Heading into Saturday night’s Chargers-Jaguars game, there was a lot of hype surrounding the matchup; from the QB matchup of Herbert-Lawrence to the Jaguars going from back-to-back No. 1 picks to divisional champions.
The Jacksonville Jaguars stormed back late Saturday night, and won a thriller on Super Wild Card Weekend against the Los Angeles Chargers, 31-30. I have A LOT to unpack, so let’s get going with these takeaways.
1. Trevor Lawrence turned water into wine.
The Jaguars received the ball to start the game. After a Travis Etienne run up the middle, Trevor Lawrence’s first pass on the first drive was intercepted by Drue Tranquill. After the Chargers took advantage of the short field with seven, Jacksonville got it again, and as a result of going for it on 4th and 7 at the Chargers 33 yard line, Lawrence threw another pick, this time to former Florida State Seminole Asante Samuel Jr., who would have two interceptions in the first half. The final interception came three plays after a nice return by Jamal Agnew.
Luckily, the generational QB talent got a spark. With 24 seconds remaining in the first half, Trevor Lawrence threw a nine yard touchdown pass to Evan Engram to cut the deficit to 27-7.
Lawrence caught fire, throwing two touchdowns in the third quarter to Marvin Jones Jr and Zay Jones. Lawrence threw a fourth touchdown pass to Christian Kirk for nine yards, cutting the deficit to two points after Chargers star DE Joey Bosa caught an unsportsmanlike penalty after slamming his helmet on the field. That would set up the final draw: a Riley Patterson 36-yard game-winning field goal that just barely stayed through the uprights.
2. Chargers ran out of battery.
Well, the brand new iPhone 14 Pro’s battery stopped charging.
Justin Herbert played decent, completing only 25-of-43 passes for 273 yards and a touchdown pass. 109 of those yards went to Gerald Everett, who saw a rise in production as a result of Mike Williams being out (injury).
And it all happened for one reason: the Chargers struggled to get a running game. Star RB Austin Ekeler had only 35 yards on 13 carries, but two touchdown runs on short fields. Los Angeles had a total of 23 carries for 67 yards.
Another reason why the Chargers lost was because their special teams couldn’t connect on good chances, as Cameron Dicker missed a 40-yard field goal.
Also, the Chargers forced a turnover inside the 10-yard line, and only managed three points, which could’ve been another good opportunity to close the game for them.
3. Some Interesting Facts.
- Trevor Lawrence has not lost a game on a Saturday (high school to the NFL).
- Jacksonville’s 27-point comeback is the third largest in NFL postseason history. It stands behind Buffalo’s rally against the Houston Oilers on January 3rd, 1993 (32 points), and Indianapolis’s comeback against Kansas City on January 4th, 2014 (28 points).
- Trevor Lawrence became the youngest player in NFL history to throw 4+ touchdown passes in a playoff game (23 years, 100 days)—breaking the mark set by Dan Marino (23 years, 113 days) on 1/6/85.
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The Jaguars are the first team in NFL history to have the worst record in the NFL (including ties) and win a playoff game the following season.
- The Jaguars have a winning record this season when trailing by 17 or more points.
- Evan Engram’s 93 yards were the most by a TE in a playoff game in Jaguars history, breaking Marcedes Lewis old mark of 74 yards back in 2008.
- The Jaguars’ winning minus-5 in turnover is a new postseason record, beating the 1977 Raiders who were minus-4 in the Ghost to the Post game at Baltimore.
- Trevor Lawrence joins Ben Roethlisberger (2021 vs. CLE) as the only quarterbacks in postseason history to throw four touchdowns and four interceptions in a single game.
- After going down 27-0, the Jaguars defense held the Chargers to 138 yards (20 rushing) on six possessions.
- The last team to commit five turnovers in a first half of a playoff game was the Dolphins in the 1999 Divisional Playoffs against the Jaguars. That was Dan Marino’s last NFL game, a 62-7 loss.
- The last QB to throw four interceptions in his playoff debut was Brian Hoyer in 2016 for the Texans. Since the merger, five is the most in a player’s playoff debut (Dan Fouts & Gary Danielson).
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Trevor Lawrence has thrown four INTs only one other time in his career: The Jaguars’ 20-0 loss at Tennessee last season in what turned out to be Urban Meyer’s last game.
Next, the Jaguars will travel to Arrowhead to face the top-seeded Kansas City Chiefs with Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce. This matchup will take place on Saturday at 4:30 on NBC. The Jags and Chiefs will open up the Divisional Round schedule.