Jacksonville Jaguars: Victory sweetens distasteful week

The Jacksonville Jaguars defeat the Minnesota 14-10 to end the week on a sweet note.

The week began Sunday with the distasteful news of fights and suspensions. Training camp fights are not unusual, but who the Jacksonville Jaguars suspended was highly unusual. Dante Fowler and Jalen Ramsey were suspended for breaking team rules, putting them out for the game against the Minnesota Vikings.

Another team distraction occurred while the Jaguars were in Minnesota practicing with the Vikings. GQ magazine released an interview with Ramsey. He gave the magazine his thoughts about other NFL quarterbacks.

How would the Jaguars fare against Minnesota? Would the crazy week spill over into the game? The Jaguars victory sweetened such a distasteful week. However, penalties wrecked their performance. They had 13 penalties for 140 yards. Dede Westbrook had a terrific punt return called back because of a penalty. Expect Doug Marrone to address this problem.

Minnesota led 3-0 after their second possession of the first quarter. Blake Bortles threw an interception on second down. The Jaguars defense rose up on the next play. Minnesota ran left on first down into the Malik Jackson and Calais Campbell wall of defense. Campbell recovered the fumble after Yannick Ngakoue and Jackson hit the ball carrier. This defense is the Teal Deal.

Bortles drove the Jaguars down the field methodically. T.J. Yeldon played a big role in this scoring drive. Most of all, it was great to see Yeldon and Leonard Fournette line up in the same backfield.

Yeldon rushed for 39 yards on 10 carries and caught five passes for 73 yards. His longest reception went for 29 yards on the first scoring drive. Having Fournette and Yeldon on the field together puts pressure on the defense, especially in play action.

Minnesota scored a third quarter touchdown to go ahead 10-7. Would the Jaguars respond? Had there been too much distraction through the week?

Both teams traded punts until Rashad Greene busted loose in the fourth quarter. Greene set up the winning touchdown with a 56-yard punt return. Brandon Wilds ran up the gut to score from a yard out for the winner. Such a sweet victory for the Jaguars to end a crazy week.