Colts<\/strong> 21<\/strong><\/p>\nThe Jaguars are in the AFC playoffs. Good for them and they deserve a hat tip for turning things from 4-13\/no hope to 11-4\/all things possible. But to make a run in the tournament, it\u2019s time for the run game to get unlocked.<\/p>\n
Or is it really that important?<\/p>\n
The Jaguars entered Week 17 ranked 19th in rushing yards per game (118.1) and 26th in yards per carry (4.06). They haven\u2019t rushed for more than 134 yards in the last three games. But they\u2019re still winning \u2026 handily.<\/p>\n
Led by resurgent quarterback Trevor Lawrence, the Jaguars have 16 passing touchdowns and nine rushing touchdowns during their current six-game winning streak.<\/p>\n
Are we see a philosophical or a necessity shift? Necessity all the way because coach Liam Coen is adamant about the importance of re-establishing the run game. I\u2019ll meet Coen in the middle for this game. The Jaguars should come out slinging against the league\u2019s 31st-ranked pass defense to build a lead and then focus on the run game.<\/p>\n
The Jaguars make it seven consecutive wins and running back Travis Etienne gets at least 1 yard to reach 1,000 for the season.<\/p>\n
Season: 11-4 (Won last week)<\/p>\n
GARRY SMITS<\/p>\n
Times-Union Sports reporter<\/p>\n
Jaguars 33, Colts<\/strong> 24<\/strong><\/p>\nI think this one is going to be a bit closer than everyone thinks because while it\u2019s hard to win seven games in a row in the NFL, it\u2019s harder still to win five in a row in the dominating fashion in which the Jags have won their last four. The Colts aren\u2019t going to derail the Jags’ offense but could have DL DeForest Buckner back, which would help. If Phillip Rivers cans get the ball out quickly, WR Alec Pierce continues to bedevil the Jaguars secondary and the game stays reasonably close, which would keep RB Jonathan Taylor relevant, this might be a game well into the fourth quarter.<\/p>\n
Season: 9-6 (Won last week)<\/p>\n
JUSTON LEWIS<\/p>\n
Times-Union Sports reporter<\/p>\n
Jaguars 34, Colts<\/strong> 17<\/strong><\/p>\nThis is starting to feel a lot like the run in 2022. So I’ll go with a throwback nod: “It was always the Jags.”<\/p>\n
Season: 9-6 (Won last week)<\/p>\n
CLAYTON FREEMAN<\/p>\n
Times-Union Sports reporter<\/p>\n
Jaguars 26, Colts<\/strong> 19<\/strong><\/p>\nThere’s a bit of trap game risk here against the slumping Colts, particularly at Lucas Oil Stadium against Jonathan Taylor. But Trevor Lawrence is playing some of his best football ever, and the Indy defense just allowed 440 yards and 48 points to San Francisco. A big game ahead for Brenton Strange?<\/p>\n
Season: 9-6 (Won last week)<\/p>\n
TIM WALTERS<\/p>\n
Times-Union Sports Editor<\/p>\n
Jaguars 31, Colts<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong> 17<\/strong><\/p>\nThe Jaguars are on a roll and could wrap up the AFC South. They’ll be motivated to take care of business. They bottled up Jonathan Taylor in their Dec. 7 win, and if they replicate that, this game should be in hand in the second half.<\/p>\n
Season: 10-5 (Won last week)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Buccaneers visit Dolphins, Jaguars at Colts | NFL preview video The Dolphins will play the Buccaneers for just…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":472955,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5136],"tags":[10519,55787,102553,94569,5229,8015,8019,43624,43626,11308,77649,48219,4834,52868,5723,7235,9070,3188,723,1318,4345,2505,11652,59,20579,9002,7310,8017,8013,3351,48478,17727,8591,9067,46405,1571,5382,942,50,1232,12623,450,950,1457,32462,1451,3948,62,1458,43625,18912,26570,1533,9078,9066,9076,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":["post-472954","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-afc","tag-afc-south","tag-alec","tag-alec-pierce","tag-america","tag-american","tag-american-football","tag-brenton","tag-brenton-strange","tag-cam","tag-cam-little","tag-colts","tag-daniel","tag-daniel-jones","tag-espn","tag-espn-inc","tag-etienne","tag-fl","tag-florida","tag-football","tag-houston","tag-houston-texans","tag-hub","tag-inc","tag-indianapolis","tag-indianapolis-colts","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-jaguars","tag-jaguars","tag-jonathan","tag-jonathan-taylor","tag-jones","tag-jr","tag-lawrence","tag-little","tag-national","tag-national-sports","tag-neutral","tag-news","tag-nfl","tag-nfl-hub","tag-overall","tag-overall-neutral","tag-overall-positive","tag-pierce","tag-positive","tag-south","tag-sports","tag-sports-news","tag-strange","tag-taylor","tag-texans","tag-travis","tag-travis-etienne-jr","tag-trevor","tag-trevor-lawrence","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472954","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=472954"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472954\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/472955"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=472954"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=472954"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=472954"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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