It was a great start and a terrible finish for the Jaguars.
Jacksonville couldn’t slow down the Broncos in crunch time, watching a 10-point lead vanish in a 20-13 loss on Sunday afternoon. The Jaguars led 13-3 in the third quarter but hit the wall after that, squandering a chance to win under a slew of mistakes.
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The Jaguars (1-1) were well-positioned to beat Denver at Mile High for the second consecutive season before a disastrous finish. They were outplayed all over the field in the second half in a game no doubt to cause head coach Liam Coen plenty of angst. The loss ended a nine-game winning streak dating back to last season for Jacksonville.
Trevor Lawrence threw his first interception of the season that the Broncos turned into a game-tying touchdown. Cam Little pulled a 54-yard field goal attempt wide left after that. Jacksonville’s defense, which had been phenomenal all day, started giving up more consistent yardage to Bo Nix, Jaylen Waddle and the Broncos.
One play after a double penalty (a pass interference on Travis Hunter and an unsportsmanlike flag on Liam Coen), Jonah Coleman barreled in from the 3 to give the Broncos their first lead of the game, 20-13. It capped 17 unanswered points for Denver, and drove home the point on how imperative it is to play four quarters of football.
Fast start, tough finish
Lawrence had one bad throw, looking to Parker Washington on a drive late in the third quarter. Riley Moss had Washington blanketed and easily intercepted the pass. It was Jacksonville’s first giveaway of the season, and almost certainly took points off the board in the form of a Cam Little field goal. Denver turned that takeaway into a 7-yard touchdown pass from Bo Nix to Nate Adkins to knot things at 13-all with just under 12 minutes left. Little pulled a 54-yard field goal try wide left on the ensuing drive
One of Lawrence’s best throws of the game came early while stepping up in the pocket and finding Washington wide open in the center of the field. Brandon Jones dragged Washington down at the 1 to save a touchdown, but Bhayshul Tuten scored on a direct snap the following play. The throw covered 32 yards and continued Coen’s mantra of getting the ball downfield more and more.
Lawrence marched Jacksonville from its own 20 into scoring range at the end of the half, connecting twice with Washington and again with Brian Thomas Jr. to get into field goal range for Little. He booted a 44-yarder at the horn for a 10-3 lead.
The offense couldn’t keep it going after that. They were ragged after the break.
Brian Thomas Jr. dropped two passes. Lawrence faded badly against Denver’s rush in the second half and nearly threw a second interception to Moss with less than six minutes left. Lawrence finished 17 of 29 for 189 yards. He was sacked twice. Nix went 22 of 31 for 288 yards and a touchdown.
Defense shines most of the day
The Jaguars gave up two big plays early, a 49-yard strike from Nix to Jaylen Waddle that went down to the 1, and a 27-yard one-handed catch by Troy Franklin that went down to the 9.
Buster Brown was cloaked on Waddle for that grab but couldn’t force the breakup. It should have been a gimme touchdown for Denver, but the Jaguars muscled up. The Broncos ran twice for no gain, then had Dennis Gardeck and Josh Hines-Allen smother J.K. Dobbins for a loss on third down. Denver had to settle for a field goal.
Franklin’s grab should have meant at least a second field goal, but Jourdan Lewis had his play of the young season with an interception. The 5-10 Lewis outmuscled 6-4 Courtland Sutton for an end-zone pick. That late second-quarter interception set up Jacksonville for Little’s end-of-half field goal.
Jacksonville’s defense allowed just two substantial drives; a 10-play, 64-yard march after Lawrence’s interception, and a five-play, 56-yarder that Coleman punched in. Unlike last week, when it smothered Cleveland’s offensive line and sacked Deshaun Watson five times, the Jaguars didn’t sack Nix.
Waddle carved up Jacksonville’s secondary to the tune of 138 yards on eight catches. On a third-and-3 with under four minutes left, Waddle found himself wide open for a 29-yard grab that put Denver in Jacksonville territory.
