The Jacksonville Jaguars finished up a tough road game against the Carolina Panthers at Bank of America Stadium. This was an exciting battle between two talented young quarterbacks in Panthers quarterback Kyle Allen and Jaguars quarterback Gardner Minshew II.
The Jaguars played exceptionally well on offense with Minshew continuing to wow the football world and doing his best to will the team to victory.
While the Jaguars played hard and put on a gutsy performance, it wasn’t enough as they fell to the Panthers 34-27 in a game that could’ve gone either way.
While the scoreboard didn’t go in the Jaguars’ favor, there were still good moments mixed in with some not-so-great moments for the Jaguars.
Here are the good, bad, and ugly moments from Sunday’s game:
The good: A complete game by the offense
The Jaguars played an offensive masterpiece of a game. Everything clicked and the entire offense ran like a well-oiled machine. Minshew showed great command of the offense and passed for a career-high of 374 yards with two passing touchdowns, both of which went to receiver DJ Chark. The offense in total put up 507 yards, which is their highest total of the season.
Jaguars running back Leonard Fournette finished with 108 yards and a touchdown, making it his second consecutive 100-yard plus performance.
Chark finished with 164 yards receiving and two touchdowns, slowly making his case as one of the best wide receivers in the league. Catches like these surely will help his case:
This Jaguars offense has all the talent needed to be one of the NFL’s most potent. Time will tell if they can keep it up next week against another offensively dangerous team in the New Orleans Saints.
The bad: Struggles with fumbles
Minshew was great, but he wasn’t perfect.
The offensive numbers looked great but the turnover numbers were devastating to the Jags as Minshew was responsible for three lost fumbles. One of those fumbles was returned for a touchdown by Carolina Panthers rookie edge rusher Brian Burns.
Minshew has taken good care of the ball and only had two total turnovers coming into Week 5’s game, however, Sunday’s game represented an uncharacteristic anomaly of turnovers for the charismatic Jaguars quarterback. Those turnovers likely may have played a pivotal role in costing the Jaguars the game.
The ugly: The defense completely letting down the offense
In a game where the offense was almost unstoppable, the Jaguars’ defense failed to do their part in helping out their rookie quarterback.
Panthers running back Christian McCaffrey absolutely ran wild, scoring two rushing touchdowns and catching another one as he finished with 237 yards from scrimmage. One of McCaffrey’s runs was an 84-yard run that was a result of some poor angles from the Jaguars’ linebackers.
If that isn’t enough, McCaffrey briefly had to leave the game due to an ankle injury, yet the Jaguars’ defense did not take advantage as the Panthers’ backup running back Reggie Bonnafon broke free up the middle for a 59-yard touchdown run:
On a day where the Jaguars’ offense was almost flawless and the defense had a wounded Panthers line before them, this was not their finest moment.
McCaffrey is arguably the best running back in the NFL, so there is zero shame in giving up a big game to him. However, when huge plays are given up down the middle due to poor gap control, then that is the problem and that could very well be the reason why this game did not go the Jaguars’ way.
What are some of your good, bad and ugly moments from Sunday’s game against the Panthers? Let us know in the comments below. Also, check out the Jaguars Wire on Twitter and Facebook for more Jaguars news and discussion!
