The halftime vibes were immaculate.
For the first time since Week 13 of last year, the Jaguars held a lead at halftime. Jamal Agnew's 109-yard, "kick-six" return as the first half clock expired appeared to be the "spark" head coach Urban Meyer and the Jaguars had talked about all week. Then, Jacksonville came out of the locker room and immediately picked off Kyler Murray (their first turnover this season) and found the end-zone again, via James Robinson's first touchdown of the season.
It was all down-hill from there.
An ill-timed flea flicker by Trevor Lawrence resulted in a pick-six for the Cardinals and Murray led two more touchdown drives as Arizona (3-0) scored 21 unanswered en route to a 31-19 win over Jacksonville (0-3). Jacksonville has now lost 18 straight regular season games.
"It's all there, though. Like you see, we're getting better, but it's frustrating because we've got to finish these games," Lawrence said after the loss. "We need to win these. Last two weeks I really felt like we could have won these past two games, and those were two really good teams we played."
"Like Coach Urban talks about, that spark. We've got spark. We got the turnovers. Our defense is flying around making plays. We're getting better each week," defensive end Josh Allen added. "We've just got to learn how to finish and win."
Murray finished 28-34 for 311 yards with a rushing touchdown and no passing touchdowns. He was held to under 100-yards at halftime. James Conner led the way on the ground for Arizona with 43 yards on 11 carries and two touchdowns. A.J. Green was the leading receiver with five catches for 112 yards.
It's another loss, but there were positives to glean for Jaguars fans. The Jaguar defense defined the mantra "bend but don't break" most of the day. Arizona did not convert on third-down until the third quarter. Andrew Wingard's third-quarter interception was the first takeaway of the Jaguars' 2021 season. With two starters in C.J. Henderson and Tre Herndon both out with injury, the Jaguars' defensive backs -- especially rookie Tyson Campbell and second-year pro Chris Claybrooks -- performed admirably. Heck, Taven Bryan had a sack.
But even when they're not putting up video game-like numbers: Murray and his offense are still really, really good.
"This is a product-based business we're all in, and you look on the won-lost column, it's not good," Meyer said post-game. "[But] I still believe we've got a good enough team to make some moves this year and win some games."
James Robinson and the run-game finally got going, especially in the second half. Robinson finished with 15 carries for 88 yards and a touchdown. By many accounts: if the Jaguars had just continued to run Robinson and Hyde (8 carries, 44 yards) and not opt for the third-quarter flea-flicker in their own territory, the final score may have been very different. At the same time, Robinson bumped into Lawrence's throwing arm, resulting in the fourth quarter fumble on a would-be scoring drive.
Lawrence's strong first-half will largely be forgotten for the miscues in the second half. He finished 21-32 for 210 yards with a touchdown (D.J. Chark) and two interceptions. The first interception was not Lawrence's fault, as new Jaguars tight end Jacob Hollister bobbled a would-be third-down conversion. The second interception was the questionable flea flicker call. Marvin Jones Jr. was the leading receiver with six catches for 62 yards.
Josh Lambo's struggles continued, as the Jaguars kicker missed two of three extra-point attempts. He did not attempt a field goal.
It's a quick turnaround for Jacksonville, who head to Cincinnati (2-1) on Thursday. Kick-off is scheduled for 8:20 p.m.
"We've just got to finish. We're a young team, but I'm tired of hearing we're a young team. We've just got to learn how to finish. But it's coming soon," Allen said. "That's what I've been telling everybody. We play Thursday. That probably could have been the best thing to happen to us as a team, as players individually, as a coaching staff and as an organization that we play Thursday because we know we should have won this game, and it's over and now we can move on quicker, faster, and just worry about the next one."
