The Jacksonville Jaguars may have been on the road for their last three games, but it was clear that home was anywhere but sweet.
The Jaguars finished up another brutal week against the Tampa Bay Bucs where they were absolutely manhandled by the score of 28-11.
The crowd in attendance witnessed an absolute drubbing at TIAA Bank Field against an opponent that the Jaguars have had the edge over in the all-time series, with a 4-2 record over the Bucs.
There are always positives, even in a game like this, where there seemed to be mostly negatives. Here’s a look at the good, the bad and the ugly of Sunday’s matchup vs. the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
The good: Record setting aplenty
While the Jags didn’t get the desired result on the scoreboard, they did at least find some success in the record books.
Jaguars linebacker Josh Allen would start off the record-setting day by finishing the game with six tackles and a sack. The sack would be Allen’s ninth of the year which would set the rookie franchise record held by Yannick Ngakoue:
Josh Allen has a great chance to eclipse the Jaguars single-season record set by Calais Campbell with 14.5 sacks back in 2017. It would appear that the Jags have found an absolute gem on the defensive side of the ball in the rookie.
The record-setting day continued as Jaguars running back Leonard Fournette set the franchise single-season reception record finishing the game with nine catches for 53 yards. That gave him a total of 65 catches on the year.
While the Jaguars would rather have the win on the scoreboard, they can at least take solace in knowing that these two guys still give it their all in what seems like a lost season for the Jaguars.
The bad: Turnovers aplenty
The Jaguars absoutely did everything possible to not take care of the ball on Sunday. The Jaguars committed four total turnovers in the game, three of which came from Jaguars quarterback Nick Foles.
The wheels started to fall on the Jaguars first possession of the game as Foles was picked off by Buccaneers linebacker Devin White deep in Bucs territory late into the first quarter. The Buccaneers would then score on an eight-play, 69 yard drive with Buccaneers running back Peyton Barber capping it off with a 15-yard run.
Things would get even worse as White would make another appearance by recovering a fumble caused by a crushing hit on Foles from Bucs linebacker Shaq Barrett:
The fumbling woes would continue on the very next drive, as Foles would get strip sacked once again in Tampa Bay territory, but this time by Bucs defensive lineman Carl Nassib. Bucs defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh would recover the fumble.
The downslide of turnovers would continue as Gardner Minshew II would come into the game and throw a pick of his own after throwing a pass that bounced off of Dede Westbrook’s hands and was snagged by Buccaneers cornerback Sean Murphy-Bunting. The turnover would be the third total turnover in Bucs territory.
This was a completely sloppy game from the offense whose turnovers prevented the Jags from potentially putting 21 points on the board.
The ugly: The questions about Nick Foles aplenty
Another week, another subpar performance from Nick Foles.
There have been questions concerning Foles and whether he could get back to being the player fans saw in 2017. Those questions weren’t answered as Foles went only 7-of-14 passing for 93 yards, two lost fumbles and an interception in one of his ugliest games in a Jacksonville uniform. Foles was promptly replaced in the start of the third quarter by Gardner Minshew II, who was a little more serviceable going 14-for-21 for 147 yards and the only Jags touchdown on the day.
The real elephant in the room is Foles’ contract. The Jaguars are on the hook for a guaranteed amount of $50 million that Foles signed for this offseason and his cap hit for 2020 will be slightly over $21 million. Moving on from Foles would be an extremely tall task as it would be extremely difficult for a team to take on that kind of financial burden.
By comparison, Minshew’s 2020 cap hit will be a meager $632,721 if the Jaguars somehow find a way to cut ties with Foles and decide to stick with Minshew.
While the Jaguars have a plethora of issues, it is clear that Foles isn’t helping resolve those issues and it might be time to realize that sooner rather than later.
