Jaguars' 31

Jun 28, 2023

What the Jacksonville Jaguars put on display Saturday night in their final preseason game against the Miami Dolphins confirmed what many of us suspected throughout training camp: This offense is going to be wildly entertaining.

Truthfully — and you can find me guilty of hyperbole in four months if it doesn’t pan out — this Trevor Lawrence-led operation is going to be a nightmare for a lot of NFL defenses.

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Not to say the Jaguars will light up the scoreboard week after week. But if this offense stays relatively healthy, you can almost count on the franchise record of 417 points (2017, aided by seven defensive touchdowns) being broken. Possibly by a lot.

One of the goals offensive coordinator Press Taylor set for what turned out to be a 31-18 Jaguars’ victory — a game suspended when Miami Dolphins receiver Daewood Davis got carted off with an undisclosed injury with 8:32 remaining — was he wanted his unit to be “clean.” The first-team offense did that with one exception.

Remove a Tank Bigsby fumble in the end zone that wasted an exquisite opening drive, and Taylor’s offense pretty much cleaned the clock of Miami’s primary first-team defense on both of its possessions.

Tank’s turnover aside, the Jaguars couldn’t have scripted things any better for what is shaping up to be one of the league’s more dangerous offenses.

Veteran tight end Evan Engram described the offense, other than the Bigsby fumble, this way: "A well-oiled machine."

Two 12-play drives to start the game covered 164 yards (6.8-yard average), with Lawrence getting the ball to every one of his top six weapons. In addition, backup tight end Luke Farrell moved the chains with an 11-yard reception.

"It was a complete day for the offense," said Lawrence. "Ideally, you spread the wealth. It's good to get everybody involved. I think the guys played great."

Without Dolphins’ safety Jevon Holland knocking the ball out from Bigsby’s grasp, the Jaguars’ offense would have been a picture of perfection against a Miami defense that ranked 18th in the NFL last season (337.8 yards per game).

Undoubtedly, the most impressive aspect of the Jaguars’ first-team offense was how effortlessly it moved the ball. Lawrence mostly stayed ahead of the chains, save for a fourth-and-6 conversion on an 8-yard pass to Christian Kirk. He also had to overcome a 1st-and-20 following a holding call on right tackle Anton Harrison, who got beat by linebacker Jaelan Phillips.

What pleased head coach Doug Pederson most was how balanced the offense looked on those two opening drives. Lawrence completed 8 of 10 passes for 92 yards, while running backs Travis Etienne and Bigsby combined for 72 rushing yards on 13 carries.

"They attacked it the right way. That's what we wanted to see on offense, that's what I wanted to see, just the execution," said Pederson. "It started up front with the offensive line. … Both [Etienne] and Tank [Bigsby] did a nice job in the run game, Trevor did a nice job dispersing the football. A fourth-down conversion in there, not many third downs. Overall, I thought it was a really good result for them."

Etienne (9 carries, 39 yards) showed terrific burst, while rookie third-round draft pick Bigsby (6 carries, 37 yards) demonstrated — before and after his fumble — how difficult it’s going to be for just one defender to bring him down.

"It was fun to see the running backs run through arm tackles and get the extra yards," said guard Brandon Scherff. "I thought as an offensive line, we played physical and that's all they ask of us is to just do our job so others can do theirs. We protected Trevor well.

"Coach Pederson put us through a heckuva camp. I feel like our conditioning paid off. Physicality paid off. We're taking a step in the right direction."

As for the rest of the offense, which included a productive night in the second half from backup quarterbacks, receivers and running backs, let’s just say the Jaguars looked ready to go to Indianapolis right now to take care of the Colts instead of waiting for the September 10 season opener.

"The main thing for us is starting fast, we didn't do that in Dallas [against the Cowboys]," said Engram. "We ran the ball very well, and that starts up front. From a whole as an offense, I thought everybody came together. That's what we hope to see in Week 1 and the regular season."

Receiver Calvin Ridley, who had more than his share of wow moments in camp, reinforced the belief that he’s a 1,200-yards-plus season waiting to happen. In two series, Ridley snagged three balls for 50 yards, including a 28-yard reception along the left sideline where he showed nifty footwork to keep both feet inbounds, though officials initially ruled him out before a Pederson challenge overturned it.

There were plenty of other encouraging signs beyond the star cast. Backup quarterback C.J. Beathard hooked up with Tim Jones, who torched cornerback Cam Smith, on a 74-yard touchdown.

Canadian folk hero Nathan Rourke replaced Beathard and had a perfect deep-ball strike to Seth Williams, who put a double move on Ethan Bonner, for a 43-yard gain that set up a JaMycal Hasty 8-yard TD run.

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The defense had some nice moments, too. It got two takeaways on interceptions by a pair of rookie draft picks – fifth-round outside linebacker Yasir Abdullah and sixth-round cornerback Erick Hallett.

There wasn’t much not to like about the Jaguars’ final audition before the 2023 regular season. But nothing was more uplifting to the largest Jaguars’ preseason crowd in owner Shad Khan’s tenure (64,516 tickets distributed) than watching the first-team offense being in midseason form.

Remember, this is a franchise that had the NFL’s lowest-scoring offense (18.13 ppg) from 2011-2021. In Jaguars’ history, it has averaged 25 points per game only twice, 2007 and ‘17.

So to watch an offense in training camp and a good part of an unbeaten preseason show consistent signs of being lethal, it’s no wonder 2023 might be the most highly-anticipated Jaguars’ season for the fan base since 2000.

It's two weeks until the Colts’ defense, run by former Jaguars’ head coach Gus Bradley, will be the first unit to endure a 60-minute assault from Trevor and all those weapons.

It should be fun to watch.

[email protected]: (904) 359-4540; Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) at @genefrenette