Jacksonville Jaguars should kick themselves home for blowing game to Miami | Gene Frenette

MIAMI GARDENS — This can’t be happening. Not again.

How many times can the Jaguars play the part of Charlie Brown, beating themselves up for letting Lucy pull the football away just as he’s about to kick it?

This was one of the most astonishing sequences in Jacksonville Jaguars ’ history, a series of disasters that led to a gut-punch finish, which could have monumental implications when playoff berths get decided in the dead of winter.

It’s hard to describe how this inexcusable, disbelieving and repulsive 20-17 loss to the Miami Dolphins on Sunday at Hard Rock Stadium happened?

Veteran Jaguars receiver Christian Kirk succinctly summed it up as best as anyone, saying: “It just sucks.”

Instead of taking a charter flight back home after the game, the Jaguars’ players and coaches should have just kicked themselves all the way back to Jacksonville.

Practically everyone who didn’t play on special teams should be shaking their heads in disbelief, wondering how they could blow a 17-7 halftime lead and gift this victory to the Dolphins in such unimaginable fashion.

From quarterback Trevor Lawrence, to running back Travis Etienne, to left tackle Cam Robinson, to Kirk, all had a hand in the offense inexplicably laying a second-half goose egg and failing miserably in every big-play moment.

“It definitely hurts being up and having them come back,” said defensive end Josh Hines-Allen. “I think when you look back at every team, I think it’s the team that beats themselves the most and today, we beat ourselves the most.”

This way-too-early Christmas present to the Dolphins, who were an Etienne fumble away from being down 24-7 late in the third quarter, better not wind up costing Jacksonville an AFC South title or a playoff wild-card berth.

Otherwise, another offseason like this last one will be too much to bear.

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Fumbling, bumbling way to defeat

While there’s enough blame for the Jaguars’ offense to share in this excruciating defeat, it’s undeniable Etienne not securing the ball when he was on the doorstep of the end zone began a whole momentum-flipping fiasco.

The Jaguars’ running back got through the line for a 10-yard gain down to the Miami 3, with only Jevon Holland between him and a touchdown. But the Dolphins’ safety punched the ball out and nickel back Kader Kohou recovered in the end zone for a touchback.

“I feel like we can’t have those things come up in critical situations,” Etienne said. “It’s just hard when you’re a competitor. I just hate that for myself and for my teammates because they believe in me and I believe in me, and I try to be better for them in that situation.”

Still, the Jaguars had a 10-point lead and the defense was playing close to lights out against the NFL’s best offense in 2023.

Miami, behind quarterback Tua Tagovailoa and the dynamic 1-2 receiver duo of Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle, moved the ball at times. It just wasn’t scoring points.

Then on the very next play, whatever red flag that might have surfaced from the Etienne turnover became one gigantic, “UH OH!”

Tagovailoa connected with Hill running open toward the left sideline. One of the NFL’s true blazers sped by Ronald Darby and Andre Cisco for an 80-yard touchdown, cutting the Jaguars’ lead to 17-14.

A Miami-Dade police officer might have put Hill in handcuffs before the game, but the Jaguars' defense couldn't be expected to keep him tied up for 60 minutes.

“You never know which play is going to change a game,” said Cisco. “That was a big one.”

Suddenly, it’s game on. And the Jaguars were predictably on their way to being over and out.

Trevor, offense couldn’t keep up

After a near-disaster on the ensuing kickoff, where Parker Washington fumbled the return and somehow dove into a pile to retrieve the ball, the Jaguars’ impotent offense did nothing the rest of the game.

It failed to convert a third-and-1 with Tank Bigsby, then head coach Doug Pederson decided trying a fourth-and-1 from his own 32 while holding a three-point lead would be a good idea.

“I loved it,” said center Mitch Morse about his coach’s bold decision. “I would have done that exact same thing. I appreciate him doing that, giving us an opportunity. Because if we had gotten that, then we would have been able to kind of matriculate a drive down the field, hopefully kind of string some first downs.

“Nature of the beast is it looks great when it works. When it doesn’t, scratch your head.”

It turned out to be a head-scratcher. Even worse, whether the play-call came from offensive coordinator Press Taylor or Pederson, the idea of Etienne trying to run wide didn’t exactly show trust in the offensive line to play smash-mouth football.

The bad news is the play backfired when left tackle Cam Robinson whiffed on his block of linebacker Emmanuel Ogbah, which blew up the play as Etienne unsuccessfully, reversed field and lost two yards.

“[The Dolphins] just made a football play,” Morse added.

The good news is Miami got no points out of the favorable field position as Jason Sanders pulled a 42-yard field goal attempt wide left.

Sadly, it only delayed the inevitable. The Jaguars managed just one lousy first down the rest of the game, followed by Sanders doing to Jacksonville what former Jags kicker Matthew Wright did to Miami in London in 2021.

In that 23-20 Jaguars win, Wright hit two field goals in the last five minutes, including a 53-yarder on the final play. Sanders returned the favor, making a 37-yard field goal to tie it with 4:26 left, then a 52-yarder at the gun to complete the Jaguars’ fourth-quarter collapse.

The Etienne fumble ignited the Miami comeback, but it was hardly the reason the Jaguars lost the game.

“We preach taking care of the ball, not doing it, but I've been in that same position, and that's what I told Travis,” said Lawrence. “I've done it before, too. So no one is pointing the fingers.

“We still had plenty of time in the game, and we have to be able to handle the adversity and go score in the next series, and that's the only good drive we had the whole half. It's on all of us when something like that does happen. We've got to gather around and make the next play, and we didn't do that.”

Big-contract Trevor must be better

Nearly three months after the Jaguars signed him to a $275 million contract extension, Lawrence was anything but money in his first real test.

In his postgame news conference, he acknowledged a feeling of disbelief coming off the field for how the offense fell apart at closing time.

“For sure, yeah,” said Lawrence. “It's pretty spot on to my feelings after the game. We just kind of gave it away.”

One positive is Lawrence had no turnovers, but there was such a consistent lack of rhythm to the offense the entire second half. Kirk had a critical third-down drop to kill one fourth quarter drive, followed by Lawrence taking back-to-back sacks on the ensuing possession to set up Miami’s game-winning drive.

Once the Jaguars left the door slightly ajar for the Dolphins to walk through, they seemed powerless to stop the momentum going against them.

A stagnant offense, which went 2 of-10 on third down, couldn’t stay on the field, and a worn-down defense in the fourth quarter couldn’t get off when it mattered.

“We can’t really use that as an excuse,” said Jaguars pass-rusher Travon Walker, who had one sack. “We just got to finish the game. If we’re going to pride ourselves on being the best defense in the league, that’s what we got to do.”

The Jaguars can find solace in telling themselves it’s only one game and that doesn’t define a season.

But after the way the 2023 season ended, with a road loss to the last-place Tennessee Titans that killed their postseason hopes, you would have thought the Jaguars would be plenty motivated to redeem themselves.

When they were getting ready to go up 24-7, never in their wildest dreams did any of the players or coaches think this game could be lost.

Then again, the Jacksonville Jaguars’ history tells you otherwise. They simply found a different way to plunge a dagger into the heart of a franchise that’s plenty accustomed to living a nightmare.

Gfrenette@jacksonville.com : (904) 359-4540; Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, at @genefrenette

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Jacksonville Jaguars should kick themselves home for blowing game to Miami | Gene Frenette