The Jacksonville Jaguars will kick off their 2023 season as they will travel to Indianapolis to take on the Colts in week one.
The Jaguars’ last week one win was ironically against the Colts in Jacksonville back in 2020. The team has changed a lot since then where Gardner Minshew was the quarterback, James Robinson was a rookie, and Doug Marrone was still the head coach of the Jaguars.
The biggest addition to the Jaguars will make his regular-season debut on Sunday. Calvin Ridley, who was acquired last season at the trade deadline, is a former All-Pro wide receiver with the Atlanta Falcons and one of the best younger wideouts in the game of football. Ridley is joined by a superb supporting cast around him with other weapons like Christian Kirk, Zay Jones, Jamal Agnew, Evan Engram, Brenton Strange, Travis Etienne, Tank Bigsby, etc. Trevor Lawrence has an immensely talented roster around him, and expect Doug Pederson and this offense to be extremely prolific in this week one matchup.
Jacksonville’s defense on paper may not stand out to the average fan, but this group was very opportunistic just a season ago. The Jaguars’ defense had 27 takeaways, 14 interceptions, 13 fumble recoveries, and had two game-winning plays last season versus the Cowboys and Titans in Week 18 to win the AFC South. This defense retained a majority of their starters, rotational players, and added a lot of depth in the draft this year. A second year in the Mike Caldwell system, with an improved group, and Josh Allen in a contract year, expect this group to wreak havoc in week one.
With the Indianapolis Colts, there has been a lot of turmoil in the recent weeks with former All-Pro running back Jonathan Taylor. The Colts will be without their best player as he remains on the Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) list meaning he will miss at least the first four weeks of the season.
The Colts have a brand new head coach in Shane Steichen who comes over from the Philadelphia Eagles. Indianapolis also has a new quarterback in the number four overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, Anthony Richardson. Although Richardson is arguably the most athletic quarterback to come out of college, he is still a very inexperienced player as he only started 12 games at the University of Florida in 2022. The Colts have talented players around Anthony Richardson with guys like Michael Pittman Jr., Alex Pierce, Joshua Downs, etc. Defensively we will have to see how this group can try to hold off what looks like a high-powered offense in the Jaguars week one.
Jacksonville had an impressive 2022 campaign surprising many people, and now will be looking to build on that in 2023 with higher expectations around the team.
Jacksonville should be able to take care of business in week one with a rookie head coach, quarterback, and a Colts team that will not have Jonathan Taylor featured.
The Jaguars are favored to win the AFC South with -150 odds and they come into this week one matchup as -3.5 point favorites (Odds from DraftKings Sportsbook – subject to change).