The Jacksonville Jaguars will be looking to end a two-game losing streak Sunday as they travel to Paul Brown Stadium to face the Cincinnati Bengals. After a forgettable day on offense in which they could only garner two field goals against the New Orleans Saints Week 6, their offense will need to step it up and do so quickly. Luckily, the Bengals have struggled defensively which could help the Jags gain their confidence back as we close in on the halfway mark of the season.
Here are three Jaguars to watch on offense as the team attempts to win their third game of the season:
TE Josh Oliver (if cleared as expected)
It looks as though we’ll finally get to see the Jags’ first selection from the third-round of this year’s draft. Oliver has had a good week of practice while recovering from the hamstring injury he sustained in early August, and man do they need him. The team lost James O’Shaughnessy for the season with an ACL tear Week 5 and Geoff Swaim looks like he’ll miss this week after entering the concussion protocol Week 6.
Oliver is a big addition to the lineup because he was a favorite target of Gardner Minshew II in training camp and before. The absence of a big-bodied target for the short-range passing game is something the rookie quarterback has missed since the absence of O’Shaughnessy, and maybe Oliver could provide that. Additionally, he’ll be up against a Cincinnati Bengals team that just surrendered 99 yards to Baltimore Ravens tight end Mark Andrews and maybe the Jags will look to use similar concepts for Oliver.
RB Leonard Fournette
While Fournette didn’t accumulate 100 yards in the Jags’ last game, the loss can’t be pinned on him as he ran hard and was a threat in the passing game. Simply put, the Saints played well enough to eliminate any big gains out of him like the teams Fournette face previously, which was the difference.
However, things will be different this Sunday. Fournette will be up against the league’s worst rushing defense, as the Bengals have allowed an average of 184.5 yards per game on the ground. After the outing Minshew had against the Saints, look for offensive coordinator John DeFilippo to take advantage of the Bengals’ struggles against the run with Fournette to create opportunities for his young quarterback as a passer. If all goes as it should, another 100-yard performance wouldn’t be a shocker for Fournette.
QB Gardner Minshew II
The rookie that the nation was behind cooled down last Sunday against the Saints and had his toughest outing as a starter, finishing the game 14-of-29 for 163 yards and an interception. The Saints made him play within the pocket and it wasn’t pretty for Minshew, who was previously playing like the league’s Rookie of the Year.
Luckily, he has the opportunity to bounce back with a winless Bengals team coming up Sunday. They’ve given up the second-most yardage in football with a 426 YPG average, which bodes well for the rookie. Additionally, the starting defense looks pretty banged up this week as starting cornerbacks William Jackson and Dre Kirkpatrick didn’t participate in practice the last two days, while safety Shawn Williams has been limited all week. If the Bengals are minus one to two reserves, that bodes well for Minshew to bounce back and the Jags’ receivers corps, who most would say is amongst the fastest in the league.
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