Browns 31, Jaguars 27: Jacksonville Loses in Turnover-Heavy Fashion
The Jacksonville Jaguars turned the ball over four times and allowed Joe Flacco to throw three touchdowns and over 300 yards in a sloppy, mistake-filled 31-27 road loss on Sunday.
The loss, which is the Jaguars' second in a row, drops them to 8-5.
Three of the Jaguars' turnovers came via Trevor Lawrence interceptions. Lawrence finished the game 28-of-50 for 257 yards with three touchdowns and three interceptions, along with five sacks.
The Browns quickly took the lead on a six-play, 75-yard drive that saw David Njoku haul in a 34-yard touchdown pass from Joe Flacco on 3rd-and-1, with an all-out blitz from the Jaguars leaving Njoku wide open. Flacco finished the first drive 4-of-4 for 66 yards and a touchdown.
Meanwhile, the Jaguars' first drive finished with a three-and-out after Travis Etienne was stopped for a loss on first down and Lawrence was sacked for a short loss by Za'Darrius Smith on third-down as he attempted to scramble.
After Josh Allen forced a tackle for loss on third-and-long on the following drive to force a three-and-out, the Jaguars kicked things off with a 16-yard slant to Calvin Ridley.
Etienne then picked up 16 yards of his own on a wild-cat run, getting the Jaguars down to Cleveland's 45-yard line. A 2nd-and-10 false start on Ezra Cleveland, who made his first career start at left tackle, put the Jaguars behind the sticks, however, leading to an eventual punt.
Jacksonville forced another three-and-out on the following drive, but Browns punter Corey Bojorquez boomed his kick 72 yards, giving the Jaguars the ball at their 18 despite stopping the Browns at their own 10.
The Jaguars again went three-and-out, with Logan Cooke forced to punt for the third time in the first quarter alone after a second-down drop by Calvin Ridley. Luckily for the Jaguars, they forced another three-and-out on the next drive, with Flacco going 1-of-6 for -1 yards after the first drive.
After a potentially controversial no-call on an apparent holding on a deep shot to Zay Jones, and then a delay of game, the Jaguars were backed into 3rd-and-10 and punted for the fourth time in the first quarter.
Flacco then opened the next drive with gains of 17 and 20 yards to Amari Cooper and Elijah Moore before a 30-yard touchdown to Njoku, his second touchdown to him of 30 yards or more in the first-half.
On the very next play, Lawrence was intercepted by Martin Emerson after the Jaguars attempted another deep shot to Jones. Luckily for the Jaguars, they got the ball back a few plays later when Darious Williams picked off Flacco.
The Jaguars then got the ball all the way to Cleveland's 32-yard line and were set up for a potential field goal on third-down before Lawrence was sacked for 13 yards on a Grant Delpit blitz, leading to another punt from Cooke.
Jacksonville's defense then got the Jaguars back into the game, with Andrew Wingard forced a Cooper fumble after what looked like a long gain. Devin Lloyd returned the fumble deep into Cleveland territory, setting up a 10-yard touchdown pass from Lawrence to Evan Engram to make it 14-7.
After the Jaguars got some help from penalties on the following drive, Parker Washington returned a punt 26 yards to their own 44, helping set up solid field position ahead of the two-minute warning.
A 23-yard gain to Engram then helped the Jaguars get into scoring position, but Lawrence was then picked off by Emerson on a miscommunication between Lawrence and Ridley.
After trailing 14-7 at halftime, the Jaguars opened the third quarter with a nightmare sequence:
- A six-yard loss on a run play.
- An incompletion on second down.
- A false start on third down.
- A fumble by Washington on third down at the Jaguars' own 22.
A few short plays later, Kareem Hunt scored from four yards out to make it a 21-7 ballgame. The Jaguars' offense failed to do much on the same drive, either, with a second-down sack resulting in a third-and-long incompletion and another punt.
The Jaguars' defense then forced their third turnover of the day to give the Jaguars some much-needed momentum, with rookie safety Antonio Johnson recording a strip sack off a nickel blitz.
This set up a one-yard Etienne touchdown, but only after Lawrence and Ridley connected for 16 on 3rd-and-12. The Jaguars' defense then got another stop after Johnson recorded a third-down pass breakup near the red-zone.
The offense continued to shoot itself in the foot, however, with Lawrence throwing his third interception on 3rd-and-1. Despite the Jaguars just needing a yard, the Jaguars went for a deep shot to Ridley out of an empty formation, with Lawrence throwing a badly-placed ball for the turnover.
Jacksonville's defense then managed to force a fourth-down on the following drive, but another all-out blitz was beaten as Flacco connected with David Bell for 41 yards to give the Browns a 28-14 lead.
The Jaguars then put together a nine-play, 60-yard touchdown drive capped off by a 19-yard touchdown catch by Washington, his second in as many weeks. This cut the Browns' lead down to 28-21 with nine minutes left.
The Browns managed to pick up a few first-downs to get the ball near midlfield, but a false-start on James Hudson on 3rd-and-1 led to a 4th-and-6 punt ... before Adam Gotsis was flagged for encroachment to lead to a 4th-and-1. Hunt then picked up three yards on the next play to convert a key set of downs.
A pressure by Travon Walker and a pass breakup by Rayshawn Jenkins on the following third-down helped the defense get the ball back to the offense with 4:24 left.
The Jaguars managed just one first down before 4th-and-3 crept up. And just like so many other times in the game, the Jaguars failed to capitalize as a Lawrence pass to Jones fell incomplete, giving the Browns the ball at the Jaguars' 38-yard line.
Dustin Hopkins then nailed a 55-yard field goal to give the Browns a 31-21 lead with 3:10 left in the game.
Jacksonville managed to use dumpoffs to Etienne and a pass interference call to get 1st-and-goal from the Browns' two-yard line, eventually resulting in Engram recording his second touchdown of the day to make it 31-27.
Pederson then opted to for two, though Lawrence was sacked to force the Jaguars into a four-point deficit and the eventual loss.
