The Jaguars have allowed 36 points through Week 3, the fewest in the NFL

Through Week 3, the Jacksonville Jaguars have allowed 36 points, the fewest of the league's 32 teams, per SportStrata's standings data. That works out to 12 points per game in a season where the average team has given up 22.9.

Jacksonville is also the only team that has held every opponent to 20 points or fewer. Minnesota, next on the list at 41 points allowed, gave up 22 in its opener.

Game by game

• Week 1: beat Cleveland 34-10 at home
• Week 2: lost 20-13 at Denver
• Week 3: beat New England 35-6 at home

Not just a soft schedule

The fair question is whether Jacksonville simply drew weak offenses. The numbers say no. Its 3 opponents scored 114 points in their other 6 games, or 19 per game. Against the Jaguars they managed 12 per game.

Cleveland and New England both posted their season-low scores against Jacksonville. Denver, the only team to beat the Jaguars, scored 20, exactly its average across its other 2 games. So the Broncos game was not a collapse; it was an ordinary day for that offense, and a close loss.

Where the margin comes from

Wins by 24 and 29 and a loss by 7 add up to a +46 point differential. Only San Francisco, at 3-0 and +48, has a bigger one.

The Jaguars' offense is more ordinary than that margin suggests. Their 82 points scored rank 10th in the league, respectable but not the reason they sit near the top of the differential table. The gap is being built on the other side of the ball.

The caveat

This is 3 games, and 6 opponent games is a small baseline. Early-season defensive numbers move quickly, and a single shootout can reshape a list like this. What can be said with confidence is narrower: through Week 3, no defense has been harder to score on than Jacksonville's, and its 3 opponents, as a group, have scored more easily against everyone else.