The Jacksonville Jaguars (2-2) travel to Charlotte to take on the Carolina Panthers (2-2) at Bank of America Stadium on Sunday, Oct. 6 at 1 p.m. EDT. The game will be broadcast regionally on CBS, locally on WJAX-47. Here are notable stats and quotes surrounding Sunday's matchup:
Silver Season: Both the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Carolina Panthers are celebrating their 25th season as a franchise in 2019. On Nov. 30, 1993, Jacksonville was awarded an NFL franchise in an announcement by NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue just five weeks after the league announced the Carolina Panthers as the 29th franchise. The two teams met in the Hall of Fame Game in 1995. The original head coaches for the two franchises both serve on the Jaguars football staff: current Jaguars Executive Vice President of Football Operations Tom Coughlin led the Jaguars while current Jaguars Defensive Assistant Dom Capers served as the Panthers head coach.
Quotable: "This season represents a historic moment for not just our team, but the entire First Coast community. We'll celebrate the legends of the past, the players of the future and the fans that have stood by our side through it all. The 2019 season will set the stage for the next 25 years of Jaguars football in Jacksonville." – President Mark Lamping
Top 10 Backs: RB Leonard Fournette rushed for a career-high 225 yards on 29 carries (7.8 rush avg.) in the team's Week 4 victory at Denver, the second-most rushing yards in a single game in franchise history and the most by a player since 2000. Fournette rushed for 190 yards in the second half, the most second half yards in the NFL since 2012 and the most in a half in franchise history. Through four games, Fournette's 404 rushing yards are the third-most in the NFL, while Panthers RB Christian McCaffrey leads the league with 411 rushing yards. Fournette and McCaffrey were both selected in the top 10 of the 2017 NFL Draft and finished in the top six in the 2015 Heisman Trophy voting.
Quotable: "It's funny the two of us are playing against each other. I met him in the Heisman race my sophomore year … A lot of people doubted him in college and thought he was a specialist. He's doing what he's doing in the NFL. He's a great player, a great personality and he's one of the few that can do what he does." – RB Leonard Fournette
Significant Streaks: Jacksonville looks to win three straight games for the first time since Weeks 13-15 in 2017 and earn road victories in consecutive weeks for the first time since Weeks 12-13 of the 2013 season. DL Calais Campbell aims to record his fifth straight game with at least 1.0 sack against an NFC opponent, while DE Yannick Ngakoue has recorded a sack in five of his six career road games against NFC opponents. In the Jaguars' last road game against an NFC team, Ngakoue sacked Cowboys QB Dak Prescott twice on Oct. 14, 2018. Offensively, TE James O'Shaughnessy looks to notch a TD reception in the third consecutive game, while LB Myles Jack has recorded six-plus tackles in his last six road games.
Quotable: "If we keep going the way we are, and we keep developing, and getting better, and learning from our mistakes, and not getting these penalties and things of that nature, I think we have an opportunity to be a good football team." – Head Coach Doug Marrone
Honor Roll: Several Jaguars have earned league-wide recognition for their performances through the first four weeks of the season. QB Gardner Minshew II was named NFL Offensive Rookie of the Month for the month of September and has taken home Pepsi Rookie of the Week honors three times (Weeks 1, 3 and 4). In four games, he has completed 84 of 121 passes (69.4 percent) for 905 yards, seven TDs for a passer rating of 106.9. He became the first player in the last 30 years and the second in NFL history (Mark Rypien, Washington, 1998) to have a passer rating of at least 95.0 in each of his first four career games. In addition, DL Calais Campbell earned AFC Defensive Player of the Week honors in Week 3 after totaling a team-high 3.0 sacks against Tennessee. K Josh Lambo earned AFC Special Teams Player of the Week for his performance in Week 4 at Denver when he connected on all four of his FGs, including a 33-yard game-winning kick in 22-mph wind.
Quotable: "Congratulations to Josh Lambo. He's done a really nice job for us. It's comforting as a head coach when you've got to make decisions of kicking field goals, when you want to do them, what you want to do, and it's good to have someone like him that you feel is reliable, you can count on. I think what a lot of people don't see is how hard he does work at his craft, just with controlling the football on onside kicks and things of that nature. And even from a standpoint of a leadership role, a guy that's been around the league for a while. I know sometimes people don't look at specialists that way, maybe from the outside, but I always have." – Head Coach Doug Marrone
Quality Quarterbacks: Four QBs who were either drafted in the sixth round or later or went undrafted have thrown for more than 450 yards in 2019: QB Gardner Minshew II (sixth round, 905 yards), Panthers QB Kyle Allen (undrafted, 493), Patriots QB Tom Brady (sixth round, 1,061) and Redskins QB Case Keenum (undrafted, 970). Minshew, Allen and Steelers QB Mason Rudolph are the only three players who didn't start in Week 1 that have thrown for at least five TDs. Minshew has started every game since taking over for QB Nick Foles in the first quarter of Week 1, while QB Kyle Allen has started Week 3 and Week 4 after replacing QB Cam Newton. The two players are a combined 4-1 in five starts and have combined for 127 passes for 1,398 yards and 11 TDs.
Quotable: "He never surprises me. He is one of those guys where you know he can do everything. He has great instincts and is very magical." – DL Calais Campbell on QB Gardner Minshew II
Every week during the 2019 season, Jaguars Public Relations Assistant David Wolf will write five key stats with supporting quotes about the Jaguars' upcoming game. A Chapel Hill, N.C. native, Wolf joined the Jacksonville Jaguars in May 2018.
