Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson offered updates on a couple of injured offensive players during his Wednesday press conference.
Quarterback Trevor Lawrence was the first name to come up and Pederson said that he is “progressing well” after he suffered a concussion late in last Sunday night’s loss to the Ravens. Lawrence remains in the concussion protocol and will need to keep progressing over the next few days if he’s going to play against the Buccaneers.
C.J. Beathard will be in line to start if Lawrence isn’t able to get the green light.
Wide receiver Zay Jones has a hamstring injury that Pederson said is “getting better,” but the team considers him week-to-week at this point.
One of the problems with the league’s replay-review system is that, far too often, the “clear and obvious” standard gets forgotten when someone is looking at the visual evidence of a call that was made or not made. Recently, it seems that the bar could be getting higher.
And that could be a clue regarding the next step in the evolution of replay review.
This past weekend, there were multiple examples of plays that could have been overturned via replay review, but weren’t. Perhaps that’s happening because the league is trying to stay true to the “50 drunks in a bar” explanation of what it takes for a ruling on the field to be regarded as clearly and obviously wrong.
In the Bears-Browns game, a touchdown catch by Cleveland tight end David Njoku looked to be incomplete, because his heel came down out of bounds. (In non-toe tap situations, the NFL requires a player to get his entire foot inbounds, if his toes strike first and the feet then come down in the normal process of finishing a step.) While Njoku twisted his foot like a catcher pulling his mitt into the strike zone, the heel struck out of bounds.
It seemed clear that the heel landed on the white stripe at the back of the end zone. But if the league is nudging the bar even higher, it’s not the kind of clear-and-obvious no-brainer that compels reversal. Thus, the ruling on the field of touchdown was upheld.
In Sunday night’s Ravens-Jaguars game, Jacksonville receiver Calvin Ridley caught a pass at the back of the end zone. The ruling on the field was incomplete. The Jaguars challenged.
NBC rules analyst Terry McAulay suggested that the call should be overturned: “Clearly inbounds. I believe he gains complete control. Knee down. Touchdown.”
Alas, not a touchdown. After further review, the ruling on the field was upheld.
Assuming these two examples weren’t aberrations (and there’s a decent chance they might have been), the potential decision to move the bar higher arguably hints at a future in which the NFL uses replay review more like college football currently does. Forget about the red flags. If it looks like any reviewable call is clearly and obviously wrong, take a look and change it. Quickly.
That would be far better than the current system, where the formal replay process is supplemented by a hit-or-miss sky-judge approach that sometimes activates with alacrity to fix rulings on the field, and sometimes doesn’t. Review everything that is reviewable. Take the time to get it right.
It won’t make the games longer, especially if the league applies the “clear and obvious” standard literally and efficiently, perhaps with only real-time second looks and none of the frame-by-frame stuff that can grind a game to a halt.
If it takes a super-slow-motion examination, it’s not clear and obvious. If you have to lean forward and squint, it’s not clear and obvious. And it seems that the league might be trying to make the proper application of the “clear and obvious” standard far more clear, and far more obvious.
With Trevor Lawrence in concussion protocol and Nathan Rourke claimed on waivers by the Patriots, the Jaguars have added a quarterback.
E.J. Perry is joining Jacksonville’s practice squad, according to agent Sean Stellato.
Perry was with the Jaguars during the 2022 offseason program and training camp before spending the season on the practice squad. When Jacksonville waived him in March, he was claimed off waivers by the Texans. He was subsequently waived again in May.
Perry, who played his college ball at Brown, has also spent time with the USFL’s Michigan Panthers.
If Lawrence isn’t able to play in Jacksonville’s Week 16 matchup against Tampa Bay, C.J. Beathard is expected to start.
After losing Malik Cunningham to the Ravens and Will Grier to the Chargers, the Patriots have brought in another quarterback.
Per Tom Pelissero of NFL Media, New England has claimed Nathan Rourke off of waivers from Jacksonville.
The Jaguars waived Rourke on Saturday. With Trevor Lawrence in concussion protocol, the Jaguars now have just one healthy quarterback in C.J. Beathard.
After finishing his collegiate career at Ohio University, Rourke played a couple of seasons in the CFL for the BC Lions. He then signed with Jacksonville in January of this year and has bounced between the practice squad and the active roster.
Rourke gives New England three quarterbacks on their roster, as he joins Bailey Zappe and Mac Jones.
The Ravens did more than simply secure their 11th win of the season against the Jaguars on Sunday night.
Winning 23-7 on the road assured the Ravens of a place in the postseason for the second straight year and the fifth time in six seasons with Lamar Jackson at quarterback. Jackson ran for 97 yards and passed for 171 more before saying that the Ravens will not be resting on their laurels as they move into the final three weeks of the regular season.
“I’m just trying to win. I’m just trying to get there,” Jackson said, via the team’s website. “I’m grateful for the opportunity. . . . We’re just getting started.”
The playoff berth checks one box, but the Ravens still have the AFC North title and the top seed in the playoffs in their sites. The push for those accomplishments continues next Monday with a game against the 49ers that could wind up being a Super Bowl preview.
