The Jacksonville Jaguars are coming off an impressive week one win, on the road, over a divisional rival in the Indianapolis Colts, 31-21.
The Jaguars now face the Kansas City Chiefs, who lost their home and season opener to the Detroit Lions 21-20 and will be looking to avoid an 0-2 start to their season.
There’s big news coming out of Kansas City for this matchup. Head Coach Andy Reid stated that both Chris Jones and Travis Kelce will be making their season debuts in Jacksonville. Chris Jones, who was top five in the NFL last season in sacks with 15.5, had been holding out due to contract negotiations and reached an agreement with the Chiefs earlier this week. Travis Kelce, who led all NFL tight ends in receptions and yards last season, has been slowly rehabbing to get back to full strength. Kelce had hyperextended his knee a few days before their week one matchup, and was held out of that contest versus the Lions.
While Kansas City’s offense struggled mightily to their standards in week one, don’t expect them to struggle two weeks in a row. Former MVP Patrick Mahomes comes into this matchup with a lot of confidence after beating the Jaguars two times last season, once in the regular season, and yet again in the Divisional round of the playoffs. Former Florida Gators WR Kadarius Toney, who dropped four passes last week, one of them which led to a pick-six, is poised for a bounce-back game. Second-year wideout Sky Moore didn’t register a single reception in week one, but will more than likely get back on track this week.
The Jaguars are dealing with two key injuries themselves with two interior offensive linemen in Luke Fortner and Brandon Scherff. Both of these players suffered ankle injuries in week one and have both been listed as questionable for week two. These injuries can be extremely significant for the Jaguars on the interior, especially with the return of Chris Jones in the mix.
Jacksonville’s offense should be coming into this game feeling very confident after a solid output in week one. Despite two Trevor Lawrence turnovers, which they didn’t seem to be his fault, he had a very good performance otherwise. Lawrence completed 24-of-32 passes for 241 yards, made some incredible passes in some tight windows, and also threw for two touchdowns.
RB Travis Etienne Jr. had 104 yards from scrimmage and also hit pay dirt in the fourth quarter to essentially seal the win for Jacksonville. In his first game as a Jaguar, Calvin Ridley picked up right where he left off as one of the best wide receivers in the NFL with eight receptions, 101 yards, and a touchdown. This Jaguars team is loaded with talent surrounding Trevor Lawrence with other players like Evan Engram, Christian Kirk, Jamal Agnew, Zay Jones, Tank Bigsby, etc.
Defensively for the Jaguars, they put together a great week one performance, limiting the Colts’ offense to just 14 points and also creating three turnovers. Josh Allen had arguably the best game of his career, recording 10 tackles and a career-high three sacks in week one. Travon Walker registered a sack, Tyson Campbell had an interception, and overall the Jaguars defense was flying around.
The key for the Jaguars this week will be generating pressure on Mahomes and making sure that the front seven is disruptive all afternoon. If you go back to their two matchups in 2022, the Jaguars registered zero sacks on the Chiefs. For Josh Allen and the Jaguars defense, if they want any chance at limiting Mahomes and this offense, that defensive line has to do a much better job.
Jacksonville has a high-powered offense that should be able to keep up with Mahomes and Kelce all afternoon. This game will come down to the Jaguars’ defense creating turnovers, generating pressure, and getting the ball to the offense in great field position.
Kansas City comes into this week two matchup as the favorites as they currently sit at -3.5 points in their favor (per DraftKings). In all four games this season, if you include the preseason, Jacksonville has covered the spread and won every game.
While this is just a week two matchup, this game could potentially have implications down the road for seeding in the AFC. If Jacksonville can pull out a win they will have a 2.5-game lead over the Chiefs, and the tiebreaker if they have the same record at the end of the season.
The Chiefs and Jaguars are scheduled to kick off at Everbank Field on Sep.17th at 1:00 PM.