By Jeff Moeller, Florida Sports Wire
JACKSONVILLE – Last week against the Dolphins, I could see the loss coming.
Sunday afternoon at the Bank, the stage was set from the beginning of the Jaguars 18-13 loss to the Browns. And it carried on throughout most of the afternoon.
Jacksonville did have their chances in the second half, but they couldn’t close the door. They have now dropped three of their last four home openers.
In the beginning, a cloudy atmosphere embarked the Bank, and you could see more than your share of Browns’ gear in the tickets’ purchased announced crowd of 60,105. Throughout the stadium, there were plenty of pockets of empty seats.
The energy level outside and inside the Bank did appear to be at a home-opener high pitch. Still expectations should have been high after the Browns’ thrashing by the Cowboys last week, and they also were missing both starting offensive tackles
Before the game, it was announced that tight end Evan Engram would be lost with a hamstring injury. Safety Andre Cisco and corner Tyson Campbell were also on the shelf.
Quarterback Trevor Lawrence looked out of sync, throwing his share of high passes. Lawrences’ highlight was a 33-yard gallop that led to a field goal. However, the Jags had to burn two timeouts on the same drive and couldn’t get it together.
Consequently, Browns’ quarterback Deshaun Watson looked like he did in his best days with the Texans when he came out completing 10 of his first 13 passes. Watson also spread four receivers plus an offensive lineman and then dashed in from two yards out for the Browns’ first-half touchdown and helped them to a 13-4 halftime lead.
The end of the first half brought a chorale of boos that haven’t been heard at the bank for a while.
Jacksonville did get on the board when Lawrence set up Travis Etienne’s four-yard TD run with a 66-yard connection to top pick Brian Thomas Jr, who managed to run underand catch up to a pass that appeared to be overthrown.
But Thomas caught only two of his four targets and Christian Kirk had only one catch for a minus-one yard among his three targets.
On cue, steady rains engulfed the Bank to make the Jags’ last attempt to win the game even more difficult. Lawrence had trouble finding his targets, and the Jags were hit with a dead-ball illegal shift penalty that cost them 10 seconds down the stretch.
Lawrence completed 14 of 30 attempts for 220 yards, but he was under pressure all afternoon led by defensive stud Miles Garrett, who set the pace for Lawrence’s four sacks, one that resulted in an untimely second-half safety.
Early in the third quarter, Lawrence was five of 14 for 16 yards and the Jags’ offense had 79 total yards.
For the most part, the Jags’ defense kept them in the game, but they managed just two sacks and didn’t force a turnover for the second straight week.
Now, the Jags have to travel to Buffalo for a Monday night matchup next week against a team that will be well rested. They then will travel to Houston for an anticipated Texas tussle.
Lawrence simply summed it all up. In Lawrence’s rookie campaign of 2021, the team started 0-5.
“We suck right now,” he stated. We’re standing around, we’ve got to take charge. We’re standing around waiting on somebody to make a play. The defense is playing their ass off the last two weeks. If a team doesn’t score more than 20 points, we should win every week.”
So far, it hasn’t happened. And you could see it coming.
