The Jacksonville Jaguars opened the 2026 season with an emphatic statement on Sunday, dominating the Cleveland Browns from start to finish on their way to a resounding 34-10 victory.

It was a great start to the new campaign for the Jaguars, who succeeded in quieting their many critics, at least for one week.

There was plenty of winning to go around against the Browns. Jacksonville had more than just a few players step up and make contributions to Sunday's victory. 

While it wasn't quite Miami playing Florida A&M, Cleveland allowed Jacksonville to get a bit of a tune-up before going on the road next week to play the Denver Broncos.

Admittedly, the "winners" list for the Jaguars could be much longer, but I narrowed it down to only five and threw in a couple of "losers" as well, even though that may be a bit rough considering how this game went down.

Trevor Lawrence: Nobody was a bigger winner for the Jaguars against Cleveland than Lawrence. After his career season in 2025, the sixth-year QB was surgical on Sunday, completing 18 of his 23 passes (to nine different players) for 245 yards and four touchdowns.

Despite being named an MVP finalist last season, Lawrence still opened the season with plenty of people questioning whether 2025 was a fluke. He made those questions look foolish. If Sunday was any indicator, Lawrence looks like he will be in the mix for the award again this year.

Parker Washington: As was the case for most of the second half of last season, Washington led the Jaguars in receiving and was Lawrence's favorite target. The fourth-year WR opened the scoring with a beautiful diving 30-yard touchdown catch. He would finish the day with five grabs for 83 yards and was his usual dynamic self.

Even though Washington and the team couldn't agree on a contract extension before the season began, he showed no ill effects from the failed negotiations and likely earned himself even more money.

Bhayshul Tuten: Throughout the offseason, Tuten and Chris Rodriguez Jr. battled to be the Jaguars' top running back. Tuten appeared to have built an insurmountable lead after an injury sidelined Rodriguez until training camp. However, once C-Rod returned, the competition was back on. The team's first depth chart listed Tuten OR Rodriguez as RB1.

On Sunday, Tuten had the job locked down. He led the team with 15 carries for 66 yards, dominating the backfield's touches. Not only did he see the most touches, but he also ran hard and effectively and caught a pass for 22 yards.

Travon Walker (and Josh Hines-Allen): Both of Jacksonville's star edge rushers each notched 1.5 sacks on Sunday. They made life miserable for Deshaun Watson, who was sacked five times in total.

While each was impressive, Walker gets more of a shout-out as a winner. He played through various injuries last season and only had 3.5 sacks all year after consecutive seasons of recording double-digits. Only one game into this season, Walker is nearly halfway to his 2025 total.

Ventrell Miller and Branson Combs: In another of the team's camp competitions, Miller and Combs fought to earn the starting spot vacated by linebacker Devin Lloyd when he left in free agency. Both made their presence felt against the Browns. Each would record a sack of his own. Miller also led the team with 10 total tackles, while Combs chipped in with four.

Brian Thomas Jr.: To be fair, Thomas did nothing to warrant a spot on the loser list. He caught three passes for 40 yards. Only Washington had more catches or receiving yards.

However, on a day when Lawrence hit four different pass catchers for a TD, BTJ was left out of the fun. He also had to leave the game for a bit after suffering a back injury.

Thomas is hoping to reclaim his spot as WR1, but he likely fell further behind Washington after the latter's impressive showing.

Chris Rodriguez Jr.: If Tuten made the "winners" list for dominating RB touches, then it's only natural that C-Rod would be on the "losers" list. He was only given six carries, nine fewer than Tuten and only two more than Ameer Abdullah. 

For a player who was in the mix to lead Jacksonville's backfield this season, only getting six touches was not the workload Rodriguez had hoped for.

Plenty of others could have been listed as "winners," such as the entire offensive line, Foye Oluokun, and even Nick Mullens, who was elevated from the practice squad to serve as Lawrence's backup while Quinn Ewers, whom Jacksonville traded for on the eve of cutdowns to take Mullens' spot, was inactive.

BTJ and Rodriguez are only "losers" because Week 1 seemed to lower each on the food chain of the Jaguars' offense.

All said, Sunday's performance from Jacksonville was about as dominant as could be.