The Jaguars keep finding new levels of rock bottom.
On Sunday, it was the Raiders, mired in a 10-game losing streak and slugging it out with the Giants for the top pick in the draft, who handed Jacksonville its latest loss, a 19-14 game that marked even a new low for head coach Doug Pederson.
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Las Vegas had recovered just one fumble all season before Sunday. It had two killer recoveries against the Jaguars. The Raiders hadn’t won since beating the Browns in September and starting quarterback, Aidan O’Connell, had lost all six of his starts this year. And yet, all of those things happened against Jacksonville (3-12), which lost for the ninth time this season in games decided by seven points or less.
The Jaguars have now lost to the Raiders (3-12), Browns (3-12), Jets (4-11) and Bears (4-11), teams who are slotted to pick in the top nine. Jacksonville moved up from the No. 6 spot in the draft earlier Sunday to the No. 3 position, according to website, Tankathon. Only the Giants (2-13), themselves now in a 10-game losing streak, have a worse record than the Jaguars. Jacksonville’s home finale is Dec. 29 against the 3-12 Titans, another game with major draft implications. The Jaguars beat Tennessee in Nashville (10-6) two weeks ago.
“I’m sure there’s some of that [struggle to focus during a lost season]. I’m sure, again, you’re human and things haven’t gone our way this season,” Pederson said. “And disappointing as that is, you’re going to feel that emotion. It’s just something that, I think, everybody handles it a little bit differently. But it’s that mental toughness we talk about, having that. And just trying to flush a negative play. Trying your best you can to move on from bad plays, mistakes, whatever it is. Trying to move on to the next play.”
Like they have on many occasions this year, Jacksonville found itself with a chance to scratch out a win in the closing minutes. Las Vegas punted it back to the Jaguars with 2 minutes, 44 seconds to play. Jacksonville started at its own 7 and moved to near midfield.
The Jaguars appeared to have converted a fourth-and-1 on a big run by Travis Etienne but a holding call by Cole Van Lanen, playing for injured left tackle Walker Little, wiped it out. Mac Jones’ throw to D’Ernest Johnson, 6 yards short of the first-down marker, wasn’t even close and the Raiders were able to drain the final 52 seconds to end a miserable losing streak. It was a curious decision by Jones to look for Johnson, the third-string running back, in such a pivotal time. They tried to get it to Johnson in the end zone in the closing minutes against Philadelphia but Trevor Lawrence was intercepted.
“I mean, you just have to understand that that’s the NFL. I think almost all the games go to this situation, and how can we just not be in that situation? I think, just a lot of self-inflicted errors,” Jones said of the close games. “And it always comes down to one play. And you wish the result would be different.”
Both teams struggle
It wasn’t pretty for either team but the Jaguars continue to make undisciplined plays that hurt them.
During one sequence late in the second quarter, penalty flags were thrown on four consecutive plays, two apiece for the teams. On the fifth play, O’Connell’s pass over the middle to Alexander Mattison was dropped on a play that would have gone for a first down. That drop saved Jacksonville from at least another Raiders field goal try.
They’d got it back in excellent field position after recovering a Tank Bigsby fumble at the 45. It was just the second fumble recovery of the season for the Raiders. They added another critical fumble recovery in the final seconds of the first half with the Jaguars trying to scratch out a field goal.
Brenton Strange caught Jones’ pass over the middle, got hit by Isaiah Pola-Mao and coughed it up. Thomas Harper recovered at the 33 with 9 seconds to play and killed a Jacksonville field goal shot. While Van Lanen’s holding call at the finish wiped out the chance to keep the game-deciding drive going, it was one of just eight penalties for 60 yards enforced against Jacksonville.
“You’re right, it’s not for the lack of effort, physicality, all that. Those guys do play hard,” Pederson said. “But the mistakes, penalties, things that just held us back all season. I think as coaches, players, it’s the frustrating part. Until we get that corrected, obviously there’s going to be a lot of long days. We’ve got to get it fixed.”
BTJ shines
Brian Thomas Jr. has been the lone bright spot in a miserable offense. He broke Justin Blackmon’s receptions record by a rookie with a third-and-9 catch that went for 16 yards in the first quarter. It set up Bigsby’s 1-yard touchdown run four plays later.
Thomas provided Jacksonville’s biggest play of the game late in the third quarter, sneaking past the Las Vegas secondary and reeling in a 62-yard touchdown pass from Jones. That catch put Thomas over 1,000 receiving yards on the season. Thomas and Raiders rookie tight end Brock Bowers lead all first-year pass catchers in yardage. The touchdown was the ninth for Thomas. He led Jacksonville with 132 yards on nine catches. Thomas has 1,088 receiving yards on 73 catches.
“Yeah, I’m so happy for Brian,” Pederson said. “We talked last week. He’s such a bright spot offensively and gives a thousand-plus yards and all of that. Just a kid that is so deserving of it, from the way he works to how he plays. And the load that we put on him, for a young player like that, to go out and perform like he does. So happy for him, definitely a bright spot.”
Thomas is one of just six rookies since 2000 to reach 1,000 yards and nine touchdowns in a season. Odell Beckham, Kelvin Benjamin, Ja’Marr Chase, Mike Evans and Michael Thomas were the others.
Jones played turnover-free football (25 of 39, 247 passing yards, TD) but lost for the fourth time in five starts with Jacksonville.
Jags strike first but can’t sustain it
A 26-yard punt return by Devin Duvernay and an unnecessary roughness call at the end of it put Jacksonville at the Vegas 29 and quickly in scoring position. Bigsby barreled in from the 1 for his sixth rushing touchdown of the season to put the Jaguars in front 7-0.
The Raiders came right back with a 1-yard touchdown run from Mattison and a 49-yard field goal from Daniel Carlson. O’Connell hadn’t won a start since Week 18 of the 2023 season, but he played well in crunch time. His play of the game came under a suffocating rush on third-and-3 early in the fourth quarter where Josh Hines-Allen nearly had him sacked. But O’Connell got the ball out under the pressure and Ameer Abdullah made a spectacular catch with Devin Lloyd in coverage to convert. O’Connell went right back to Abdullah and then Bowers to get down to the 7. Abdullah ran it in one play later for Las Vegas to take a lead it wouldn’t give back.
“I mean, you got to put good stuff on tape and, at the end of the day, it’s tough, but you got to find ways to win at the end of the game and really just play well for yourself, for your family and for the team and finish strong,” Jones said. “And you really have to ask that question, how many more wins do you want to get? Is it two, is it one, or is it zero? So, we want two and we’re going to do everything we can to get two.”
Young players show up
Second-round pick Maason Smith has been a bit of an unknown this season, playing just nine games and both a healthy scratch and an injury-related inactive in the others. Jacksonville expected more but it hasn’t panned out that way. On Sunday, Smith may have turned in his best game, sacking O’Connell in the first quarter and then swatting down a third down pass in the third quarter. Smith had two tackles for loss and a quarterback hit in the game, by far his best outing of the season. He has as many sacks in nine games as high-priced free agent signee Arik Armstead does in 15 games. Armstead had his second sack of the season Sunday.
Rookie seventh-round edge Myles Cole and fifth-round corner De’Antre Prince also logged significant playing time.