The Jaguars end their losing streak with a wild win over the Colts

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Jaguars travel to London and put their losing streak in the USA behind them.

The Jaguars put together their best performance of the season on Sunday, defeating the Colts 37-34 in a back-and-forth thriller at EverBank Stadium. If the Jaguars ever needed a win, this was the game to get it.

Trevor Lawrence led a game-winning drive in the final minute, setting up a 49-yard throw from Cam Little for the lead, as the Jaguars gave the Colts a tough victory that nearly slipped away from them thanks to a barrage from Indianapolis in the fourth quarter. It wasn't easy. Of course, this is rarely the case with the Jaguars.

Joe Flacco dismantled Jacksonville's defense and led Indianapolis to three touchdowns in the fourth quarter, including a 65-yard scoring pass to Alec Pierce with 2 minutes, 50 seconds left. But Lawrence delivered the go-ahead shot and Travon Walker picked up his third sack of the game, denying Flacco the comeback shot as time expired.

“I think that will also make us better as a team, that it was even our first win of the season. It was tough and it came down to the end and we had to earn it. All of this will build confidence for the future,” said Lawrence, who celebrated his 25th birthday on Sunday. “I think that’s what this team did well. Of course it was a difficult start, but we kept our confidence. We kept swinging.”

It was a huge win to start the season for the Jaguars. The team welcomed former head coach Tom Coughlin to the Pride of the Jaguars and won in throwback jerseys from Coughlin's time as head coach.

Lawrence threw the longest Jacksonville scoring pass since 2015, an 85-yarder to rookie Brian Thomas Jr., to win for the first time in 11 months. Head coach Doug Pederson had to face questions about his professional status during his team's loss and put the onus back on the players to step up and deliver.

At least for a week, all these nagging questions will be put aside. The Jaguars will travel to London for games against the Bears (October 13) and Patriots (October 20) and could potentially return home with some semblance of a winning streak.

“It’s not necessarily a surprise to me. I just think it’s a culmination of a lot of things,” Pederson said. “The way we work, the way we practice, the things we do during the week. It was translated today. Proud of the boys, of course for the way we did it. Great team effort today.”

Lawrence in particular had to have a good feeling when he was able to put aside his dubious streak. He had lost consecutive starts since his last win, a 24-21 win over Houston on Nov. 26, 2023. Jacksonville had won just one game since then, and it was backup CJ Beathard who delivered that on December 31st. 2023, about the sad Panthers. Lawrence passed for 371 yards (28 for 34) and two touchdowns, finally answering the critics.

A win doesn't erase the 0-4 start that has pushed the Jaguars (1-4) into a deep hole in the AFC South, but it is a positive.

Chaotic conclusion

They did that against Indianapolis (2-3), which hasn't won a game since 2014 in Jacksonville, but did everything it could to end that slide in a furious back-and-forth final quarter.

Flacco once again ignited the Jaguars, throwing two touchdown passes and setting up a short TD run with a beautiful throw to Alec Pierce. Jacksonville led 34-20 after a 65-yard touchdown run by Tank Bigsby with 5:21 to play, seemingly enough of a lead to get to the finish line. But Flacco came back and shot. Pierce made a catch-of-the-year candidate with a 24-yard snap down the sideline, followed by a 46-yarder that went all the way to 1st base. Trey Sermon hit him one play later. The Jaguars followed with a three-and-out and Flacco connected with Pierce again two plays later on a 65-yard touchdown to tie the game.

Lawrence wasn't able to score game-winning drives against the Dolphins, Browns or Texans this year, but he was able to score against the Colts. He said he didn't hear anything outside the building.

“That stuff doesn’t matter. You can't listen to the good or the bad. So I think things are coming through and I'm sure there are a lot of questions. What's wrong with the Jags? What is that? What is that? After four weeks, well, we will use it as a shoulder to lean on and push back against the world mentality and bring us closer together,” he said. “I think that’s what good teams do.”

The offense is finally showing some life

Lawrence isn't the only offensive player to get off to a miserable start, but he's certainly the most noticeable. That's the standard for NFL quarterbacks, especially those with contracts as large as Lawrence's $275 million deal. Lawrence finally had his breakout game. He was held under 200 yards three times this year and surpassed his season high at halftime. The throw that energized EverBank was his 85-yard strike to rookie Thomas midway through the second quarter.

The Colts, who were leading 7-3 at the time, pushed the Jaguars back to their own 15 points. Lawrence dropped back and saw Thomas with a decent lead and beat him with great pace. No player from Indianapolis came close to Thomas, one of the fastest players at this year's NFL combine. Thomas ran a time of 4.33 in the 40-yard dash.

“Like I said, it was really important to me to get out there and just finish,” Thomas said. “There were games where we were close and just couldn’t finish. So it was a big deal for us to just come out and finish. It feels great to be able to say we did this.”

But it was Lawrence's play in the final minutes that showed the franchise quarterback can deliver. He threw a touchdown pass to Brenton Strange to give the Jaguars a 27-17 lead early in the fourth quarter, then moved Jacksonville from its own 30 to the Indianapolis 31 on the final drive, passing D'Ernest Johnson, Luke Farrell and Christian Kirk scored on the drive to flip the field and put Little in position to shoot for the winner.

The defense came up big before halftime

Jacksonville looked for another score late in the second half when Lawrence hit Gabe Davis on a 21-yard shot that went to the Colts' 34. Davis fumbled the tackle. Instead of just taking a knee to end the half, the Colts tried to get Flacco going and paid for it. Walker turned the corner and picked up a bag of Flacco. Josh Hines-Allen recovered and the Jaguars converted that into a 30-yard field goal, leading 13-10 at halftime.

Flacco hit all seven of his pass attempts on the first drive, the last being a 1-yard touchdown to Michael Pittman Jr., for a 7-0 lead that seemed like an ominous sign. After that they got stronger until Flacco scored 24 points in the fourth quarter. Flacco, 39, starting in place of Anthony Richardson, was 33 of 44 passing for 359 yards and three touchdowns. Ryan Nielsen's defense needs to find a way to tighten things up after being attacked in three straight games.

Big game for Walker

The hit on Walker, the No. 1 pick in the 2022 draft, largely depends on who Jacksonville chose to pick. The Jaguars liked Walker's long-term potential more than edge rusher Aidan Hutchinson, who went No. 2 to Detroit. Hutchinson has been one of the league's best pass rushers since entering the league, while Walker has been good but not great. He had the strip sack of Flacco before halftime, then dropped Flacco for another sack in the fourth quarter, and then the sack to end the game. Walker finished by far the best game of his career with five tackles, three sacks and a forced fumble.

The ground game

Often criticized for making too many mistakes as a rookie, Bigsby helped the Jaguars' game tremendously. He took a short pass from Lawrence and turned it into a 28-yard catch-and-run that almost went into the Colts' red zone. This play set up a 30-yard field goal. Bigsby's best game came on the floor as the Jaguars tried to stay in front late in the fourth quarter. He took a handoff, made a cut and outran every Indianapolis defender for a 65-yard touchdown run. Bigsby finished the game with 101 yards and two touchdowns on 13 carries.

“Well, I think it’s a weight off everyone’s shoulders. Right? Not just (Lawrence). It's also a weight off my shoulders. Now you can avoid me for at least a week,” Pederson said.

“Listen, that's what I told the guys, I mean, if they just keep sticking together and working hard and trusting what we're doing and trusting each other. That's what you see, right? Is it perfect? No. It will never be perfect. But you also have to consider the other thing: we had five games. Four of them were one-score games, right? So that's another thing we have to get used to. In these games, it all comes down to the last or second drive of a game. And that's something we have to embrace as a team and learn. And today was a good step.”