The Los Angeles Chargers return to action after a 10 day layoff to host the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday afternoon. The Chargers last played a Thursday night game more than a week ago, losing to the Chiefs to fall to 1-1. The Jaguars won their last game, trounci9ng the Indianapolis Colts to improve to 1-1. These two teams last played in 2020, when the Chargers won 39-29 as 8 point favorites. They have won 8 of their last 10 games against the Jaguars. The Chargers are favored in this one by 6.5 points. Can they cover?
The Jacksonville Jaguars are off to a pretty good start in 2022 — in fact, at 1-1, they are in first place in their division. They lost their opening game to Washington, blowing a 22-14 fourth quarter lead only to lose 28-22. But last week they won wire-to-wire, trouncing the Colts 24-0. Trevor Lawrence looks like a new quarterback in 2022 after a rocky rookie year. Against the Colts he was nearly perfect, going 25 for 30 for 235 yards, 2 touchdowns, and 0 interceptions. His favorite target was Christian Kirk, the newcomer from Arizona who caught 6 passes for 78 yards and 2 touchdowns. Evan Engram also had a good game, catching 7 balls for 64 yards.
Took 2 weeks for Doug Pederson to wash the Urban Meyer off of Trevor Lawrence. 8 for 8 on this drive pic.twitter.com/JCLnbuxwwl
— ThatsGoodSports (@BrandonPerna) September 18, 2022
The running game wasn't quite as good as James Robinson had 64 yards rushing and a touchdown, but on 23 carries, so he averaged less than 3 yards per carry. No one did much else, as Travis Etienne only had 20 yards. The Jags dominated the clock, however, keeping the ball for 38 minutes to 22 for Indianapolis. They also had 21 first downs to just 9 for Indianapolis. What was most impressive was the Jags defense. The Jaguars held the Colts to 218 total yards and last year's rushing champ Jonathan Taylor only had 64 yards on the ground. Also, quarterback Matt Ryan was dreadful, going 16 for 30 for 195 yards with 0 touchdowns and 3 interceptions. he had a quarterback rating of 34. The Jags ranked 5th in the league in points allowed, giving up 14 per game. They will be put to the test on Sunday against the high-flying Chargers.