JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The Jaguars have officially clinched the playoffs, but there’s still work to be done if they want to clinch the AFC South. First item on the menu: defeating the Indianapolis Colts on the road. It likely won’t be as easy as their first matchup with Philip Rivers now at the helm, a quarterback the Jaguars are all too familiar with.
Let’s take a look at some key matchups in this AFC South rivalry game.
Philip Rivers vs Jaguars’ D
Philip Rivers has historically torn apart the Jaguars’ defenses. Throughout his career, Rivers is 8-3 against the Jaguars, totaling nearly 3200 yards and 26 passing touchdowns. Those numbers are good for 290.5 yards and 2.4 TDs per game.
Despite being 44 years old and missing multiple seasons, he’s playing fairly well. Through two games this season, Rivers has totaled 397 yards passing, three touchdowns, and two interceptions. He looked much better this past weekend in their loss to San Francisco, too.
Travis Etienne vs Colts’ D
The Jaguars’ rushing attack is struggling pretty mightily right now. I wrote an article looking at just that earlier in the week, but I’ll give you the CliffsNotes version. The Jaguars rank nearly dead last in every rushing metric over the last month. It is not good.
In that span, the Jaguars’ running backs are averaging just 2.5 yards per carry and have fewer first downs combined than Trevor Lawrence does as a rusher. The Jaguars will have to work to fix this as they head into the playoffs, and who better than the Colts? Etienne did post two touchdowns against them in their first matchup.
Jarrian Jones in the slot
With the recent news that Jourdan Lewis will miss the remainder of the season, Montaric Brown, Greg Newsome III, and Jarrian Jones will have to step up to fill the void. Luckily, Jarrian Jones will be there to hold down the fort in the slot. He’s playing some excellent ball after some early-season struggles playing outside.
From the slot, Jones is allowing an NFL Rating of just 71.6, which ranks fourth among the Top-35 slot CBs this season. What’s even better? His yards allowed per coverage snap is even better at just 0.83 yards/snap, 2nd in the NFL. Only Cooper DeJean has been better. The Jaguars’ depth continues to be a bright spot this season.
>>> STREAM ACTION SPORTS JAX 24/7 LIVE <<<
[DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks]
[SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter]
Click here to download the free Action News Jax apps, click here to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and click here to stream Action Sports Jax 24/7 live.
