JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – It was as painful of a loss that the Jaguars have endured.
On the field. On the scoreboard. In the locker room.
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Jacksonville saw more than a half-dozen players exit with injuries and then watched the Packers drive the field for a walk-off field goal and a 30-27 win over the Jaguars on Sunday at EverBank Stadium. It was the latest in what has been an agonizing season for the Jaguars, who opened with playoff expectations and now have to wonder what’s left and who will be there to make the plays.
“They’re devastated. They’re heartbroken. They’ve battled their tails off. They fought until the end quite frankly. That’s all I can ask for,” said Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson. “But I also want them to understand too that these games come down to about two plays, three plays. Can’t give the ball away like we did late deep in our own end. We didn’t tackle very well defensively. There are some things that we need to clean up and continue to clean up if we want to get back on track.”
Trevor Lawrence’s top three receivers — Brian Thomas Jr., Gabe Davis and Christian Kirk — left with injuries. He still engineered a game-tying drive, tossing a beautiful 14-yard touchdown to Evan Engram with just under two minutes to play to knot things at 27-all.
But Packers backup quarterback Malik Willis followed with the drive of his career, the headliner a 51-yard strike to Jayden Reed to flip the field. Five plays later, ex-Jaguars kicker Brandon McManus nailed the 24-yarder to clip the Jaguars (2-6).
It was an excrucuating way to lose.
The McManus angle — the team didn’t re-sign him and he was later sued by two women who allege that McManus harrassed them on a team plane last year — was the cherry on top of what has been a tough season. But there were so many other issues that it’s difficult to find just one.
Green Bay starting quarterback Jordan Love suffered a groin injury on the first drive of the game and was less than full strength when he was in before leaving for Willis. Jacksonville’s defense struggled to contain a limited Love. When Willis came in, he delivered. He led three scoring drives, the final one a six-play march from his own 30 down to the Jacksonville 6 to set up the winning kick.
The slivers of positive were there, too. Jacksonville showed significant growth on offense, with Lawrence shaking off two killer turnovers that Green Bay turned into touchdowns to engineer a furious fourth-quarter close.
Playoff hopes are all but over, but Jacksonville was ravaged by injuries that likely hurt in both the short and long term. If general manager Trent Baalke and Pederson planned to entertain offers with the trade deadline approaching, Sunday’s game has certainly shortened the list of potential candidates.
“But yeah, tough day. Really on all levels. Injuries, didn’t win the game. It’s unfortunate,” Lawrence said. “So definitely bummed and hate it for some of the guys, and we’ll see. I don’t know. It’s not my job to do injury stuff, but hopefully we can get them back soon. Just hate it for guys that are battling through stuff and seemed like just guys kept going down today.”
Injury list balloons
Injuries crippled the Jaguars against Green Bay. Right guard Brandon Scherff, receiver Davis and Ronald Darby, all starters, suffered injuries in the opening half. Guard Ezra Cleveland injured his ankle in the third quarter. Thomas suffered a chest injury after his touchdown catch. Kirk went down hard on the ensuing drive and immediately grabbed at his shoulder. The team immediately ruled him out. Safety Andre Cisco left on the final drive. Scherff was the only one of those injured players who returned.
About the only positive injury news was the return of linebacker Foye Oluokun, who started after missing the past four games with a foot injury.
National publications had pegged the Jaguars to be sellers at the trade deadline, with Kirk’s name frequently mentioned as a target for a contender. The deadline is a week away but injuries will likely remove a player or two from Jacksonville’s list of potential candidates to deal.
Offense wakes up in second quarter
The Jaguars played about as bad as they could for most of the first quarter and a half.
Trailing 10-0 with no first downs with 6 minutes and 3 seconds to play before half, Lawrence ripped a bullet pass into the hands of Kirk on a play that went for 33 yards. His next big strike went to Thomas, an 18-yard play that went into the red zone.
Lawrence capped the drive with a 6-yard rushing touchdown, his first of the season. It was much needed.
Before that sequence, the Jaguars were doing next to nothing on offense. Jacksonville had just 15 total yards on six plays in the first quarter and a pair of punts. Lawrence fired a ball into heavy traffic and had it picked off easily by Xavier McKinney early in the second quarter and the Packers turned that into a Josh Jacobs touchdown and a 7-0 lead.
Jacksonville went three and out again on the following drive, scratching out just 23 yards on 10 offensive plays with three punts and an interception before Lawrence and the offense finally got dialed in.
Lawrence was 21 of 32 passing for 308 yards, two touchdowns and the interception. Thomas had three catches for 60 yards. Brenton Strange and Kirk followed with 59 yards apiece.
“I do feel the team coming together but we just have to find a way to get to 3-6 and go win next week,” Lawrence said. “We can’t worry about what’s going to come after that. We just gotta go take it one week at a time. That’s the only way we’re going to get out of the hole that we’ve put ourselves in.”
Team runs hot and cold
Jarrian Jones had his first NFL interception, breaking on a sideline route and jumping in front of Romeo Doubs for the pick. The interception itself was highlight-reel worthy but Jones’ footwork to stay in bounds was the defensive play of the half for Jacksonville.
When Willis replaced Love in the third quarter, the Packers led 13-10. The Jaguars responded with a Lawrence touchdown pass to Thomas to regain the lead but Willis (4 of 5 passing, 56 yards, TD) and Green Bay went on a roll. Jacobs pounded away at the Jaguars defense and capped the go-ahead drive on a 38-yard touchdown run and a 20-17 lead. Jacobs made several Jacksonville defenders whiff on the tackle attempt. Jacobs finished with 127 yards and a pair of touchdowns on 25 carries.
Lawrence’s killer turnover came on a third-and-7 from the Jacksonville 14. Edgerrin Cooper punched the ball out and the Packers recovered. Two plays later, Willis hit Tucker Kraft for a 3-yard touchdown and a 27-17 lead.
“Obviously we know that, but the resilient part of that is how we battle back and got ourselves in position to tie the football game. That’s the mindset. That’s the mindset we have to have in the first quarter,” Pederson said. “That will be something that we can I think learn from moving forward.”
Back came the Jaguars. A Cam Little 47-yard field goal got things within 27-20 with 5:39 to play and the defense force a quick three and out to give Lawrence one more opportunity to deliver. And he nearly did, tying things with a masterful eight-play, 82-yard drive and the capper to Engram.
“So, at this point of our season, you can’t really bask in the moral victories but yeah, it’s good for our team,” Engram said. “Good for the young guys to step up in that moment. We’ve still got a lot of football left, so we’ve got to keep going.”