Jaguars vs. Giants report card: Secondary, defensive line grade high

The Jacksonville Jaguars beat the New York Giants with ugly offense, spectacular defense, and an opportunistic special teams. Depending on what player you were watching and when you were watching them, the performance went from bad to great — and we’re here to debate how well everyone did.

How did each position group grade out in Week 1?

Quarterback: D+

Blake Bortles wasn’t good, folks. The interception was a bad throw (albeit a great play by Janoris Jenkins). The second half was bad and he couldn’t find a receiver when he needed to chew out the clock and win the game. He finished completing 54.5 percent of his passes and just 5.3 yards per pass attempt.

Running backs: B-

The running backs accounted for 127 total yards on 33 touches — compared to the 218 total yards that Bortles put up. Their production was up there and it would have been an absolute blowout had Leonard Fournette not been injured early. He had 55 yards on 12 touches and the offense was absolutely running through him before he left. After, it dropped off dramatically but I thought the running backs did okay.

Wide receivers: D+

Quarterbacks elevate everyone else around them on the offense, but the receivers did the rest of the team no favors. Keelan Cole caught a couple of very good first down conversions, but there was nothing really of note that happened yesterday because of the receivers.

Tight ends: C

Austin Seferian-Jenkins wasn’t very productive, even though he was in for 55 of the team’s 63 offensive snaps. James O’Shaughnessy and Niles Paul were in on less than half of the snaps each. They did what was asked of them in run blocking and pass protection, but nothing that stood out.

Offensive line: B-

They only allowed a sack and paved the way for 4.9 yards per carry on the day, but there were just too many penalties — one of which cost the Jaguars a touchdown.

Defensive line: A-

Aside from that 68-yard Saquon Barkley touchdown, the defensive line was again dominant. They got two sacks, six tackles for a loss, tipped the ball up for the pick-six interception by Myles Jack, and only allowed Giants running backs to average 2.2 yards per carry on 20 rushes.

Linebackers: A-

Myles Jack was the player of the game with a team-high 10 tackles, a pass deflected, and sideline to sideline coverage. Telvin Smith’s performance was a bit of a head scratcher. Why so many missed tackles?

Secondary: A

Frustrated Eli Manning all day. Were caught out of position with the pick plays that Giants receivers were running but had a very, very good day.

Special teams: B+

Rookie punter Logan Cooke averaged just 37.7 yards per punt on the day, but Josh Lambo connected on both of his field goals. The returns were average but a fumble recovery by Donald Payne to seal the game boosts the grade a little bit.