Jaguars Vs Panthers Week 1 Review
The Jaguars defeated the Panthers 26-10 in a strange but dominant game. The offense started strong, marching up and down the field before getting hit with multiple penalties, forcing them to kick a field goal. The Panthers would respond similarly, driving down the field before eventually settling for a field goal of their own.
In the 2nd quarter is when the game completely changed. A Foye interception set the Jaguars offense up at the Panthers 35-yard line. Trevor and the offense quickly marched down the field scoring on a connection from Lawrence to tight end Hunter Long. Immediately after this, a weather delay would strike, disrupting the action for over an hour. Once the action resumed, the Jaguars picked up right where they left off on offense. A quick 4 play 91-yard drive set up by a 71-yard run from Travis Etienne put the Jaguars up 17-3.
Just as the Panthers were finding a rhythm on offense, Foye once again came up huge, forcing a fumble that set up the Jaguars at their own 32 with 48 seconds left. Cam Little drilled a 47-yard field goal that put the Jaguars up 20-3 going into halftime.
The third quarter is when the game got extremely sloppy for both sides. The Jaguars defense epitomized the "bend don't break" philosophy; stopping the Panthers twice on downs, one being inside the Jaguars 10-yard line. On offense, there were only two drives, one being a 3-and-out, the other being an underthrown interception from Lawrence.
The 4th quarter is when the Jaguars put the nail in the coffin. The first drive saw the Jaguars have a 8-minute 49-yard drive that ended in a field goal, completely stalling out any chance the Panthers had. Bryce Young responded with a quick 80 yard drive to pull within 2 scores, then the Jaguars kicked a field goal to go up 26-10 before Jourdan Lewis caught the game sealing interception.
The good
Liam Coen showed a huge jump in coaching with creative play calling, aggressiveness in key spots and not letting his foot off the gas after getting a huge lead. Trevor Lawrence looked much calmer in the pocket, his footwork and mechanics were vastly improved and took what the defense gave him. Travis Etienne had a monster game with 143 yards, an early statement game in a packed running back room.
General manager James Gladstone was active in adding to the offensive line in free agency and it showed in this game. Trevor Lawrence was not sacked once while also facing very little pressure. An outstanding first performance in the pass blocking from the offensive line. While no single receiver had a monster game, the ball was spread around effectively. Brenton Strange, Dyami Brown and Travis Hunter all made their mark at various points in the game. This is a sign of not only an improved receiving group, it also shows that the offense is not reliant on one player to be effective.
Bryce Young finished the 2024 season strongly, leading many to think he would continue this momentum into the 2025 season but that was not the case on Sunday. The defensive line forced pressure all game, the receivers could not get any separation and when it appeared the momentum was swinging towards the Panthers, Foye Oluokun came up with two massive turnovers. Free agent Jourdan Lewis also made a statement game on defense, recording a fumble recovery, an interception, 3 pass breakups and 5 total tackles.
The bad
Perhaps the best part of this game was that the Jaguars won in a dominant performance while playing far from perfect. The offense was effective throughout the game, but its biggest hindrance was self-inflicted. The offense recorded 11 penalties for 93 yards that stalled multiple drives throughout the game. The first drive of the game foreshadowed this when the offense was going up and down the field at ease, but had to settle for a field goal because of 3 penalties putting them behind the sticks.
Trevor Lawrence had a rough third quarter missing multiple open receivers, none bigger than the interception. While this was an excellent play by Jaycee Horn, if the ball is thrown slightly further this likely results in a touchdown or at the very least, a massive gain. This also resulted in Brian Thomas getting just 1 reception on 7 targets. Thomas had a bad drop early in the game, but there were also multiple instances where Trevor simply missed BTJ.
A few miscues that flew under the radar but still impacted the game was the late huddle breaks and kickoffs. A timeout was used to offset the play clock running down multiple times as well as getting a delay of game penalty. Cam Little also kicked the ball out of bounds twice, resulting in the Panthers getting the ball at the 40 yard line. As impressive as the defense was, they struggled to get off the field with their one Achilles heel being third downs. The Panthers went 8-15 on third down, with a large portion of these being on obvious passing situations.
Conclusion
This was an overall very impressive game by the Jaguars in nearly every aspect of the game. As mentioned before, this was a dominant win despite a multitude of miscues. Many of which can be chalked up to a new coach and new team in their first game together. In week two they face the Cincinnati Bengals where we look to find out just how good this team really is.