Bucs, Panthers clash for top NFC South spot | NFL preview video
Two of the AFC’s top teams clash as he Jaguars visit the Broncos. The Bucs need a win over the Panthers as they are locked in a tight NFC South race.
A Jaguars victory, combined with a loss by either the Colts or Texans, would clinch a playoff spot.Jacksonville is on a five-game winning streak, while Denver has won its last 11 games.The Jaguars are focused on treating this important game like any other to avoid adding extra pressure.
The Jacksonville Jaguars (10-4) are in the driver’s seat for the AFC South crown, but could be facing a boulder of a roadblock this week against the Denver Broncos (12-2), who are currently on an 11-game win streak.
Jacksonville has its own win streak, though, a respectable five games since losing to the Houston Texans, blowing a 19-point lead that could have deflated Jacksonville and derailed the season. Still, the team persisted and has used that game as fuel for their fire.
The Jaguars will take on the Broncos at 4:05 p.m.
The game will be broadcast on FOX.
It’s all led to this. If the Jaguars win Sunday, they could clinch their first playoff berth since 2022. They only need either the Indianapolis Colts or the Houston Texans to lose — both of those teams play in the 1 p.m. window.
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The Jaguars aren’t making this game bigger than it has to be. Yes, it’s big, but so was the Colts game a couple of weeks ago, and every game from here on out matters tremendously for seeding purposes. A win over the Broncos could kick-start Jacksonville’s pursuit of the No. 1 seed.
And yes, they’ll need help, but they need to take care of business first and foremost.
“It’s a big game for us, and at this point in this season with where we’re at, when you’ve put yourself in position like we have and obviously like the Broncos have, and like a bunch of teams in the AFC have, every game is huge at the end of the year, which is where you want to be,” Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence said this week.
“So, I think there’s no secret about how important it is, but it’s still just a game and you’ve got to prepare the same way. You can’t put too much pressure on it. You’ve just got to go out there and play.”
Jaguars defensive end Josh Hines-Allen isn’t entering the game with any other expectation than the one he already always has — to win the game in front of him.
“The expectation for us, man, is to win every game. You know, implications, whatever. At the end of the day, this is a playoff team. We’re a playoff team and this is a team we may see now, later, whatever,” Hines-Allen said. “So, for us, it’s continue to do what we do. We can play to our standard, then we’ll play to our standard and we’ll be the best version of us that we can be.”
Jaguars running back Travis Etienne echoed Hines-Allen’s sentiments in the locker room this week. The expectations remain the same and every week is just as important as the one before and after.
“Just another week. We got to approach it how we’ve been approaching every week. Just got to go out there, focus on ourselves, and just focus on the details, going out there and execute. [We] know it’s gonna be loud, so feel like we just got to all be on one page,” said Etienne.
Etienne is embracing the loud environment that is bound to come from Empower Field at Mile High.
“I always do well on the road because it’s easier to be locked in. We’re in a hotel, we don’t have distractions, maybe get in my book more and just spend a little time that I would do at home with my family, just spending inside my book. So, it’s just easier to be locked in on the road,” Etienne said.
Here are our bold predictions.
Broncos’ Courtland Sutton will have fewer than 100 receiving yards
Broncos receiver Courtland Sutton hasn’t lost much of a step. While he’s not discussed as a premier wide receiver in the national media like Justin Jefferson, Tee Higgins, Ja’Marr Chase and others are, he has still performed consistently for many years in the league.
Sutton, 30, has totaled 63 catches for 886 yards and six touchdowns. His prowess is getting over the top of a defense with his physicality and, more often than not, he’ll come down with a 50-50 ball.
Sutton has had just two 100-yard receiving games, but he got the second recently against the Green Bay Packers last week with seven catches for 113 yards and a TD.
“Just such a big physical guy and really wins, I would say, the lion’s share of 50-50 balls and a big competitive guy at the catchpoint. It’s a challenge when he’s isolated, he does a great job, and they do a great job of getting him the ball so there’s a lot of challenge there,” Jaguars coordinator Anthony Campanile said Thursday.
Sutton will be a handful for Jacksonville’s defensive backs, but I think they take care of business against him this week.
Jaguars rushing attack finally improves even without Tuten
The Jaguars have been solid at running the football over the last few games, but they still haven’t gotten back to what they accomplished against the Los Angeles Chargers in Week 11 when they rushed for 192 yards, their second-best performance on the year.
Jacksonville’s rushing attack has been one of the team’s backbones this year, especially in wins. Besides the team’s win over the Houston Texans in Week 2 and the Titans in Week 13, the Jaguars have lost every game where they rush for fewer than 100 yards.
To be clear, Jacksonville is 2-3 when they run for less than 100 yards. The only time they’ve lost when rushing for more was in Week 2 against the Cincinnati Bengals, when they ran for 139 yards.
The Broncos’ defense is good; there’s no way to sugarcoat it. They rank in the top 10 in nearly any defensive category you can throw at them. But if the Jags want to get one over on Denver, then they’ll need to get it done on the ground.
Pat Surtain will snap Trevor Lawrence’s three-game turnover-free streak
Lawrence has thrown 11 interceptions this season, but hasn’t thrown any over the last three games. It’s the longest streak in his career without a turnover (interception or fumble).
Jacksonville may have caught the Broncos on a bad week, given star corner Pat Surtain II logged his first interception of the season last week against the Packers. Surtain is one of the top defensive backs in the league, voted as the Defensive Player of the Year in 2021. He’s been an Associated Press All-Pro twice in his career and has made the Pro Bowl three times.
There’s no question that Surtain is the best corner Jacksonville will have faced thus far this season, and Lawrence hasn’t shied away from throwing in the direction of elite players. Sometimes he makes the play, sometimes he doesn’t.
Surtain getting the first interception out of the way last week may not bode well for Lawrence, and he throws his first pick in almost a month in Denver.
Jaguars, Broncos score prediction
Jaguars 31, Broncos 30
Demetrius Harvey is the Jacksonville Jaguars reporter for the Florida Times-Union. You can follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, at @Demetrius82 or on Bluesky @ Demetrius.
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