Commanders 28, Jaguars 22: Self-Inflicted Mistakes Doom Doug Pederson's Debut

Sunday felt oddly familiar for the Jacksonville Jaguars. Despite all of the change that occurred this offseason, the Jaguars were once again their own worst enemy with the on the line, blowing a 22-14 lead in the fourth-quarter to lose 28-22 to the Washington Commanders.

Trevor Lawrence started the game with two completions to Christian Kirk and Zay Jones for 40 yards, though he had a touchdown to Travis Etienne that he overthrew in the red-zone. The miss to Etienne led to the Jaguars settling for a 33-yard field goal from Riley Patterson to give them an early 3-0 lead, but that is about where the positivity ended for the Jaguars in the first-half.

Washington scored on each of their first two drives, with Carson Wentz throwing touchdowns to Curtis Samuel and Shaquill Griffen. Wentz started the game by completing 16 of his first 22 passes for 171 yards and two touchdowns.

This included him orchestrating a 14-play. 71-yard drive that at up 7:31 of game clock after the Jaguars had an offsides and roughing the passer penalty on Travon Walker and Dawuane Smoot, though he was helped by the Jaguars missing four tackles alone (Two by Darious Williams, one by Devin Lloyd and one by Tyson Campbell).

The Jaguars' offense stalled while Washington's soared, with the Jaguars punting it twice before failing in the red-zone on a third drive. The Jaguars drove it to Washington's three-yard line, before failing to complete passes to Zay Jones and Etienne on third- and fourth-down, with Etienne having a particularly brutal drop.

Lawrence ended the first-half 12-of-24 passes for 131 yards (5.5 yards per pass) for a 66.5 quarterback rating, while the Jaguars rushed just seven times for 50 yards (7.1 yards per carry).

Jacksonville did get a jolt of life near the end of the half, though self-inflicted mistakes continued to haunt them. Josh Allen forced a fumble with a veteran swipe of the ball on a Curtis Samuel carry. Allen also added a 10-yard tackle for loss earlier in the half, highlighting a strong first half for the veteran pass-rusher.

The Jaguars, though, failed to create anything out of their first takeaway of the season. Jacksonville saw Lawrence complete five passes in a row, including to several Zay Jones, before a Cam Robinson false start in the red-zone pushed them back. The Jaguars again failed to find a connection on third-down, with Patterson then missing a 37-yard field goal to keep them scoreless on the drive.

Jacksonville's defense showed much more life to start the second half. After a slow first-half from No. 1 overall pick Travon Walker, the rookie beat right tackle Samuel Cosmi with an explosive first-step, forcing a punt and allowing the Jaguars' offense room to operate.

Walker wasn't done there, though. The rookie from Georgia also capitalized on Wentz's turnover prone style, intercepting him and returning the ball to Washington's 11-yard line to set up a Robinson touchdown rush. Walker became the first player since T.J. Watt to record a sack and an interception in his NFL debut.

Lawrence and the Jaguars put together their best drive of the game following Walker's sack, a six-play, 80-yard drive that featured a 49-yard pass to Christian Kirk before a 13-yard completion to him on the same drive. The Jaguars capitalized with a three-yard touchdown pass to James Robinson, though a failed two-point try loomed large as the Jaguars' lead eventually grew to 22-20.

With the Jaguars needing a big defensive stop after a 49-yard Terry McLaurin touchdown catch, the defense instilled a bend, don't break attitude. Washington was still able to eat up nearly five minutes of the clock, generating several first downs on a 12-yard drive.

The Jaguars were able to get a chance to force a field goal, putting the Commanders in a 3rd-and-8 in the red-zone to almost get off the field. Campbell's worst play of the day came at the worst moment, though, with the second-year cornerback failing to find the ball in the air as Wentz completed a 24-yard touchdown pass to the rookie receiver, his fourth touchdown pass and Dotson's second touchdown catch of the game.

Even with all of the bad breaks on both sides of the ball, the Jaguars still had a chance to drive down the field. Down 28-22 with fewer than 2:00 left, the Jaguars picked up a pair of first downs and even got gifted a pass interference penalty.

Even with the attempted from Washington, though, the Jaguars continued to fail to get out of their own way. A false-start penalty on right tackle Walker Little, who subbed in for Jawaan Taylor on the final drive, set the Jaguars up for a long final play.

The final play ended up nothing but a disaster, though, reminding the Jaguars they aren't yet far removed from last year's 3-14 debacle. On 3rd-and-11 from their own 44, the Jaguars saw left tackle Cam Robinson beat badly off the snap by Montez Sweat, leading to Lawrence throwing a dreadful throwaway in-bounds.

The foolish decision led to an interception, and a Foley Fatukasi neutral zone infraction on 3rd-down on the ensuing drive led to the official loss.

Jacksonville finished the game 3-of-12 on third-down, while allowing Washington went 7-of-10. The Jaguars were outgained 390 to 383, though they averaged 6.2 yards per play compared to Washington's 5.6. The big difference was the Jaguars being called for 13 penalties for 90 yards, while the Commanders were flagged six times for 83 yards.

The Jaguars had several chances to win. But poorly-timed penalties on both sides, breakdowns in execution, missed throws, drops, and a missed field goal all led to a loss that felt all too familiar.

Stats of the game

Via: @theryanmichael

With 279 total yards, Trevor Lawrence eclipsed 4,000 for his NFL career (4,254).

With 66 rushing yards, James Robinson eclipsed T.J. Yeldon (1,872) to move into 6th place in Jaguars history (1,903).

Christian Kirk led the Jaguars with 117 receiving yards, the 3rd highest total of his 57-game career.

Travon Walker became the first rookie to record a sack and an interception in his NFL debut since T.J. Watt (per Fox Sports).

Trevor Lawrence’s 275 passing yards was the 4th highest total of his 18-game NFL career.

Devin Lloyd led the Jaguars defense with 11 total tackles

The Jaguars rushed for 123 yards on only 18 carries, averaging an impressive 6.8 YPC on the ground.

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