Chiefs 27, Jaguars 20: Observations on Divisional Round Loss

The Jacksonville Jaguars’ season led to emotional and disappointing trend in Saturday’s 27-20 loss to the Kansas Metropolis Chiefs, ending an odds-defying playoff run that noticed the Jaguars go from worst to first within the AFC South.

“I simply advised them I used to be pleased with them for the season we put collectively. No person anticipated us,
the Jaguars, to be on this soccer sport. From the start of the season to immediately,” Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson mentioned after the loss. 

“I simply advised them how
proud I used to be of them for a way they hung collectively all season lengthy, and the way they battled and fought by
a ton of adversity. I’m additionally pleased with how they saved battling all season to get to this spot and actually battling
on this sport to come back right down to an on-side kick to see what occurs. I advised them we’re going to study from
this and develop from this. Our expectation is to be in these video games yearly. That’s our expectation. This
was first yr for all of us.”

So, what did we see out of the Jaguars playoff loss? We break it down under.

Jaguars usually are not but able to go toe-to-toe with Mahomes

The Jaguars made unimaginable strides on either side of the ball in 2022, however there’s nonetheless fairly a methods to go till they’re able to go toe-to-toe with the heavyweights of the NFL like Patrick Mahomes. Earlier than Mahomes’ ankle damage, he was persistently shredding the Jaguars’ center of subject protection and evading strain with ease. And even after his damage, the Jaguars weren’t capable of do sufficient to pressure Mahomes to make errors, sans a few punts at first of the second-half.

“That’s what he does. He eludes the strain. He can step up and he has nice imaginative and prescient down
the sphere. He finds these guys,” Pederson mentioned after the sport. ‘We discuss it on a regular basis. In the event you get alternatives to deal with him or sack
him, it’s a must to attempt to do the very best you may to get him on the bottom. It’s simpler mentioned than carried out.”

The Jaguars are constructing to have the ability to cope with groups just like the Chiefs and Mahomes shifting ahead. However for so long as Mahomes is within the AFC, he’s the bully on the block. Maybe in one other yr, the Jaguars will be capable to push Mahomes to the brink. However for immediately, the Jaguars are nonetheless too younger to have the ability to take down the king. 

Why the somber locker room went past dropping a playoff sport

The Jaguars’ locker room was, predictably, a somber one following the loss. Participant after participant poured their feelings into the season, with a quantity pushing their our bodies to the sting to sacrifice and make it thus far within the season. There was a transparent sense of pleasure in how far the staff has come, however there was additionally a veil of indescribable ache. Not simply because the Jaguars misplaced a pivotal sport, ending their season and Tremendous Bowl probabilities. However as a result of Saturday was the final time this particular Jaguars staff might be collectively.

“I advised them boys, ‘you actually modified my profession when it comes to how I take a look at NFL soccer.’ I obtained again to taking part in soccer
for the boys, for my brothers, as a staff normally,” Jaguars linebacker Foyesade Oluokun mentioned. “There’s a camaraderie we had and to have it come
up quick like that, it hurts. We discovered quite a bit. We’re going to use that. I’m going into the offseason, and
I’m going to be higher. I’m going to be higher. All people, in flip, might be higher. The staff goes to
be higher. We discovered quite a bit.”

The Jaguars are a younger staff that may return most of their core, however there are additionally a variety of key gamers comparable to Evan Engram, Jawaan Taylor, Arden Key, and Dawuane Smoot. There are not any ensures within the NFL, and each staff adjustments dramatically every offseason. And that’s the reason the Jaguars’ locker room was so emotional. Not as a result of the sport was misplaced, however as a result of this meant the journey was formally over.

The place the Jaguars want to enhance from right here is obvious

The Jaguars’ season ended up ending due to a fruits of roster holes, all of which reared their ugly heads on the worst level of the season. For starters, the Jaguars’ full incapacity to cowl tight ends all season lengthy grew to become a serious sticking level, with Travis Kelce seeing 17 targets for 14 catches, 98 yards and two touchdowns. Till the Jaguars discover a solution for opposing tight ends, the protection’s ceiling might be restricted. 

“Yeah, these possibility routes once they transfer the pocket, he all the time is aware of the place to sit down down,
maintain operating or over routes,” Oluokun mentioned after the sport. 

“We have now to be extra matchier or catch and deal with when he does catch it.
We are able to’t let him catch and run. Possibly we discovered a bit of bit easy methods to go in opposition to them in large video games and
what their sport plan goes to be. Possibly get a bit of extra man on them, keep on with them or in zones,
perhaps actually match them up there going to the sticks.”

On high of the tight finish problem, the Jaguars’ incapacity to create constant explosive passing performs confirmed up repeatedly. It wasn’t till Lawrence’s 37-yard cross to Zay Jones within the second half that the Jaguars had a passing play go over 15 yards, with the Jaguars largely proscribing themselves to the quick passing sport as a consequence of a scarcity of a vertical menace and an offensive line that would not maintain up persistently. Shifting ahead, the Jaguars must add extra velocity and grow to be higher up entrance. 

“It was simply playoff soccer,” Marvin Jones mentioned after the sport. 

“There have been instances after we have been going, and we did what we would have liked
to do. And there have been instances after we shot ourselves within the foot a bit of bit and obtained behind the ball a bit of
bit. That is playoff soccer.”

Jaguars have raised the bar

If there’s one factor the Jaguars did in 2022, it was elevating the requirements and the bar for the group from high to backside. The Jaguars have been broadly anticipated to win six or seven video games in 2022, one thing most would have taken with pleasure in August. However these days are gone because of the work of Pederson, his workers and the locker room, who’ve fully flipped the Jaguars’ repute the other way up in one of the simplest ways doable. 

“Nobody
thought we must be right here, and we simply saved believing. It was actually cool to be part of, it was particular. It’s
only the start. This yr was enormous, clearly, for this group, for our metropolis and for our franchise
shifting ahead,” Lawrence mentioned after the sport. “It units the bar of who we’re going to be and what we’re going to do shifting ahead.
That’s the mindset, and we gained’t accept lower than that. We obtained a style of it, however there’s extra left and
all of us really feel that.”

The Jaguars can not merely sniff aggressive soccer and count on for the folks of Jacksonville to hit their knees and thank God for giving the town an NFL staff. As an alternative, a typical has been set. The Jaguars are speculated to be a profitable staff shifting ahead. Anything could be a disappointment.