Jaguars Get Breathing Room in AFC South Race As Colts Lose to Browns

The Jaguars have built some distance between them and the Colts in the last two weeks.

Seven days ago, the Jacksonville Jaguars and Indianapolis Colts were both 3-2 and entering a key Week 6 matchup for first-place in the AFC South. 

A lot has changed in the short time since. 

The Jaguars rolled to a 37-20 victory over the Colts in Week 6, forcing quarterback Gardner Minshew into four turnovers and building a one-game lead in the AFC South. The Jaguars then strengthened their hold on the division with a 31-24 win over the New Orleans Saints on Thursday Night Football in Week 7.

With the Tennessee Titans and Houston Texans on bye weeks, that left just the Colts to play and determine what kind of lead in the AFC South the Jaguars would have entering Week 8. 

Thanks to one of the wildest start-to-finish games in the NFL this season, the Jaguars saw Sunday get some much-needed breathing room in the AFC South.

AFC South through Week 7. Titans and Texans had byes this week pic.twitter.com/aq84pW31wS

— John Shipley (@_John_Shipley) October 22, 2023

The Colts swung several punches at the Cleveland Browns, with Minshew scoring two first-half touchdowns against defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz's unit that few other quarterbacks not named Lamar Jackson have done against the historically good defense so far. 

But it ended with a 39-38 Browns win after Kareem Hunt scored the game-winning touchdown with less than a minute remaining. And with the Browns win, the Jaguars have officially put the Colts two games behind them.

The Jaguars still have two games against the Titans (Week 11, Week 18) and a Week 12 rematch with the Houston Texans on the docket, along with other tough games such as the San Francisco 49ers in Week 10, the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 13, the Browns in Week 14, and the Baltimore Ravens in Week 15, though all but the Browns game are at home. 

“Definitely a product of learning how to win. Last year, we probably would’ve made an effort but came up short in a game like this. Now, what we’ve been able to accomplish at the end of last season and in the first part of this season is these guys are locked in for sixty minutes," Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson said after the last-second win vs. the Saints. 

"They know it’s going to come down to the wire, and really, there’s no blowout type of games in the NFL anymore. The scores are always going to be close, teams are too good. Our team is learning that and they’re learning how to play, how to play together. It’s amazing too, how nothing really shocks this team. Whether you’re up 14 or 17 or down 14 or 10, these guys just continue to play and somewhere, somebody is going to make a play. That’s what I ask them to do, we don’t go chasing plays, we just make the ones that come to us. That’s what the guys are doing right now. Learning how to win, I think our guys are figuring that out and it’s good to see.”