The Jaguars are their own worst enemy.
Jacksonville let a prime opportunity for a road win evaporate on Sunday, falling 31-27 to the Bengals in a game that will haunt it for some time. Mistakes — turnovers, penalties and inexcusable dropped passes — allowed backup quarterback Jake Browning to rally Cincinnati for the win.
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It was Browning’s quarterback sneak touchdown over the pile with 18 seconds left that gave Cincinnati a win after losing Joe Burrow to a toe injury in the second quarter.
Trevor Lawrence had two interceptions, but it was numerous dropped passes and mistakes that allowed Cincinnati to stay in the game.
After Devin Lloyd picked off Browning with 5 minutes and 22 seconds to play, it looked like Jacksonville would be able to get something out of it and put the Bengals away for good. The Jaguars made it down to the Bengals 7 and went for it on fourth down. Lawrence tossed an easy ball to Brian Thomas Jr. that would have picked up the first, but Thomas dropped it.
“I dropped the ball, and I’ve got to catch it,” Thomas said. “It’s super frustrating. Just got to put it behind you, and go on to the next week.”
Starting from its own 8 and trailing 27-24, Cincinnati took advantage of that. It converted a pair of fourth downs, including drawing a pass interference call on Travis Hunter to keep its game-clinching drive going.
Jacksonville only had to face Joe Burrow for a quarter and a half, but Jake Browning had beaten the Jaguars once before. Browning authored a Monday Night Football win over Jacksonville in 2023.
Now, he’s got another.
Jacksonville (1-1) and head coach Liam Coen head back to town for a Week 3 game against Houston.
“I thought they played their asses off. We competed, played physical, and just didn’t make enough plays at the end. They called a pass interference on fourth down — I’d like to see them go earn it, but it is what it is. We don’t make the play on offense at the end to close somebody out,“ Coen said.
“I thought we had the opportunity in the end zone to maybe catch the touchdown, and then we had the fourth down. We don’t make those plays and ultimately gave them the opportunity to stay in the game. Players and coaches alike, we gotta go look at ourselves in the mirror and go figure that out.”
Offense runs hot and cold
The ground game continued to show a massive turnaround.
Travis Etienne had an explosive 30-yard carry and finished with 71 yards on the ground as part of a Jaguars’ 139-yard rushing day. Bhayshul Tuten, now entrenched in the backup role after Jacksonville traded Tank Bigsby last week, showed plenty of burst carrying the ball but also as a pass catcher. He had 42 yards on eight carries.
Lawrence had a short throw to Tuten that the rookie turned into an 8-yard touchdown. Tuten had a hard stop after the catch that faked defender Cam Sample out of his lane and jogged in for the score.
Lawrence hit Dyami Brown on a gorgeous 9-yard touchdown on Jacksonville’s opening drive of the game, a throw under pressure that Brown snagged on the back line of the end zone.
“Overall, we showed we can make plays, just the consistency piece is still lacking at times. I think just playing a full 60 minutes with focus and attention to detail, and not shooting ourselves in the foot — that’s still showing up. So that’s stuff we have to correct and learn from,“ Lawrence said. ”I think just continuing to make plays down the stretch, that’s what really good teams do. I think there were times today that we did that today, and times we didn’t. So we’ll watch it and learn from it, and get better from it.”
Hunter had a quiet day. He was the intended target in the end zone on a Lawrence pass that was picked off, but wasn’t a major factor in the game. He had 22 yards on three catches, and the defensive pass interference call late. Lawrence was inconsistent in the game, going 25 of 43 for 294 yards passing and three touchdowns. He was plagued by two inexcusable drops (one by Brown, another by Thomas) and threw two interceptions. Lawrence had another would-be interception overturned on replay.
Thomas had 49 yards on four catches, despite 12 targets. Brown had 57 yards and a touchdown and two critical drops. Parker Washington led the Jaguars with 81 yards on six catches.
“It was a good one. It was a tough one, and we’ve got a lot to clean up. I’ll start with myself,” Brown said. “I had a whole lot of mental errors out there, and it should’ve been a touchdown at the end that could’ve put us up by 10. That one right there hurt. Just got to go back and watch it, forget about it and move on.”
Issues persist
Mistakes turned this one into a much closer game than it should have been.
Penalties continue to sting the Jaguars. Jacksonville was called for five illegal shifts in the opening half, although all five were declined.
The Jaguars were on the verge of going up two scores in the opening quarter, but an excellent drive ended with Dax Hill picking off Lawrence in the end zone on the ensuing drive. Lawrence had Trey Hendrickson in his face and had to get rid of the ball quickly, and Hill had an easy pick. Hendrickson sacked Lawrence on Jacksonville’s final drive to all but clinch the game.
Burrow responded by marching Cincinnati down the field and hitting Ja’Marr Chase on a 4-yard touchdown to tie things at 7-all.
Lawrence’s second interception fell more on the shoulders of Brian Thomas Jr., who didn’t make an attempt to reel it in. Jordan Battle came away with the interception for the Bengals. He had a third interception erased after a replay.
Brown dropped a sure-thing touchdown pass three minutes into the final quarter, forcing Jacksonville to settle for a Cam Little field goal and a 27-24 lead. He also dropped a pass on the drive following Lloyd’s interception. TV replays showed Coen yelling at Lawrence to throw the ball lower at the jersey numbers and not as high.
“You’ve got to execute,” Coen said.
Defense continues to shine
Yes, the 92-yard clinching drive by Browning will be remembered, but Jacksonville had an overall decent afternoon on defense. Foye Oluokun sacked Burrow on third down on Cincinnati’s opening drive to force a punt.
Arik Armstead sacked Burrow midway through the second quarter, a play that knocked the quarterback out of the game with an injury to his left toe. Travon Walker had a sack. And Jacksonville’s suddenly larcenous defense continued to crank out interceptions.
Eric Murray picked off Browning at the end of the first half, a turnover that likely saved at least a field goal. Andrew Wingard intercepted Browning midway through the third quarter, and Jacksonville turned that into a touchdown on a throw from Lawrence to Etienne. Jacksonville has six takeaways in two games after just nine last year.
The Bengals have two of the league’s best receivers in Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins, so big plays were bound to happen. Both Chase and Higgins got the better of Tyson Campbell. Chase beat Campbell on an inside slant for a touchdown, and Higgins got a couple steps on Campbell on a toss from Browning that turned into a 42-yard touchdown and a 24-all game late in the third quarter.