By Don Coble, Florida Sports Wires
JACKSONVILLE (www.jaxsportrsnews.com) – The Jaguars’ 34-10 lopsided win against Cleveland wasn’t just a blowout victory to open the regular season. It was a roasting – figuratively and literally.
With an on-field temperature of 105 degrees at EverBank Stadium, the Browns melted under the constant pressure applied by Jacksonville quarterback Trevor Lawrence and a teal-draped defense that created two first half turnovers which became the catalyst for a 24-0 first half lead.
So, were the Jaguars that good or were the Browns that bad. On Sunday, the answer was “yes” to both questions.
After Jacksonville opened the third quarter with a four-play, 60-yard touchdown drive that was capped by Lawrence’s 30-yard TD throw to Jakobi Meyers, many of the Jaguars fans traded the sauna-like conditions for the comfort – and air conditioning – in their cars for an early and joyful ride home.
Lawrence was masterful in his first live-game action of the season. He, along with most of the starters, was held out of all three preseason games, but he appeared to be in mid-season form after completing 18 of 23 passes for 245 yards and touchdown throws to four different receivers.
His quarterback rating of 150.6 was a career best, beating a 136.7 mark set in a 40-28 win a year ago against the New York Jets.
“I thought he spread the ball around, trusted the guys that were in to make plays,” head coach Liam Coen said. “Again, I thought we protected him really well, thought we mixed it up from the run game and some different things to keep them off balance to allow Trevor to continue to do what he does. [I] was definitely pleased with the way that Trevor ran the offense today.”
It didn’t take Jacksonville long to heat up. Linebacker Foyesade Oluokun intercepted Deshaun Watson at the Jaguars 19-yard line on the first drive of the game, and he returned the pick 22 yards to the 41.
“We got that interception,” defensive end Josh Hines-Allen said. “For me, it was like that was the statement right there. This is when the game is going to turn, that fast.”
From there, it only took Trevor Lawrence eight plays to navigate the next 59 yards, ending with a 30-yard touchdown strike to Parker Washington.
Lawrence threw another TD pass, this time for four yards to Josh Cameron, with 1:42 to go in the first quarter. It was Lawrence’s 100th career touchdown pass, and Cameron’s first.
The Jaguars juggernaut continued with an 11-play, 43-yard drive that ended with a 47-yard field goal by Cam Little.
Lawrence’s third TD throw was a 14-yard strike to tight end Brenton Strange with 6:18 remaining before intermission. That drive was set up by a fumble by rookie receiver KC Conception that was recovered by Hines-Allen at the Browns 44.
“You want to start the game fast and play well in that first possession so you can settle in as soon as possible and not give the ball back to the other team,” Lawrence said. “I think that’s always something you want to do, but I think it comes down to preparation.
“Also, every game is different. You don’t know exactly what the defense is going to do first series and so there’s a lot of moving parts. For us to start fast today like we did, that’s the goal moving forward, obviously, and going to continue to build on that.”
So how thorough was the first half beatdown? Jacksonville out-gained Cleveland in yardage, 234-95, with the Browns getting 20 of those on a 20-yard completion from Watson to Jerry Jeudy with 1:32 to go before the break.
The Browns finally scored after a 74-yard kickoff return by Raheim Sanders set up a 26-yard Andre Szmyt field goal that was matched 6 minutes, 43 seconds later by a 40-yard Little field goal. Watson also threw a 46-yard TD pass against Jacksonville backups to Denzel Watson with 1:52 remaining.
Jacksonville showed the balance Coen wanted. In addition to Lawrence’s 245 passing yards, the Jaguars ran 29 times for 129 yards – a 4.4-yard a play average. Bhayshul Tuten was the workhorse with 15 carries for 66 yards, Chris Rodriguez Jr. and Ameer Abdullah combined for another 55 yards.
“It was a great start,” Tuten said. “I think we came out moving the ball like we wanted to. Looked explosive overall, in the pass game, run game, blocking wise, and I think that’s what we wanted to showcase, so I think we did a great job today.”
After combining for just 125 total yards in the first three quarters, Watson padded his numbers with 147 fourth-quarter yards.
Nick Mullens, who was added to the active roster 90 minutes before kickoff, played the fourth quarter in a mop-up roll for Lawrence.
The Jaguars will likely get a tougher test on Sunday, Sept. 20, when they travel to Denver. The Broncos went to Kansas City for the Monday night game.
Jacksonville, which will only play six home games this year while the stadium goes through a two-year rebuild, will be back at The Bank on Sunday, Sept. 27, against New England.
(Photo courtesy Matt Starkey/Cleveland Browns)
