The Jacksonville Jaguars are showing some maturity

The Jacksonville Jaguars came into the game Sunday looking to tighten their grip on the AFC South. And with their 36-19 win, Jacksonville indeed did take more control of the AFC South. In their next four games, the Jaguars face the Jets, Broncos, Colts and Titans to end the season. Besides the Broncos game, the Jaguars should be favored in every game to finish the season. But naturally, many are hesitant to put faith in the Jaguars and what they are doing. But on Sunday, the play of Jacksonville gave a couple reasons to believe they are to be taken seriously.

Some teams let down when their opponent loses a key player. The Colts lost starting quarterback Daniel Jones to a torn Achilles in the first quarter of this game. It would have been easy for the Jaguars to let up defensively, as Jones would be replaced by rookie sixth-round pick Riley Leonard. But instead of letting up, the Jaguars remained who they were. They forced Leonard into one interception, forced a fumble from Colts running back Jonathan Taylor, and scored a safety by sacking Leonard in the endzone. In total, the Jaguars' defense had one sack, one safety, two interceptions and four tackles for loss. They were dominant and did not let up or change it up, even after the Colts lost Jones early in the game. That shows a level of maturity from this defense that is commendable, especially late in the season.

Along with the defense's maturity, the offense showed some maturity as well, especially quarterback Trevor Lawrence. In the last big game, the Jaguars played at home versus the Kansas City Chiefs, and Lawrence was uneven. He missed some big opportunities and then had some unexplainable passes. In Sunday's game against the Colts, he did not have the same look. He hit the passes that he was supposed to hit and played a pretty clean game, going 17/30 for 244 yards and two touchdowns. He ran when he needed to, but did not just take off either. This is the type of quarterback play the Jaguars were looking fo