The Jacksonville Jaguars entered their bye week at 4-3 on the season — right in the thick of the AFC playoff race.
Before Sunday’s Week 8 games were played, the Jaguars held the seventh seed in the conference.
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As we highlighted, there are certainly reasons to be optimistic that the Jaguars can hit the ground running after the bye week and continue making their playoff push.
However, accomplishing that will require the Jaguars to clean things up in these three areas.
Passing game consistency
If the Jaguars are going to be more productive on offense during the second half of the season, the passing game has to be more consistent.
Trevor Lawrence is completing 58.7% of his passes at a modest 6.3 yards per attempt. The Jaguars currently rank 22nd in points per game. In today’s NFL, consistency in the passing game and a few explosive plays are required to put up points regularly.
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Becoming a more steady unit through the air will require fewer dropped passes, an issue that the Jaguars’ pass-catchers have dealt with all season long.
Lawrence will also have to be more accurate with some of his throws, along with getting the ball out on time when the right look presents itself. The miscommunications between Lawrence and his pass-catchers will have to be cleaned up as well.
Penalties
From Week 1 all the way through Week 7 in London, penalties have routinely been an issue for the Jaguars. As a team, Jacksonville enters the bye week averaging 9.3 penalties per game — the highest rate in football.
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Winning in the NFL is difficult, but it becomes a lot more challenging when dealing with penalties. They put the offense behind the sticks and negate big plays, while on the other side of the ball, penalties prevent the defense from getting off the field.
More pass rush production is needed
Josh Hines-Allen continues to be very productive, but overall from this Jaguars’ defensive front, more pass rush juice is needed.
Jacksonville ranks 24th in ESPN’s pass rush win rate metric, which tells us that they aren’t winning their matchups quickly enough. The Jaguars are also tied for the fewest sacks in football.
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The defense has performed well under first-year defensive coordinator Anthony Campanile, but getting to the next level will require more disruption up front.
Sacks are, of course, great, but pressures disrupt the timing and rhythm of a play, which can lead to erratic throws and possible turnover opportunities.
This article originally appeared on Jaguars Wire: 3 causes for concern for Jaguars for remainder of 2025 season