Jaguars keep spiraling down in NFL Power Rankings after loss to Buccaneers

The Jacksonville Jaguars aren't good right now. They've lost four games in a row, and are on the brink of missing the playoffs. As recently as a month ago, they were in the conversation as one of the best teams in the AFC. However, the Jags currently look toothless, and their loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers shows how far they've fallen. Analysts have taken notice and adjusted their power rankings accordingly.

Both the Bleacher Report staff and Mike Florio of Pro Football Focus placed Jacksonville at No. 15. The B/R staff point out that the Jags are at risk of not making the playoffs while Florio wonders if any team wants to win the AFC South. He's not wrong though. The Jaguars lost, but so did the Houston Texans and the Indianapolis Colts, leaving the division up for grabs for at least two more weeks.

Going back to the Jags, they're in free fall, and they don't seem to have the answer to right the ship. They look defeated, and their performance on the field has left much to be desired. At one point in Week 16, they were 30-0. They managed to reach the end zone on two Calvin Ridley touchdowns, but by then, the game was out of reach. Neither the defense nor special teams fared much better.

Kicker Brandon McManus missed a field goal of 50+ plus yards and the defense missed 15 tackles. Moreover, they allowed Baker Mayfield to 74.3 percent of his passes for 283 yards with two touchdowns. Simply, it's hard to get behind this Jaguars team when they continue to fall flat on their face.

The Jaguars are falling short of expecations to end the 2023 season

Pete Prisco has routinely supported the Jaguars, so you know things are bad when he's gotten off the ship. He gave the Jaguars the No. 15 spot in his ranking and didn't have many good things to say. Not long after the loss to the Buccaneers, he said he was wrong about this year's Jags, noting that they have "major issues."

Injuries have exposed their dearth of depth across the roster. This has been an issue on the offensive line and the secondary, and that falls squarely on general manager Trent Baalke's shoulders. He had the chance to bolster the trenches in the offseason but opted not to. The team's lack of pass rush has also been evident, and that's another area Baalke failed to address.

But leaving aside the front office's inability to reinforce the roster, players aren't executing and the coaching staff has failed to put them in a position to succeed. All in all, the Jaguars look uninterested, as if the outcome of the game isn't relevant to them, and head coach Doug Pederson deserves blame for that.

It would be one thing if the Jaguars were playing clean football, but they cannot get out of their own way. They've been plague by mistakes on execution, whether it's drops, or not fulfilling assignments on defense.

There are just two weeks left in the 2023 season, and the Jaguars are trending downward. If the prospect of missing the playoffs isn't enough to wake them up, it's hard to think of something that will.

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