JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — With a scoop and rating that may go down in franchise lore, Josh Allen could have put an end to the chaos and disappointment that has defined the Jacksonville Jaguars for the higher a part of the past decade.
“I’m speechless,” Jaguars owner Shad Khan said before crediting coach Doug Pederson, general manager Trent Baalke and players. “I’ve at all times had confidence that we can be attending to where we wanted to go.”
Khan easily could have singled out Allen and safety Rayshawn Jenkins, who forced Josh Dobbs’ fumble. Allen picked up the loose ball on an ideal bounce and ran, untouched, the opposite way for a lead that held up.
Dobbs fumbled again on the following possession, and the Jaguars (9-8) began to rejoice their most important regular-season victory in history.
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“This was certainly one of those games where our defense needed to win it for us,” Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence said. “Us guys on offense, we’re slightly frustrated because we left rather a lot on the market. But in these games, just win. Our defense picked us up today. They played great.”
Jacksonville earned the No. 4 seed within the conference playoffs and can host either the Los Angeles Chargers or Baltimore within the wild-card round next weekend.
It’s the 18th time within the last 20 seasons that not less than one NFL team won its division after ending last or tied for last the previous yr.
Jacksonville closed the regular season with its fifth consecutive victory and have become the fifth team in NFL history to make the playoffs with a five-game losing streak and a five-game winning streak in the identical season.
“We just kept believing,” Lawrence said. “No one ever lost faith. Everybody believed in each other. We never began pointing the finger. We lost five games straight and we just got tighter.”
Tennessee (7-10) lost its final seven games, a skid that had nearly everyone writing them off before Saturday’s finale.
“No one wants to complete how we did,” Titans running back Derrick Henry said. “That’s never the plan, never the goal. Like I said, stuff happens, adversity happens.
“We desired to win the division and have a terrific record, yeah, however it didn’t occur this yr. All you may do is return to work and be glad about the journey and everybody of their efforts and look forward.”
The Titans rested several starters last week and essentially created a 10-day break to get healthy. They returned to their bruising brand of football and looked like they’d pull an improbable turnaround — until Dobbs’ turnover modified the sport.
“We just got on a (crappy) streak and couldn’t get off it,” Titans coach Mike Vrabel said. “Couldn’t make the plays when we wanted to. We couldn’t be consistent enough when we wanted to and it showed up again.”
The Jaguars were 6 1/2-point favorites, in line with FanDuel Sportsbook, and a near-sellout crowd was readily available to witness what many thought can be more of a coronation than a scratch-and-claw nail-biter.
The Titans didn’t do anything 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 smart with the ball and Henry to grind out tough yards. They usually relied on a defense that’s been stout against the run all yr.
It worked for 57 minutes — after which it unraveled.
Henry finished with 109 yards on 30 carries. Dobbs accomplished 20 of 29 passes for 179 yards, with a touchdown, an interception and the fumble.
Lawrence accomplished 20 of 32 passes for 212 yards, with a touchdown 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.
Nearly all the 70,000-plus readily available were waiting for Lawrence to do something down the stretch. As an alternative, the Jags became the primary team since Carolina in 2000 to drag off a fourth-quarter comeback without gaining a primary down within the quarter, in line with ESPN Stats & Info.
Henry, who grew up outside Jacksonville in Yulee, finished the primary half with 71 yards on the bottom, but added just 38 after intermission.
Each teams gathered at midfield together before the sport to hope, a few of them still wearing shirts to honor Buffalo’s Demar Hamlin. Tennessee linebacker Rashad Weaver, college teammates with Hamlin at Pitt, wore Hamlin’s No. 3 on his eye black.
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