Jacksonville Jaguars Season Changes Course

The Jacksonville Jaguars went into their Monday night matchup with the Cincinnati Bengals hoping to cement themselves the division title. However, that couldn’t have been any different. Up against Jake Browning, Jacksonville stumbled and lost in overtime. That wasn’t the worst of it though, as they also lost quarterback Trevor Lawrence and wide receiver Christian Kirk to injury in the process.

Lawrence went down with what has been determined to be a high ankle sprain. Now, he’s set to be looked at over the coming week to see if he can suit up on Sunday, but chances are that he’llmiss at least one week. Jaguars’ fans are desperately hoping that it’s not severe enough for him to miss more than that, especially considering how close the Houston Texans are in the divisional race. After all, it’s only a two-game difference right now. 

Past Lawrence, Kirk went down as well with a more severe injury. He suffered a non-contact fall that resulted in him exiting the game and not returning. Shortly after, he was reported to be getting core muscle surgery which will sideline him for a few games. Obviously, the hope is that he can return at some point, same with Lawrence, but this news isn’t exactly positive with a lot left to play for in these remaining five games. 

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that the Jaguars offense will be dramatically different if both of these guys are out of the lineup. Luckily, their matchup is relatively easy, except for two matchups. Those being in the next two weeks against the Cleveland Browns and the Baltimore Ravens. Once they pass that gauntlet, they get the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Carolina Panthers, and wrap it up with the Tennessee Titans. They should be able to win at least three of these games, possibly more if Lawrence is able to suit up. Unfortunately, that’s just not the reality that we’re living in here. 

When asking head coach Doug Pederson about his quarterback’s availability moving forward, he didn’t want to give a straight answer. He said, “Everything is stable, looks good. We’ll see how he is in a couple of days. I’m not going to put that timetable on Trevor.” Luckily, Pederson said days and not weeks, indicating that he could be on the field as soon as Sunday. On top of that, he said that he personally doesn’t believe that Lawrence will need surgery on that ankle, similar towhat happened to Kenny Pickett the day before in the Pittsburgh Steelers loss to the Arizona Cardinals. 

Regardless of what happens here, Jacksonville will be giving their backup quarterback CJ Beathard a ton of reps in practice to prepare him for the matchup with the Browns. He’s likely to take starting snaps the entire week with the expectation that he’ll play, barring a miracle out of Trevor and his ankle healing faster than usual. Beathard took over in the end of the Jaguars loss to the Bengals and couldn’t pull out a victory in the opportunities that he got. Then again, that loss certainly isn’t all on his shoulders.