The Jacksonville Jaguars had no trouble putting the Cleveland Browns away in the season opener, easily cruising to a 34-10 win. However, Week 1 is in the rearview mirror, and the Jags are now fully focused on making the trip to Mile High to face the Denver Broncos in Week 2.
Although the Broncos are still licking their wounds after their humiliating 31-10 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in the opener, they're an opponent that Jacksonville cannot afford to take lightly. After all, Denver reached the AFC Championship last year and is simply too talented to come crashing down.
The good news is that the Jaguars have enough talent on both sides of the ball to pull off the upset at Empower Field. One key to leaving with a win will be to contain running back J.K. Dobbins.
The Jaguars defense must neutralize J.K. Dobbins, put the game on Bo Nix's shoulders
The Jaguars had the No. 1 defense against the run last season, and they're off to a great start in 2026, giving up just 88 rushing yards on 22 carries. It's also worth noting that 36 of those yards came courtesy of Deshaun Watson.
When you remove the 36 yards Watson racked up on six scrambles, the Jags allowed just 49 yards to Cleveland's running backs. If they can put together a similar performance against J.K. Dobbins and the Broncos' backfield, their odds of winning will increase substantially.
As a team, the Broncos racked up 55 rushing yards on 11 carries against the Chiefs. Dobbins got eight of those totes and would have had more touches had the game been closer.
Dobbins has now played 11 games for Denver and averaged 73.5 rushing yards per contest. It's fair to say that he will be a focal point of the offense in Week 2. Fortunately, the Jags have the recipe and a player to counter him.
Nose tackle DaVon Hamilton doesn't get the spotlight often because he isn't great at generating pressure on the interior, but he's second to none when it comes to stuffing the run. Ham will be a pivotal piece in the defensive-game plan to stop Dobbins. Heading into Week 2, Head coach Liam Coen talked about just how much of a difference-maker Hamilton is, pointing out that he had a huge impact in the opener despite the fact that his production didn't pop off the stat sheet.
"Just making my cut up now for tomorrow morning's meeting, and just going through the Browns game again, and just seeing how many plays he actually impacted and what he did," Coen told the media the Friday before the game (2:16 mark). "Maybe didn't make, always have to make the tackle, but he was in on a number of those, and just he's so stout. He plays the two-gap, whatever he's gap and a half. Like he can play it all. He can disrupt if he does need to get into the backfield and pierce things."
Josh Hines-Allen has previously echoed Coen's remarks noting that Hamilton is the heart of the Jacksonville defense.
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By neutralizing J.K. Dobbins, the Jaguars will put lots of pressure on Bo Nix
Bo Nix is coming off an underwhelming performance, and the Jaguars cannot allow him to bounce back. By taking away the Broncos' running game, Jacksonville would be putting extra pressure on his shoulders.
While Nix has made notable progress the past two seasons, he isn't the kind of quarterback who's proven that he can put the team on his shoulders and come up clutch.
This won't be an easy matchup, especially when you take into account that playing in Empower Field will give the Broncos a massive home-team edge. That said, the Jaguars already won there last year and can do it again if they contain J.K. Dobbins and force Bo Nix to beat them.
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