Jaguars Clips
Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence said recently that he doesn’t think his team gets the respect they deserve, but that should change after Sunday’s performance.
Lawrence threw three touchdowns and ran for another to help the Jaguars to a 34-20 win in Denver. The win is the sixth in a row for the Jaguars and it put an end to the Broncos’ 11-game winning streak.
Lawrence had four touchdown passes in last Sunday’s win over the Jets and he has 12 over the last four games. He set a career-high with 26 touchdown passes for the season and also has a career-high seven rushing touchdowns. All in all, he has looked like the franchise quarterback that many in Jacksonville have been aching to see over the last couple of seasons and his ascension could not be coming at a better time for the Jags.
Wide receiver Parker Washington was the chief beneficiary of Lawrence’s accuracy on Sunday. He had six catches for 145 yards and a score to continue his breakout third NFL season.
Denver has been adept at pulling off comebacks this season, but a pair of turnovers dashed those hopes this week. A botched handoff to Jaleel McLaughlin led to a lost fumble and quarterback Bo Nix got picked off by Jaguars cornerback Jarrian Jones after a Jaguars three-and-out kept the door open for some last-minute heroics.
Wide receiver Pat Bryant was injured late in the game on a big hit by Jaguars defensive back Montaric Brown and he was carted off after extensive attention from the team’s medical staff. Linebacker Dre Greenlaw also left the game with an injury.
The win lifts the Jaguars to 11-4 on the season and they will clinch a playoff spot if the Colts lose on Monday night. The win also opens the door to a run at the top seed in the AFC and opens the door to the Patriots moving back up the pecking order if they can beat the Ravens on Sunday night.
Lawrence got his ankle retaped late in the game, so his practice status will be something to watch heading into the Jags’ Week 17 road game against the Colts. They’ll also be keeping eyes on cornerback Greg Newsome, right guard Patrick Mekari and cornerback Jourdan Lewis after they left the game with injuries.
The 12-3 Broncos have already clinched a playoff berth, but they have not sewn up the AFC West title. They’ll face the ailing Chiefs on Christmas, which should help their chances of righting the ship after their first loss since September. If they can’t, a Week 18 date with the 11-4 Chargers looms as a potential battle for the divisional crown. That keeps things more interesting than Sean Payton and company would have liked as the end of the regular season comes into view.
The Broncos pulled off one of this season’s most improbable comebacks against the Giants and they will need a little more fourth quarter magic to extend their winning streak to 12 games.
A Cam Little field goal with just over a minute off the clock in the fourth quarter put the Jaguars up 34-17 in Denver. The Broncos were down 18 points to the Giants in the fourth quarter before pulling off a win in October.
Broncos rookie running back RJ Harvey tied the game 17-17 with a touchdown run on the Broncos’ first possession of the second half, but the Jaguars scored back-to-back touchdowns before the Broncos lost a fumble on a botched handoff. The defense held for the Little field goal and Denver’s offense came back to life on a 48-yard pass from quarterback Bo Nix to wide receiver Troy Franklin.
Nix couldn’t complete any passes into the end zone, however, and a Wil Lutz field goal cut the Jaguars lead to 34-20 with 10:44 left to play.
The Broncos came back in the second half against the Packers at home last week for their 11th straight win and they’ll need to mount another comeback in Denver to stretch their winning streak to 12.
Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence threw a pair of touchdown passes in the first half and then drove for a Cam Little field goal as time expired in the second quarter. The result is a 17-10 lead for the road team.
Lawrence hooked up with wideout Parker Washington and tight end Brenton Strange for the two scores. He is 13-of-21 for 130 yards and now has six touchdown passes over his last six quarters of work.
The Washington touchdown opened the scoring and the Broncos answered with 10 straight points, but they also missed a field goal in the first quarter and punted twice during the first 30 minutes. They will get the ball to open the second half and they’ll need to find a way to put more points on the board given how well the Jaguars have been able to move the ball so far on Sunday.
The Jaguars got on the board first in Denver, but the Broncos have come up with an answer.
Quarterback Bo Nix found wide receiver Courtland Sutton for a 15-yard touchdown with 12:46 to play in the first half. The touchdown tied the score at 7-7.
Nix opened the scoring drive by hooking up with tight end Evan Engram for a 33-yard gain and then had a 12-yard run to keep the team moving toward the end zone.
Sutton also had a seven-yard catch before his score and already has four catches for 53 yards on the afternoon.
The crowd noise in Denver has often benefitted the Broncos, but it hurt them in the first quarter of Sunday’s game against the Jaguars.
Jacksonville committed a false start on a third-and-10, but Broncos safety P.J. Locke did not hear the whistle and hit quarterback Trevor Lawrence. Locke was flagged for unnecessary roughness for hitting Lawrence after the whistle and NFL rules said that only the Denver penalty was assessed on the play.
The Jaguars got new life thanks to the penalty and used it to drive for a 12-yard Lawrence touchdown pass to wide receiver Parker Washington.
Broncos kicker Wil Lutz had a 44-yard field goal go off the upright on the previous possession, so it is 7-0 Jaguars after one quarter of play.
Jaguars wide receiver Jakobi Meyers will be sticking around in Jacksonville beyond this season.
Meyers and the Jaguars have agreed on a three-year contract extension through the 2028 season, according to multiple reports.
The Jaguars traded fourth- and sixth-round draft picks to the Raiders to acquire Meyers just before the trade deadline. Meyers was set to become an unrestricted free agent after the season, but now he’s part of the Jaguars’ long-term plans.
Meyers has quickly established himself as the Jaguars’ No. 1 receiver: His 27 catches for 355 yards since arriving in Week Nine lead the team during that span. Now the Jaguars expect him to keep serving as a top option for Trevor Lawrence for years to come.
Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence has been playing some of his best football of the season during the team’s current five-game winning streak and he reached new heights in last Sunday’s 48-20 win over the Jets.
The Jaguars scored points on eight of their first nine possessions in the game and six of those scores were touchdowns. Lawrence threw for five of them and ran the ball into the end zone for the sixth.
Lawrence finished the day 20-of-32 for a season-high 330 yards and he ran five times for 51 yards.
The NFL announced on Wednesday that Lawrence has been named the AFC offensive player of the week. It’s the fourth time Lawrence has taken that award in his career and the first time since Week 11 of the 2023 season.
Sunday’s Jaguars-Broncos game is a big one. Maybe the NFL’s biggest game this Sunday. The Broncos are 12-2, the best record in the NFL. The Jaguars are 10-4 and in first place in the AFC South. Both teams have plenty to play for as they fight for playoff position.
But the game hasn’t been scheduled like a big game.
Instead of airing on prime time or in the marquee Sunday afternoon window, Jaguars-Broncos airs as a regional broadcast on Fox at 4:05 p.m. ET on Sunday. It won’t be available on the Fox affiliates in most markets. Most of America won’t be able to watch.
That the NFL didn’t schedule Jaguars-Broncos for a broadcast window that could generate a big audience suggests that, despite the success of the teams on the field this season, the league doesn’t think the average fan is excited about a game matching up these two teams. Sunday afternoon games like Bills-Browns on CBS early, Steelers-Lions on CBS late and Chargers-Cowboys on Fox early are primed to get bigger audiences despite featuring teams with lesser records than the Jaguars and Broncos.
As we pointed out when the schedule was released in May, it’s clear from the way the NFL schedules the Jaguars that even in Year 5 of the Trevor Lawrence era, he has not caught on as the start he was supposed to be entering the league, and the Jaguars have not caught on as a team the average fan wants to see. The Broncos have a bigger fan base, but Bo Nix also has not yet developed into a big national star.
Even lesser NFL games generate TV audiences that every other sports league could only dream of. But it says something about the tastes of the average fan that the 10-4 Jaguars against the 12-2 Broncos is perceived as a lesser game by the viewing public.
The Jaguars are set to be without Bhayshul Tuten for a bit, so they added another running back to the roster on Tuesday.
They announced that they have signed DeeJay Dallas. Linebacker Jack Kiser went on injured reserve in a corresponding move.
Dallas played three games for the Panthers earlier this season. He had one carry for no gain during that stint. He had 121 carries for 517 yards and four touchdowns in 78 games for the Cardinals and Seahawks over the previous five seasons.
The Jaguars also announced that they have opened linebacker Jalen McLeod’s 21-day practice window. The fifth-round pick has spent the entire season on injured reserve.
Two teams have clinched spots in the playoffs and that number could start going up on Thursday night.
If the Seahawks beat the Rams at home, they will join the Rams in the NFC bracket. They would also take over first place in the NFC West and the top spot in the conference with two games left to play.
The Seahawks will also get into the dance if the Lions lose to the Steelers on Sunday. A Lions loss would also punch the ticket for the winner of Saturday’s game between the Packers and Bears in Chicago and it would give the 49ers a spot regardless of how they fare against the Colts on Monday night. Both the Packers and Bears will get in if they tie and the Lions lose.
The 49ers won’t need any help from the Lions if they beat the Colts.
The Eagles will clinch the NFC East with a win over the Commanders on Saturday or a Cowboys loss to the Chargers on Sunday.
The Broncos are the only other team with the ability to wrap up a division title this weekend. They’ve already clinched a playoff spot and will take the AFC West if they beat the Jaguars while the Chargers lose. Getting those results as well as a Bills loss and a Patriots loss will make the Broncos the No. 1 seed in the AFC.
The Patriots will clinch a playoff spot with a win over the Ravens. They also get in with a Colts loss to the 49ers or a Texans loss to the Raiders.
The Bills, Chargers, and Jaguars can all book their spots in the postseason by winning and getting a loss by either of those AFC South teams. The Bills will be in Cleveland on Sunday.
