Late interception, missed field goal, punt spell doom for Jaguars
· Yahoo Sports
DENVER — So many times during their nine-game regular-season winning streak bridging the last part of 2025 and the first part of 2026, the Jacksonville Jaguars majored in pounding the figurative gas pedal to the floor and keeping it there.
Led Indianapolis 21-10 and won 36-19.
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Led Denver 31-17 and won 34-20.
Led the second Indianapolis game 20-17 and won 23-17.
The Jaguars maintained maximum effort and top-flight execution and focus. They didn’t give their opponents hope. They didn’t get comfortable. They ran through the tape of the finish line exactly like they stormed out of the starting blocks.
All of which made their 20-13 come-from-ahead loss to the Broncos here at Mile High Stadium all the more confusing.
In a cauldron of noise and against a Broncos team that was on the cusp of reeling, the Jaguars led 13-3 with 9:02 left in the third quarter.
Was it like last November in Houston? No, that was a full-blown meltdown, blowing a 19-point lead.
Was it embarrassing? No. The Broncos are good.
Was it a collapse? The data suggests yes.
The Jaguars’ offense finished interception, missed field goal and punt.
The defense finished by allowing the Broncos to go field goal, touchdown, touchdown and, in the final indignity, run out the final 4 minutes, 41 seconds.
“Very frustrating,” Jaguars left tackle Anton Harrison said. “We knew we left a lot of plays out there on the field. We didn’t ride the momentum.”
Neither half was pretty for Jaguars
What kind of momentum did the Jaguars have? They had leads of 7-0, 10-3, 13-3 and 13-6. They didn’t trail until 7:21 remained.
The Jaguars’ defense had an eye-popping goal-line stand in the second quarter. The Broncos had first-and-goal from the 1 (no gain), second-and-goal from the 1 (no gain) and third-and-goal from the 1 (loss of 5 yards.). Denver was booed off the field.
But the offense lost 4 yards and punted.
Cornerback Jourdan Lewis intercepted Bo Nix in the end zone to thwart another Broncos drive. Denver was booed off the field again.
The Jaguars drove 54 yards in seven plays to take a 10-3 halftime lead on Cam Little’s 44-yard field goal.
But there were warning signs all over the field that the Jaguars were messing with danger.
“We were sloppy, even in the first half; we just made some plays to make up for it,” Lewis said. “But we were sloppy and not on the details.”
The pass protection sprung a leak, the pass rush wasn’t getting home and the Broncos rolled up 188 first-half yards.
The Jaguars captured the momentum on the two-minute drill to finish the first half and were well-positioned to seize control by opening the second half with a touchdown. They had first-and-goal from the 3. But running back Chris Rodriguez, Jr. had no room (loss of 2), quarterback Trevor Lawrence threw for no gain to running back Bhayshul Tuten and, on third down, running back LeQuint Allen, Jr., dropped a pass at the 1. Had he caught it, coach Liam Coen said he would have gone for it.
The lead was 13-3, but felt much tighter. The Jaguars had committed a major error: They had given their beleaguered opponent hope.
The Broncos answered the Jaguars’ field goal with a field goal. It was 13-6.
The Broncos intercepted Lawrence and scored a touchdown. It was 13-13.
And the Broncos saw Little miss from 54 yards and scored a touchdown. It was 20-13.
Ballgame over. Gut punch administered.
“It was a little strange, but there were mental errors and just doing things we don’t normally do,” defensive tackle DaVon Hamilton said.
At least the Texans are 0-2
Yes, DaVon, it was a little strange because we had been spoiled ‘round these parts (save for the aforementioned loss at Houston) by the Jaguars’ finishing kick in the regular season.
The Jaguars didn’t get passive against Denver. They didn’t sit on the lead hoping the Broncos would continue to make mistake after mistake after mistake. Things … just … stopped … working.
“You need a drive, you needed a stop, you needed a catch, you needed a play,” Coen said. “We just didn’t do it.”
And the Broncos did. During their comeback from 10 points down, the Denver offense had six completions of at least 10 yards and two 12-yard rushes. None of the Jaguars’ three units had an answer.
“We didn’t coach it good enough, we didn’t play it good enough and we did not finish,” Coen said.
Accurate, accurate and accurate.
A good thing for the Jaguars is the Texans are 0-2 (both home losses). Even the most optimistic Jaguars fan didn’t have the Denver game as a win when the schedule came out. The key is to beat New England at home next week and find a way to go at least 2-1 against Cincinnati, Philadelphia and Houston. And when they’re in the lead (and they will be), remember what happened against the Broncos.
Contact O’Halloran at [email protected] or on X at @ryanohalloran. Listen to Ryan on 1010AM on Tuesdays (6:35 p.m. on “Into The Night"), Thursdays (1:15 on "XL Primetime") and Fridays ("First Coast Football Friday" 4-7 p.m.).
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Late interception, missed field goal, punt spell doom for Jaguars