The Jacksonville Jaguars came out of their bye week with the path in front of them laid out in plain numbers: 13 wins gets it done in the AFC South.
That means the next stretch matters, because the Jaguars have already put themselves in position to control the division. At 4-2 entering the bye, Jacksonville is sitting on top of the AFC South, and with the Houston Texans and Indianapolis Colts both at 2-5 after Week 7, the Jaguars can lock up the division at 13 wins. That is the number the Colts and Texans cannot touch.
Getting there will not be easy. Jacksonville would need to go 9-2 over its final 11 games, and that is a tough ask for any team in the second half of a season. But this is exactly the kind of push the Jaguars are expecting to make after the break.
The timing of the bye should feel familiar in Jacksonville. Last season, the Jaguars were 4-3 when they stopped for the bye, coming off a rough loss in London.
This year, they were 4-2 and coming off a painful last-second defeat to the Houston Texans in London. The resemblance is hard to miss, and last year the turnaround was real: Jacksonville went 9-1 after the bye, finished 13-4, won the AFC South, and earned a home playoff game.
There was also a trade-deadline boost a year ago, and the addition of Jakobi Meyers this time around should help as well. Still, the bigger story is what the bye can do for a team that has already shown it can flip the switch after a break.
The Jaguars got an assist around the division in Week 7 too. The AFC South went 0-3 on Sunday, leaving Jacksonville’s three rivals with just five combined wins on the season. Jourdan Lewis said Monday that he was keeping tabs on what was happening elsewhere.
“It helps. It definitely helps.
I did keep some eye on some of the opponents that we will be seeing in the future. To see the type of game style that they play and how they're doing," Jaguars cornerback Jourdan Lewis said Monday.
"The AFC South helped us. We’re still number one in the division and just trying to make sure that we don't have any skids to where we let anybody get any opportunity to take that from us.”
That last part matters most. Jacksonville’s margin for error is there, but it is not huge, and head coach Liam Coen pointed to the areas that have to tighten up if the Jaguars are going to make the run they believe is there. On Monday, he mentioned red-zone penalties on offense, explosive plays allowed through the air on defense, and issues in kickoff and punt coverage.
Those flaws showed up in the Jaguars’ two losses, especially the Week 6 loss to the Texans. That is the kind of game that can tilt a season if a team keeps letting the same problems linger. The bye gives Jacksonville a chance to clean them up before the next phase begins.
“Anytime you get a little bit of an opportunity to reset, gather your thoughts, also get away from it a little bit. Sometimes absence makes the heart grow fonder in ways, and no different in football. I couldn't sleep last night," Coen said Monday.
"Excited about getting back in the building and getting back with these guys and attacking these next 11 games together and really getting after it. It also came a little earlier this year than last, if you will, right, in terms of the way it played out and how many games we've played. But six weeks in and you see all the stuff that happens on any given Sunday, specifically within our division, it should only allow you to have a mindset and mentality to come in here and attack this thing with a division game up this week.”
The schedule gives Jacksonville a real chance to build momentum. The Jaguars still have the Colts and Titans twice each, another meeting with the 2-5 Texans, the Washington Commanders, and games that look very winnable on paper against the Dallas Cowboys, Baltimore Ravens, New York Giants, and the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Bears in Week 13 look like the hardest remaining test.
Even with that slate, nothing will come easy if the Jaguars start slipping. Lewis’s warning about avoiding skids hangs over everything, and the team is still dealing with injury questions and pre-deadline chatter. But the goal is clear enough now.
Nine more wins, and the Jaguars get a playoff game in Jacksonville. The run starts now.
In Other News...
Jaguars Could Make A Deadline Move Fans Never Saw Coming
The NFL trade deadline always invites a little roster-watching, but the Jaguars may have a couple of names in the conversation that would qualify as real surprises. Brandon Cleveland is in the final stretch of his contract, which puts him in the kind of spot where teams often start weighing future value against present needs, while Jourdan Lewis has become one of the steadier voices in the secondary as a nickel cornerback and team captain.
Lewis would be the harder one for fans to picture moving, which is why the speculation stands out. Jacksonville could see him as a way to create flexibility and address other defensive spots, while Clevelands contract situation makes him a more obvious candidate if the front office decides to make a deal. For now, though, these are still just possibilities, the kind that tend to hang around until the deadline starts forcing real decisions. [Read more 🡒]
Jaguars Could Finally Fix One Roster Problem At The Trade Deadline
The Jaguars have spent enough time trying to patch the middle of their defense to know the issue is bigger than a single game plan tweak. As the trade deadline approaches, the focus has turned to interior defensive line help, with the kind of veteran target that could give Jacksonville more heft inside and take some pressure off the rest of the front.
Moro Ojomo, Daron Payne, Zach Sieler and Christian Covington are among the names worth watching because each brings a different mix of fit, contract complexity and potential impact. For a Jacksonville team still trying to sort out its defensive identity, the question is not whether help would matter, but which option is realistic enough to actually land before the deadline passes. [Read more 🡒]
Jaguars Could Catch Ravens At A Brutal Time For Baltimore
Baltimore is suddenly facing a stretch that could shape the early part of its season, and Lamar Jacksons ankle only adds to the uncertainty. The Ravens have already ruled him out for the upcoming game against Cincinnati after the high-ankle sprain he suffered in Week 4, leaving the team to navigate a matchup without the quarterback who drives so much of what they do on offense.
The bigger question for Jacksonville is what happens next, because the Ravens trip to Buffalo is looming and Jacksons status for that one is still unsettled. Baltimore is watching his practice work closely to judge whether he can return, and the difference in the teams performance with him on the field makes this a pivotal wait-and-see situation for a club trying to stay afloat through a difficult stretch. [Read more 🡒]