Published on December 4, 2023 at 11:55 pm
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In the course of one third down play in the fourth quarter of the Jaguars’ first Monday Night Football game in a dozen years, the game, and maybe the season, changed.
That’s when Trevor Lawrence went down, his foot stepped-on inadvertently by a teammate. Lawrence tried to stand up and then immediately went down to the ground again. He fired his helmet off. He knew it was bad.
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Just how injured his ankle is remains to be seen. Lawrence left the field, helped to the tunnel by two Jaguars medical personnel.
While Lawrence was getting examined, the Cincinnati Bengals drove down field and set up kicker Evan McPherson for a 54-yard field goal, giving the Bengals a 31-28 lead with 2:28 to play.
The Jaguars came into the game knowing that a win would keep them level with Miami and Baltimore for the best record in the AFC. And with a game in two weeks against the Ravens, the Jaguars could have controlled their destiny in the AFC playoff race.
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That meant that Beathard needed to have his moment in less than 2 and a half minutes.
On his first snap of the game, he scrambled. And fumbled. This time, Parker Washington recovered. That brought the 2-minute warning and a chance for Beathard to take a deep breath. It’s not that he was lacking in NFL experience. He has started 12 games in six seasons in the NFL, but this was the most important playing time he had seen as a Jaguar.
Needing a field goal to tie and a touchdown to win, Beathard completed a pass to tight end Evan Engram for a first down to midfield. Then another one to Engram for a gain of five. The clock was ticking.
On second down, he found running back Travis Etienne in the flat. It turned into a 21-yard gain to the 28-yard line. In field goal range with 1:04 to play.
Washington was the next recipient of a pass from Beathard. Then Beathard ran for no gain. Third and two with 37 seconds left. The Jaguars called their final timeout. On third down, Beathard scrambled and was sacked. Cincinnati called timeout with 30 seconds to play.
Brandon McManus, who had earlier missed from 48 yards, was good on a 40-yard field goal to tie the game.
In the final 26 seconds of the fourth quarter, the Jaguars defense did enough to send the game to overtime. In the OT, the Jaguars got the ball first but couldn’t move into scoring range.
After a Logan Cooke punt, the Bengals methodically worked their way into Jaguars territory, where McPherson booted a 48-yard field goal to win the game, 34-31.
The Jaguars have been rallying around winning “gritty not pretty.” On Monday night they didn’t win at all. They may have to double down on “gritty” until (and if) Lawrence can return.
Lead image: Will Brown, Jacksonville Today
Cole Pepper has covered sports in Jacksonville since 1996, most recently for News4Jax. He is currently broadcast director for Sporting Club Jacksonville and has called play-by-play for a number of teams, including the Suns, Tomcats, Jacksonville University, Sharks and The Bolles School football. He also served as the studio host for the Jaguars Radio Network.
