This Saturday the (0-3) Jacksonville Jaguars and the (1-1) Atlanta Falcons will play their third and final NFL Preseason game for the 2022 season. Both of these teams will be looking to finish strong, but I wouldn't expect to see many starters in this game. They can't risk any injuries to key players, as the regular season starts after this game.
The Jacksonville Jaguars are yet to get their first win of the season, as they will be looking to finish the preseason strong in this one. They fell to the Pittsburgh Steelers last week, as their offense couldn't put up enough points to win the game. I wouldn't expect to see Trevor Lawrence in this o ne, either. He played a lot last week and the Jags will want to look at some other guys before making final cuts.
The Atlanta Falcons looked great in the first half of their second preseason game, but their offense completely stalled in the second half. Once Mariota ad Ridder stepped off the field the Falcons stopped moving the ball. The Jets stormed back and got the 24-16 win. I wouldn't expect to see many Falcon's starters in this one, as well.
The Jacksonville Jaguars have had a tough start to the year, as they are now 0-3 in their first three games of the 2022 season. I wouldn't expect to see many starters in this one, either. According to Walterfootball.com, Doug Pederson is now 2-9 in his last 11 preseason games, as I don't see him caring if his team wins this one. It won't affect their regular season and they need to make final cuts before the regular season starts. The Jaguars will most likely start C.J. Beathard or E.J. Perry, as these two have been competing for the backup QB position all preseason. Beathard threw for 52 yards last week, as he only completed 6/10 passes. I expect to see him play more in this one, though. Lawrence took the majority of the snaps at the beginning of last week, but I don't see that happening in this one. B eathard has also shown that he is a capable backup QB, as he has thrown for over 3,400 yards and 18 TDS in his career. Perry will also see some more time in this game, as he struggled last week. He only threw for 92 yards and he threw a pick. He struggled to move the ball and the Jacksonville offense stalled once he entered the game. The Jaguars finished last week's game with 367 total yards and they went 1/3 in the red zone. They also had 97 rushing yards, as they will continue to establish their running game in this one.
On the defensive side of the field, the Jaguars showed up. I wouldn't expect to see many defensive starters playing in this game, though. They held the Steelers to 279 total yards last week, as they did a great job against the run. They held the Steelers to 24 rushing yards, as they continued to rally towards the ball carrier. Jacksonville did give up 5.0 yards per play, though. They will nee d to limit the number of big plays that they give up, as little mistakes have continued to hurt them all preseason. Luckily, they did force a fumble, as they pounded the Steelers when they were running with the ball. Unfortunately, the Jacksonville secondary did have some trouble. They gave up 255 passing yards, as they allowed rookie Kenny Pickett and Mason Rudolph to dice them up through the air. Jacksonville also only had one sack, as they will need to do a better job of putting pressure on the opposing quarterback.