I am smiling ear to ear right now.  First, Buffalo lost to New England, which means I won a wager with my obnoxious Bills fan buddy, which means he owes me a steak dinner!  Then, Indy lost and Houston lost.  Almost always good to see those guys lose.  Finally, we beat Denver today in a most thrilling fashion, which means we are in a four way tie for first (I know technically Houston has the lead over us, but wee’re all sitting at 2-2.  Oh yeah, my Bills fan buddy hates the Jaguars, so I’m glad he was wrong about that too.  I’m not a particularly big fan of modern music (more definitive proof I am in the old fart stage of life), but there are two songs that are running through my head on a continuous loop at the moment:  Ice Cube’s “Today was a good day,” and Pharrell’s “Happy!”  My thoughts on the game:

1.           I am now convinced Minshew is the real deal.  He has kept us reasonably competitive in all four of our games, and had us in position to win in Houston.  He had some plays today that showed his tremendous poise, toughness and grit.  The first was a play to Keelan Cole in the second half, where he scrambled around in the pocket, escapes to the right, stays behind the LOS  and completed a key 3rd down pass, and then later in that drive, in almost identical fashion, he scrambles inside the pocket and hits RB Ryquell Armstead for a TD.  Then, on the last drive of the game, Minshew took a hit low (which should have been flagged), endured the pain to his ankle, and had key completions to get the team down the field into Josh Lambo FG range.  Quality and depth at QB are no longer concerns, especially when Foles gets back.

2.           For a year and a quarter, leonard Fournette has taken a lot of abuse from a lot of people.  Many have demanded to know why he was drafted so highly.  People were calling him bust, and gave him derisive nicknames (“Three-point-four-nette”).  Most of last week was a nightmare from that perspective.  However, after having the second biggest single game rushing performance in team history behind only FT, I think for a little bit, he will quiet some of the naysayers.  He still may not have been worth the selection over Mahomes or Watson, but he came up huge today.
 
3.           Fans who want Ramsey traded away got a glimpse of what Jaguars life would be like without 20 at CB, and it wasn’t pretty.  Hopefully, this will spur the team to try to smooth things over with him and get him signed to a new deal.
 
4.           The offensive line was a mized bag.  I was afraid the tackles would have a rough game against two superb edge rushers with a loud home field advantage going in, and my fears were realized today.  Both tackles had a hard game containing Miller and Chubb, giving up at least four sacks, three to Miller and Chubb, and one to Chubb’s replacement.  They also had some five penalties between the two of them.  Cam Robinson came dangerously close to a personal foul penalty late in the game that might have kicked the team our of FG range, given the strong wind into which Lambo kicked.  I also thought Cann had a rough game too.  That said, if you are on an offensive line that generated over 350 yards rushing, the game can only be so bad.  I think the OL performance improved when Richardson was in for Cann.  Richardson got outside effectively when pulling.   While undoubtedly we will need better pass blocking from the tackles, today, at least, the offensive line looked good generating our first dominant running game in a while.
 
5.           I would be remiss if I unwittingly left the impression I thought the whole secondary struggled today in Ramsey;s absence.  While there was a noticeable drop in overall quality, I thought the secondary had some good performances.  Ronnie Harrison got an INT right before halftime that turned the game around.  AJ Bouye provided excellent coverage throughout the game.  Hayden provided a good pressure on the blitz and had a pass break up.  I also recall Wilson having a good play on a short pass.

6.           Lambo came though in fine style kicking under difficult conditions.  Today was another good game from the Special teams unit overall.

7.           Rookie Watch:

              Josh Allen-Seemed pretty quiet today.

              Jawaan Taylor-As I indicated above, he had a horrific day in pass protection.  Granted, it was against one of the best pass rushers in league history, but he has to block guys like that too.

              Josh Oliver-Did not play

              Quincy Williams-  He played, and struggled some in coverage, but there was nothing that really stuck out to me about him.

              Ryquell Armstrong-  Had his most extensive action of the season, having 8 carries for 42 yards, along with the aforementioned TD recemption.  Considering how often he bobbled the ball in training camp, it’s kinda surprising to see him be the target for Minshew on that TD.  But I’m glad Minshew had the faith in him to make the play, and equally glad he came through for us.

              Gardner Minshew-See above.  There will be more from me on him in another post to come.

              Dontavious Russell-Did not see him play

              Andrew Wingard-Replaced Harrison when Harrison got hurt earlier.  I think Minshew had a tackle, but did not otherwise stand out.

8.           I wonder how the game would have turned out had the refs called that ineligible receiver downfield on Denver on their first TD.

9.           Nice to see Lee, Cole, and Armstead all get their first catches of the season.  All three catches were critical to the victory.  Lee and Cole’s receptions extended second half drives.  Armstead scored the TD pass. 

10.         Speaking of receivers, after a rough outing against the tacks last week, DeDe Westbrook came back with a clutch reception and run on that last drive to get us close.  Conley had one too.  Chark had some nice catches, and had his 4th TD of the year negated by penalty.

11.         Though I have little doubt Ramsey’s absence played a role, I was kind of disappointed in the pass rush today.  With Denver, the front seven was facing an opponent that had one of the weakest offensive lines we will see all year, and we couldn’t get much pressure.  They did a respectable job against the run, but I didn’t get to see Flacco on his back or being scraped off the turf like I’d hoped.

12.  Bottom Line-We are 2-2 and still in the thick of things after a month.  Considering we have been playing with a rookie QB, that’s pretty much all we can ask.  Despite all that has gone wrong with Foles and Ramsey, it’s a testament to a lot of people that we are still sitting here ight in the middle of the fight for the division at this stage.  With all of the penalties and the losing fromlast year, there was a belief setting in that Marrone has lost the team.  Et for the team to win the last two (and should have beaten Houston) with a rookie lets me know the team hasn’t quit on Marrone yet.  De Filippo has called some pretty good games and has become increasingly popular here.  Minshew has been a gift to us thus far and has surpassed all of my expectations for him.  I take particular glee in telling my buddy that Minshew is already better than Bills’ QB Josh Allen, and him not being able to really rebut that.  But we still have a chance to do some good things!  That is most encouraging.

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