The Denver Broncos suffered their first loss in 12 weeks after losing 34-20 to the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 16.
Jacksonville took the first lead of the game right before time expired in the first quarter, but Denver answered with 10 points of their own to open the second quarter. The Jaguars scored 10 points at the end of the half to take a 17-10 lead.
Rookie running back RJ Harvey broke free for a 38-yard touchdown against the top rushing defense early in the third quarter, but the Jaguars took over from there. They scored 17 unanswered points before Broncos kicker Will Lutz kicked a chip-shot field goal with just under 11 minutes remaining in the game. Jacksonville shut the door and came away with a two-score victory.
Denver’s defense has been hard to beat all season long but the Jaguars offense was too much to handle this week. Are there growing concerns regarding this defense?
“The Broncos last gave up over 30 points in their Week 7 win over the Giants. The Jaguars were able to handle Denver's pass rush more consistently on high-stress downs and found plenty of open space in the middle of the field,” ESPN’s Jeff Legwold wrote Sunday. “The Broncos miss safety Brandon Jones (IR) in those areas of the field. There were too many missed tackles and ill-timed penalties, and they let Washington get too open too often. Trevor Lawrence is on a roll, but any postseason run for Denver -- who had linebacker Dre Greenlaw leave the game late because of a hamstring injury -- will include offenses as good or better than Jacksonville's.”
Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence completed 23 of 36 passes for 279 yards and three touchdowns while adding 20 rushing yards and a score on six carries. He dominated a tough defense and the Broncos have to figure out how to fix what went wrong in this game.
Head coach Sean Payton talked about how the Jaguars had more winning habits following the game.
“All the things that were important or are important to winning, we didn't do a good enough job with, and that starts with me,” Payton said. “They were better on third downs. They won the turnover battle, and they won the kicking battle. So now we have a short week to digest it. You can't spit it out. You've got to swallow it. That starts with every one of us.”
The Broncos weren’t able to clinch the American Football Conference West division since they lost and the Los Angeles Chargers won. Denver will travel to Kansas City for a Week 17 meeting against the Chiefs.