The Jacksonville Jaguars had put an end to their seven game losing streak. The ever outspoken Jalen Ramsey did not disappoint in a game where the defense shut out the Indianapolis Colts. The offensive side of the ball was sluggish, but new starter Cody Kessler did not turn the ball over on the way to a 6-0 victory at TIAA Bank Field. The postseason may be out of reach, but it’s nice to play spoiler to a division opponent. Let’s break down the high points of the Jaguars fourth victory of the season.

Jalen Ramsey Leads Defensive Shutout of Indianapolis Colts

Defensive Dominance Led by Ramsey

Jalen Ramsey gets a lot of flack from fans of opposing teams. But that is partly because of how often he trash talks. His GQ article in the off season did not hold back about opposing quarterbacks. That may not be a good move when your team has a bad signal caller.

But no matter. Ramsey is one of the best corners in the league and he showed why today.

A big lift for the #Jaguars defense: Star CB Jalen Ramsey, battling a knee injury and listed as questionable, is playing today vs. the #Colts. He is in pain, but will gut it out after working out pre-game.

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) December 2, 2018

Though Ramsey was suffering knee pain, he toughed it out and played well. He had six tackles as well as two passes defended. On one play, he battled hard against T.Y. Hilton and pushed the ball away to make it an incomplete pass. Even better was the fact that Ramsey had the game ending tackle on tight end Erik Swoope.

There were many notable defenders in Sunday’s match up. 2017’s defense was back and “Sacksonville” showed up. Calais Campbell, Yannick Ngakoue, and Ronnie Harrison recorded sacks on Andrew Luck. Harrison is a rookie and his sack was clutch, as it forced a turnover on downs for the Colts in the fading minutes of the fourth quarter. Interestingly enough, Harrison drew the start over struggling veteran Barry Church. Another defender worthy of mention is linebacker Telvin Smith. Smith registered a team high of 12 tackles nine solo) with one tackle for a loss.

How much did the defense limit the Colts? Andrew Luck was 33 of 52 for 248 yards with no touchdowns and one interception. That is a rating of 66.8. This is the only game all season that Luck has not thrown a touchdown. He also only averaged 4.8 yards a pass. Though Hilton and Eric Ebron had decent games, it didn’t matter as the team was shut out.

A Sluggish Offense

The offense did not get off to a great start. Carlos Hyde fumbled the ball on the team’s first possession. Though the turnover didn’t result in points for the Colts, you can’t do that. There was talk this week that Hyde was frustrated with his role. He didn’t help his case too much. He had 36 yards on 13 carries for a measly average of 2.8 yards a carry.

Cody Kessler’s first start as a Jaguar was successful enough. He completed 18 of 24 attempts for 150 yards with no touchdowns or picks. Kessler also rushed for 28 yards on five carries. While it wasn’t an inspiring performance, he did not turn the ball over. But if the team wants to win many of the four remaining games, they’ll need some more downfield passes.

Some may say that Kessler doesn’t have an arm as strong as Blake Bortles. Regardless, it would be nice to see more targets to the receivers than to T.J. Yeldon. Yeldon caught seven passes on eight targets for 49 yards. While that’s good, Dede Westbrook was only targeted five times. He caught three passes for 25 yards. Perhaps the receivers will have to wait for next season to get more attention, but for the remaining games, it will be interesting to see how much work they get.

Special Teams

The Jaguars special teams unit had a pretty good day. The biggest blunder was punter Logan Cooke‘s 29 yard shank. You could tell it was bad right as the ball left his foot. But Cooke recovered and had a total of seven punts that averaged 47 yards with a long of 56. Jaguars kicker Josh Lambo had another good day. Lambo made two field goals (one for 30 yards and the other a 37 yarder). Lambo is now 19 of 21 on the season kicking field goals.

An interesting mistake on special teams kept the game a shut out. Rookie disappointment Taven Bryan was penalized for “roughing the snapper” on a field goal attempt. That penalty gave the Colts a first and goal. Ultimately, the Colts wasted the gift by going for it on fourth down and being shut down by the staunch Jaguars defense.

The Last Word

Sunday was a good day for Jacksonville. They snapped their seven game losing streak. Jalen Ramsey also had a strong game even though he was battling a knee injury. The team now sits at 4-8 on the season. While their record is still bad, it’s always good to get a home victory. Here’s to hoping Ramsey and the defense can pull out a win on the road against the Tennessee Titans on Thursday.

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