The Jacksonville Jaguars have finally hit the mid-way point of their season, and with a win over the New York Jets, they managed to garner a .500 record in the process. When considering the circumstances, that’s not a bad record to have in a tight AFC South division where anything could happen down the stretch.
Here are some takes we came away from Sunday’s game with as the Jags put together one of their best performances of the year in a must-win situation:
Garner Minshew II adds another solid win to his résumé and is now 4-3 as a starter
Week after week Minshew continues to prove he should’ve been drafted higher than where he was. While his Week 8 success came against a one-win Jets team, make no mistake about it — their defense is talented with players like Leonard Williams (before being traded), Jamal Adams and Brandon Copeland to name a few. Still, despite all of them facing off against the rookie with a chip on their shoulders, he was able to prevail.
Minshew made more highlight-reel plays Sunday while acquiring a season-high in touchdown passes with three. One of those touchdowns included a pass where he extended the play and avoided several Jets defenders to hit receiver DJ Chark behind the pylon. It was one of many impressive plays the rookie made and it left fans asking, “What can’t this kid do?”
Minshew also managed to avoid throwing any picks for the sixth time in his short career and got off to a fast start, which is something that has held him back in the past. He ultimately finished the game 22-of-34 for 279 passing yards and a 119.6 quarterback rating. With the Houston Texans coming up, Minshew has one more game to further make his case to become the Jags’ starter but based on how Sunday’s game went, it’s already gearing up to be a hard decision.
Chris Conley shows why he can be an underrated free-agent addition
Minshew wasn’t the only player who played like a madman Sunday as Chris Conley had his best game as a Jaguar. Sure, the bulk of his 103 yards on the day came on the 70-yard receiving touchdown he had, but it was still good to see him get going.
Coming into the regular season, Conley was one of the stars of training camp, but a lot of his success came alongside his teammate from Kansas City in Nick Foles. Up until Week 8, his last trip to the end zone occurred Week 1, so it seems as though he was in a bit of a slump (which partly plays into the Jags’ struggles in the red zone). With Dede Westbrook battling a shoulder/neck injury, hopefully, Conley’s success will continue as the Jags will need him heading into the second half of the season.
The Jags’ pretty much have their defensive line of the future
Jacksonville did what most expected them to do against Sam Darnold, who was behind a battered offensive line. All jokes aside, they didn’t help his issues with settling in the pocket as the team came away with eight sacks on the day.
Of course, fans are well aware of Calais Campbell and his impact. He had another great day and was constantly in the backfield, ending the day with 1.5 sacks. However, it’s the impact of the Jags’ young pass rushers that stood out Sunday.
Both Josh Allen and Yannick Ngakoue had two sacks on the day. To put it simply, the Jets offensive line had no answers for the pair and it showed, especially when they lined up on the same side. Additionally, their performance came after they also terrorized Week 3’s opponents, the Cincinnati Bengals, with Allen registering a sack and Ngakoue registering a pick-six. If the Jags had any doubts about paying Ngakoue and continuously pairing him with Allen, those doubts should be no more.
In addition to their performance, 2018 first-round pick Taven Bryan continued to flash after getting the nod to start for Marcell Dareus. While he only registered one tackle on the day, the stat line did him no justice as he was in the backfield and pushed the pocket often. When looking at the 2019 season as a whole, he’s put a solid body of work together as a disrupter and Jags fans should be excited about his future.
The Jags likely aren’t going to fix their penalty issues and it’s going to cost them against good teams
The Jags had another game where they exceeded seven penalties Sunday, finishing the day with nine. At this point, it appears being a penalized team is something fans will have to live with in 2019 as the Jags currently ranked third in the category with 66. That’s only four penalties from the top spot, which the Cleveland Browns hold.
Luckily, the Jets have discipline problems of their own and hurt themselves even more with 10 total penalties (for 83 yards) on the day. However, if the Jags were facing a more talented overall group, the penalties they endured could’ve resulted in a loss.
With it being the midway mark of the season, it appears that this is something Doug Marrone likely can’t change about the team. If that’s the case, fans should expect their penalty problem to hurt them against the more challenging teams they face, which could make it an uphill battle in their journey to make the playoffs.
There is the possibility of the staff correcting the problem, but it feels like we would’ve already seen improvement in the area by now.
