The Jaguars will remember Monday night for Trevor Lawrence’s ankle injury and a missed opportunity to keep pace with the leaders in the AFC playoff race, but the Bengals will remember the game much differently.
In Cincinnati, it will be the night that quarterback Jake Browning breathed new life into their own playoff hopes. Browning was 32-of-37 for 354 yards while throwing one touchdown and running for another in a 34-31 overtime win. It was a big improvement from their 16-10 loss to the Steelers in Browning’s first NFL start last week and head coach Zac Taylor said at his postgame press conference that “a great week of practice” left him feeling confident about what Browning would do in Jacksonville.
“He just lit the world on fire,” Taylor said. “At halftime I wasn’t sure we had an incompletion, if the ball had hit the ground yet. I just throught he managed the game beautifully well. He was aggressive with some of his throws, did a great job making plays with his feet. . . . Just really proud of Jake and the job he did.”
The win moves the Bengals to 6-6, which is just outside the top seven in the AFC but Browning’s outing makes the playoffs feel a lot more possible than they did immediately after Joe Burrow’s wrist injury. If he can lead them to a win against the Colts in Week 14, that path will look even more realistic in Cincinnati.