The Denver Broncos have executed some remarkable second-half comebacks during their 11-game win streak, but against the Jacksonville Jaguars they faded out in the second half against a tough, resilient Jags squad that dominated the game on both sides of the ball.
The first half had all the makings of yet another back-and-forth Broncos classic. The Jacksonville offense showed that they would have no issues moving the ball against Denver’s vaunted defense, and the Jags broke through for the first touchdown of the game on a 12-yard TD pass from quarterback Trevor Lawrence to receiver Parker Washington, who made one big play after another against the Broncos throughout the game.
The Broncos came back in the second quarter, as they always do. Quarterback Bo Nix got the passing game cranked up with a quick strike drive that covered 65 yards in just five plays, with a 15-yard pass to receiver Courtland Sutton tying the game. Kicker Will Lutz added a long field goal from 54 yards out to give Denver the lead, but that was the last lead the Broncos would hold.
Jacksonville roared back with ten points of their own, with the touchdown coming on a three-yard TD pass from Lawrence to tight end Brenton Strange, and kicker Cam Little ended the first half scoring with a 47-yard field goal.
The Broncos counterpunched again on an electric 38-yard touchdown run from running back RJ Harvey to tie the game at 17-17, but after that the Jags came back to score 17 straight points and put the game away. Lawrence had a clean pocket to operate from for most of the day, and a combination of bad red-zone defense from the Broncos and atrocious tackling from the Denver secondary often made it look easy for the Jaguars.
Nix simply wasn’t up to the comeback task this time around. He looked especially uncomfortable in the pocket in the second half, and the Broncos had no real ground game to speak of beyond Harvey’s moment in the sun and some early success from running back Jaleel McLaughlin.
For those who were wondering if the Jaguars are for real, the answer is an emphatic “yes.” They delivered hard hits and got stops all day while moving the ball effectively, and by the end of the game Nix looked lost and clueless. The Denver defense had no answers, either, and this wasn’t just a case of the Broncos being flat. They were beaten, flat-out, by a better team, at least on this day.
Nix finished with 352 yards passing, but most of them were cosmetic. He missed a lot of throws in the second half to go with a bad interception in the fourth quarter, and he compounded the turnover issue with an awful lost fumble on a simple handoff exchange.
Denver dropped back into a tie with New England for the top seed in the AFC West, and the Broncos shouldn’t have much to worry about when they visit the Kansas City Chiefs on Christmas night. But the Broncos got hit in the mouth at home in this one, and clearly they’ll need to do a reset of sorts if they’re going to make a deep playoff run.
As for Jacksonville, it was all about Trevor Lawrence. He was brilliant, throwing for 279 yards and three touchdowns while going 23-for-36. The Jags have won six straight, and they’ll travel to Indianapolis to meet the Colts with the Houston Texans just a game back as they look to close out the AFC South.