Jacksonville Jaguars: Curious play call contributed to loss
By Larry Brake
Why did the Jacksonville Jaguars decide to pass on second down instead of running the ball and game clock in their eventual loss to Arizona?
The Jacksonville Jaguars have feasted off their opponents mistakes all season long. The Jaguars defense has put the offense in good scoring opportunities through forcing fumbles and getting interceptions.
In Arizona, the defense thought that former Jacksonville quarterback Blaine Gabbert would be an easy target. After all, Gabbert was the Arizona Cardinals third team quarterback. As the Jaguars first round pick in 2011, he was surrounded by poor offensive lines and was not efficient as their starter. Many thought Jacksonville would face the Gabbert of 2011-13. Wrong!
The Cardinals scored on their first possession of the game to lead 3-0. Arizona added another field goal to increase three lead to 6-0. The Jaguars bend-but-not-break defense was keeping the game close.
Telvin Smith left the field due to injury and the game changed. Gabbert hit Ricky Seals-Jones for a 29 yard touchdown pass. Arizona widened their lead to 13-0. The first half ended with the Cardinals leading 13-3 due to a Josh Lambo field goal.
Jacksonville scored on their first possession of the third quarter. Blake Bortles ran the ball four times in the eight play scoring drive. He called his own number and scored to narrow the gap to 16-10.
In the fourth quarter, the ferocious Jacksonville defense scored on consecutive weeks in similar fashion. Yannick Ngakoue stripped the ball from Gabbert and Calais Campbell scooped up the ball and scored the go tying touchdown. After the Lambo extra point, Jacksonville led 17-16.
Gabbert threw a 52 yard touchdown pass and converted the two point conversion to go ahead 24-17. Jacksonville returned the kickoff to the Arizona 38 yard line. Bortles ran the ball in for the tying touchdown. Time was running down and it appeared that the game would go into overtime.
The Jaguars defense gave the offense another gift. Barry Church intercepted Gabbert to stop a Cardinal drive. All Jacksonville needed to do was run the ball and game clock. The idea was to move the chains and let Lambo kick the winning field goal. Jacksonville got the ball on their 42-yard line after Church’s interception. After three Jaguars offensive plays, the game turned again. Bortles threw an interception. The Jaguars defense forced an Arizona punt.
With less than two minutes left, Jacksonville got the ball on their own 10-yard line. On first down, Bortles handed the ball off to T.J. Yeldon for two yards. Remember, all the Jaguars needed to do was just run clock.
On second down, Bortles threw to Marqise Lee, who dropped yet another pass which stopped the clock! Doug Marrone said following the game, per Ryan O’Halloran of jacksonville.com:
"“At the end of the game, I have to do a better job,” Marrone said. “We ran the ball on first down and we got greedy. I should have run the ball, run the clock out and gone to overtime. That’s my fault.”"
After a third down run, the Jaguars punted the ball back to Gabbert and the Cardinals. The Cardinals kicked the winning field goal to win 27-24. Another frustrating loss for the Jacksonville fans.
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The lost the game, they lost the number three playoff seed and will have to beat Tennessee in week 17 on the road. Hopefully, the Jaguars put this behind them and play the next game.