Bengals vs. Jaguars Fantasy Football Worksheet, Week 2

The Worksheet, a comprehensive fantasy football preview by Rich Hribar, breaks down everything you need to know about the Week 2 matchup between the Bengals and Jaguars.

Find a breakdown of every Week 2 NFL game in our Worksheet Hub.

JacksonvilleRank@CincinnatiRank
3.5 Spread-3.5
23.0 Implied Total26.5
26.09Points/Gm17.020
10.04Points All./Gm16.011
63.011Plays/Gm49.029
61.014Opp. Plays/Gm71.028
67Off. Yards/Play2.931
4.25Def. Yards/Play4.611
50.79%8Rush%46.94%12
49.21%25Pass%53.06%21
40.98%15Opp. Rush %33.80%5
59.02%18Opp. Pass %66.20%28
  • 77.8% of Cincinnati’s sets of downs reached third down in Week 1, the highest rate in the league. That rate was 43.9% in 2024 (11th).
  • The Bengals were held to 2.9 yards per play in Week 1, their second-lowest rate in a game ever with Joe Burrow.
  • Cincinnati had 7 yards of offense in the second half of Week 1, the fewest for any winning team in a game in the 2000s.
  • Joe Burrow targeted his wide receivers 39.1% of the time in Week 1 (30th), the lowest rate for him in a game over his career.
  • After scoring a league-low 25 points off turnovers in 2024, Jacksonville scored 10 in Week 1.
  • Trevor Lawrence was pressured on a league-low 12.5% of his dropbacks in Week 1.
  • Joe Burrow was pressured on 42.9% of his non-blitz dropbacks in Week 1, the highest rate in the league.

Trust = spike production for that player

Quarterback

Joe Burrow (TRUST): Even with an emphasis on starting this season out faster, Burrow and the Cincinnati passing game once again struggled in Week 1 against the Browns.

Burrow finished QB25 (8.8 points), throwing for 113 yards and 4.9 yards per attempt with a touchdown.

This was almost a direct overlap with the passing line that Tua Tagovailoa had in Week 1, minus the turnovers.

In the second half on Sunday, Burrow was 3 of 9 (33.3%) for 25 yards (2.8 Y/A) with 1 passing first down and 3 sacks.

We have been here before with Burrow starting the season and against the Browns as an opponent.

He has now been a QB1 in one of his six Week 1 starts, scoring single-digit points in each of his past three.

He has bounced back afterwards.

Last year, Burrow was a disaster in Week 1 against the Patriots but then rebounded as QB9 (17.2 points) in Week 2 against the Chiefs.

He has thrown multiple touchdown passes in four of his five games in Week 2.

The Browns also can rush the passer, and they were able to pressure Burrow on 42.9% of his dropbacks, the fourth-highest rate of Week 1.

Burrow is trading a road game against the Cleveland defense for a home game against a Jacksonville defense that was 21st in pressure rate on Bryce Young in Week 1.

The Jaguars were a passive defense in their first game under Anthony Campanile, although that may have been a byproduct of Young’s play.

Jacksonville played man coverage only 8.3% of snaps (30th) while blitzing at a 20% rate (23rd).

I would expect Burrow and this offense to get back on track and funnel their targets to their wideouts again after he had a career-low target rate to the position last week.

I also expect the Jaguars to be better at scoring points than the Browns were.

If there is one area of concern for the Bengals, it is their defense's inability to get off the field.

The Bengals ran only 49 plays in Week 1, not only because they did not play a good offense, but their defense allowed the most third-down conversions in the league in Week 1 (9) along with another 2 fourth-down conversions.

I don’t know who read it, but I mentioned this in the Dallas write-up with Dak Prescott and Matt Eberflus.

New defensive coordinator Al Golden’s approach in Week 1 was to make Cleveland beat themselves (it worked!).

The Bengals blitzed at the lowest rate in the league (4.2%) and gave up a bunch of paper cuts over chunk gains.

That can be a dampener for your own offensive play volume, especially if you aren’t creating chunk gains yourself.

The Bengals are capable of doing that, but it is something to keep tabs on.

Trevor Lawrence: Lawrence did not get there last week, closing the week as QB24 (10.3 points).

It was a weird game that featured a weather delay and the Panthers doing nothing on offense to push Jacksonville.

The Jaguars averaged a league-high 8.2 yards per play in the first half on Sunday but only 3.7 yards per play after the break (26th).

Lawrence was solid in the first half, completing 14 of 19 (73.7%) passes for 128 yards and a touchdown.

He was getting the ball out quickly and near the line of scrimmage as anticipated.

In that first half, Lawrence was averaging 4.1 air yards per attempt with 2.43 seconds to throw.

Jacksonville has a 59.4% dropback rate in the first half (16th).

The Jaguars were up 20-3 at the half and threw the ball 41.9% of the time after the break (30th).

Lawrence then was a pumpkin in the second half, going 5 of 12 (41.7%) for 50 yards (4.2 Y/A) with an interception.

He averaged 12.1 air yards per attempt in the second half, and the inaccuracy crept back in.

33.3% of his passes in the second half were off target (the highest rate for any quarterback in the second half).

I’m not as aggressive with Lawrence as a 1QB option this week, but if you used Lawrence as a streamer or matchup-based QB2 last week, there are reasons to stick with him for one more week before throwing him back for an upcoming demanding schedule.

This is a game with plenty of DFS appeal, so we will likely be stacking it from both sides.

The Bengals can put Jacksonville in catch up mode, while their pass defense was passive in Week 1.

The Bengals blitzed at the lowest rate in the league (4.2%) and player Cover 6 at the highest rate (34%).

Running Back

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More Week 2 Fantasy Breakdowns From The Worksheet:

MatchupTime
Commanders @ PackersThursday Night Football
Jaguars @ BengalsSunday -- 1 p.m. ET
Giants @ CowboysSunday -- 1 p.m. ET
Bears @ LionsSunday -- 1 p.m. ET
Rams @ TitansSunday -- 1 p.m. ET
Patriots @ DolphinsSunday -- 1 p.m. ET
49ers @ SaintsSunday -- 1 p.m. ET
Bills @ JetsSunday -- 1 p.m. ET
Seahawks @ SteelersSunday -- 1 p.m. ET
Browns @ RavensSunday -- 1 p.m. ET
Broncos @ ColtsSunday -- 4:05 p.m. ET
Panthers @ CardinalsSunday -- 4:05 p.m. ET
Eagles @ ChiefsSunday -- 4:25 p.m. ET
Falcons @ VikingsSunday Night Football
Bucs @ TexansMonday Night Football
Chargers @ RaidersMonday Night Football
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