Trevor Lawrence tripped, got up and scrambled for a one-yard touchdown with 23 seconds remaining – turning a laughable miscue into an improbable score – and the Jacksonville Jaguars beat Kansas City 31-28 on Monday night.
The wild ending halted the Jags’ eight-game losing streak to the Chiefs (2-3), which stretched back to 2009.
Lawrence ran for two touchdowns on the night, and also threw for a score, helping balance a performance that included two turnovers.
He was perfect when it mattered most for the Jaguars (4-1). Lawrence dropped a precision pass to Brian Thomas Jr for a 33-yard gain on the go-ahead drive and then hit Dyami Brown for another big gain. Chamarri Conner was flagged for pass interference against Thomas on the next play, setting up Lawrence’s trip and score.
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Jacksonville right guard Patrick Mekari stepped on Lawrence’s right foot as he took the snap, and the quarterback fell several yards in the backfield. But he got up and somehow found the end zone. It helped that several defenders, including Chris Jones, stopped on the play. The touchdown drive had been aided by Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker, whose kickoff sailed out of bounds, meaning the Jags started their drive at their 40-yard line.
“Panic, just sheer panic,” Lawrence said when asked to describe his touchdown. “We didn’t have any timeouts, I got stepped on [before I fell] … I was just going to throw it out of bounds to stop the clock [but] there was no one really around me so I went and made a play. A lot of guys stepped up. It takes all of us: the defense and special teams had big moments.”
Lawrence completed 18 of 25 passes for 221 yards on Monday, which was also his 26th birthday.
Patrick Mahomes accounted for two touchdowns, and Kareem Hunt ran for two more scores for Kansas City, who had won 23 straight games when leading by at least 14 points. The Chiefs took an early 14-0 lead, thanks in part to a fumble by Lawrence at the goalline.
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The Jaguars led 21-14 in the third quarter and 24-21 in the fourth before Mahomes rallied the Chiefs.
Jaguars linebacker Devin Lloyd, the AFC defensive player of the month for September, returned an interception 99 yards for a touchdown in the third. It was the longest interception return by a linebacker in NFL history.
Lloyd’s pick looked like it might be a game-changer. He stepped in front of Mahomes’ pass intended for JuJu Smith-Schuster at the goalline and took off the other way for his league-leading fifth takeaway. He juked Mahomes and Hunt, then got up to full speed along the Jaguars’ sideline. He picked up a block from Josh Hines-Allen and then held the ball tight as Tyquan Thornton tried to knock it loose at the five-yard line.
The Jags felt rightly aggrieved when Lawrence was intercepted early in the fourth quarter when they led 21-14. The officiating crew missed a clear pass interference call on the Chiefs’ Jaden Hicks.
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Lawrence made sure that non-call wouldn’t matter.
“Just keep doing what we’re doing,” Lawrence said when asked about how his team can build on their victory. “Obviously our process is working [but] there’s still so much we can improve on.”
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