4. Jacksonville Jaguars (0-1)
Week 1 ranking: No. 4 (No change)
No team in the AFC South had a worse week than the Jacksonville Jaguars. Not only did the Jags get handled by one of the best teams in the NFL, the Kansas City Chiefs, and see their supposedly great defense get pummeled, but they also lost their starting quarterback for a long, long time.
Quarterback Nick Foles got driven hard to the ground by defensive lineman Chris Jones, and now he’s been placed on Injured Reserve with a broken clavicle. While Jacksonville will eventually get their signal-caller back this season, Foles can’t return until the Week 11 game against the Indianapolis Colts.
That’s a devastating blow for a Jags team that was supposed to be much-improved because of an upgrade behind center. Now, that upgrade is gone for the next 10 weeks and the Jaguars are right back in the same position they were last season when the team went a disappointing 5-11.
In Foles’ place, the Jags will deploy rookie quarterback Gardner Minshew, who actually performed well after going 22-of-25 for 275 yards, with two touchdowns to one pick. It remains to be seen if Minshew can keep those types of numbers up, but the Jags will need him to in order to avoid another lost season in 2019.
The Jags will go to Houston to take on the Texans in Week 2 for a chance to rebound and show they aren’t dead just yet without their starting quarterback.