Fading Jaguars keep making same mistakes: ‘The urgency has got to pick up’

Ben Arthur

AFC South Reporter

It feels like this Jaguars season is slipping away. 

They’re playing their worst football late in the year, when contenders are supposed to be at their best. Jacksonville is now on a three-game losing streak following its Sunday night loss to Baltimore, dropping to 0-3 in December. It’s the Jaguars’ first three-game losing streak since early 2022. 

And it’s not just the losing. It’s how they’re losing. It’s how they’ve shot themselves in the foot with things they say are controllable and fixable, then keep making many of those same mistakes weekly — now at the expense of their stranglehold on the AFC South.

Jacksonville may very well still claim a second straight division title — the Jags are in a three-way tie with the Colts and Texans for first place at 8-6, holding tiebreakers over both teams — but it’s difficult to envision the kind of playoff run many felt was inevitable entering this season.

“We know what we got to do,” receiver Jamal Agnew said Sunday. “We got to take it one day at a time still, but I’m going to keep saying it: The urgency has got to pick up.” 

Jacksonville’s offense, which has been inconsistent all year, reached a new low last week. 

The Jags reached plus territory five times and had zero points to show for it. 

Quarterback Trevor Lawrence had a particularly bad game. On back-to-back drives to end the first half, he had a red-zone lost fumble without getting touched, then showed an astounding lack of situational awareness. He completed a 36-yard pass to Zay Jones that brought the Jaguars to the 5-yard line in the closing seconds of the second quarter. But instead of spiking the ball to stop the clock — the Jaguars were out of timeouts — Jacksonville went hurry-up and Lawrence erred in completing a 1-yard pass to rookie Parker Washington, who was tackled in bounds. The Jags couldn’t get lined up in time to get another play off. 

“We’re just giving…

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Publish date : 2023-12-19 21:47:21

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