The Jacksonville Jaguars got out of Cincinnati with a 22-17 win on Sunday, a season after a 31-27 loss there. Trevor Lawrence didn’t turn the ball over, Cam Little made three field goals and the defense intercepted Joe Burrow twice.
It wasn’t clean. Jacksonville led 22-10 midway through the fourth quarter and had to hold on after Burrow’s 1-yard sneak with 3:33 left. A team that came in being talked about as a contender is now 3-1, with plenty to clean up.
Positive: Trevor Lawrence kept the ball safe
Lawrence completed 18 of 23 passes for 227 yards with a 7-yard touchdown pass to Brian Thomas Jr. He didn’t throw an interception, after forced throws into coverage were a concern earlier in the season.
Brenton Strange was his best target with seven catches for 95 yards. The tight end converted a third-and-18 in the first quarter and added a 15-yard catch on third-and-8 with 2:28 left that forced Cincinnati to use a timeout.
Positive: Cam Little was worth 10 points
Little made field goals from 55, 28 and 54 yards and added an extra point, so he scored 10 of Jacksonville’s 22 points in a five-point win. The 55-yarder opened the scoring in the first quarter. The 54-yarder pushed the lead back to six after Cincinnati had cut it to 13-10 in the third quarter. The offense reached the end zone only twice, and the Jaguars needed all three of his kicks.
Positive: The defense forced turnovers and stopped the run
Jourdan Lewis intercepted Burrow in the second quarter to set up the Thomas touchdown, and Foyesade Oluokun picked him off again in the second half.
Cincinnati ran 15 times for 23 yards, an average of 1.5 per carry, and Chase Brown managed 10 yards on nine carries. The Jaguars also hit Burrow 11 times and got sacks from Arik Armstead and Danny Striggow, which made the Bengals one-dimensional for most of the afternoon.
Negative: 13 penalties for 125 yards
The Jaguars were flagged 13 times for 125 yards. The most costly came late in the first quarter, when a Travis Hunter interception was wiped out by a roughing-the-passer call on Armstead. Cincinnati went on to tie the game at 3 early in the second quarter.
The Bengals had 11 penalties for 108 yards of their own, which helped offset the damage, and the two teams combined for 24 flags and 233 yards. Jacksonville can’t count on that every week.
Negative: Joe Burrow threw for 428 yards
Joseph Maiorana-Imagn Images
Burrow completed 39 of 54 passes for 428 yards even though Ja’Marr Chase left with a concussion in the second quarter. Tee Higgins caught 11 passes for 157 yards, and Burrow hit Dohnte Meyers for 29 yards on third-and-16 in the second half.
The Bengals outgained Jacksonville 437-323 and ran 71 plays to the Jaguars’ 54. Burrow’s 54 attempts were more than double Lawrence’s 23. The two interceptions covered for a lot of yardage allowed.
Negative: Lawrence was sacked four times
Four different Bengals sacked Lawrence, and Cincinnati finished with seven quarterback hits and seven tackles for loss. Jacksonville went 1-for-2 in the red zone against a stingy Bengals red-zone defense, settling for a 28-yard field goal on one trip.
The Jaguars also failed on a two-point try after Chris Rodriguez Jr.’s 25-yard touchdown run. That left the lead at 12, and Burrow cut it to five with 3:33 to play.
Next up is a trip to London to face the Philadelphia Eagles on Oct. 11 at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, with kickoff at 9:30 a.m. ET.
