The Jacksonville Jaguars are in the playoffs for the first time in five years, but oddsmakers don’t think their Cinderella story will end with a trip to the Super Bowl.
Despite a five-game win streak to end the season and win the AFC South, the Jaguars are 50-to-1 to win the Super Bowl on BetMGM. Only the New York Giants, Miami Dolphins, and Seattle Seahawks are the only three teams considered to be bigger long shots.
While the Jaguars enter the postseason on a roll, the team still squeaked into the postseason with an underwhelming 9-8 record.
Here are five areas where Jacksonville needs to improve if it hopes to do damage and potentially make a run at the Super Bowl:
Stop with all the fumbling
The only team that lost more fumbles this season was the Indianapolis Colts.
Trevor Lawrence fumbled away nine possessions this season, although that number was mostly due to his awful four-fumble game in the rain against the Philadelphia Eagles. Still, Lawrence was credited with at least one fumble in each of the Jaguars’ last four games of the year.
Then there’s Travis Etienne Jr., who has been far from sure-handed in his first season on the field.
Lawrence has been good about avoiding interceptions in his second NFL season. If the Jaguars can just hang on to the ball, it’d go a long way toward limiting the opportunities afforded to opponents.
Keep a lid on opposing running backs and tight ends
There’s a lot to like about the Jaguars defense. It finished seventh in opposing yards per rushing attempt (4.2) and it has a very reliable pair of cornerbacks on the outside in Tyson Campbell and Darious Williams.
But the Jacksonville defense allowed the fifth most passing yards largely because it has been picked apart by opposing running backs and tight ends.
With players like Austin Ekeler, Travis Kelce, Mark Andrews, and Joe Mixon among those in the AFC who are more than capable of picking apart opposing secondaries, the Jaguars need their reconfigured secondary and linebacking corps to correct their issues in the middle of the field.
Get some sacks
The Jaguars pass rush finished the year with only 35 sacks, seventh fewest in the NFL.
Fortunately for Jacksonville, the trio of Josh Allen, Travon Walker, and Arden Key were giving opposing quarterbacks hell in the last few games of the season.
Their pressure rate of 54.3 percent in Week 17 was the best performance from the team in a game since 2017 and they had similar production in Week 18.
Still, Allen led the team with only six sacks on the year. The Jaguars need their pass rushers to keep trending in the right direction and turn their pressures into sacks.
Find some consistency on the ground
The Jaguars finished the regular season ninth in yards per carry and Travis Etienne Jr. became only the fourth player in franchise history to finish a season with at least 1,100 rushing yards.
Those numbers suggest a consistent and plodding rushing attack, but that wasn’t the case.
Etienne averaged upwards of 5.4 yards per carry in seven games. Four times, he didn’t even crack 2.5 yards per attempt. In the Jaguars’ regular season finale, Etienne managed only 32 carries on 17 attempts against the Titans.
In Etienne, the Jaguars have a big play back capable of breaking free for a huge chunk at any moment. But Jacksonville can’t have its run game disappear entirely like it did at times in 2022.
Seize scoring chances
The Jaguars offense did a lot of exciting things in 2022 with Trevor Lawrence, Travis Etienne, Christian Kirk, Evan Engram, and Zay Jones making for a potent combination.
You could easily make the argument that they should’ve accomplished more, though.
The Jaguars were 19th in touchdowns per red zone trip (53.4 percent) and blew more than a couple gimmes.
big miss pic.twitter.com/cO1ucOklQJ
— Laurie Fitzpatrick (@LaurieFitzptrck) January 8, 2023
….Etienne with a huge drop pic.twitter.com/yXlAqXtKU0
— Laurie Fitzpatrick (@LaurieFitzptrck) September 11, 2022
The margin for error in the playoffs is pretty slim. When chances to get points present themselves, the Jaguars need to be ready to take advantage.
