JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Each week during the 2025 season, we will take a quick post-game look at which Jacksonville Jaguars stood out the most.
Win or lose, rain or shine, we will hand out game balls to an offensive, defensive and special teams player. In this edition, we take a look at the Jaguars' best players from their 31-28 win over the Kansas City Chiefs.
Trevor Lawrence had a coming out party on national television, turning in arguably his best start under Liam Coen. The fumble at the one-yard line and a few other mental mistakes were his only real negatives; otherwise, Lawrence was efficient, kept the offense ahead of the sticks with his legs, and was able to consistently make plays under pressure.
Lawrence's two best throws of the night came on the game's final drive when he found Brian Thomas Jr. and Dyami Brown for big gains at key moments. For a quarterback that has struggled in clutch moments in the past, Monday felt like a turning point.
This one goes without saying. The Jaguars do not win this game without Lloyd making one of the plays of the year on his 99-yard pick six. The read, the ball skills, the ability to score and evade tackles -- Lloyd did it all. Lloyd has had a special season thus far, and he is one of the main reasons the Jaguars are sitting at 4-1 right now.
"Lloyd’s pick-six swung the Jaguars’ win probability by 42 percentage points (from 28% to 70%). Lloyd has added +95.4% in win probability added across his four interceptions, more than double the next closest defender this season," NextGenStats said.
The Jaguars made a big bet this offseason when they moved on from veteran safety and special teams ace Daniel Thomas. The bet was that the Jaguars could find a younger and cheaper option in Day 3 rookie Rayuan Lane, who starred on special teams at Navy. Lane thrived during the preseason, but replacing a long-time special teams cornerstone is much bigger than that.
So far, it looks like it was a smart bet to make. Lane has seemingly gotten better on special teams with each game, and he took another step forward against the Chiefs with two big tackles on kickoff team. Lane is physical and tackles in space as well as anyone on the team.
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