Jaguars Report Card: Disjointed day by offense, defense, Pederson puts nobody on honor roll

Times-Union sports columnist Gene Frenette grades the Jaguars’ performance in a 31-27 loss to the Cleveland Browns based on execution, effort and game circumstances.

Offense: D-plus

It’s reasonable to think this unit would have functioned better without receiver Christian Kirk being on injured reserve. But the Jaguars have enough talent to avoid going punt, punt, punt, punt, interception, punt on their first six possessions. That forced the offense to play uphill all day as the Jaguars trailed for 56 minutes, 39 seconds, longer than they had all season.

That slow start included two 3-and-outs on the first three series. A pair of first-half interceptions by QB Trevor Lawrence (28 of 50, 257 yards, 3 TDs, 3 INTs) were fortunately offset by the defense getting turnovers on two consecutive possessions, keeping them within 14-7 at halftime.

Lawrence, playing just six days after suffering a high ankle sprain Monday night, was just 11 of 22 for 100 yards in the first half and an abysmal 40.0 rating. There were also miscommunication issues with WR Calvin Ridley on at least two plays, one leading to an interception.

It didn’t help the Jaguars had to play with a fourth-string left tackle in Blake Hance after Ezra Cleveland was sidelined by a knee injury, but the Jaguars did a reasonable job in protection given all the O-line attrition.

Once again, the Jaguars struggled to establish any kind of running game (20 carries, 58 yards). Tight end Evan Engram was a reliable target with 11 catches for 95 yards and two TDs. Kirk’s replacement, rookie Parker Washington, had a nifty 19-yard touchdown catch, but also had a fumble that led to a Browns’ TD.

It’s not a good sign when Lawrence has to throw the ball 50 times and only gets 257 yards (5.1 yards per attempt) out of it.

All is not lost: Jaguars still have one-game lead in AFC South, hold key tiebreakers

Defense: C-minus

It didn’t look good early when 38-year-old QB Joe Flacco led the Browns on a 75-yard touchdown drive to start the game, capped by a shrew play-action call on third-and-1, where the defense left TE David Njoku wide open for a 34-yard touchdown.

Njoku was Flacco’s favorite target early as he caught all six of his passes for 91 yards in the first half. The defense got a spark when a Darious Williams interception prevented Cleveland from adding to a 14-point lead, then again later when safety Andrew Wingard forced a fumble from behind on receiver Amari Cooper, which led to Lawrence’s 10-yard touchdown pass to Engram.

It’s not like the Browns marched up and down the field at will. Mike Caldwell’s defense forced eight punts and three turnovers, which is normally a recipe for winning football. The Jaguars got their lone sack on a safety blitz from Antonio Johnson, forcing a Flacco fumble that also led to a touchdown. 

The offense put Mike Caldwell’s unit in a brutal spot with four turnovers, and the defense answered back on two of them by getting an interception and forcing a fumble that Jeremiah Ledbetter recovered.

On the down side, all three Flacco touchdown passes — two to Njoku and another to David Bell — came when his targets were running wide open for scores from 30, 34 and 41 yards. The one to Bell on a fourth-and-3 in the fourth quarter, where the Jaguars sent an all-out blitz, put them in a difficult 28-14 hole.

Special teams: B-minus

Parker Washington had five punt return chances in the first half and took them back for 63 yards, including a 26-yarder. But he might have had more yardage if Washington positioned himself to catch the booming punts from Corey Bojorquez with his momentum taking him forward, instead of too often catching them going backward.

Once Borjorquez nailed a 72-yard punt all in the air, Washington should have probably stood further back on ensuing punts than putting himself in position like an outfielder seeing balls go over his head.

D’Ernest Johnson wasn’t able to provide any juice on either of his two kick returns. Logan Cooke finished with seven punts for a net 43.1-yard average and two punts inside the 20. Adam Gotsis was flagged for offsides when the Browns were lined up to punt, compelling them to go for it on fourth-and-1 with 6:08 remaining. Cleveland got the first down and still ended up punting, but the extra downs took 1:44 off the clock that impacted Jaguars' decision to go for it on fourth down on the ensuing possession that failed.

Coaching: C-minus

This whole game had an all-around feeling of not being buttoned up from the start. Too much suspect defense early and too many turnovers forced the Jaguars to play uphill for 60 minutes.

It can’t be discounted that Doug Pederson had to shuffle the lineup around due to key injuries to Kirk, Walker Little, Tyson Campbell, Tre Herndon and Foley Fatukasi. The fact that Jaguars were in the game almost to the end after turning the ball over four times is another sign of a resilient team, but those mistakes also put the team in a pretty untenable position.

Pederson took some strange gambles, including going for a 2-point PAT while trailing 31-27. Either way, since the Jaguars didn’t have any timeouts with 1:33 remaining, they were going to need a successful onside kick. But by missing the PAT on a Lawrence sack, they would have been forced to go for a touchdown and that makes it a lot harder on the offense.

Pederson also went for it on fourth-and-3 from his own 38 with 3:34 left and three timeouts, which led to a Browns field goal for a two-score lead, making a comeback impossible without an onside kick recovery. Early in the fourth quarter, needing less than a yard for a first down, Lawrence tried a home run ball down the right sideline that was well-covered and easily intercepted by Greg Newsome.

That turnover on the Jaguars' side of midfield led to Cleveland's last touchdown. Pederson was sort of like the rest of the team. It was a disjointed day on multiple levels.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Jaguars fall short on many levels as offense, defense, coaching out of sync