Jaguars 23, Dolphins 20: Jaguars Break 20-Game Losing Streak in Last Second Thriller In London
Hope is a funny thing, as the Jacksonville Jaguars found in London on Sunday. As another maligned team just up the road from the annual International game taught us, “it’s the hope that’ll kill ya.” Ever-present disappointment, leading to loss of hope will make you watch the Jaguars fail to convert a 4th-and-1 early in the fourth quarter, giving up the points in a close game, and think "here we go again."
It's hope that'll sneak back up, cause the butterflies to flap, hands to cover eyes and watch in trepidation as the coaching staff makes up for the earlier call, dialing up a perfect play from Trevor Lawrence to Laviksa Shenault over the middle to convert a 4th-and-8 at midfield, timing the timeout perfectly to give Matthew Wright one second to kick a game-winning field goal.
It's weeks of lost hope that will cause fans to prepare for despondency before Wright even takes the field, because the Jaguars haven't made a field goal all year so what reason would there be to think the practice squad player signed off the street two weeks ago could turn that ship?
It's the first rumblings of hope that bubble up after Wright curves in a 54-yarder—the longest of his career—to tie the game at 20-all with less than three minutes to play, defying physics and history and logic along the way.
It's renewed hope that springs eternal as Wright nails one down the middle as time expires to win on a 53-yard field goal, breaking the Jaguars' 20-game losing streak (the second-longest in the NFL's history) and going 4–4 all time in London.
As head coach Urban Meyer called over his rookie quarterback Trevor Lawrence to watch the field goal attempt together, it was hope that led Lawrence to tell Meyer, "Coach we're gonna win this regardless."
And win they did, in a thriller that was close from the beginning and never in hand till after the clock was expired.
After the Dolphins opened with a touchdown drive that lasted over seven minutes, Wright hit his first of three field goals on the day to make it a 7–3 game. The Dolphins notched on two field goals of their own and forced the Jaguars into three straight punts.
But with halftime looming and down by 10, Lawrence turned to his two guys. The first was a shot to Shenault on 4th-and-6 from the Miami 35-yard line. After moving the chains, Lawrence went to his favorite target, Marvin Jones Jr. A rainbow contested throw to Jones in the corner of the end zone helped the Jags cut the deficit to three just before half.
"That's my guy, I always give him a shot if I can," said Lawrence of Jones.
Miami missed a field goal and Jacksonville got the ball back to start the second half with an opportunity for the lead. Thanks to running back James Robinson, they got it. The second-year star bullied the defense for a 24-yard pickup into the red zone, then punched in the 1-yard touchdown to put the Jaguars up 17–13, their first lead since Week 4 versus the Cincinnati Bengals.
But this time, the Jaguars found a way to finish. A sack-fumble by Lawrence, after a hit by his college teammate Christian Wilkins, put things in jeopardy for a moment. The coaching decision on the aforementioned third and fourth down sequence to start the fourth quarter didn't help and as the Dolphins added another touchdown courtesy of Tua Tagovailoa to Jaylen Waddle, it felt as if this was the same story already told, just in a new country.
Then the defense—without their captain and linebacker Myles Jack—found what they needed to make a stop. On 3rd-and-1 4th-and-1.
"We was ready, I can tell you that. We was ready to fire off this ball," said linebacker Josh Allen.
As time ticked down, Meyer revealed the plan was to try for a Hail Mary. But kept looking at the clock and considered their play, "slider." It can be run with five to six seconds left. With timeouts in hand, Meyer told the official before the play, if Shenault caught the ball, they'd be calling a timeout as soon as he went down.
From there, everything clicked at once into place, including the first win of the season for the Jaguars.
