By Jeff Moeller, Florida Spors Wire
JACKSONVILLE – This one was more about the 49ers in their 34-3 blowout than the Jaguars.
Like the Jaguars, San Francisco were coming off a bye week. However, they had shockingly lost three straight, and their respectability suddenly took a stumble.
So, they picked themselves back up and looked like the team that will challenge the Eagles for the NFC crown again (I still don’t totally believe in Dallas).
They left the Bank Sunday afternoon with enough energy to fly back to the West Coast without a plane, while the Jags slumbered out with any juice after their 6-2 start. Before the season, this one likely was circled as an “L,” but that was before the Jags started to look like the 49ers.
It was a head scratcher for sure, and the frenzied fans left frustrated..
Doug Pederson’s boys seemingly had it all together on both sides of the ball heading into the bye week, and a week off might have been the momentum killer.
It was, and they certainly looked like it.
Trevor Lawrence threw two horrible interceptions, and his line couldn’t stop Nick Bosa and his fellow 49ers to the tune of five sacks.
As a result, the running game never got on track, but Christian Kirk caught six of Lawrence’s 17 passes. On a normal day, Lawrence’s 17 of 29 wouldn’t be totally awful, but his five sacks made it one. He also lost a fumble.
The Jags’ defense didn’t have an answer for Brock Purdy, who looked like Joe Montana in his prime. Their only solace was keeping Christian McCaffrey out of the end zone and breaking his 17-game consecutive touchdown scoring streak.
That folks was basically it…it was old-fashioned butt-whipping.
It was the worst defeat in Pederson’ two-year stay since the Jags suffered a 4-14 loss in Detroit last Dec. 4. Ironically, they lost to the 49ers here, 30-10, almost two years ago on Nov. 21, 2021.
With his three turnovers, Lawrence has 10 turnovers- four fumbles and six interceptions – and nine touchdowns. It had been masked well with the team’s fast start.
To his credit, Lawrence didn’t dodge any critics.
“We played terribly today, we laid an egg, nothing went right, we didn’t do anything right and we got to bounce back and play better next week,” Lawrence said. “We’ve got another home game next week so we got that opportunity to play well. It’s a division game too, so we got to flush it quickly and we will.”
They better.
The Titans come to town Sunday in a game once envisioned as a divisional showdown,but the Titans have reverted into rebuild mode. They’ve lost two straight, and Derrick Henry gained just 24 yards in a 20-6 loss to Tampa last week.
This one will be more about the Jags.
The wake-up call against the 49ers should still be ringing in their ears.
(SportsDay photo by Nancy Delander Beecher/Florida Sports Wire)
