JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – With a scoop and rating that can go down in franchise lore, Josh Allen might have put an finish to the chaos and disappointment that has outlined the Jacksonville Jaguars for the higher a part of the previous decade.
Allen’s 37-yard fumble return with 2:51 remaining helped the Jaguars beat rival Tennessee 20-16 on Saturday night time and safe their first AFC South championship since 2017.
“I am speechless,” Jaguars proprietor Shad Khan mentioned earlier than crediting coach Doug Pederson, common supervisor Trent Baalke and gamers. “I’ve at all times had confidence that we’d be attending to the place we would have liked to go.”
Khan simply might have singled out Allen and security Rayshawn Jenkins, who pressured Josh Dobbs’ fumble. Allen picked up the unfastened ball on an ideal bounce and ran, untouched, the opposite approach for a lead that held up.
Dobbs fumbled once more on the following possession, and the Jaguars (9-8) began to have fun their most vital regular-season victory in historical past.
“This was a kind of video games the place our protection needed to win it for us,” Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence mentioned. “Us guys on offense, we’re somewhat annoyed as a result of we left loads on the market. However in these video games, simply win. Our protection picked us up at the moment. They performed nice.”
Jacksonville earned the No. 4 seed within the convention playoffs and can host both the Los Angeles Chargers or Baltimore within the wild-card spherical subsequent weekend.
It’s the 18th time within the final 20 seasons that at the least one NFL workforce received its division after ending final or tied for final the earlier yr.
Jacksonville closed the common season with its fifth consecutive victory and have become the fifth workforce in NFL historical past to make the playoffs with a five-game shedding streak and a five-game successful streak in the identical season.
“We simply saved believing,” Lawrence mentioned. “No person ever misplaced religion. Everyone believed in each other. We by no means began pointing the finger. We misplaced 5 video games straight and we simply acquired tighter.”
Tennessee (7-10) misplaced its ultimate seven video games, a skid that had nearly everybody writing them off earlier than Saturday’s finale.
“No person desires to complete how we did,” Titans working again Derrick Henry mentioned. “That’s by no means the plan, by no means the aim. Like I mentioned, stuff occurs, adversity occurs.
“We needed to win the division and have an awesome document, yeah, however it didn’t occur this yr. All you are able to do is return to work and be grateful for the journey and everyone of their efforts and look ahead.”
The Titans rested a number of starters final week and basically created a 10-day break to get wholesome. They returned to their bruising model of soccer and appeared like they’d pull an inconceivable turnaround — till Dobbs’ turnover modified the sport.
“We simply acquired on a (crappy) streak and couldn’t get off it,” Titans coach Mike Vrabel mentioned. “Couldn’t make the performs after we wanted to. We couldn’t be constant sufficient after we wanted to and it confirmed up once more.”
The Jaguars had been 6 1/2-point favorites, based on FanDuel Sportsbook, and a near-sellout crowd was readily available to witness what many thought could be extra of a coronation than a scratch-and-claw nail-biter.
The Titans didn’t do something spectacular. With quarterback Ryan Tannehill (ankle) out for the season, they leaned on Dobbs — an aerospace engineer who has bounced across the league — to be sensible with the ball and Henry to grind out powerful yards. They usually relied on a protection that’s been stout towards the run all yr.
It labored for 57 minutes — after which it unraveled.
Henry completed with 109 yards on 30 carries. Dobbs accomplished 20 of 29 passes for 179 yards, with a landing, an interception and the fumble.
Lawrence accomplished 20 of 32 passes for 212 yards, with a landing and a fumble. Lawrence had two would-be touchdowns within the second half fall incomplete. He overthrew Zay Jones in the long run zone and underthrew Christian Kirk.
Practically the entire 70,000-plus readily available had been ready for Lawrence to do one thing down the stretch. As an alternative, the Jags grew to become the primary workforce since Carolina in 2000 to drag off a fourth-quarter comeback with out gaining a primary down within the quarter, based on ESPN Stats & Data.
STIFF ARM
Henry added another impressive stiff-arm to his highlight reel crammed with them. He tossed Jenkins to the bottom within the second quarter to cap a 14-yard acquire, setting off a flurry of social media posts in regards to the transfer.
Henry, who grew up outdoors Jacksonville in Yulee, completed the primary half with 71 yards on the bottom, however added simply 38 after intermission.
MEMORABLE MOMENT
Each groups gathered at midfield collectively earlier than the sport to hope, a few of them nonetheless carrying shirts to honor Buffalo’s Demar Hamlin. Tennessee linebacker Rashad Weaver, faculty teammates with Hamlin at Pitt, wore Hamlin’s No. 3 on his eye black.
Weaver later recovered Lawrence’s fumble on a misguided trick play within the first half.
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