jacksonville, florida – Jaguars started on the wrong side of history and got out on the other side.
Thus, Fairy Tale season goes on forever with playoff performances.
Trevor Lawrence erased the worst part of football in his life with one of the best players and somehow managed to turn the Jaguars against the Chargers by an unbelievable 31-30 they did. rice field. A chilly Saturday night at TIAA Bankfield.
Riley Patterson’s 36-yard field sparked an electric celebration with a series of exclamation marks on the comeback from a 27–0 deficit.
Yes, 27-0! The Jaguars scored five turnovers and was dead in the water in the first half. They fought back and gave Doug Pederson his one of the greatest wins of his career.
“I mean, that’s all. That’s what I told them at halftime. It’s kind of like our season.” Just having the resilience and the drive and the ability to fight and keep playing because it can easily go the other way and that’s what makes me so proud of them That’s why. Everything is going well and they go out and get the job done.”
Lawrence threw four interceptions in the first half and countered it with four touchdowns followed by a 5:30 clutch two-point conversion vault to put Jacksonville in position for a comeback, but it wasn’t realistic. bottom. The defense forced a punt and Lawrence engineered a classic drive from his 21 to set up Patterson for the Daggers to win.
It’s the third-biggest comeback in playoff history, and the Jaguars will advance to the divisional playoffs next week. Their opponent will be finalized on Sunday, but barring a big upset, it could be either the No. 1-seeded Chiefs or the No. 2-seeded Bills.
“Typical us,” said receiver Marvin Jones. “We know how to throw a good party.”
Receiver Christian Kirk added:
When the game was in the first half, it was inconceivable that the Jaguars were intercepting the divisional round.
Lawrence threw four interceptions in the first two quarters. That’s half what he’s thrown in his previous 17 games. That start was historically bad, but Lawrence’s finish could make it a footnote.
From a 27-0 deficit in the second quarter, Lawrence threw second half touchdown passes to Zay Jones, Christian Kirk and Marvin Jones and added another 2-point conversion leap to make it 30-28 in 5:30. Did. Togo. Lawrence felt the impossible was within reach, and after a scoring play, he spiked the ball as hard as ever, and the crowd went ballistic.
After that, the Jaguar defense got bigger. Roy Robertson-Harris sacked his Justin Herbert and lost eight. And he had Foye Oluokun stop Joshua Kelly on his 3rd down and force a punt. Lawrence got it back with 3:09 of his 21 remaining on his own.
“I mean, about the odds, I told my players that I don’t like my odds, but I love my chances,” Orkun said. “As long as there is even the slightest chance of winning, we will keep fighting. When we saw the tables starting to turn, we had the momentum, we kept it, we kept giving the ball back to the offense and they started rolling. .”
Down the field, Lawrence moved the Jaguars and hit Kirk, Marvin Jones and Zay Jones on four passes, but the third and first targets to Kirk were off. It set the game play. 4th and 1st in the Chargers 41, too far for Patterson, Pederson called Travis Etienne.
Instead of going up in the middle, Etienne broke through the right flank and worked in the open field. He was tackled after a gain of 20 and Patterson racked up a successful shot.
ball game.
According to The Boston Globe, Lawrence’s three first quarter interceptions marked the first time in NFL playoff history that a quarterback has been picked three times in the first quarter.
His four first-half interceptions are a dubious feat accomplished only once in playoff history by Denver’s Craig Morton against the Cowboys in the 1978 Super Bowl. Lawrence finished 28 of 47 for 288 yards, 4 touchdowns, and 4 interceptions.
“For me, it’s definitely been the worst half of my football life, and a lot of people’s football lives,” Lawrence said. “Maybe that statistic has some kind of history.”
He found his rhythm after that dismal start, leading Jacksonville to within 30–20 with a 39-yard touchdown to Zay Jones late in the third quarter.
Lawrence had the worst game he’s had at any level in football, throwing an interception on the second play of the game, another on Jacksonville’s ensuing drive, and another at the end of the first quarter. threw an interception. Those gave the Chargers 17 quick points and a lead too steep to overcome.
“I played with one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time in Brett Favre, and there were times when he didn’t do well in the first half and he came back in the second half and was able to lighten it up,” Pederson said. said.
“That’s what I love about Trevor and his attitude, his aggression, and his ability to just forget and move on. But he said, it’s not about him, it’s the people around him.” I will be the first person to tell you that it is. [They] It made plays, the protection was good and the receiver was doing a great job where it needed to be. But from a personal standpoint, this is a really great performance by our quarterback. “
Lawrence got out of a funk before halftime and threw a 9-yard touchdown to Evan Engram. He added a 39-yard strike to Jones and a 6-yard pass to Marvin Jones in the third quarter to cut the deficit to 30–20.
That started the thought process. Maybe?
“I hope we can play a little better next week. You can’t expect to win again and again.Tonight we found our way, but it’s probably not a good formula to move forward,” Lawrence said. I know we don’t need a second half like that. If we play better in the first half and take care of the ball.”
The start quickly took the electricity from the stadium. After Jacksonville’s picks on his two drives in the first and a subsequent punt, Lawrence was picked in the first quarter for his third, second by Asante Samuel, and Austin his six to be run by Ekeler. I set a touchdown for the yards. By the time the first quarter ended in a 17-0 deficit, Lawrence had completed four passes to teammates and three to the Chargers.
No one expected the Jaguars to be in this position. Clean up the turmoil in Urban Meyer and the years of struggle that preceded it, and Jacksonville turning the corner in 2022 would have been ambitious.
However, the Jaguars escaped a 2-6 start and won the final five games of the season to clinch an unexpected AFC South title.
It’s house money. And the Jaguars still spend it.
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