Getting Bigger, Stronger and More Physical

JACKSONVILLE – The bottom line? The lines must improve.

Among the themes and storylines from Jaguars General Manager Trent Baalke’s season-ending media availability Thursday, perhaps that stood out: The Jaguars must improve many areas moving forward.

And they must be more physical.

“We’ve got to get bigger, we’ve got to get stronger, we’ve got to get more physical in the trenches,” Baalke said.

The Jaguars, after winning the AFC South title in 2022, started 2023 8-3 before losing five of the last six games to miss the postseason and lose the division by a game. After rushing for more than 100 yards in seven of the first 10 games, they did so only once in the final seven games.

They started the season as one of the NFL’s best run defenses, but allowed 150 or more yards rushing in three key late-season losses – 156 at home to Cincinnati in Week 13, 251 to Baltimore in Week 15 and 175 to Tennessee in Week 18.

“When you can’t run the football and — later in the year – you can’t stop the run, that’s a problem in the National Football League,” Baalke said. “We’ve always prided ourselves on being able to do that; run the football, stop the run. For whatever reason, we weren’t able to do that. I think there’s a lot of moving parts to that. I don’t think it’s just player related, I don’t think it’s just scheme related.

“If you want to compete for championships, you have to do that. I think we’ve got some good pieces in there, we have some good young players in there, but we have to get better.”

The Jaguars in 2023 rushed effectively at times but were also inconsistent in the area. They had 120 runs gain zero yards or lose yardage, with a league-high 26.5 percent of their rushes falling into those categories. Their 3.6 yards per carry ranked 31^st in the NFL.

After allowing 87.3 yards per game through 11 games, the Jaguars allowed 131.8 yards rushing in the final six games.

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