2025, they got off to a strong start this season, easily trouncing the Cleveland Browns in the opener. However, that game is in the rearview mirror. Next, the Jags will travel to Mile High to take on the Denver Broncos in Week 2.
Like Jacksonville, the Broncos were a playoff team last year. In fact, they made it all the way to the AFC Championship, so the Jags cannot afford to overlook them despite the fact that they're coming off a humiliating loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 2. Couple that with the fact that Denver will have the home-field advantage, and leaving Empower Field with a win won't be a walk in the park.
The good news is that the Jaguars matchup favorably against their interdivision foe. Heck, they're loaded with talent on both sides of the ball and have the firepower to go toe-to-toe with Denver. With this in mind, here are three reasons why Jacksonville will beat the Broncos.
The Jaguars have the better quarterback in Trevor Lawrence
Bo Nix has improved the past two years, but he showed in the loss to the Chiefs that he still has a long way to go before he can put the team on his shoulders. Sure, it was Davis Webb's debut as a play-caller. In theory, he should get better as the season progresses, but he'll face several roadblocks. The Jaguars will be one of them.
Meanwhile, Trevor Lawrence is the hottest quarterback dating back to Week 10 of the 2025 season. Since then, No. 16 has thrown for 2,412 yards with a league-high 24 passing touchdowns and just six interceptions. On top of that, he's scored five rushing touchdowns.
You could argue that Lawrence faced several underwhelming teams in that stretch, and you would be right. But he's also taken care of business against the good ones, including the Broncos. Steezy Trev completed 63.9 percent of his passes for 279 yards with nine three touchdowns and no interceptions in Week 15 of the 2025 season. Expect him to have that kind of success again in Week 2.
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The Broncos secondary won't be able to handle the Jaguars' high-octane offense
The Broncos have several talented players on defense. Their pass rush is nothing to scoff at. Zach Allen, D.J. Jones, Alex Singleton, and Jonah Ellis do a great job of getting after the quarterback. On top of that, Denver has a top-5 cornerback in Patrick Surtain II.
Having said that, the Jaguars' offensive line should have no trouble opening lanes in the running game and giving Trevor Lawrence enough time to throw. Speaking of which, there's a chance Jacksonville will have to lean on their running backs to win if it rains, but if it doesn't, Lawrence will have no shortage of targets in the passing game.
And that's the thing: Surtain could take away either Brian Thomas Jr. or Parker Washington, but not both. With Jakobi Meyers, rookie C.J. Williams, and tight ends Brenton Strange and Nate Boerkircher, the Denver secondary will be severely outmatched.
The Jaguars will unleash a new offensive wrinkle vs. the Broncos in Week 2
The Jaguars made it an emphasis in the offseason to fix their stink from last year, a.k.a. their running game. They brought in Brian Picucci as the run game coordinator and drafted Nate Boerkircher to run more two-tight-end sets. Their offensive vision was on full display against the Browns in the season opener.
The Jags ran multiple tight-end sets on 57.2 percent of their offensive snaps in Week 1. That was the second-most in the NFL and a substantial uptick from last year, when they ranked 21st in the league with a 24.9 percent share.
The Broncos simply won't be prepared for what's coming.
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