Jaguars Head West, Take on Chargers

The Jacksonville Jaguars currently sit in the basement of the AFC South.

With a 1-5 record, the Jaguars are a far cry from the team that many thought they’d be after their week-one victory over the Indianapolis Colts.

But Jaguars’ fans hope that this is the week head coach Doug Marrone and quarterback Gardner Minshew can right the ship. This week, Jacksonville heads to SoFi Stadium for the first time Sunday to battle the snake-bitten Los Angeles Chargers at 4:25 p.m.

Finding Solutions

For quarterback Gardner Minshew, the solution to the Jaguars’ issues remains simple: Get back to what worked at the beginning of the year.

While Jacksonville looks to the beginning of the year for guidance on what works, they are working with a small sample size.

In the first two games, the Jaguars objectively played their best all season. And only one of those games resulted in a victory.

In that 27-20 win over the Indianapolis Colts, Gardner Minshew threw for just 173 yards and three touchdowns on 19-20 passing. The Jaguars’ ground attack also chipped in 91 yards on 23 attempts.

Those boxscore states are not overly impressive. And they didn’t need to be.

The Jaguars won that game on defense. Interceptions by former-Gator C.J. Henderson and Andrew Wingard led to 10 points.

Collectively, the defense held Rivers to a 43.9 quarterback rating, according to ESPN. Since that game, the Jaguars have held just one other quarterback, Joe Burrow, to a QBR below 70.

Herbert Looks For First Win

While the Chargers are still searching for their first win in SoFi Stadium, rookie quarterback Justin Herbert is still hoping to notch NFL win number one.

Since taking control of the quarterback position after former starter Tyrod Taylor suffered a punctured lung, thanks to a failed pain injection by a team doctor, Herbert has impressed despite the team’s inability to win.

Herbert heads into Sunday’s game having thrown for 1,195 passing yards, nine touchdowns and three interceptions while completing 97 of his 141 passes (68.8%).

He also set a Monday Night Football record for most touchdowns thrown by a rookie, with four touchdowns against the Saints in week five.

At 22 years and 216 days old, Justin Herbert is the youngest QB with 4 passing TD in Monday Night Football history.

Lamar Jackson, Patrick Mahomes and Dan Marino are the only other QBs 23-or-younger with 4 Pass TD in a Monday Night Football game. pic.twitter.com/xjW2Uc3pnT

— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) October 13, 2020

Series History

Sunday’s match-up marks the 12th time the Chargers and Jaguars have played. In those games, the Chargers have won eight of the 11 previous meetings.

The two teams last met in 2019, as the Chargers earned a convincing 45-10 victory.

In that game, former Chargers’ quarterback Philip Rivers threw for 314 yards and three touchdowns, while running back Austin Ekeler accumulated 213 total yards and a receiving touchdown.

Neither player will be suiting up for the Chargers this Sunday, as Rivers is now quarterbacking the Jaguars’ divisional rival Indianapolis Colts. And Austin Ekeler remains sidelined with a hamstring injury suffered in week four.