JACKSONVILLE – Senior writer John Oehser, senior correspondent Brian Sexton and team reporter/producer Kainani Stevens offer quick thoughts on the Jaguars as they prepare to play the Arizona Cardinals at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona in a 2025 Week 12 game Sunday.

John Oehser, Jaguars Senior Writer…

1. Go for two. The NFL comes at you fast, and the Jaguars' task this week is to quickly follow one of their most dominant victories in memory with another strong – and winning – performance. The reality is while their 35-6 victory over the Los Angeles Chargers Sunday was impressive, it will lose some importance if they can't turn it into a playoff push. The Jaguars played with memorable intensity against the Chargers, motivated to show that they weren't the team that lost a 19-point fourth-quarter lead in a loss to the Houston Texans the week before. They used that intensity to dominate all four quarters in all three phases against a good team. That's a difficult task in the NFL and an equally dominant performance Sunday is unlikely. But they must show Sunday they can play at a winning level in consecutive weeks and turn a memorable victory into a stretch that keeps them solidly in the playoff picture. That's attainable for this team and Sunday is a crucial moment to prove that's true.
2. Getting there. A trend is developing for the Jaguars, one that could bode well as December approaches. That trend is the Jaguars' offense, which has gradually found its footing in the first season under Head Coach Liam Coen, is showing serious signs of growth in three games since a Week 8 bye. Consider: The Jaguars have scored 30, 29 and 35 points in the last three games – a 30-29 victory over the Las Vegas Raiders, a 36-29 loss to the Texans and a 35-6 victory over the Chargers. The Jaguars scored on their final six possessions against the Raiders and scored touchdowns on four of five possessions against the Chargers. The offense at times in the Texans game, particularly in the fourth quarter, but still scored 22 offensive points against the No. 1 defense in the NFL. The Jaguars don't feel close to a finished product offensively, but that the unfinished version is starting to produce on this level gives you a good feeling moving forward.

Brian Sexton, Senior Correspondent…

1. An angry team wins the day in Arizona. We've seen many examples through the years of a Jaguars team coming off a win still happy with itself the following Sunday. This team had what could be a transformative moment against the Chargers, but it's only transformative if they do something with it. Nothing would reinforce the changes in Coen's first season like winning a game against a team that is in the middle of a disappointing season, has lost seven of its last eight and is playing a backup quarterback instead of their franchise guy. This is a game a playoff contender wins and a playoff pretender loses.
2. The defensive line can decide if this team will make a run through December. Defensive end Josh Hines-Allen looked the part Sunday and defensive end Travon Walker appears much closer to being himself than he has since dislocating his wrist in San Francisco in September. Defensive tackle DaVon Hamilton was a monster inside against the run and Arik Armstead is on pace for double-digit sacks at defensive tackle – which the Jaguars haven't had since Gary Walker in 1999. Mix in a pair of undrafted rookie free agents in Danny Striggow and B.J. Green II, who played as if their hair was on fire against quarterback Justin Herbert and the Chargers last week, and you have a group that can take over a game – which they didn't do in Houston but absolutely did in Jacksonville. The group needs to play well in Arizona with both starting corners on the injury report and their veteran safety still on injured reserve. Which group will we see on Sunday?

Kainani Stevens, Jaguars Team Reporter/Producer ...

1. There's a new standard here in Jacksonville. After Sunday's dominant performance against the Chargers, Coen says there's a new benchmark for what he expects from his team. The Jaguars were physical on both sides of the ball Sunday, but more than anything they played cleanly. The Jaguars had only one accepted penalty against the Chargers, by far their best performance of the season. A game like that shows exactly what this team is capable of if it stop hurting themselves with self-inflicted wounds.
2. A big opportunity in the desert. The Jaguars are in a good spot at 6-4 heading into Week 12. This upcoming stretch of games against opponents below .500 gives them a realistic opportunity to keep pace in the playoff picture. It starts Sunday in Arizona, where the Cardinals will be without their top wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. for a second consecutive week. The Cards are out of the playoff picture at this point and have been blown out two weeks in a row. The Jaguars must come out with the same energy they did last week to go on the road and keep this momentum going.