There hasn't been much to be happy about for Jaguars fans so far this year.  But one pleasant surprise..perhaps the biggest...has been the play of the offensive line.  The subject of much derision and consternation-including from me- in terms of number of sacks allowed, they have exceeded just about all of my expectations to this point.

Now I am not one to look a gift horse in the mouth.  I will gladly take this level of protection for Trevor Lawrence all year.  But it raises some questions and points of curiosity and concern

If we have the same starting five as we had last year, with the same OL coach, why the improvement so far?

Did changes to the scheme/offense lead to better protections?  I'm not sure, but I don't think thus far, the offense or playcalling has been designed for Trevor Lawrence to get the ball out particularly fast.  They have used a bit of play action, longer drops and longer routes in the first 3 weeks.

Was it a matter of all of the guys working together for another year and the continuity paying off?  Is it a matter of teams getting film on us and learning how to attack us?  Can this level be sustained by this current grop?

To what can we attribute the improvement of Cam Robinson and Jawaan Taylor?

Is it a matter of the schedule?

You could certainly argue that Houston does NOT have any good pass rushers any longer, and that could play a factor.  But the same Cardinals pass rush that decimated the tacks in week 1 was silent in comparison to what they did to the tacks.  The week after Denver registered one sack against us, they notched six against the Jets, who have at least two first round picks on their OL with Becton and Alijah Vera Tucker.  Wilson is on pace to be sacked 85 rimes.  Fields is on pace for 80.

Trevor Lawrence has had four sacks in the first three games.

By comparison, #2 overall pick Zach Wilson has been sacked 15 times.  Today, in his first start, Justin Fields got sacked 9 times.  Is it a matter of TL having better pocket presence at this early stage than these other guys or is it the level of competition?

As the O-Line matters has pointed out repeatedly, many of our offensive linemen are in the last years of their contracts.  Two of them-Norwell and Linder-are getting up in age.  In the effort to provide Lawrence with the highest level of protection possible, do you retain any of these guys-including Warhop-if they continue the level of play they have displayed thus far?  Coming into the season, not even the heartiest, most die hard Jaguars fan would advance the argument that Cam Robinson and Jawaan Taylor were better than the Tacks' Taylor Lewan or the Jets' Mekhi Becton, yet our tackles have outperformed them so far.  Do you work to retain both?

Assuming the team maintains the level of protection over the course of the season, how much in free agency money do you allocate to the O-Line?

Does your answer differ depending on whether you retain the current players or you seek upgrades from other teams?

How much draft capital do you allocate to the OL?  Many of us wanted heavy draft capital allocated to the OL this past offseason.  Do you risk continuity loss to bring in unproven guys, or do you risk cap space on a group that has not consistently been at this current level?

While I was certainly disappinted with the two sacks surrendered this week, and the pressure that led to the pick 6 on the flea flicker, I am pleasantly surprised at the level of protection overall.

I'd love to read your thoughts on these matters.

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