Jaguars 26, Panthers 0: Jacksonville Dominates Carolina to Snap Losing Streak
The Jacksonville Jaguars finally had their get-right game.
After a month of mistake-filled losses, a defense that had reverted to a shell of itself, and injury lists that stretched as long as the St. Johns River, the Jaguars finally got back to winning with a 26-0 win over the Carolina Panthers on Sunday.
Leading the charger for the Jaguars were Josh Allen (3.0 sacks) and Travon Walker (2.0), with Walker recording the first two-sack game of his career on the same day that Allen wrote himself into the record-books. Sunday also marked the third time this season Allen recorded three sacks in one game.
Offensively, the Jaguars saw Brandon McManus break out of his recent funk and make four consecutive field goals, while backup quarterback C.J. Beathard kept the ship afloat and had zero turnovers while stepping in for an injured Trevor Lawrence.
After the Jaguars got the ball at their own 40 due to the Panthers being forced to kickoff with a linebacker, Jacksonville saw their offense finally wake up after weeks of slumber.
C.J. Beathard converted his first two third-down attempts for 22 yards, while embattled running back Tank Bigsby converted a big 3rd-and-short in the red-zone to keep the offense on the field.
The Jaguars eventually settled for a 35-yard field goal by Brandon McManus after Brian Burns sacked Beathard on third-down. Still, Beathard finished his first drive 4-of-5 for 34 yards as the Jaguars went 3-of-4 on the third down.
No. 1 pick Bryce Young completed his first three passes for 23 yards before the Jaguars forced Carolina into 4th-and-3. But after the Jaguars sent an all-out blitz on 4th down, Young found a wide-open Adam Thielen for 14 yards.
After Tyson Campbell recorded a tackle for loss of four yards on first down, the Jaguars forced the Panthers into another fourth down. This time, they got off the field thanks to a sack from Roy Robertson-Harris.
After the Jaguars were forced to punt following an incompletion on third-down, the Jaguars forced another Panthers punt of their own thanks to Travon Walker's eighth sack of the season.
Evan Engram then picked up a record-breaking 100th catch to convert on 4th-and-1 on the next drive, becoming the first Jaguars tight end to ever record 100 catches in a season and just the eighth tight end ever.
A few plays later, Engram hauled in a 22-yard catch from Beathard on 3rd-and-10 to keep a 12-play, 56-yard drive alive. The drive eventually ended on a 26-yard field goal from McManus, giving the Jaguars a 6-0 lead with 7:18 left in the first-half.
After the Panthers got a pre-snap penalty on first-down, Darious Williams picked up a tackle for loss which was then shortly followed by a Josh Allen sack on third-down, giving Allen 14.5 sacks on the season and tying him with Calais Campbell for the most in a single season in franchise history.
After a 48-yard catch by Jamal Agnew set up a third McManus field goal to give the Jaguars a 9-0 lead, Allen then came back with his second sack of the game, giving him a record-breaking 15.5 sack campaign.
After the Jaguars went into halftime with a 9-0 lead, they quickly added to it thanks to an opening three-and-out drive from the Panthers.
A few short plays later, Travis Etienne busted a run down the right sideline to break the game wide open, scoring from 62 yards out and giving the Jaguars a 16-0 lead. On the ensuing Jaguars drive, Beathard led the Jaguars to the 16 before McManus made his fourth field goal to give them a 19-0 lead.
Etienne came back with his second touchdown of the game with 4:16 left, scoring from one yard out to build a 26-0 lead and officially put the Panthers to bed. A few short plays later, Antonio Johnson picked off Young for his second interception of the season.
The win snaps the Jaguars' four-game losing streak, improving their record to 9-7 and marking the first time since the 2004-2005 seasons that the Jaguars had back-to-back winning seasons,
