The Jacksonville Jaguars beat the visiting Baltimore Ravens on Sunday at TIAA Bank Field in a wild ending that had a bit of everything – a late touchdown, two-point conversion and a 67-yard field goal attempt.
Let’s take a closer look at how the Jags secured their fourth win of the season.
The Ravens led 19-10 in the fourth quarter after a touchdown from Gus Edwards, but the Jaguars responded with a score from Jamal Agnew. They then took a 20-19 lead with a Riley Patterson field goal, but it only lasted about two minutes. Baltimore got another touchdown on the board along with a two-point conversion to make it 27-20 with just over two minutes left in the game.
Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence and Co. needed a touchdown and had to drive 75 yards to get it. The practice included a fumble recovered by the offense and a fourth conversion, but they were able to walk the field, scoring a 10-yard pass from Lawrence to Marvin Jones Jr.
At 27-26 and trailing by just one point, the Jaguars could score an extra point to tie the game and send it to overtime, which might have been the more popular pick. However, that’s not what head coach Doug Pederson called and left his offense on the field.
The home side took a risk, playing to win the game rather than a draw, and it paid off. Lawrence completed a pass to Zay Jones for the two-point conversion, giving the Jaguars a 28-27 lead with just 14 seconds left.
That ending alone would have been fun enough, but things got even more exciting when the Ravens got the ball back. With two seconds remaining and on the Jaguars 49-yard line, the Ravens trusted the foot of one of the league’s best kickers:
Tucker’s 67-yard attempt fell just short of the goal post, time expired and the Jaguars escaped with the win.
After the match, Pederson said it was not his decision to go for two, and it was actually the players who wanted to win. He said he had faith in his players and wanted to trust their call.
In the past two seasons, there have been four two-point conversion attempts in the last minute of a game. Three of those games involved the Ravens, and Baltimore lost all three games.
The Jaguars now sit at 4-7, while the Ravens drop to 7-4.