Caveat:  I missed about half of the first quarter.  Got a last second invite to watch the game with my best friend, and I succumbed to the lure of wings.  So from the 2nd Cardinals possession, I was listening on the radio.

My thoughts on what I saw...

1.      After two weeks, the Jaguars were surprisingly competent along the OL, only surrendering two sacks in that time frame.  Today, that largely continued against the Cardinals.  There was one unfortunate breakdown that led to the TL INT in the 2nd half, but I have to commend the OL overall for a good game.  Chandler Jones did not run rampant as I feared he might.

2.      So far, the lack of offensive balance has been the biggest complaint on offense.  The team hasn’t utilized James Robinson, and it has put Trevor Lawrence in bad situations, putting too much of the offensive burden on him.  With an explosive offense like the Cardinals, today represented a good opportunity to keep the ball on the ground to help negate Chandler Jones’ pass rush and to keep that offense off the field.  Fortunately for the Jaguars, they employed that strategy, and it was effective.  The first scoring drive in the second half, we had something like 7 runs in 8 plays.  I think this is the game where James Robinson earned the trust of Urban Meyer, and that will bode well for us in the future.

3.  Boneheaded penalty by 54.

4.  This is going to seem weird considering we gave up over 400 yards offense and 24 points defensively, but considering we were down two DBs, the defense held up relatively well.  We got our first turnover of the season and forced some punts.  We held the Cards to seven points at halftime and had the lead throughout the 3rd quarter.

5.  What s it going to take for receivers to hold onto TL’s passes?!?  While the drops were down this week compared  to the first two weeks, Hollister’s inability to hold onto a pass led directly to TL’s first INT and cost us points.  Considering Lambo’s struggles, a score was not guaranteed, but we were inside the Cards’ 15.   An extra 3 or 7 in this game could have been huge.  If we score then, maybe we don’t go for the flea flicker later.

6.  Special teams is close to being a real strength for this team.  Logan Cooke continues to boom the ball, and had a punt downed at the one.  Agnew is making an early bid for first quarter MVP, with his second kick return for a TD in as many weeks, this time with a 109 yard kick return of a 68 yard FG attempt right before half time.  Sadly, what is missing from special teams is any sort of competence from Josh Lambo, of all people.  Today, he missed two XPs for us/  Combined with the 3 missed FGs, he seems really in a bad mindset.  I’m not sure how much longer the team can stick with him missing these kicks like that.  Iven what he has done for us, I’d hate to cut him, but this team is not good enough to leave point off the board with his misses.
 
7.            Rookie Watch
              
A.            Trevor Lawrence-I attributed many of TLs struggles the first two weeks in large part to bad down and distance situations.  Too often, we’d be behind the sticks and TL would have to try low completion percentage passes.  Then we got behind on the scoreboard against Denver.  But we don’t habe that excuse to offer him today.  Today, we were in the lead for most of the first three quarters.  In fact, we were up by two scores in the 3rd quarter.  We ran the ball well, and we didn’t have a lot of dumb penalties keeping us hopelessly behind the sticks.  As I indicated above, I don’t fault him foi his first INT.  Hollister has to come up with that and not pop it up in the air.  But on the flea flicker, even acknowledging Watt came in unblockedm TL either has to eat that or get the pass out of bounds.  That INT was a backbreaker, especially coming off that Cardinals TD drive the series before.  On top of that, his pattern of streakiness continued, as in the second half, he had a stretch where he missed 4 straight passes.  He needs more consistency.   Not sure what happened on the first drive on 3rd down when Marvin Jones stopped and TL threw as if he expected Jones to keep running, but those sorts of things bring drives to a halt.

B.            Travis Etienne-DNP-IR

C.            Tyson Campbell-got extensive playing time today because of injuries to C.J. Henderson and Tre Herndon.  So today, he went up against the likes of DeAndre Hopkins, AJ Green, Christian kirk, and rookie Rondale Moore.  There were two plays that stuck out to me.  One on a shorter pass where he broke the pass up.  The other was on a deeper pass in the second half where green out positioned him for the ball, leaving me shaking my head in dismay.

D.            Walker Little-DNP.  Has been inactive all year; now out due to Covid issues.  When Cam Robinson came out with an injury in the 2nd half, Will Richardson came in.

E.            Andre Cisco-Did not see him play at all.

F.            Jay Tufele-DNP-inactive all year

G.           Jordan Smith-Inactive

H.            Luke Farrell-I thought he would get a start, but instead, Jacob Hollister seemed to get playing time.
 
8.              He gets a lot of crap thrown his way by fans, including myself, but give Wingard credit.  He made a nice play on the INT from start to finish.  He put himself in great position bracketing the WR deep, put himself in position to make the INT, actually made the play on the ball and held onto it, and made a decent return.

9.            Still don’t fully understand the RB rotation. 


10.          Bottom line:  While very few Jaguars fans (myself included) expected to win this game, the end results were, nevertheless, disappointing.  We controlled the game for the better part of three quarters.  With the first INT and the two missed extra points, we left anywhere between 5-9 points on the field.  Add the pick 6 that TL threw on the flea flicker, that’s a difference of 12-16 points in a game lost by 12.  In a season where I am looking for signs of progress, this game qualifies as such.  But the abiding sense is that this was a blown opportunity to get a win against a solid Cardinals team.  On to Cincy in a short week.  Hopefully, we can get a win against the Bengals.  But we have to stop turning the ball over, stop leaving points on the field, execute better, and continue to run thee ball.

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Worst to 1st.  Curse Reversed!

Better for sure, but the coaches are officially holding us back at this point with stupid personnel decisions, game planning, and play calling.

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“An empty vessel makes the loudest sound, so they that have the least wit are the greatest babblers.”. - Plato

The team has gotten more competent each week now. There's still ups and downs, but you can definitely see the improvement week to week so far. I think they can pull off our first win on Thursday.

One thing I'd like to know is exactly, what in the blue hell is Norwell trying to do here?
https://twitter.com/MattHayesCFB/status/...8955043841

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Better for sure,  but the coaches are officially holding us back at this point with stupid personnel decisions, game planning, and play calling.

I didn't have too many issues with the playcalling.

The fleaflicker was the controversial play, but I have heard they had a receiver running open deep.  Had it been blocked properly, it could have been a huge play tjat could have taken the momentum back away from the Cardinals.  If this is true, I could blame the execution, not the play call on that play.

For the life of me though, I don't know why TL seems so streaky.  he didn't throw much downfield today.

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Worst to 1st.  Curse Reversed!

The team has gotten more competent each week now. There's still ups and downs, but you can definitely see the improvement week to week so far. I think they can pull off our first win on Thursday.

One thing I'd like to know is exactly, what in the blue hell is Norwell trying to do here?
https://twitter.com/MattHayesCFB/status/...8955043841

He thought he heard his cellphone hit the ground.

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 I think they can pull off our first win on Thursday.

^ I believe this as well. 

Jaguars are progressing.

And, knowing the Bengals, they'll lay a stinker on a short week immediately following a big road win vs the Steelers today (the dragon that they can never seem to slay).

Bengals due for a big let down. Jags due for a win. I think they'll get it.

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Thanks Bullseye. Pretty much agree with everything as usual, especially the stop turning over the ball, leaving points on the field and executing better.

I dont think anyone had us down to win this one but that drive before the half and Agnew's return was a real swing. Been a while since i heard the stadium that loud. My only real disappointment is being up 9 then down 4 in the matter of minutes. Robinson was starting to get some real solid runs and we moved away from it and then the fumbles finished us off.

Still 14 games to go and we don't need to think about playoffs but i hope the take the good bits they did today and build on that rather than focus on what went wrong.

And i think everyone associated with the Jags needs a W

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The team has gotten more competent each week now. There's still ups and downs, but you can definitely see the improvement week to week so far. I think they can pull off our first win on Thursday.

One thing I'd like to know is exactly, what in the blue hell is Norwell trying to do here?
https://twitter.com/MattHayesCFB/status/...8955043841

I just got finished watching the replay on line and I saw that.

He spun around like a top.

It looked like they were trying to get zone/stretch action to the right to complete the run look to make the flea flicker more effective, but he spun completely around, enabling Watt to go unblocked.

Shaking my head in dismay.

I wish I could see the coaches tape on this, because I want to see the receiver supposedly running open behind the defense.

---

The team has gotten more competent each week now. There's still ups and downs, but you can definitely see the improvement week to week so far. I think they can pull off our first win on Thursday.

One thing I'd like to know is exactly, what in the blue hell is Norwell trying to do here?
https://twitter.com/MattHayesCFB/status/...8955043841

He thought he heard his cellphone hit the ground.

As crazy as that sounds, that's almost how that looked.

---

 

Worst to 1st.  Curse Reversed!

What's important is the team saw they could play well against a good team.

Need to keep the D off the field more. Using Robinson to chip away at yardage bought the defense some rest time and opened up more effective plays for the offense, i.e. made the opposing defense respect option plays.

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 I think they can pull off our first win on Thursday.

^ I believe this as well. 

Jaguars are progressing.

And, knowing the Bengals, they'll lay a stinker on a short week immediately following a big road win vs the Steelers today (the dragon that they can never seem to slay).

Bengals due for a big let down. Jags due for a win. I think they'll get it.

Is cincy winnable?

Perhaps.

I think Jamar Chase can be a matchup problem for the defense.

We will have to pressure Burrow and not turn the ball over.

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Worst to 1st.  Curse Reversed!

The effort level was finally there today.

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Respect the game.  Play with a sense of urgency. 


1.)  Take care of the ball.  Win the turnover battle.

2.)  It's all about 3rd down.  Win on 3rd down to win the game.

3.) Playmakers make plays.  The only reason that you put your uniform on is to make plays. In order to EARN your paycheck, you must make plays.  

Learn from the great collapse of 2023.  

What's important is the team saw they could play well against a good team.

Need to keep the D off the field more. Using Robinson to chip away at yardage bought the defense some rest time and opened up more effective plays for the offense, i.e. made their defense respect option plays.

Agreed completely.

Cincy will not be an easy game.

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Worst to 1st.  Curse Reversed!

The good thing is Cincy will be the worst defense we have played up to this point. Hopefully Trevor has a career game

---

The team has gotten more competent each week now. There's still ups and downs, but you can definitely see the improvement week to week so far. I think they can pull off our first win on Thursday.

One thing I'd like to know is exactly, what in the blue hell is Norwell trying to do here?
https://twitter.com/MattHayesCFB/status/...8955043841

I just got finished watching the replay on line and I saw that.

He spun around like a top.

It looked like they were trying to get zone/stretch action to the right to complete the run look to make the flea flicker more effective, but he spun completely around, enabling Watt to go unblocked.

Shaking my head in dismay.

I wish I could see the coaches tape on this, because I want to see the receiver supposedly running open behind the defense.

---

He thought he heard his cellphone hit the ground.

As crazy as that sounds, that's almost how that looked.

https://twitter.com/LaurieFitzptrck/stat...91168?s=19

I got you

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One thing has become clear and it REALLY pains me to say this. Something is wrong with Lambo. He's not the player he was before the injury. It's time to either move on without him or bring in some kicking competition and see if that has some kind of positive effect. Right now, he is unreliable. There will come a day when we need a FG or extra point to win a game. Right now, I just don't trust Lambo to make such a kick.

---

I just got finished watching the replay on line and I saw that.

He spun around like a top.

It looked like they were trying to get zone/stretch action to the right to complete the run look to make the flea flicker more effective, but he spun completely around, enabling Watt to go unblocked.

Shaking my head in dismay.

I wish I could see the coaches tape on this, because I want to see the receiver supposedly running open behind the defense.

---

As crazy as that sounds, that's almost how that looked.

https://twitter.com/LaurieFitzptrck/stat...91168?s=19

I got you

Thank you.

I am further sickened by Norwell.  That was a TD if he got the blocking.

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Worst to 1st.  Curse Reversed!

This feels like one we're really going to regret losing the more we look back on it. The Cardinals looked like we do when we make the cross country trip, except they lose hours instead of gain them. They looked tired, flat...almost bored.

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This feels like one we're really going to regret losing the more we look back on it. The Cardinals looked like we do when we make the cross country trip, except they lose hours instead of gain them. They looked tired, flat...almost bored.

Agreed completely.

I thought the Cards seemed out of synch.

This game was our for the taking, and we gave it away-no disrespect intended towards the Cardinals.

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One thing has become clear and it REALLY pains me to say this. Something is wrong with Lambo. He's not the player he was before the injury. It's time to either move on without him or bring in some kicking competition and see if that has some kind of positive effect. Right now, he is unreliable. There will come a day when we need a FG or extra point to win a game. Right now, I just don't trust Lambo to make such a kick.

he has yet to make a FG and has missed two extra points. 

I expect some more kickers to be brought in within the next couple of weeks.

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Worst to 1st.  Curse Reversed!

I didn't think the flea-flicker was a bad play call at all. The whiff by Norwell ruined a nice opportunity. Lawrence still has to get rid of that ball, though. The kid is still underestimating NFL DBs, but I think he's going to figure that out.

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Kind of funny nobody wants to give credit to our defense

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