Hitting rock bottom
If the Jaguars rushing attack gets any worse, it will be sub-zero.
Despite signs during the week that the Jags would try to emphasize the run to show some confidence in second-year pro James Robinson, any efforts in that regard were an abysmal failure in Sunday’s 20-0 loss to the Tennessee Titans in Nashville — starting with Robinson getting thrown for a 4-yard loss on his first carry of the game.
It was historically bad. The Jaguars ran the ball only eight times, for a net gain of 8 yards, the lowest in franchise history and the first time they had single-digit rushing yards in one game.
Robinson, who had been benched for extended periods of time in the last two games because of fumbles — generating a two-week soap opera about who put him on the bench, when, for how long, and why, questions that were never adequately answered by coach Urban Meyer — had six carries for 4 yards. It was his second-lowest number of attempts and the fewest yards in one game.
It was only a week ago that Robinson had his previous career-low in yards with 24 against the Los Angeles Rams.
The game also broke a string of good performances Robinson had against the Titans. He gained 149 yards against Tennessee at home on Oct. 10, and has rushed for 318 yards, two touchdowns and a 6.9 per-carry average in three previous games versus the Titans.
The fewest yards the Jaguars had rushed for in one game in franchise history before Sunday was 12 on Oct. 2, 2005, at home in a 20-7 loss to Denver.
And just to rub some more salt in the wound, it was one more example of the Titans inviting the Jags to Nashville and then playing bully and taking their lunch money: four times in the last six seasons, the Jags’ season-low in rushing yards has been at Nissan Stadium.
“It started with the inability to consistently run the ball,” Meyer said. “We couldn’t run at all.”
Rookie quarterback Trevor Lawrence, who threw four interceptions and was sacked three times, lamented:
“We have to run the ball better ... in this league if you can’t run the ball, it’s tough. We have a couple of great running backs and a good line. A lot of stuff happened. It’s hard to keep track of exactly the situation of why we did this and that.”
For a franchise with few points of pride, running the ball has been one with Fred Taylor, Maurice Jones-Drew and Robinson combining for 11 1,000-yard seasons.
But the Jags have now run for less than 100 yards as a team six times in the last eight games, which comes as no help to rookie quarterback Lawrence, who could surely use some help in having defenses respect the run enough to not blitz him continually and give him playaction options.
Yes, the team fell behind early again, but not to the point where the run had to be abandoned. It was only 10-0 at halftime and the Jags stayed within that margin until Tennessee quarterback Ryan Tannehill scored on a 5-yard run with 2:51 left in the third quarter.
But the first four plays of the game were called passes and the Jags had to punt. When they got the ball back with a 7-0 deficit, Robinson was given the ball twice, for 8 yards, setting up a thirdand-two that Lawrence easily converted with a short pass to Tavon Austin.
Robinson didn’t get another touch for the rest of the first half. After he had no gain and a loss of 1 yard on his first two carries of the second half, he touched the ball only three more times: a 3-yard pass reception that was nullified by a holding penalty on Ben Bartch, a 1yard run, and a 10-yard run that was wiped out on Andrew
Norwell’s third holding penalty of the game.
“It’s something I’m sure we’ll talk about because the run game is so important in this league,” Lawrence said of offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell abandoning the run. “Time of possession, play-action ... we’ve got to get James involved more. We can’t let that happen.”