Jacksonville's 42-7 Statement Came With a Bill: Eric Murray Out for the Season

The Jaguars are 5-2, they just beat Indianapolis 42-7, and by every available measure they are the best team in the NFL right now — 28.0 points per game scored, 15.9 allowed, a plus-12.1 point differential, and the No. 1 spot in this site's power ratings at 10.3 points better than average on a neutral field.

They also spent the last 48 hours getting gutted.

The Safety Room Took the Worst of It

Head coach Liam Coen confirmed Monday that safety Eric Murray will miss the remainder of the season with an elbow injury suffered in the Colts win. Murray had 15 combined tackles and was the veteran glue in a secondary that was already patched together — Antonio Johnson, who leads the safety group with 30 tackles, was ruled out of the Colts game with an ankle injury and remains on the report.

That leaves Kaevon Merriweather, Rayuan Lane III and Jalen Huskey as the healthy options at the back end. Three players, most of them young, walking into a Thursday night game on a short week. It's the single most exploitable crack in an otherwise elite defense.

The Interior Is Thinner Too

DaVon Hamilton is headed to injured reserve with a quad injury, ending his season and — awkwardly — putting his Jacksonville future in limbo, since he's scheduled to hit free agency. Hamilton had 16 tackles and half a sack as the primary nose tackle, and his absence pushes more work onto Arik Armstead, Matt Dickerson and Ruke Orhorhoro. The team's response was telling: they signed Austin Johnson to the practice squad, a familiar face rather than a fresh one.

Add the earlier season-ending left tackle injury to Anton Harrison — with Walker Little sliding in — and the Jaguars have now lost a starting safety, a starting nose tackle and a starting left tackle for the year. Jakobi Meyers is also listed as questionable with a hamstring issue, thinning a receiving corps that has leaned on committee depth all season.

Why It Might Not Matter As Much As It Sounds

Here's the counterweight: the Jaguars' offense doesn't need volume to score, and Trevor Lawrence is playing the best football of his career. Through seven games he's thrown for 1,690 yards, 17 touchdowns and four interceptions at 65.7 percent with a 112.6 passer rating, and he's been sacked just 13 times on 198 attempts. When your quarterback is that efficient and your defense is generating a plus-7 turnover differential on the season, you can absorb injuries at safety and nose tackle better than most teams.

The Jaguars also already have a 2.0-sack-per-game pass rush that can cover for a shorthanded secondary by getting to the quarterback before the coverage has to hold — Josh Hines-Allen and Travon Walker remain the engine there, though Hines-Allen has been managed carefully.

The Immediate Test

Jacksonville plays at Baltimore on Thursday night, and the Ravens are reeling: 4-4, three straight losses, and a quarterback room that has collapsed. Lamar Jackson needs thumb surgery and is on injured reserve; Tyler Huntley has a toe injury that will keep him out; and undrafted rookie Joe Fagnano is dealing with an ankle issue of his own after taking 40 snaps in relief. Baltimore signed UFL quarterback Austin Reed to the practice squad simply to have a body.

That's the good news for a depleted Jaguars secondary — a passing game that may not be able to punish them. The bad news is the schedule ahead: a road trip to Tennessee, a Giants game, two more Titans matchups and a Bears trip. Jacksonville's margin for error at safety and defensive tackle will get tested by teams with functioning offenses soon enough.

The Read

The Jaguars are still the AFC's best team by the underlying numbers, and nothing that happened this week changes that. But the gap between "best team" and "best team in January" is usually depth, and Jacksonville just spent a week watching its depth get stripped. The next month tells us whether the 42-7 win over Indianapolis was a statement or a high-water mark.