5 Things: Jaguars @ Buccaneers Recap

The Jaguars lost to the Buccaneers this Sunday in a high scoring contest. Here's what we took away from the Jaguars' loss.

By Jordan de Lugo

1) The Jaguars are not losing the same way every week — no, they are finding new ways to lose. Against the Panthers, the offense was stagnant in the second half, and Bortles threw a costly pick six. Against the Patriots it was clear the Jags did not belong on the same field. Against the Colts the team was snake bitten by penalties and missed field goals. That leads us to this week. The Jags were favored to win against the Bucs, who were 1-3 and lead by rookie QB, Jameis Winston. The Jags’ offense performed marvelously in their loss to the Bucs, but their run defense was nowhere to be found. The Bucs rushed for 180+ yards and made the Jags’ defense look like a high school team. For a fan of this young Jags’ team, it is incredibly frustrating to see the team seemingly find new ways to lose every week.

2) Blake Bortles is much improved, and he's getting better every week. Bortles had an impressive performance, probably the best showing of his young career — he threw for 300+ yards and had four touchdowns to only one interception. With a career high passer rating of 125.4 against the Bucs, it is clear that Bortles has arrived, and is ready to lead this team. His numbers on the season are rather impressive as well — he has 1,299 yards, 10 touchdowns, and 4 interceptions. Amongst the other quarterbacks in the league, his numbers match up favorably — he’s seventh in passing yards, fifth in passing touchdowns, and fifth in first downs. He is having a remarkable sophomore season, yet the team around him is still struggling to find their groove.

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3) Allen Hurns and Allen Robinson (aka A2) are truly a dynamic duo. Through five games they have combined for 49 catches, 832 yards and seven touchdowns. They have been the most productive duo of wideouts in the NFL this season and are on pace to have two of the best receiving seasons in Jaguars’ history. These guys are great, and with the addition of Julius Thomas into the line up, this offense will create a lot of mismatches, that are sure to keep defensive coordinators up at night.

4) The offensive line must improve. Bortles has been sacked 14 times in 5 games and is getting pressured way to consistently. This offensive line hasn't had a lot of time together and have been dealing with injuries, but it’s time for them to do their job. While they have been okay in pass protection, they have been down right bad at run blocking. T.J. Yeldon has consistently shown impressive traits, but far too often he is being mauled in the backfield. The Jaguars want to be a running team, but if this offensive line doesn't shape up there is certainly no chance of the Jags becoming a dominant run team.

5) This team still lacks depth, most crucially at linebacker. Prior to the season, this was an area of concern. Paul Posluszny is a great linebacker when healthy, but he tends to miss his fare share of time with injury. Last year, when he missed time, the Jaguars had an answer, in J.T. Thomas; this year there is no one. The Jaguars let J.T. Thomas walk after he had a really impressive season filling in at linebacker and now he's starting for the Giants and playing pretty well. The Jags had more than enough cap space to retain Thomas, but they decided to go in a different direction, a direction that lead them to starting an undrafted rookie at middle linebacker this week — a mistake that cost them the game. Thurston Armbrister was thrust into the starting lineup this week (even though he wasn’t ready to be a starter) and, not surprisingly, he performed miserably — missing tackles, losing gap integrity, and the Bucs knew they could take advantage of his inexperience, as they consistently targeted him.