What a night for the Jacksonville Jaguars. They rallied from 27 points behind to win their Wild card playoff 31 – 30 against the Los Angeles Chargers.
It was almost like the lights went off in one end of the pitch and flickered into life on the other.
Jaguars would repay the large deficit inflicted by the Chargers by delivering an onslaught of touchdowns beginning in the second half of the Second Quarter and continued relentlessly until the final whistle of the Fourth.
It’s significant in two ways:
1) The Jaguars managed to stem the flow of lifetime defeats against the Chargers and notch up a second win against the Chargers in their 14-game series (Jags 5 – Chargers 9)
2) It also represents the third biggest comeback by an NFL team in the history of the franchise. The second was recorded earlier this year by the Minnesota Vikings when they came back from a 33 point deficit against the Indianapolis Colts.
Talking of the Vikings comeback, you can read more about it here
How do it go down?
The Los Angeles Chargers most certainly looked like the dominant team in the first half of the game.
Ekeler, Dicker and Everett were the linchpins of the Chargers’ charge. Together they took the lead with two touchdown runs in the First Quarter, Extra Points and Field Goals from Dicker and a touchdown pass from Everett in the Second, making it 27 – 0.
Perhaps it was fortuitous that Chargers had not expanded the gap further because it was in the last minutes of the Second Quarter that the Jaguars switched on.
Add into that equation the four interceptions on Quarterback Trevor Lawrence, which could’ve helped the Jags grab much needed points early in the game. He’d redeem himself though.
Check out our match-up guide on the Wild Card Weekend here
Switched on
Five minutes before the half-time, Lawrence would make his first of four successful passes which connected and scored.
Evan Engram caught and managed to score the first touchdown pass and Riley Patterson would deliver the the Extra Point to add 7 points to the Jags score card. It was a slither of hope to keep their Playoff dreams alive.
The Third Quarter would kick into life and clearly after a good team talk from Pederson, the Jags were repelling the Chargers’ efforts to add more insult.
It would be Wide Receiver Zay Jones that would make his run on the Chargers danger-zone and deliver two spectacular touchdown passes that were met were shouts and applause from the reawakened Jags crowd.
Patterson would also add an extra point to make it 20 points by the end of the Third Quarter.
The Chargers would manage to extend their lead slightly with a 3 point Field Goal delivered by Kicker Cameron Dicker.
Fourth and Final
This was the last 20 critical minutes. Both team’s futures in the playoffs hinged on this but it would not be Chargers that capitalised.
Lawrence sent the ball up field and it landed in the hands of Wide Receiver Christian Kirk, who would go on to score the fourth touchdown pass of the night.
Following that up, Lawrence would score the two-point conversion and Patterson the final Field Goal to take the Jags one point over the line and on to the next round.
Where next?
Jacksonville Jaguars better be ready for Saturday. They face Kansas City Chiefs, the top seed of the American Football League, in their first ever Playoff appearance together.
Jags are no strangers to the Chiefs, having won 6 out of their past 14 games in the series in the Regular Season. Being it’s a playoff, there’s a lot more riding on this matchup.
