JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Jaguars are heading to London and leaving their losing streak again in the States.
The Jaguars had their greatest efficiency of the season on Sunday, edging the Colts 37-34 in a again and forth thriller at EverBank Stadium. If ever the Jaguars wanted a win, this was the sport to do it in.
Trevor Lawrence led a game-winning drive in the ultimate minute, organising Cam Little’s 49-yarder to go forward because the Jaguars escaped the Colts for a slump-busting win that almost slipped away below an Indianapolis barrage in the fourth quarter. It wasn’t straightforward. Of course with the Jaguars, it seldom is.
Joe Flacco picked aside Jacksonville’s protection and led Indianapolis to a few fourth-quarter touchdowns, together with a 65-yard scoring cross to Alec Pierce with 2 minutes, 50 seconds to go. But Lawrence delivered on the go-ahead drive and Travon Walker picked up his third sack of the sport to disclaim Flacco the shot at a comeback as time ran out.
“I think that’s going to make us better as a team too that it was even the first win of the season. It was tough, and it came down to the very end, and we had to earn it. All of that is going to build confidence moving forward,” mentioned Lawrence, who celebrated his twenty fifth birthday Sunday. “I think that’s what this team has done a good job of. Obviously a rough start, but we kept our confidence. We’ve kept swinging.”
It was an enormous early season win for the Jaguars. The crew welcomed former head coach Tom Coughlin into the Pride of the Jaguars and received carrying throwback jerseys from Coughlin’s time as head coach.
Lawrence threw the longest Jacksonville scoring cross since 2015, an 85-yarder to rookie Brian Thomas Jr., and received for the primary time in 11 months. Head coach Doug Pederson has needed to discipline questions on his job standing throughout crew’s losing skid and put the onus again on the gamers to step up and ship.
For one week no less than, all these nagging questions are shoved to the aspect. The Jaguars will head to London for video games against the Bears (Oct. 13) and Patriots (Oct. 20) and may doubtlessly return house with some semblance of a profitable streak.
“To me, it’s not necessarily a surprise. I just think it’s a culmination of a lot of things,” Pederson mentioned. “The way we work, the way we practice, the things we do during the week. It translated today. Proud of the guys for obviously the way we finished. Great team effort today.”
Lawrence in explicit had to be ok with shedding his doubtful streak. He’d misplaced consecutive begins relationship again to his final win, a 24-21 victory over Houston on Nov. 26, 2023. Jacksonville had received only one sport since then, and it was backup CJ Beathard who delivered that on Dec. 31, 2023, over the woeful Panthers. Lawrence handed for 371 yards (28 for 34) and a pair of touchdowns, lastly answering the critics.
One win doesn’t erase an 0-4 begin that has put the Jaguars (1-4) in a deep gap in the AFC South, nevertheless it’s a constructive.
Chaotic shut
They did that against Indianapolis (2-3), which hasn’t received a sport in Jacksonville since 2014 however did every little thing it may to finish that slide in a livid again and forth last quarter.
Flacco carved up the Jaguars as soon as once more, throwing two landing passes and organising a brief TD run with lovely throw to Alec Pierce. Jacksonville led 34-20 after a 65-yard landing run by Tank Bigsby with 5:21 to play, seemingly sufficient of a cushion to get it to the end. But Flacco got here again firing. Pierce made a catch-of-the-year candidate on a 24-yard sideline snag, then adopted that with a 46-yarder that went right down to the 1. Trey Sermon punched it in one play later. The Jaguars adopted with a 3 and out and Flacco attached with Pierce once more two performs in a while a 65-yard landing to tie issues up.
Lawrence hadn’t been capable of make game-winning drives against the Dolphins, Browns or Texans this yr however did against the Colts. He mentioned that he doesn’t hearken to something outdoors the constructing.
“That stuff doesn’t matter. You can’t listen to the good or the bad. So, I do think stuff that does get through, and I’m sure there’s a lot of questions. What’s going on with the Jags? What’s this? What’s that? After four weeks, good, we’ll use it as a chip on our shoulder and have that us against the world mentality and bring us closer together,” he mentioned. “I think that’s what good teams do.”
Offense lastly reveals some life
Lawrence isn’t the one participant on offense who has been mired in a depressing begin however he’s definitely probably the most seen. That’s the usual for NFL quarterbacks, particularly ones who've a contract as large as Lawrence’s $275 million deal. Lawrence lastly had his breakout sport. He’d been held below 200 passing yards thrice this yr and surpassed his season excessive by halftime. The throw that energized EverBank was his 85-yard strike to rookie Thomas halfway by way of the second quarter.
The Colts, main 7-3 on the time, pinned the Jaguars again at their very own 15. Lawrence dropped again and noticed Thomas with an honest cushion and hit him in stride. No Indianapolis participant got here near catching Thomas, one of many quickest gamers at this yr’s NFL mix. Thomas ran a 4.33 time in the 40-yard sprint.
“Like I said, that was a big emphasis, to come out and just finish,” Thomas mentioned. “We’ve been in games where we’ve been close, we just haven’t finished, so that was a big emphasis for us, to just come out and finish. It feels great to be able to say that we did that.”
But it was Lawrence’s play in the ultimate minutes that confirmed that the franchise quarterback can ship. He threw a landing cross to Brenton Strange to place the Jaguars up 27-17 early in the fourth quarter and then took Jacksonville from its personal 30 right down to the Indianapolis 31 on the ultimate drive, hitting D’Ernest Johnson, Luke Farrell and Christian Kirk on the drive to flip the sphere and get Little in place for the shot on the winner.
Defense comes up massive earlier than half
Jacksonville was driving for an additional rating late in the second half, with Lawrence hitting Gabe Davis on a 21-yard strike that went to the Colts 34. Davis fumbled on the deal with. Instead of simply taking a knee to finish the half, the Colts tried to let Flacco get one thing going and paid for it. Walker turned the nook and had a strip-sack of Flacco. Josh Hines-Allen recovered, and the Jaguars turned that right into a 30-yard discipline purpose and 13-10 lead on the break.
Flacco hit all seven of his cross makes an attempt on the opening drive, the ultimate one a 1-yard landing to Michael Pittman Jr. for a 7-0 lead that felt like an ominous signal. They tightened up after that till the fourth quarter when Flacco carved them up for twenty-four factors. Flacco, 39, was beginning in place of Anthony Richardson, was 33 of 44 passing for 359 yards and three touchdowns. Ryan Nielsen’s protection has to discover a approach to tighten issues up after three consecutive video games of getting gashed.
Big sport for Walker
The knock on Walker, the No. 1 choose in the 2022 draft, largely stems on who Jacksonville handed on to pick him. The Jaguars preferred Walker’s long-term potential greater than edge rusher Aidan Hutchinson, who went No. 2 to Detroit. Hutchinson has been one of many league’s greatest cross rushers since he entered the league, whereas Walker has been good however not nice. He had the strip-sack of Flacco earlier than halftime and then dropped Flacco for an additional sack in the fourth quarter and then the sack to finish it. Walker completed with 5 tackles, three sacks and a pressured fumble, simply one of the best sport of his profession.
The floor sport
Oft criticized as a rookie for too many gaffes, Bigsby has been an enormous increase for the Jaguars floor sport. He took a brief cross from Lawrence and turned it right into a 28-yard catch and run that almost went into the Colts pink zone. That play arrange a 30-yard discipline purpose. Bigsby’s greatest play got here on the bottom with the Jaguars attempting to remain in entrance late in the fourth quarter. He took a handoff, made a lower and outran each Indianapolis defender for a 65-yard landing run. Bigsby completed with 101 yards and a pair of touchdowns on 13 carries.
“Well, I think there’s a weight off everybody’s shoulders. Right? Not just [Lawrence]. It’s a weight off of my shoulders too. Now you guys can get off my tail for at least a week,” Pederson mentioned.
“Listen, that’s what I told the guys, I mean, if they just continue to stick together and work hard and trust what we’re doing and trust each other. That’s what you’re seeing, right? Is it perfect? No. It’s never going to be perfect. But the other thing you have to realize too, we’ve had five games. Four of them have been one-score games, right? So that’s another thing we have to get used to. These games are going to come down to the last drive or two of a game. And that’s something, as a team, we’ve got to embrace, and we’ve got to learn to do. And today was a good step.”
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