The Jacksonville Jaguars went on the road for the first time under Liam Coen, traveling to Ohio to face the Cincinnati Bengals. Quarterback Trevor Lawrence falls to 0-3 in the state with Doug Pederson and Urban Meyer both going 0-1 with a 2021 loss to the Bengals in Cincinnati and the 2023 loss to the Browns in Cleveland. Similar to the 2023 loss to the Bengals, Jacksonville was unable to hold onto a late lead, losing in the final moments to Bengals backup QB Jake Browing, with Joe Burrow leaving
the game early.
Here’s everything you need to know from Jacksonville’s Week 2 31-27 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals.
Live blog:
Catch up on all the big plays and best moments from tonight’s game in our live blog!
Pregame Notes:
The following Cincinnati players did not participate in this one: Bengals RG Patrick Lucas was placed on IR on Tuesday due to a calf injury suffered last week. Otherwise, Cincinnati was reasonably healthy on Sunday with WR Jermaine Burton a healthy scratch for the second consecutive week, with CB Marco Wilson, TE Cam Grandy, DT McKinnley Jackson, and DT Howard Cross III.
For Jacksonville, second-year defensive tackle Maason Smith was active for the first time this season after being inactive in week 1 while continuing to ramp up his conditioning. He spent much of the preseason out due to an undisclosed training injury. Additionally, the team was without CB Montaric Brown, who continues to work his way back from his training camp ankle injury. Rookie OL Wyatt Milum was ruled out on Friday due to his training camp knee injury. DL Danny Striggow, DL B.J. Green III, DT Khalen Saunders Sr, and the recently signed RB Cody Schrader were all healthy scratches this week.
1st Quarter
Jacksonville opened with the ball first, with Dyami Brown converting the opening drive third-and-three with an 18-yard gain. Brian Thomas then secured his second catch of the drive with an 18-yard first down reception. Jacksonville wrapped up the 11-play, 69-yard, 4:09 touchdown drive with a Dyami Brown 9-yard touchdown catch from Lawrence. (Jaguars 7, Bengals 0)
The Jacksonville defense opened up a dominant first series, nearly causing a second down fumble of Bengals QB Joe Burrow, which was reviewed by Liam Coen unsuccessfully. The Jacksonville defense then forced a punt on the following play via an Andrew Wingard pressure, resulting in a Foye Oluokun sack of Burrow.
The Jacksonville offense continued having success on the following series with multiple quality rushes by RB Bhayshul Tuten, who later completed a 24-yard reception to get Jacksonville in scoring range. Parker Washington then completed an incredible jump-ball 20-yard contested completion, before Lawrence was hit on third-and-goal attempt from the 8-yard line resulting in an interception. The Bengals offense then woke up, putting together a 12-play, 80-yard, 4:45 drive off the turnover, capped by a third-down four-yard Jamar Chase touchdown on Tyson Campbell. (Jaguars 7, Bengals 7)
2nd Quarter
Jacksonville would answer the turnover with their own touchdown on a 10-play, 75-yard, 4:13 drive buoyed by a 30-yard Travis Etienne rush to get Jacksonville into the Cincinatti red zone. Bhayshul Tuten then closed out the drive with an 8-yard touchdown catch to retake the lead. (Jaguars 14, Bengals 7)
The Jacksonville defense came out on fire the following series, with Arik Armstead sacking Burrow on second down to force a third-and-25. Burrow left the game, never to return. After the punt, the Jaguars offense then gave the ball right back with Brian Thomas Jr stopping on the Lawrence crossing route, also tipping the ball up into the hands of Bengals safety Jordan Battle at their own 34-yardline. The Jaguars defense held Cincinnati to a field goal, however, with DE Travon Walker collecting his first sack of the season on Bengals backup QB Jake Browning. (Jaguars 14, Bengals 10)
The Jaguars then put together an 8-play, 46-yard, 1:53 field goal drive with a near-interception off of a Travis Hunter target from Lawrence. The play was reviewed and called an incompletion, in what was nearly Lawrence’s third interception of the half. Cam Little then drilled the 42-yard field goal to extend the lead back to seven. (Jaguars 17, Bengals 10)
Jacksonville safety Eric Murray intercepted Jake Browning on the following series on an overthrown pass. However, the Jaguars were unable to answer with points before the half.
Halftime Stat Update:
- Score: Jaguars 17, Bengals 10
- Time of possession: Jaguars 15:57, Bengals 14:03
- Turnovers forced: Jaguars 1, Bengals 2
- Sacks: Jaguars 3, Bengals 0
- Rushing yards: Jaguars 76, Bengals 25
- Yards per rush: Jaguars 6.3, Bengals 3.6
- Passing yards: Jaguars 191, Bengals 106
- Passing yards per attempt: Jaguars 8.0, Bengals 4.6
- Redzone: Jaguars 2/3 (66.6%), Bengals 1/2 (50%)
- Penalties: Jaguars 2 for 10-yards, Bengals 1 for 10-yards (However, 5 total first-half illegal shift penalties, with multiple declined)
- Points off turnovers: Jaguars 0, Bengals 10)
3rd Quarter
Jake Browning then led Cincinatti on a 7-play, 76-yard, 3:55 touchdown drive where the Jacksonville defense struggled to limit Jamar Chase with receptions of 25, 12, and 12-yards. CB Jarrian Jones then surrendered the game-tying touchdown to Bengals WR Mitchell Tinsley on his first career NFL catch. (Jaguars 17, Bengals 17)
Jacksonville then began to pressure the backup QB on the following drive, consistently pressuring Browning with five or six defenders until the dam broke via a Josh Hines-Allen pressure resulting in an Andrew Wingard interception.
The Jaguars offense then capitalized on the turnover, with a 7-play, 35-yard, 3:02 drive capped by an 11-yard Travis Etienne screen pass for a touchdown. (Jaguars 24, Bengals 17)
After a 33-yard kickoff return and a questionable unnecessary roughness penalty on Yasir Abdullah the Bengals then immediately answered with a touchdown of their own, a 42-yard Tee Higgins deep ball over Tyson Campbell and Andrew Wingard. (Jaguars 24, Bengals 24)
4th Quarter
The Jacksonville offense opened quarter with a 14-play, 53-yard, 5:56 field goal drive where it looked to be a Dyami Brown touchdown on second down. However, the throw was dropped by Brown. (Jaguars 27, Bengals 24)
The Bengals offense then went three and out, punting the ball back to Jacksonville after two consecutive incompletions. However, Cincinnati also forced Jacksonville to trade punts, after forcing a Lawrence to Thomas Jr incompletion on third-and-two where BTJ was doubled. The Jaguars defense stole the ball back from Cincinnati with a Devin Lloyd interception.
However, the offense was unable to turn the drive into points as Liam Coen decided to go for it on fourth-and-five from the Cincinnati seven. On the play, Brian Thomas Jr dropped the 4-yard pass that seemed likely to convert the attempt. The Jaguars defense seemed to stop Cincinnati on fourth-and-five. However, CB Travis Hunter was called for a questionable 25-yard pass interference penalty to continue the drive. The Bengals offense wrapped up the 15-play, 92-yard, 3:24 drive with a Jake Browning game-winning QB sneak. (Jaguars 31, Bengals 27)
Best highlight:
The biggest play of the game was undoubtedly the fourth-and-five Travis Hunter pass interference penalty to keep the Cincinnati drive going.
Biggest play(s) of the game:
According to rbsdm.com, the biggest play of the game by Expected Points Added (EPA) and win probability was Trevor Lawrence’s first quarter interception (-5.1 EPA and -24% win probability).
Key stats (traditional):
- QB Trevor Lawrence: 25/43 for 294-yards (6.8 YPA), 3 TDs, 2 ints, sacked once (82.9 QB rating)
- RB Travis Etienne: 14 carries for 71-yards (5.1 YPC), 2 catches for 36-yards (18.0 YPR) on 3 targets
- RB Bhayshul Tuten: 8 carries for 42-yards (5.3 YPC), 2 catches for 32-yards (16.0 YPR) on 2 targets
- WR Parker Washington: 6 catches for 81-yards (13.5 YPR) on 6 targets
- WR Dyami Brown: 5 catches for 57-yards (11.4 YPR) and 1 TD on 7 targets
- WR Brian Thomas Jr: 4 catches for 49-yards (12.3 YPR) on 12 targets
- CB Jourdan Lewis: 8 tackles (5 solo), 2 tackles for loss, and 1 pass deflection
- LB Foye Oluokun: 7 tackles (3 solo), 1 sack, 2 tackles for loss, 1 QB hit
- S Eric Murray: 7 tackles (6 solo), 1 pass defensed, 1 interception
- Additional interceptions by LB Devin Lloyd and S Andrew Wingard)
- Additional sacks by DE Travon Walker and DT Arik Armstead
View the full box score here
Game balls:
- Special Teams: Cam Little: 2/2 on fieldgoals with a long of 42-yards; 3/3 on extra points
- Defense: S Eric Murray: 7 tackles (6 solo), 1 pass defensed, 1 interception
- Offense: Shared game ball for the Jacksonville offensive line via Travis Etienne and Bhayshul Tuten. When all ball carriers average 5.1 YPC on the day, the big guys deserve some love, no matter the outcome.
PFF notable player:
TBD
Notable absences:
The following Jacksonville players did not participate in Sunday’s matchup due to noted injuries throughout the week:
- OL Wyatt Milum (knee)
- CB Montaric Brown (ankle)
Healthy Scratches:
- DL Danny Striggow
- DL B.J. Green III
- DT Khaulen Saunders
- RB Cody Schrager
The following players left Sunday’s game due to injury:
- CB Jarrian Jones temporarily left the matchup, but later returned
Full highlights:
- You can watch the top plays of the Week 2 matchup on the NFL’s YouTube channel here.
Post-game lingering questions:
1. The miscues continue to hurt this team
Jacksonville lost a winnable game on Sunday, primarily due to miscues (6-penalties for 55-yards with another 5 declined flags). While multiple calls against the secondary may have arguably been questionable, the biggest opponent for Jacksonville on Sunday was themselves. Multiple dropped passes, including Dyami Drown’s dropped touchdown and Brian Thomas Jr’s dropped fourth down conversion doomed the offense.
2. Defensive struggles in the passing game
A worrying scene emerged on Sunday, with the Jaguars secondary struggling to stop a backup QB from playing pitch and catch with Bengals receivers, as the Jacksonville defensive backs failed to get eyes on the ball consistently throughout the game. While normally in great position to make a play on the ball, Cincinatti receivers simply made the plays, where Jacksonville’s corners were unable to.
3. Turnovers continue for the defense
The Jaguars backend was opportunistic in Sunday’s matchup, adding three interceptions to their three turnovers from week one. With six turnovers forced in two weeks, they continue to provide the offense extra opportunities to score with short fields. However, Jacksonville’s own offensive turnovers resulted in a significant hurdle for the defense, as the Bengals scored 17-points off turnovers on Sunday (including the final touchdown after the turnover on downs). Meanwhile, Jacksonville scored just seven points off their three turnovers, opting to skip the chip shot field goal on fourth down.
What are your thoughts from tonight’s game, Jaguars fans? Who surprised you most or disappointed you with their play tonight? Let us know in the comments.
