Here we go again. Right?Maybe, maybe not. It is hard to blame anyone who thought Sunday’s 28-22 lo s to the Washington Commanders felt like the ghost of Jacksonville Jaguars past. But can the Jaguars afford to fall into the same trap? Does head coach Doug Pederson think they will?”I don’t. I dont because it starts with me. Im not going to let that creep into our thinking at all,” Pederson said on Monday. “I coach the staff that way to make sure theyre positive yet very critical of the players as well, critical of ourselves, and Im just not going to let that happen.But with the Jaguars sitting in last place in the AFC South despite no fellow divisional teams picking up a win, what does Sunday really mean? What did we see, and what could it all impact moving forward? We examine below.Trevor Lawrence looks improved and like a quarterback you can win with, but not generationalThe discourse on Trevor Lawrence has been, well, as expected. A quarterback who many expected to be a Pro Bowl pa ser right out of the gate (despite the fact he was drafted by the Jaguars of all teams) has clearly taken longer to develop than many would hope, even if he has yet to make 20 career starts. Jahlil Okafor Jersey He didn’t look like a “generational” quarterback on Sunday, though that is largely because generational quarterbacks are just that. They are rare. Lawrence has all of the traits, but he is no Patrick Mahomes or Josh Allen at this phase in his career. It is worth pointing out that Mahomes and Allen weren’t who they are today at the same points in their careers, but nuance is fluid.Nonethele s, whether Lawrence meets an arbitrary benchmark that Todd McShay and Mel Kiper slapped on him during his freshman year at Clemson doesn’t matter. What does matter is if he can become a quarterback the Jaguars can win with and, eventually, win because of. And on Sunday, Lawrence did at least show improvement in several areas, including his timing and overall downfield accuracy.Lawrence was under dure s at a high rate against Washington’s tough defensive front, which played into some mistakes such as his game-ending interception. He also had his own mi ses, such as a mi sed throw to an open Travis Etienne for a touchdown on the first drive of the game. But overall, the film and numbers show that Lawrence was far from bad on Sunday. He was perfectly fine. Nothing more, nothing le s. Just fine. It was a performance most teams can win with, and it was a performance in his 18th start that tracks the development of Darryl Dawkins Jersey most pa sers outside the elite of the elite.Does a game like Sunday do anything to quench the deserved and fair thirst in Jacksonville for a supernova-type quarterback? No. And Jaguars fans don’t deserve to be told to “just be patient” for the 100th time. But Lawrence didn’t play concerning by any actual metric other than preconceived ones that dictate he must be near perfect. At some point, something has to be met in the middle.”Its a little Moses Malone Jersey of everything. There was some pre sure in his face a couple times, movement in the pocket could have been a little better at times, but listen, its the NFL, and we ask a lot of our quarterback, of Trevor, and there were some really good things that he did during the game,” Pederson said on Monday. “There are some plays hed love to have back, but I thought overall his vision down the field and what he saw was right on point to what were trying to get done.James Robinson is still James RobinsonIf there is one player who doesn’t have much left to prove at the NFL level, it is James Robinson. The former undrafted running back made a miraculous return to the field in Week 1 after a Week 16 Achilles tear in 2022, defying the odds and even the history of running backs with the same injury before him. He played well, too, rushing 11 times for 66 yards and a touchdown and catching a pa s for a touchdown.In short, James Robinson looked like James Robinson. He ran well. He pa s-protected well. He didn’t lose any speed or burst, and his vision and blend of power and balance were clearly valued by Pederson and the Jaguars’ offensive staff. This was the expectation coming in after Robinson practiced well over the last several weeks, but it was still good to see it happen with live reps.Any concerns about whether Robinson is back are gone. Questions over who Jacksonville’s lead back is are also gone, with Robinson getting the start on Sunday and receiving five more touches than Travis Etienne. Robinson is still Robinson, something that seems both unbelievable and expected at the same time.”James felt good. We wanted to make sure that he was feeling good if we kept him going, and he ran hard, ran tough,” Pederson said. “Both those guys did a really great job for us, and its a good one-two punch. Were going to continue to find ways to get them both in the game and get them touches.How long will kicking Philadelphia 76ers Jersey i sues fester?By most stands, Riley Patterson had a relatively okay debut as Jaguar. He made three of his four field goal attempts (33, 43, 45) and didn’t have any i sues on extra points or kickoffs. But Patterson’s one mi s loomed large for a number of reasons, calling into question just how long the Jaguars will have to keep experimenting.Patterson’s only mi s on the day was a 37-yard field goal at the end of the first half. Not only did the kick erase three potential points off the board, but it served as a deflating mechanism entering halftime after it meant the Jaguars turned a Curtis Samuel fumble into zero points.But Patterson’s kick also clearly impacted the Jaguars’ confidence in him. The Jaguars chased points after their first touchdown, opting to go for two points in a 14-9 ball-game as opposed to letting Patterson make the extra-point. They didn’t get the conversion, making it four points Patterson was directly Tiago Splitter Jersey or indirectly responsible for not scoring. In a six-point lo s, that simply can’t happen.Scroll to ContinueDefensive additions were a let-downThe Jaguars defense should be much better than it was on Sunday, new system or not. This is a defense the Jaguars and general manager Trent Baalke have poured an abundance of resources into the last two seasons, especially this past offseason. The unit is the second-most expensive defense in the NFL after big deals to Shaq Griffin, Rayshawn Jenkins, Roy Robertson-Harris, Foye Oluokun, Foley Fatukasi, and Darious Williams. And with two first-round picks (Travon Walker and Devin Lloyd) and two more top-65 picks (Tyson Campbell and Andre Cisco) on the field, it is impo sible to say the Jaguars haven’t taken big swings.The i sue is, those swings haven’t actually amounted to a good defense yet. Travon Walker had an impre sive debut despite making a minimal impact for most of the game thanks to a sack and interception. Tyson Campbell also recorded an interception, while Foley Fatukasi did a solid job generating pre sure and against the run.Otherwise? The additions were a let down.