The Jacksonville Jaguars committed 10 penalties for 100 yards in the first half Sunday, their sloppiest half of football this season. That was the story early as the Jaguars repeatedly gave away yardage and had multiple big plays erased by flags.
Despite that, the Jaguars enjoyed a 13-3 lead at halftime on the back of a Trevor Lawrence 7-yard touchdown pass to Brian Thomas Jr. with 1:23 left in the second quarter. Thomas Jr. has struggled throughout the early part of the season, but came up big with his first touchdown of the year.
Head coach Liam Coen was asked about the officiating, “it was wild,” Coen said. “I’ve never been a part of anything like that before in my life.”
There was the feeling that every time a big play happened for Jacksonville, fans were left looking for a flag. A Travis Hunter interception and two Bhayshul Tuten touchdowns for the Jaguars were called back due to penalties Sunday.
While Jacksonville littered the field with yellow flags, when the Jaguars played clean they had a lot of positives. Lawrence continued his stretch of good play, completing 18-of-23 passes for 227 yards and a touchdown without turning the ball over.
Brenton Strange was the leading receiver, reeling in 7 catches for 95 yards and serving as a reliable target for Lawrence on several big downs to extend drives. Tuten finished with 17 carries for 73 yards and fell victim to penalty issues as well, with a 44-yard touchdown run wiped off the board.
Defensively, despite giving up 451 total yards of offense the Jaguars’ defense continued its strong play in the red zone area. Jourdan Lewis and Foye Oluokon both picked off Joe Burrow, and the pass rush got to Burrow twice for two sacks.
It wasn’t all perfect for the Jacksonville defense, though, as cornerback Jarrian Jones was targeted 17 times by Burrow and allowed 11 catches for 132 yards. Jones was primarily tasked with covering Tee Higgins, who had 11 catches for 157 yards himself.
Jacksonville extended its lead late to 22-10 in the fourth quarter when Chris Rodriguez Jr. broke free for a 25-yard touchdown run. The game appeared to be in hand, however, Burrow and the Bengals marched down the field and scored a touchdown to cut the lead to five with 3:33 remaining.
After Jacksonville punted, Burrow got one final opportunity with just under two minutes remaining. Burrow connected with three different receivers for gains of 29, 18, and 15 yards to move Cincinnati deep into Jacksonville territory. The Bengals reached the Jaguars’ 12-yard line before Rayuan Lane stopped Chase Brown short of the marker on fourth down, sealing the 22-17 victory.
The Jaguars moved to 3-1 on the season and are still atop the AFC South. The Colts improved to 2-2 with a win in London, while the Titans and Texans both fell to 0-4. Jacksonville still hold a one-game lead in the division.
Jacksonville will travel to London for the first of its back-to-back overseas games. The Jaguars will take on the Philadelphia Eagles next Sunday at 9:30 A.M. ET at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. The game can be watched on NFL Network.
