The Jacksonville Jaguars have quite the early-season test, travelling to take on the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 2 for head coach Liam Coen's first-ever regular season road trip.
Each week during the season, we will go over a handful of bold predictions on the Jaguars and their opponents. With this in mind, here are our three bold predictions for the Jaguars in their road-opener vs. the Bengals.
Joe Burrow is not a quarterback who is just going to turn the ball over. In 70 of his career starts, he has had 36 games without a single interception and he has single-digit games with multiple interceptions. With that said, the Bengals' offensive line is still a mess and I think the Jaguars' defensive front will work in cohesion with the scheme to allow the secondary to make plays. I also think Burrow will throw the ball close to 40 times, which should only increase these odds.
The entire word around EverBank Stadium all week has been that Travis Hunter will play a more prominent role on the defensive side of the ball. Hunter only played six defensive snaps last week so it would not be very hard for his role to expand in comparison to that, but with the weapons the Bengals have and the likelihood of this becoming a shootout, I have Hunter playing 20 or more defensive snaps this week. His playmaking in the secondary could truly tip the scales.
The Bengals' run defense is likely much better than the Panthers' defense, even with the questions facing the Bengals and Al Golden's unit. With that said, I have Etienne going over 100 rushing yards for the second game in a role as a result of the Jaguars' comittment to the run. Etienne has only had back-to-back 100-yard rushing games twice in his career (twice during a three-game span in 2022), and I think he does it again this week with the Jaguars leaning on the running game to elevate the rest of the offense.
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