Dominant wins and a surging QB are propelling Jacksonville up the power rankings. A possible Super Bowl contender emerges as the Jaguars roar into elite NFL contention.
To no one's surprise, the Jacksonville Jaguars moved up in NFL.com’s Power Rankings this week.
Jacksonville has arguably been the most dominant team in the league over the last five weeks, and this past Sunday, it destroyed the New York Jets in a 48-20 win, and earned a promotion from No. 9 to No. 7.
The Jags have won five straight games by an average of more than three scores, and now are 10-4, leading the AFC South and are looking increasingly like a legitimate Super Bowl contender.
Week 15's game, against the Jets, was a bloodbath.
Jacksonville scored 31 points in the first half, didn’t let up much in the second, and got a blowout win, sending the Jets into next week with their third-string QB and a 3-11 record.
It hasn’t been easy for the Jags this year. A 35-7 loss to the Rams in London on Oct. 19 dropped Jacksonville to 4-3, and many wondered if this team would follow the path of its past few losing seasons.
It didn’t happen that way. Now, the Jags are rolling.
Here’s what NFL.com had to say about first-year head coach Liam Coen’s team.
“The Jaguars have ripped off five straight wins, and they did so emphatically on Sunday by building a 31-10 halftime lead and continuing to pour it on in the second half against the helpless Jets. Trevor Lawrence engineered his finest statistical outing ever, accounting for six touchdowns himself and leading only three empty drives all game. Lawrence got hot in the latter half of the 2022 season to lead the Jags into the playoffs, and he’s on a similar heater now. This coming Sunday’s matchup against an even hotter Broncos team should provide Jacksonville the kind of playoff-caliber matchup it needs, and these two teams could meet again in January, for all we know."
Lawrence has been outstanding over the past three games in particular, accounting for nine touchdowns. He’s playing like the franchise quarterback the Jags planned for in making him the No. 1 pick in the 2021 NFL draft; this year, especially this past Sunday, he has had help from one of his old teammates from Clemson. Running back Travis Etienne showed his versatility, catching three passes for 73 yards, and all of them were for touchdowns.
It’s a far cry from the operation that went 4-13 under Doug Pederson last season, and we’ll see just how far this train can go.