The Jacksonville Jaguars seem to have gotten consistently worse under head coach Doug Pederson over the past few seasons, and we know at least one thing they could do to change that — start catching the ball.
Jaguars pass-catchers dropped several Trevor Lawrence throws during Sunday’s 35-16 loss to the Chicago Bears at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, England. Four of those passes would have resulted in touchdowns had they been hauled in.
Jaguars dropped not one, not two, not three, but four touchdowns in Week 6 pic.twitter.com/QDG2rES8vM
— Ian Hartitz (@Ihartitz) October 14, 2024
To say that dropped passes have been a problem for the Jaguars in the Lawrence era would be an understatement. Since Lawrence became Jacksonville’s starting quarterback in 2021, the Jaguars have dropped 113 passes. That is the most in the NFL during that span and 21 more than the next-worst team, which is the Kansas City Chiefs.
After the Jaguars dropped four potential TD passes on Sunday, I went back and checked: Since Trevor Lawrence entered the league in 2021 the Jaguars have dropped 113 passes, per ESPN Research. Most in the league and 21 more than the second-place team, Kansas City.
— Michael DiRocco (@ESPNdirocco) October 14, 2024
Jaguars pass-catchers have also been targeted 1,948 times compared to Kansas City’s 2,021, so Jacksonville has 21 more drops with 73 fewer targets.
Lawrence has a tendency to put too much velocity on short throws at times, but that has hardly been the biggest factor in all the dropped passes. The ball was almost perfectly placed with every one of the Jagaurs’ four would-be touchdowns that were dropped against Chicago.
The Jaguars are in London again in Week 7 to take on the New England Patriots, who are also 1-5. Many people had the same reaction to the Jags’ embarrassing loss to the Bears, and another poor performance could lead to significant changes for the franchise.
