Big Cat Country
The Jacksonville Jaguars and their defense have done the unthinkable once again.
In the team’s dramatic 26-21 win over the San Francisco 49ers, for the fourth straight game, the Jaguar defense picked off at least two passes and forced even more fumbles to secure a 3-1 record heading into Monday Night Football this week.
It’d be wrong to say Sunday afternoon’s game was pretty by any means but it was another instance of a gritty win and the defensive unit stepping up. Things are still somewhat early in the Liam Coen head coaching era, so maybe some of this ugliness is the sort of thing that comes with a new coach.
There is much to talk about following the win, plenty of which happened after the final whistle and on postgame podiums. But you can’t talk about Sunday’s game without mentioning our very first Winner…
WINNERS
Devin Lloyd
In the wise Twitter words of Jourdan Lewis, “Devin go be rich as a mf.”
Lewis is absolutely right, as Lloyd has played out of his mind ahead of a potential contract year. Sunday, Lloyd snagged a pair of game-changing interceptions. Those picks led to 10 points for the offense and can be directly tied to winning that football game.
Lloyd finished second on the team in tackles with eight but his presence was felt all over the field. Especially in a game where Foye Oluokun was in and out, Lloyd stepped up yet again and made play after play to keep the team in it.
The fourth-year Trent Baalke product has three picks this year and one fumble recovery. His pick numbers are tied for first in the league. He is also the first Jags linebacker to record a takeaway in three straight games. His three-game turnover streak is also the longest current streak in the NFL.
There was a time not too long ago when Lloyd couldn’t cover anything and could hardly tackle a toddler. Those days are gone with the wind, as Lloyd is positioning himself to be quite a rich man when this season ends if he can keep this up.
His interceptions weren’t the coolest plays in the world, so below I present this NFL Next Gen Stats graphic that has a bunch of crazy numbers and percentages that mean Lloyd was playing extremely well.
Arik Armstead
Another player who has likely changed the fans’ outlook on himself is Arik Armstead.
Finally playing back along the interior, Armstead has solid production this year. His most important play of the season has to be forcing a fumble on San Fran’s final drive of the game, though. Doing so against his former team earned the veteran the game ball from Coen postgame.
In the past three games Armstead has put up stat lines of: a sack, a half sack, and now a sack plus a fumble forced.
It was a cool moment for Armstead to put the final nail in his old team’s coffin. With Oloukun recovering the...
