Gene Frenette: Jaguars can't use WR Christian Kirk's absence as excuse for losing to Browns
CLEVELAND — Leave it to Trevor Lawrence, the Jacksonville Jaguars’ 24-year-old quarterback with the maturity of someone 10 years older, to put a lid on any attrition explanations for why it lost a second consecutive game to a backup quarterback.
While it’s obvious the Jaguars’ offense doesn’t have the same rhythm with Christian Kirk on injured reserve, Lawrence put up a stop sign the moment that convenient alibi for Sunday’s 31-27 loss to the Cleveland Browns became a conversation starter.
“There’s no excuses. Nobody cares,” said Lawrence. “That’s the thing about this league. No one really cares who you are missing. There are a lot of teams who are missing players at this point in the season.
“Of course, you miss him, but Christian is on IR. We have to find a way to still win games without him. That’s not going to change in the next few weeks.”
More: Gene Frenette: Doug Pederson's acumen in battling adversity should be comforting to Jaguars
If anything remotely positive can come out of the Jaguars blowing a chance to extend their AFC South lead over the Houston Texans and Indianapolis Colts, it’s that none of them were having any woe-is-us mindset over who couldn’t suit up and how that might have altered the outcome.
The Jaguars (8-5) put themselves in a 14-point hole early with shoddy pass coverage and an offense completely out of sync, but ultimately missed chances to tie or win the game.
No Tyson Campbell, no excuse.
No Walker Little, no excuse.
No Tre Herndon, no excuse.
No Foley Fatukasi, no excuse.
How about losing Ezra Cleveland and playing with fourth-string left tackle Blake Hance? Still no excuse.
“Injuries are a part of the game,” said receiver Zay Jones. “Guys are banged up. Guys are playing through injuries. It’s not an excuse. We just got to find a way to get it done. If we want to be that next-caliber team, take it to the next level, we got to find a way to do it, including myself.”
The Browns have been able to do it.
Cleveland (8-5) was riding with their fourth different starting quarterback this season in 38-year-old Joe Flacco, the same guy the Jaguars beat 44-7 in London in 2017 when he suited up for the Baltimore Ravens.
The Browns also had to play without three other starters, so there’s no point in Jacksonville trying to pin the blame for this loss on excessive medical calamities.
As Lawrence astutely pointed out. It’s December and everybody’s hurting.
Jaguars disjointed from the start
A day where a little bit of everything went wrong began with Browns tight end David Njoku running wide open for touchdowns of 34 and 30 yards for a 14-0 lead. Later, receiver David Bell did the same thing when he took a short pass from Flacco 41 yards to the end zone for a 28-14 Cleveland lead.
Bell couldn’t believe his good fortune when he cradled that ball at the Jacksonville 35 and turned to start running. The Jaguars gambled with an all-out blitz on fourth-and-3. It backfired really badly.
“Turned around and I just saw nothing but green grass,” said Bell. “I was surprised. Not a little, I was a lot surprised to keep it real.
“It just felt like Little League back when I was in second grade, just seeing that much green grass. I haven’t seen that much since I was about 6 or 7.”
Flacco, playing behind a patchwork offensive line that also lost starting center Ethan Pocic on the second series to a stinger, still passed for 212 yards. By halftime.
“We did it to ourselves,” said Jaguars safety Rayshawn Jenkins, “so we got to live with the consequences and that’s it.”
Jaguars sack leader Josh Allen could only shake his head at how the three longest plays of the game on those touchdowns nullified the good that came from the Jacksonville defense also forcing three turnovers, which led to 14 points.
“I don’t know, we got to get better,” Allen said. “I think teams are going to keep attacking us like this. … “The [Browns’] pass game was very hidden yards. They did not dice us from my vantage point. It was just wide open people.”
As for the Jaguars’ offense, the impressive recovery of Lawrence’s high ankle sprain from the Cincinnati Bengals game six days prior did little to get that unit into any kind of flow.
“That was a positive out of today," said Lawrence. "I guess that’s the only one, I didn’t reinjure my ankle, or tweak or anything. I felt pretty good It held up.”
All is not lost: Jaguars still have one-game lead in AFC South, hold key tiebreakers
Lawrence, Ridley disconnection
Little else about the Jaguars’ attack held up at all. Lawrence and receiver Calvin Ridley, who needed to step up in a big way without Kirk, seemed to get disconnected on at least two passes, one leading to a Mark Emerson interception.
Another deep ball for Ridley in the fourth quarter was slightly overthrown and picked off by Greg Newsome. Lawrence didn’t want to get into a blame game on all of his three interceptions, but suffice to say the Jaguars can’t win with No. 16 throwing 50 passes and averaging just 5.1 yards per attempt.
“Too many miscommunications, we’ve been playing together for a while now,” Lawrence said of Ridley, referencing Emerson’s second interception that killed a red-zone opportunity. “That’s on us, so we have to take some accountability for cleaning that up. That’s just stuff that can’t happen for both of us.
“We have to be on the same page, and it seems like all those plays that we weren’t, some weeks you are able to get away with it and it doesn’t bite you. But this week, they all did.”
Most of the buttons pushed by the Jaguars simply didn’t work. Head coach Doug Pederson elected to go for it on fourth-and-3 from his own 38 with 3:34 remaining, despite three timeouts and only trailing 28-21. A pass for Jones into double coverage was broken up, with Pederson’s plea for a pass interference penalty going unanswered.
The Jaguars made enough plays to keep the game interesting, but playing uphill all day can be mentally draining. With the offense bogged down by untimely mistakes, including a Parker Washington fumble as he went to the ground after a catch, Pederson’s team couldn’t overcome the turnover flood.
“Yeah, I think offensively we were a little disconnected,” said Pederson. “Trevor and the receivers were a little off. Obviously, the turnovers are big and you can’t do that. Too many self-inflicted wounds that kept us from sustaining drives or staying on the field.”
Nothing was more distressing than this head-scratching combo platter: Ridley and Jones, the two players the Jaguars look to most to fill the Kirk void, had only nine catches on 27 targets for 81 yards. Talk about not being on the same page with the quarterback.
No time for pity party
Over a six-day period, backup quarterbacks Jake Browning (Bengals) in his second NFL season and Flacco, playing for his fifth team in five years, have picked apart the Jaguars’ defense for 665 passing yards and four touchdowns.
Next up is the Baltimore Ravens’ Lamar Jackson, a former league MVP who just got done dissecting the Los Angeles Rams for 316 passing yards and three TDs, on Sunday Night Football at EverBank Stadium.
There’s no time for the Jaguars to feel sorry for themselves. They should be thankful no ground was lost in the AFC South race with the Colts and Texans. Now we'll see if they recover from this two-game losing streak as well as they did earlier this season when the Jaguars ripped off five straight wins.
“Understand, it’s a long season,” said running back Travis Etienne. “If you get down on yourself then, you’re not going to be able to be your best self in the future, so you have to understand everything happens for a reason.
“No one came in here today and went out there trying to lose. We were focused to win the game. Hopefully, it’ll inspire us to be better next Sunday.”
Any chance the Jaguars had of securing a No. 1 or No. 2 AFC playoff seed is quickly fading, even with very winnable matchups the final three weeks against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (6-7), Carolina Panthers (1-12) and Tennessee Titans (4-8).
They have to figure out how to maximize their strengths with a valuable piece like Kirk missing. And more importantly, minimize the turnovers that ended their eight-game road winning streak dating back to last season.
Whether it’s Hance filling in at left tackle, Montaric Brown at cornerback or Washington at receiver, the Jaguars have no time for lamenting about medical absences or adversity.
Kirk or no Kirk, you play with whoever’s available and find a way to win.
“He’s irreplaceable,” said tight end Evan Engram, who caught 11 passes for 95 yards and two TDs. “I’ve been saying it all week, everybody’s level has to go up when you lose a guy like Christian. You can’t replace that. It’s tough not having him. His presence, his leadership, his playmaking ability, his reliability on the field. We have a lot of work to do to fill that void a lot more than we did today.
“I don’t doubt this team moving forward. We have the talent to not be in this position. … But the game goes on. The work doesn’t stop. The journey to figure this s--- out doesn’t stop. Excuse my language, it just doesn’t stop.”
It’s possible the Jaguars’ impactful injuries might not stop either. They simply must find a way to rise above them because, as Trevor pointedly reminded us, nobody cares.
Gfrenette@jacksonville.com: (904) 359-4540; Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, at @genefrenette
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: No Excuses -- Injuries aside, Jaguars failed everywhere in losing to Browns
