ClutchPoints
One of the marquee matchups of Week 16 of the NFL season pits the Jacksonville Jaguars against the Denver Broncos. This battle of AFC contenders would have been a bit surprising earlier in the season, but the Jags and Broncos are now two of the hottest teams in football as the playoffs approach.
The Jaguars have won five consecutive games since an epic collapse against the Houston Texans to get to 10-4 on the season. Houston is right on Jacksonville’s tail in the standings, but Liam Coen and company still control their own destiny in the AFC South.
On the other side, the Broncos have won 11 games in a row and are coming off of arguably their most impressive performance of the year, a 34-26 win over the Green Bay Packers in Week 15. Denver is in control of the AFC West and the No. 1 seed in the conference at 12-2, and it can move one step closer to securing both of those honors with a win on Sunday.
Trevor Lawrence is one of the hottest quarterbacks in football and is coming off of arguably the best game of his career, recording 381 total yards and six touchdowns in a 48-20 win over the New York Jets. He will be put to the test on Sunday against a Broncos team that boasts one of the best defenses in the league. Can he keep the hot streak going on the road?
The Jaguars have put together five pretty good offensive performances in a row, but they have come against some shaky defenses with the exception of a 35-6 blowout of the Los Angeles Chargers. In the last four games, the Jags beat up on the Cardinals, Titans, Colts and Jets.
The season-long numbers don’t tell the whole story, but this Jags offense is still pretty average by most metrics. They rank No. 15 in EPA per pass, No. 13 in EPA per rush and No. 17 in rushing success rate according to Next Gen Stats.
That is bad news against a Broncos defense that excels in all areas. Denver currently ranks sixth in EPA per play allowed for the season. The Broncos have elite players at every level of the defense, and Nik Bonitto and Patrick Surtain II will be the two best players on the field when Denver is out there.
However, things have changed dramatically since Jakobi Meyers was traded to Jacksonville from the Las Vegas Raiders just before the trade deadline. Since then, Lawrence has been one of the best quarterbacks in football and the Jags have had one of the best offenses in the league. Meyers has been a big reason for that, leading the team in catches (27) and receiving yards (355) since making his debut in Week 10.
There is a chance that Surtain will follow Meyers similar to how he did with Brock Bowers a couple of weeks ago...
