Jaguars bulldoze L.A. with gritty ground game

Just when you think you’re out, they pull you right back in. 

Jacksonville’s 35-6 ass-whooping against Los Angeles was tied for the worst loss of Jim Harbaugh's NFL coaching career. It made Trevor Lawrence 3-0 against Justin Herbert. And it gave Jaguars fans newfound hope. 

Liam Coen’s team committed just one penalty, limited Herbert to a career-low 81 passing yards, and scored a touchdown on each of its first five redzone trips; Logan Cooke didn't punt or hold a field goal for the first time in his eight-year career. The Jaguars are now 6-4 with a 64.2% chance to make the playoffs.

Here are 3 Numbers to Know following Jacksonville's Week 11 win.

Statistics via Next Gen Stats unless otherwise noted

53.2%

That was Jacksonville's rushing success rate.

It was the team's second-best performance under Coen – and its 75% rushing success rate in the first half was the third-best single-half performance by any team this season.

Next Gen Stats defines success rate as "Percentage of carries resulting in positive Expected Points Added. This can be thought of as plays that 'keep the offense on schedule.'"

So, in English, Jacksonville's rushing attack kept its offense on schedule.

Bhayshul Tuten had three runs of 10-15 yards, and Travis Etienne and LeQuint Allen added one double-digit-yard rush apiece, but the name of the game was consistency over explosiveness.

Of the team's 47 total rush attempts, only 2 went for <0 yards (4.3%) and only 5 went for <1 yards (10.6%).

The ground game led to a season-low 4.5 average yards to go on third downs for the Jaguars. They converted 5 of 10 such plays and picked up a season-high 30 first downs.

Jacksonville was without Anton Harrison on Sunday, but Cole Van Lanen stepped up in his place, and the return of Ezra Cleveland was undersold.

It looked like coaches chose to rest Cleveland toward the end of the game. The run game continued to cook anyway.

Tuten had more rushing yards (74) than Etienne (73) for the first time this season, and he was on pace to out-touch him before sustaining an ankle injury early in the fourth quarter. The fourth-round rookie recorded career highs in missed tackles forced (7), yards after contact (67), and yards after missed tackles (26).

Hopefully, Tuten won't be out long. He was oh-so-close to making a few huge plays.

I plan to write more about Jacksonville's run game later this week. The unit has a calling card (mid zone) but is also diverse enough to adjust to defensive gameplans. Coen was in his bag against Chargers defensive coordinator Jesse Minter, who's a popular name for the 2026 head coach hiring cycle.

Credit to Coen and his staff for pushing the matchup advantage to the limit. That made tendency-breaking play calls, like the one below, work like a charm.

Coen's run-oriented offense is at the top of the Rest Of Season Watch List.

6.25

That was Justin Herbert's passer rating when pressured.