The Jaguars made Thursday night look easy, and that was the point.
Jacksonville rolled past a depleted Baltimore Ravens team 33-10 on Thursday Night Football, handling business the way a favored team should in Week 9. The win pushed the Jaguars to 6-2 and sent them into their mini-bye with plenty to like after one of the smoother outings of the Liam Coen era.
Trevor Lawrence didn’t need a gaudy stat line to own the night. He has settled into the kind of late-game control that lets Jacksonville drain the clock, but that’s happening because the offense is already doing its damage while the game is still competitive. Lawrence looked every bit like a clear MVP candidate, and the biggest obstacle in his way may be his own team’s offensive efficiency.
He was sharp in the first half, when he piled up nearly 200 passing yards and showed off the full range of what he can do. He was winning before the snap, handling the blitz after it, and stacking together the kind of plays that leave no doubt about who he is. Lawrence is the real deal and then some.
The passing game, though, was concentrated in a familiar place. Parker Washington and Jakobi Meyers were the center of it all, combining for 13 of Lawrence’s 26 targets.
The rest of the Jaguars’ receivers managed just two catches for five yards, and Brian Thomas Jr. didn’t see a single target. Washington and Meyers still finished with 126 receiving yards between them, highlighted by Washington’s 50-yard touchdown.
PARKER WASHINGTON TO THE CRIB.JAXvsBAL on PrimeStream on @NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/M79mYxS3b2
That’s the shape of this offense right now: Washington and Meyers are both good enough to carry the load when the Jaguars lean on the wideouts, even if the weekly distribution keeps shifting. When the ball is going to Jacksonville’s receivers, it’s obvious where the work is headed.
Up front, the Jaguars needed help from the entire defensive line with Davon Hamilton out, and they got it against Derrick Henry. Albert Regis stood out in Hamilton’s place, flashing effort, range as a tackler for a defensive tackle, and some real juice. The third-round nose tackle, who had been a healthy scratch recently, put together a strong showing.
The back end also kept trending in the right direction now that Montaric Brown is back healthy. Jacksonville has been able to use a four-man cornerback rotation, and that flexibility paid off Thursday.
Brown and Lewis each picked off a pass, with Brown getting his first interception of the season and Lewis grabbing his third. Both turnovers led to field goals.
Jarrian Jones added a quarterback hit and a pass breakup in another solid night for the secondary.
Special teams delivered a big swing too. Second-year linebacker Jalen McLeod, who has been making noise on coverage units lately, came up with the biggest play of his NFL career when he forced a fumble in the second half.
The Jaguars recovered it and later turned that into a field goal. That gives Jacksonville three turnovers forced in the last two weeks by second-year players, a trend that is starting to stand out for James Gladstone’s team.
Not everyone had a night to remember. Brian Thomas Jr. has now gone four games with just one catch for 12 yards and a touchdown on seven targets, and Thursday brought another quiet outing.
Jacksonville leaned more on 12 and 13 personnel than 11, and with a conservative offensive plan, there simply wasn’t much room for him to get involved. He finished with zero targets while nine other players were targeted, including Travis Hunter, LeQuint Allen, Chris Rodriguez, Josh Cameron, and Tanner Koziol.
Whether this was his last game as a Jaguar remains to be seen, but the game was not about showcasing him before the trade deadline.
Rookie left guard Emmanuel Pregnon also had a rougher night. He looked like a rookie, which isn’t a surprise, but the Jaguars expect a lot from every spot if they’re going to chase a Super Bowl.
Pregnon was flagged for three false starts and had trouble when isolated in pass protection. He did show some good work in the run game, but this was a night built more for lessons than highlights.
LeQuint Allen didn’t have much of a lane either. Even with Bhayshul Tuten sitting down late in the third quarter to rest after entering the game banged up, there still wasn’t much for Allen to do.
He was targeted twice on check-downs, but that was the extent of his touches. The Jaguars used their other three running backs for 29 carries and two additional catches, leaving Allen in a capped role for now.
He remains a gifted pass-blocker and an important part of the team’s culture, but his workload looks limited.
In Other News...
Jaguars Trade Buzz Just Raised One Huge Question About Their 2026 Push
The Jaguars long-term planning is already getting a lot of attention, and now the conversation has widened to the defensive front. Jacksonville is reportedly trying to work out a trade for either Eagles defensive tackle Jalen Carter or Panthers defensive tackle Derrick Brown, a sign the team is at least exploring major moves as it looks ahead to a 2026 push. Carter just signed a four-year extension with Philadelphia, while Brown has been active this season and has put together a strong defensive stretch for Carolina.
For Jacksonville, the appeal is obvious: both players would change the look of a defense that wants to be more disruptive when the roster is built out for that next window. The timing makes the buzz even more interesting, especially with Philadelphia dealing with its own issues and the Jaguars trying to gauge how aggressive they want to be in pursuit of a difference-maker. Whether this turns into a real trade or just another sign of where Jacksonvilles head is at, it has already raised a bigger question about how far the team is willing to go to speed up its 2026 plans. [Read more 🡒]
Ravens Quarterback Chaos Just Changed Everything For The Jaguars
The Jaguars trip to Baltimore suddenly looks a lot different after the Ravens were hit with a wave of quarterback injuries heading into Thursday night. Lamar Jackson is dealing with a thumb injury, Tyler Huntley is out for the season with a toe injury, and Baltimore has had to scramble just to build enough depth at the position.
Joe Fagnano is now the likely starter, with the Ravens adding Kaden Slovis and Austin Reed to help stabilize the room. For Jacksonville, it changes the shape of the matchup in a hurry, turning what looked like a tough road test into a game with a very different kind of uncertainty attached to it. [Read more 🡒]
Trevor Lawrence Got Dragged Into Another Al Michaels Broadcast Mess
Al Michaels found himself in the middle of another broadcast slip during Thursday nights Week 9 game, and this one quickly traveled far beyond the booth. While calling the action, Michaels mistakenly said Trevor Lawrence was the first overall draft pick in 2001, a mix-up that immediately lit up social media and put the Jaguars quarterback at the center of a very public gaffe.
For Jacksonville fans, it was another reminder of how quickly a national broadcast can turn into a talking point for all the wrong reasons. Michaels has already acknowledged that retirement is something he and Amazon will decide when the time is right, and the latest mistake only renewed the conversation around how long the veteran announcer plans to keep going. [Read more 🡒]