Jaguars winning and winning big

Oct 24, 2017 - 1:51 AM JACKSONVILLE -- Ho hum, another win by more than three touchdowns.

That's actually become more the norm than not this year as the Jacksonville Jaguars have now recorded their four wins all by 22 points or more. But ho hum? Not with this franchise.

Big wins have been anything but common for the Jaguars. You have to go back nine years to total up the last time the Jaguars have won four games by more than 20 points.

That's nine years, 144 games to get four overwhelming wins.

Compare that to the 2017 team that has accomplished the same feat but in only seven games. What else is remarkable about the big wins is where they took place. Three of the four blowouts from 2008-16 took place in Jacksonville.

This year, the four 22-point-plus victories have all come away from EverBank Field, albeit the 37-point win over Baltimore was considered a home game, even though the game was played in London.

Last Sunday's dismantling of Indianapolis was as dominant as the team's other three wins this year. The difference this time was that the Jaguars finally kept the other team off the scoreboard after coming close against both Houston and Baltimore when they allowed just a single touchdown and against Pittsburgh when the Steelers only managed a trio of field goals. It's actually scary to think what the Jaguars could accomplish this year if they maintain this level of play, especially if they start playing like this in their home games.

Sunday's shutout of the Colts, the team's first since a 41-0 win over the Jets in 2006, showed that the Jaguars are likely to be in every game they play the rest of the year, even if their offense doesn't play at the high level it did on Sunday. In the first six games this year, the Jaguars had 23 passes of 16 yards or more, plays that head coach Doug Marrone likes to refer to as "explosive" plays. Against the Colts, the Jaguars had six such plays with quarterback Blake Bortles completing passes for 52, 50, 45, 28, 24 and 20 yards.

This was also the first game that the Jaguars were forced to play through injuries to a number of starters, in this case all on offense. Jacksonville was already without its best receiver in Allen Robinson who suffered a season-ending torn ACL on the first series of the first game. It's best offensive lineman, Brandon Linder, missed his third consecutive game due to an unspecified illness.

The team's rookie sensation, running back Leonard Fournette, was a game-time scratch due to a sprained ankle while the best lineman during Linder's absence, rookie left tackle Cam Robinson, suffered a sprained ankle on the second play of the game and was forced out for the rest of the game. Four key members of the team's offensive attack out for virtually the entire game and yet the Jaguars still scored three touchdowns and converted two field-goal attempts and did not punt until the fourth quarter when the game was well in hand.

The biggest story coming out of the Indianapolis game from an offensive standpoint is how the Jaguars adjusted their attack from a strong running game to utilizing the passing attack. Bortles was on target and showed that going forward, teams won't be able to load up to stop the run and ignore the pass. It's bound to strengthen all aspects of the offensive attack that head coach Doug Marrone likes.

"I think when you do it once, people look at it. They're going to make you prove it again," Marrone said. "You know, and I think when you do it again, I think people are going to look at it and say, 'Well, see if you can do it against us.' You know, and when you do it again, people are going to say, 'Well it's not going to be against us.' I think it's one of those things that you just have to go out there and you have to prove it each week. We have to do a good job of balance of how we're putting together the plans."

--The Jaguars ran their sack season total to an NFL-best 33 on Sunday when they recorded 10 sacks for the second time this season. Jacksonville first established a team record in the season opener against Houston when they recorded 10 sacks. Sunday's effort matched that total and enabled the Jaguars to join two other teams -- the 1984 Chicago Bears and the 1967 Oakland Raiders - as the only NFL teams with multiple games of 10 sacks or more in the same season.

The effort against Indianapolis came from seven different players. Like they've done all season, defensive ends Yannick Ngakoue and Calais Campbell led the charge with 2.5 and 2.0 sacks respectively. That hiked Campbell's total to 10.0 for the season, a career-high and best in the NFL after Week 7. Dante Fowler and Malik Jackson both finished with 1.5 while Myles Jack and Sheldon Day had one sack each and Eli Ankou was credited with half a sack.

Jackson gave credit to the secondary for their tight coverage that enabled the guys up front to have a field day with Indianapolis quarterback Jacoby Brissett.

"We have to take our hats off to those guys on the back end," Jackson said. "They're doing a hell of a job locking guys down and giving us extra time to work. We realize that our first rush doesn't win a lot so you have to get your second and third opportunities to beat the guy in front of you. That's when we're getting to the quarterback. We just got to take our hats off to the guys in the back end -- definitely the best group in the league."

Right back at you says strong safety Barry Church. He gives credit to the strong pass rush that makes life a lot easier for the guys in the secondary.

"It's amazing. Like they say, 'rush and cover'. We're back there clamping those guys up and those guys are up there eating, coming off the edge, sacking the quarterback - it's a beautiful thing," Church said. "If we can keep that going, it's a perfect formula for us. Run the ball on offense, play ball control offensively and dominate on defense - that's definitely a formula for success. We just have to be more consistent and keep it going."

--It's hard to fathom that the Jaguars have scored a touchdown or kicked a field goal on their opening drive in all but one of their seven games this season. That's a franchise record for seven games, bettering the previous mark set in 1997 when Jacksonville scored on its opening drive five times in the first seven games that season. This also represents the most opening-series scores in a single season since 2010 when the Jaguars finished with six. It leaves the Jaguars needing to score on their initial possession in just three of their remaining nine games to establish a new single-season franchise mark, bettering the current standard of eight such games set by the 2009, 2007 and 1997 teams.

Jaguars quarterback Blake Bortles said it's a matter of paying attention to detail that has enabled the Jaguars to get off to the fast start in most games this season.

"I think guys are pretty locked in and have a really good idea of what we're running, when's it going to be called, what look, who we're going to get," Bortles said. "So I think guys are pretty locked in and focused on that. It's something that we've talked about for a long time in Jacksonville the past couple years for sure, being able to start fast and we haven't always been able to do that so I think for us to be able to take the next step and be able to do that this year has been big."

--All week long, Bortles had been told that if the Colts brought too many defenders up close in order to shut down the running game, Bortles would have the option of changing plays and going with a pass route. Indianapolis did just that and Bortles responded accordingly, throwing for a team record 282 yards in the first half alone, completing 14-of-20 passes. With the game safely in hand at halftime, Bortles and the Jaguars were able to concentrate on the running game in the final 30 minutes. He only threw six passes in the second half, completing four for 48 yards.

NOTES: RB Leonard Fournette was a game-time scratch due to the ankle injury he suffered the previous week against the Los Angeles Rams. With the Jaguars now enjoying their bye week, Fournette should be at full strength for the next game against Cincinnati on Nov. 5. ... LT Cam Robinson went down with an ankle injury on the second play of the game and did not return. ... WR Allen Hurns had his best production of the season with five receptions for 101 yards. It marked the first time that Hurns had reached 100 reception yards since 2015 when he surpassed the century mark five times. ... RB T.J. Yeldon finished with a career-best 122 yards rushing, the third time in his three NFL seasons that he's finished in triple digits. The first two came in 2015 when he rushed for 105 yards at Indianapolis and when he went for 115 three weeks later against Buffalo. ... T Josh Wells replaced Cam Robinson at left tackle and played the rest of the game at that spot. It was Wells' longest game action in his four NFL seasons. ... K Josh Lambo got into the Jaguars record book in his debut with the team on Sunday. Lambo converted both of his field-goal attempts and made all three extra points to finish with nine points, the most points by a Jaguars kicker in his first game with the franchise. ... WR Keelan Cole's 52-yard reception was the longest pass completion by the Jaguars this season. It was almost matched later in the game when Blake Bortles teamed with Marqise Lee on a play that covered 50 yards.



REPORT CARD VS. COLTS

--PASSING OFFENSE: A - Even before it was known that Leonard Fournette wouldn't play in this game, there was talk that the Jaguars would need to open up the passing game more to keep teams from loading up the line of scrimmage with defenders. Bortles welcomed the news with one of the best games of his career, connecting on 18-of-26 (69.2 percent) for 330 yards, both season-best marks this year. His fade pass to Marcedes Lewis in the corner of the end zone was picture-perfect while the 52-yard completion downfield to Keelan Cole was near-perfect. Bortles didn't throw an interception for the third time this year and his one sack marked the fourth time he's been sacked one time or fewer. The passer rating of 123.7 was one of his best ever, topped only by a 128.2 mark against Baltimore in the third game this year and three marks of 124 or higher in 2015. Three of his completions against the Colts were for 45 yards or longer.

--RUSHING OFFENSE: A - With Fournette sitting out and with the team's top lineman thus far, left tackle Cam Robinson going out with an ankle injury on the second play of the game, it wouldn't have been a surprise for the ground game to sputter. Just the opposite however, as Josh Wells replaced Robinson at tackle without any dropoff and T.J. Yeldon responded with his first game action this season by gaining 122 yards on nine carries. With starter Chris Ivory adding 47 yards, the Jaguars combined for a team total of 188 yards, slightly above their NFL-leading average of 165.8 per game. Yeldon's 58-yard run was his career long and marked the team's fourth rush of more than 50 yards this season.

--PASS DEFENSE: A-minus - Granted Indianapolis QB Jacoby Brissett passed for 200 yards, but at the end of the third quarter when the game was fairly secure with the Jaguars holding a 27-point lead at that time, Brissett had passed for just 76 yards. In the fourth quarter when the Jaguars were content to give up completions for moderate gains in front of them, Brissett added 124 yards to his total. More important, the secondary knocked away any passes in or close to the end zone. The secondary went a second straight game without adding to their league-leading total of 10 interceptions, but they covered receivers close enough that Brissett often couldn't find anyone open, thus resulting in a franchise-tying record of 10 sacks.

--RUSH DEFENSE: B - The Jaguars allowed 96 yards in 20 attempts (4.8 per carry), but the Colts never managed to put together a consistent ground attack. They had only two rushes of more than 10 yards - a pair of 14-yarders including one on a scramble by Brissett. Jacksonville's defensive front did a good job of penetrating with several tackles behind the line of scrimmage. They were effective in not allowing Brissett to escape the pocket and get to open areas where he can use his speed and elusiveness to pick up chunks of yardage. No Colts running back had much success as none of the three backs were able to gain more than 35 yards.

--SPECIAL TEAMS: A-minus - That's a significant upgrade after last week's F-minus grade. There was extra work put into this unit after last week's disaster against the Rams where the Rams scored touchdowns on a kickoff return and a blocked punt. Throw in a pair of missed field goals and a 16-yard punt that led to a Rams field goal four plays later and it's easy to see how this grade could go nowhere but up. The Jags hopefully corrected one aspect of the special teams by replacing kicker Jason Myers with Josh Lambo. He made a good first impression by converting three straight extra points and hitting field goals from 42 and 33 yards. Brad Nortman's first punt was a 61-yarder and didn't come until the fourth quarter. The only special teams flaw was allowing a 36-yard kickoff return by the Colts' Quan Bray.

--COACHING: A - The win marked the third time this year that the Jaguars have responded with a solid showing resulting in a win after losing the week before. Preventing successive losses is key in mounting a drive towards a divisional title, but somewhere along the way, the coaching staff will have to find a way to put together back-to-back wins. And the staff will have to figure out how to win at EverBank Field where Jacksonville is winless in two games. The coaching staff had advocated all week how important a win was Sunday in order for the Jaguars to enter their bye week on a winning note and a guaranteed portion of first place in the AFC South. Offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett continues to deploy a mixture of runs and passes and has shown a knack of making good adjustments depending on opponent's defensive schemes. He's done a good job of alternating the running backs, keeping them fresh and using them at the right time. Defensive coordinator Todd Wash has his unit playing at a peak level, especially in putting pressure on quarterbacks while not having to blitz too often.