Jeremy Reper-USA TODAY Sports Jags deliver coal in blowout loss on the road. Twas the night before Christmas. And all through Tampa Bay, not a Jaguar was stirring. For the fourth straight week, the Jacksonville Jaguars have fallen flat on their face, this time in a 30-12 stomping on the road to the Buccaneers. Trevor Lawrence hurt his shoulder and turned the ball over three times. Nothing went right yet again and fans are left with that all too familiar feeling of hopelessness and despair. Here are your winners and losers. Merry Christmas. Winners Elijah Cooks For a good chunk of Sunday’s game, undrafted rookie Elijah Cooks was the team’s leading receiver. Cooks caught his first three NFL passes totaling 38 yards. Oddly enough, all three passes went to Cooks on third downs. Try as Cooks might to continue to continue to move the sticks, his efforts were rewarded with a missed field goal. Depth is important, so good for Cooks. Calvin Ridley Garbage time or not, Calvin Ridley had a good game when all was said and done. Both of the team’s two touchdowns went to Ridley, who finished his day with 90 yards on six catches. This year has not gone how anyone thought it was going to for Ridley, or the offense as a whole, but he still is viable for a highlight play or two a game. With two regular season games to go, Ridley has 66 catches for 871 yards and seven scores. His pair of touchdowns were his first since Nov. 26. Losers Literally everything else It is a bit of a catch-all to say that everything else stunk, but it really did. Lawrence did not play well, but injuries have to play a factor into that conversation. Even still, he tossed two picks and lost one fumble to further extend his pace-setting turnover rate. Per ESPN Stats & Info, this is Jaguars QB Trevor Lawrence's eighth career game with 3+ turnovers, three more than any other player since 2021 (Josh Allen and Mac Jones have 5 each).— Michael DiRocco (@ESPNdirocco) December 24, 2023 The run game was nonexistent yet again, with the team mustering just 37 yards. That number is dragged down slightly by a -12-yard run by Ridley, but 59 yards is not much better. Lawrence ended up leading the team in rushing with 29 yards. Travis Etienne had just 12. The defense did little to stop Baker Mayfield from throwing it all over them, as Mayfield passed for 283 yards and two scores. Mike Evans also had his way with the secondary. Run defense does continue to be a strong point for the team, as the Jags held the Bucs to 70 yards on 36 carries. It hardly means much when a team can throw the ball at will on you. The team looks lost, uninspired and completely spent at this point. Both of these teams had something to play for when the game began, yet only one looked ready to do anything about it. Injuries Lawrence and rookie right tackle Anton Harrison both left the game with injuries. Lawrence suffered a shoulder injury and Harrison a back injury. Special teamer Daniel Thomas also was held out with a forearm injury. Hopefully Lawrence’s injury was just precautionary and a way to get him out of a game that he had no business being in. But also maybe not. The season is essentially over if Lawrence and Harrison cannot go. The team is stacking injuries and losses and things are getting close to going off the rails. At least C.J. Beathard sort of, kind of looked fine in replacement of Lawrence. Brandon McManus What in the world has happened to Brandon McManus? In what started as yet another strong year for the veteran kicker has completely exploded as McManus has now made just one of his last six kicks. McManus is costing the team points and field position. Kicking is never an overnight fix, so it may not be unlikely he doesn’t finish the year with the team. Not for nothing, Riley Patterson is 15-17 on kicks this year and 35-37 on extra points. More importantly, he is in need of a job. Source: https://www.bigcatcountry.com/2023/12/2 ... -16-defeat
