Around the NFL will have more shortly from Eric Edholm.
2022 · 7-8-0
- First-place Jaguars control their own playoff fate. With their win over the Jets, the Jaguars will be in first place and hold the No. 4 seed in the AFC playoff picture if the Titans (with Malik Willis at QB) lose to the Texans on Saturday. At their Week 11 bye, the Jaguars were 3-7 — and only one team, the 2020 Washington Football Team, started with that record and made the playoffs. The hay is not yet in the barn, of course, and the Jaguars still must face the Titans in Week 18. But all the momentum is building toward a feel-good ending to this season. It’s been said a million times, but Doug Pederson has been the perfect antidote to reseed the scorched earth left behind by Urban Meyer last season. If Pederson isn’t a top-three Associated Press NFL Coach of the Year candidate, what are we even doing with that award? Trevor Lawrence has looked mostly terrific this season, outside of some fumbling issues (including one early Thursday), and especially when you compare him to the quarterback drafted immediately after him in 2021.
- Zach Wilson booed mercilessly by Jets fans, benched by coaches. The Jets coaches had seen enough, and with just over three minutes left in the third quarter, they pulled the plug on Zach Wilson. No, they didn’t bench Wilson for Mike White; he’s hurt. And not for Joe Flacco. But for CFL and NFL preseason legend Chris Streveler. The Jets actually started Streveler on Thursday — at wide receiver — in a funky personnel grouping and had a package of plays before taking over fully. Wilson was the quarterback to start, but he couldn’t even get through one offensive series before Jets fans booed him mercilessly. Every incomplete pass. Every penalty. Every punt. They were directed at the Jets’ offense as a whole in some cases, but the jeering felt so personally directed at Wilson – to the point where you wonder whether the guy will take another snap this season. (Or ever?) As soon as the coaches made the switch, Jets fans cheered as loudly for Streveler as they booed Wilson. This is a fascinating situation that almost certainly will leak into the offseason with Wilson’s future with the club suddenly murky.
- Evan Engram enjoys his best game at the stadium he called home once. As a first-round pick of the New York Giants in the 2017 NFL Draft, Engram was billed as a hyper-athletic, new-age tight end. It didn’t work out that way with the Giants, as Engram was plagued by dropped passes, especially in his final two seasons there. The Jaguars grabbed him on a one-year, prove-it type of deal, and boy, has he done exactly that. The drops haven’t disappeared completely, but Engram has been a big weapon for Lawrence lately, catching 26 passes for 337 yards and three touchdowns in the past three games. He’s now reached career highs in catches and receiving yards, and his 113-yard game against the Jets was his highest yardage total ever at MetLife Stadium — the place he called home for five years and 32 games (prior to Thursday).