JACKSONVILLE – The Jacksonville Jaguars (4-1) provided plenty of drama on Monday night football, defeating the Kansas City (2-3) Chiefs, 31-28, in a back-and-forth game that came down to the final seconds.
QB Trevor Lawrence recorded two rushing touchdowns including the winning score, marking the 15th and 16th of his career, passing QB Mark Brunell for the second-most rushing touchdowns by a quarterback in franchise history.
“Huge win for us, especially with the one-score game thing. That team has historically won the majority of their one-score games. Something that obviously was a struggle for this team last year, and proud of the guys,” said Jaguars head coach Liam Coen.
Lawrence recorded a three-yard touchdown pass in the second quarter, marking his 75th career passing touchdown. He became the first player in the 2021 draft class to reach 75 career passing touchdowns. He is now 2-0 on his birthday (Oct. 6).
“I mean, it’s a big win. Obviously, it’s (KC) a good team. They’ve been a good team for a long time. They’re hard to beat. They really are. They’re really good situationally, don’t beat themselves. At the end of the game, they’re always in it. They always seem to make the plays,” Lawrence said,
The Jaguars connected on multiple third downs on a winning drive, including a 33-yard strike from Lawrence to wide receiver Brian Thomas that moved the ball to Kansas City’s 24-yard line.
Thomas Jr. totaled 80 receiving yards, giving him over 1,500 in his career (1,526). He joined Allen Robinson as the fastest players in franchise history to achieve the feat, doing so in his 22nd game. Thomas Jr. also became the second fastest player in franchise history to reach 100 career receptions, doing so in 22 games.
The Jaguars made a handful of clutch plays on their final drive, however, and – paired with some KC penalties – the series ended with Lawrence scrambling into the end zone for the go-ahead score.
The Chiefs still nearly thwarted the series when safety Bryan Cook picked off Lawrence in the end zone, but a pass-interference penalty wiped out the takeaway and instead set up Lawrence’s go-ahead scoring scramble on the ensuing snap.
It was one of 13 penalties on Kansas City, which built a 14-point lead early in the game but allowed Jacksonville to rattle off 21-uanswered points between the second and third quarters.
The Jaguars’ a 14-point swing was highlighted by linebacker Devin Lloyd picking off Chiefs’ QB Patrick Mahomes in the red zone and returned it all the way for a 99-yard touchdown.
Trailing by three points with just over eight minutes remaining in the game, quarterback Mahomes engineered a 12-play, 86-yard scoring drive that culminated in a 2-yard touchdown plunge by tailback Kareem Hunt.
Jacksonville has four wins in its first five games for the fifth time in franchise history (1997, 1998, 1999 and 2007). Jacksonville improves to 3-0 at home for the first time since 2006.
Jacksonville improves its Monday Night Football record to 8-5 at home.
(Photo courtesy Kansas City Chiefs)
