By David Rogers. JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Not even a lightning storm could energize this game. Hardly a growl, much less a roar Sept. 7 on at least one side of the football field as the Jacksonville Jaguars muzzled the Carolina Panthers, 26-10.
While Jacksonville at least showed some promise of better things to come under new head coach Liam Coen, especially given running back Travis Etienne’s 143 yards rushing on 16 carries, neither side looked ready to compete for a Super Bowl championship. Just to illustrate how abysmal were the Panthers, the Jaguars won — but had to overcome three turnovers (2 fumbles, 1 interception) and 11 drive-killing penalties that set them back 93 yards. Almost half of Jacksonville’s points came from field goals: placekicker Cam Little was 4-for-4 on field goal attempts from 35, 47, 36, and 28 yards.
Meanwhile, Carolina managed a mere 255 total net yards, 142 passing and 113 rushing. About the best thing to describe the Panthers’ offensive performance: it was balanced failure. Now in his third year as QB with arguably more offensive weapons around him, Bryce Young completed 18 of 35 passes for 154 yards, one TD vs. two interceptions. Add a lost fumble, and Young was responsible for three drive-killing turnovers.
There were few bright spots in the Panthers’ Game 1 performance:
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- Rookie wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan pulled in five Young passes for 68 yards, exhibiting the promise that made him the 2025 NFL Draft’s No. 8 pick, overall. It is small sample size, but he looks like a keeper.
- With 41 seconds to go in the first quarter, rookie placekicker was good on a 48-yard field goal, his only opportunity.
- Chuba Hubbard caught three passes for 32 yards, one a 27-yarder for Carolina’s only TD with under 5 minutes remaining in the game. He also rushed for 57 yards on 16 carries (avg. 3.6), his longest for just 9 yards.
Jacksonville bright spots, giving hope that new head coach Liam Coen is bringing some offensive credibility:
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- Running back Travis Etienne’s 16 carries for 143 yards rushing (avg. 8.9), adding 3 pass receptions for 13 yards.
- Tight end Brenton Strange continued to be a key contributor, catching all four of his targets for 59 yards, his longest going for 24 yards.
- Wide receiver Brian Thomas, Jr. only caught one pass for 11 yards, out of seven targets. It was a lackluster day for the much ballyhooed playmaker, although enhanced by one rush for a 9-yard TD late in the second quarter.
- The Jaguars signed Hunter Long in the offseason primarily as a blocking tight end but he came to fore on this day by catching a short, 6-yard TD pass from QB Trevor Lawrence midway through the second quarter. What’s particularly interesting is during Coen’s tenure as offensive coordinator last year with Tampa Bay, involving the tight ends other than blocking were rare, so to see both Strange and Long as key playmakers against Carolina could signal a shift in coach-think, perhaps influenced by the hiring of new offensive coordinator Grant Udinski after his three years on the Minnesota Vikings’ staff.
- Placekicker Cam Little’s four field goals on four attempts
UP NEXT
- Carolina travels to Arizona to play the Cardinals. Kickoff @ 4:05 p.m. EDT., Sept. 11.
- Jacksonville plays @ Cincinnati, with a 1:05 p.m. kickoff scheduled against the Bengals.
GAME STATISTICS (courtesy of NFLGSIS)
