Jaguars vs. Buccaneers 2023: Slay or Bomb

The Jaguars vs. Buccaneers game was the latest in a string of frustrating games for the Jacksonville Jaguars. With the Jaguars season unraveling, there isn’t much time left to secure a playoff spot.

Before looking ahead to the home stretch of the 2023 NFL season, let’s take a more in-depth look at the Jaguars vs. Buccaneers game and who slayed and who bombed. The Jaguars have struggled a lot in recent weeks, and after a 30 to 12 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Jacksonville Jaguars need to rebound.

Jaguars vs. Buccaneers: Slay

Calvin Ridley

It’s been an up-and-down season for Calvin Ridley. Ridley has had some big games, and some lackluster ones since the bye week. With Christian Kirk out, Ridley was a focal point of the offense heading into the Jaguars vs. Buccaneers matchup. In the Jaguars vs. Buccaneers matchup, Calvin Ridley made big contributions through the air. On ten targets, Ridley had six receptions for 90 yards and two touchdowns.

It’s the first time since week 12 that Ridley has had a nice performance through the air, and it unfortunately came in a disappointing loss. But, if the improvement is a sign of things to come, then the Jaguars will be well set up in their final two matchups of the 2023 season, and hopefully into the playoffs.

After weeks of high targets, but little production, Ridley finally found pay-dirt, twice nonetheless, and is coming off his second-best game of his Jaguars career. With only two weeks remaining, and the prospect that Trevor Lawrence might miss a week, Ridley will need to play at a high level if the Jaguars want to make the playoffs, let alone compete in them.

Travon Walker

Playing alongside Josh Allen, who’s having a breakout season, and constantly being compared to Lions star Aiden Hutchinson has left Travon Walker on the back-burner. But, he’s been having an incredible season, one that’s very encouraging for the young Jaguars defensive lineman.

In the Jaguars vs. Buccaneers game, Travon Walker had a sack to go with four tackles. It’s been a fairly under-the-radar season for Walker, and this is another game where Travon Walker makes his impact known. In the 2023 NFL season, Travon Walker has seven sacks and 44 tackles. While his pressure numbers aren’t quite as high as Aiden Hutchinson’s, the sacks are in favor of Walker.

As the two will be compared throughout their careers, it’s going to be a decision that the Jaguars might end up regretting if Walker doesn’t improve. That was the sentiment after 2022. Now, with Walker improving his pass rush abilities, there’s more optimism going forward than before.

While the lone Travon Walker sack didn’t impact the final score, the individual improvements are all that can be taken from the Jaguars vs. Buccaneers game in a positive light. Losing streaks is always tough, but when players are showing improvements and development, there’s at least a beacon of light shining in the darkness that is a losing streak. Travon Walker is that beacon, and there’s significantly more optimism than before the season with Walker, his performance in the Jaguars vs. Buccaneers game was the latest part of that optimism.

Jaguars vs. Buccaneers: Bomb

Trevor Lawrence

One of the glaring issues present during the Jaguars losing streak has been the play of Trevor Lawrence. Lawrence has been dealing with a plethora of injuries, all across his body. A concussion heading into this matchup was the latest injury Lawrence was dealing with. Now, Lawrence has another shoulder injury from the Jaguars vs. Buccaneers game.

Trevor Lawrence in the blowout loss against the Buccaneers went 17 for 29 for 211 yards, one touchdown, two interceptions, and two fumbles with one loss. Three turnovers are never easily dealt with, especially when there have been problems with the overall function of the offense. Trevor Lawrence has been on a cold stretch lately, and his big problem has been the constant turnovers.

The yards and touchdown don’t mean much when turning the ball over three times. The Jaguars’ offense relies on Trevor Lawrence so much, that if he can’t succeed the Jaguars have little chance of moving the ball. With a matchup against an improving Panthers team on deck, the Jaguars with a hobbled Trevor Lawrence will have a much tougher time than some may expect.

Entire Jaguars Offensive Line

While it’s easy to bash Trevor Lawrence thanks to the easily identifiable stats like turnovers and lack of touchdowns, the biggest culprit for the Jaguars’ offensive struggles has been the poor play of the offense line. On the 2023 season, the Jaguars offensive line ranks 12th in pass protection and third worst in the NFL on run blocking according to PFF. Extremely poor offensive line play is hard to get over, and the Jaguars have been dealing with one of the worst offensive line performances of the 2023 season.

In the Jaguars vs. Buccaneers game, the offensive line was once again another huge issue. Anton Harrison and Brandon Scherff have been the two best offensive linemen all season for the Jaguars, but they’ve had their fair share of issues. But, the main culprits have been the play elsewhere on the offensive line. Ezra Cleveland, Walker Little, Cole Van Lanen and Luke Fortner were in the spotlight for their poor performance against the Buccaneers.

Ezra Cleveland allowed seven pressures according to PFF, Walker Little allowed five pressures, and Luke Fortner allowed three pressures. Cleveland was lined up as the starting left guard, with Walker Little at left tackle and Luke Fortner and center. In summary, the entire left side of the Jaguars offensive line gave up a combined 15 pressures.

To make matters worse, Anton Harrison went down with a back injury, and Cole Van Lanen subbed in for him for roughly half the offensive snaps. Despite only playing 31 snaps at right tackle, Van Lanen gave up four pressures. The starters are struggling, and the backups are matching the poor play. The pressures allowed, combined with poor run blocking have completely stagnated the Jaguars offense.

There might be no singular issue more glaring than the massive issues on the offensive line. If the Jaguars want to compete for deep playoff runs, the offensive line will need to drastically improve their play. But, in the meantime, the Jaguars offensive line once again struggled, this time in the Jaguars vs. Buccaneers matchup.

Jaguars vs. Buccaneers: Final Thoughts

There’s a litany of issues plaguing the Jaguars. From poor quarterback play to atrocious blocking, and a mountain of injuries, there are plenty of issues that can be brought up as reasons for the recent struggles. But, they all combined and formed the current losing streak that the Jaguars are on. Multiple bad losses in a row, make the Jaguars’ 8-7 record seem awful.

The Jaguars still have control of their destiny for the playoffs, but if they can’t fix some of these glaring issues it’s going to be another disappointing season for the Jaguars.