The Jaguars played their starters, while the Falcons’ top players watched and did interviews from the sidelines.
The result was predictable.
The Jags starters zipped up and down the field with ease and paved the way for a 31-0 spanking of the Falcons in an preseason game on Friday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
The Falcons, under new coach Raheem Morris, were intent not to show anyone their offensive hand or get anyone hurt. The Falcons completed the exhibition season with most starters not playing a single down in a game and a record of 0-3. The Jaguars finish 3-0.
“I think they played physical and tough,” Morris said of his backups. “They came out and played against that first group for the Jaguars. They did some nice things early. Standing up … really went out there and played in the right way.”
The Falcons will head into the regular season where they’ll have to unveil their reconfigured roster and new offensive and defensive schemes.
Here are the five things we learned in the exhibition season finale:
1. Lawrence cut up Falcons: Jaguars starting quarterback Trevor Lawrence, who recently signed a five-year $275-million contract extension, was splendid over two possessions before he was pulled from the game.
He guided the Jaguars on a nine-play, 92-yard touchdown drive to open the game.
Lawrence, from Cartersville and Clemson, tossed a 6-yard touchdown pass to tight end Evan Engram, who played at Hillgrove, to cap the first drive.
On the Jaguars’ second possession, the Falcons reserves put up a fight.
Safety Kevin King, cornerback Natrone Brooks and nickel back Jayden Price had nice tackles, but they couldn’t keep Lawrence out of the end zone.
It took the Jags 13 plays to drive 62 yards for their second touchdown, a 5-yard pass from Lawrence to Engram.
After that drive, the Jaguars handed the ball over to Mac Jones, who was picked up in a trade from New England this offseason. Jones, the former Alabama standout, led the Jaguars on an eight-play, 70-yard touchdown drive. He tossed a 13-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Elijah Cooks.
Lawrence completed 8 of 10 passes for 91 yards and two touchdowns. He finished with a 144.2 passer rating.
2. Sputtering about: Falcons quarterback Taylor Heinicke had another rough outing.
The Falcons had six possessions in the first half. They went something like this: punt, turnover on downs, punt, punt, punt and kneel down.
“I thought we moved the ball pretty well,” Heinicke said. “We got across midfield a couple of times. We just stalled out.”
Heinicke was 8 of 17 for 81 yards, for a passer rating 61.2.
“Obviously, we knew it was going to be a challenge,” Heinicke said. “I think the guys had a really good mindset going into the game. It’s a great opportunity for us to go against ones. Kind of put some film out there to show what we can do.”
John Paddock, an undrafted rookie from Illinois, came on in the third quarter and finished the game.
3. Pinion time: With the offense stuck in neutral, punter Bradley Pinion had a lot of action.
He had five punts for 200 yards for an average of 40. He placed two of his punts inside the 20.
Pinion’s second punt went 39 yards and had a hang time of 4:01 seconds to force a fair catch at Jacksonville’s 11-yard line.
His third punt went 40 yards and had 3.93 seconds of hang time and forced a fair catch by Devin Duvernay at Jacksonville’s 22-yard line.
4. Leading receivers: Falcons tight end John FitzPatrick had a nice 9-yard catch in the first half and hurdled a defender.
On the Falcons’ second possession, the offense moved the ball to the Jags’ 38. On fourth down-and-3, Heinicke threw a bomb to rookie wide receiver Casey Washington that was incomplete.
Wide receiver Chris Blair, who had a fine exhibition season, had two catches for 18 yards and Washington had two for 31 yards.
“Whoever is out there, I’m just competing,” Washington said. “Today, there were a couple of balls over the middle. I had two catches over the middle. (The first one) got my confidence rolling a little bit.”
5. Mutin making his case: Linebacker Donavan Mutin had a big stop on third down-and-1 in the second quarter when he dropped Tank Bigsby, who played at Callaway High and Auburn, for no gain.
Mutin had 14 tackles with under six minutes to play.
“He plays with great energy,” Morris said. “He plays with great passion. He loves the game. You can feel his grit and his effort all the time.”
Mutin is not sure if he did enough to make the team.
“I have no clue,” Mutin said. “I have not clue. But all I could do is go out there and play my best game. Put some stuff out there.”
Price was second on the defense with seven tackles.
Outside linebacker Bradlee Anae had the only sack for the defense.
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