The Jacksonville Jaguars conceivably saved the good folks at NFL Films some work on Sunday.
Forget about scanning through all of the Jaguars’ games this season for the customary end-of-the-year highlight–or, more appropriately, lowlight–film. Just copy the footage from the Jaguars’ 30-26 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs and distribute it wholesale.
Sunday’s game served as a microcosm of the Jaguars’ season: so close, yet so far.
“We’ve had a lot of ups and a lot of downs this season and a lot of games that we’ve lost by close margins that all of us feel like we should have won,” offensive tackle Todd Fordham said.
Erase some mistakes Sunday and the Jaguars (6-9) could have sent their fans home with a pleasant memory from their home finale.
Consider the Jaguars’ 12-men-on-the-field penalty in the second quarter. The transgression came on fourth down with Kansas City in punting formation. The Chiefs (6-9) received an automatic first down.
Seven plays later Chiefs quarterback Trent Green rolled to his right and tossed the ball to wide-open tight end Tony Gonzalez for a 1-yard touchdown pass to tie it 14-14.
“That hurts,” linebacker Hardy Nickerson said. “That [mistake] resulted in a touchdown.”
Stacey Mack’s 123 yards rushing in the first half propelled the Jaguars to a 17-17 tie at halftime. From then on, however, Mack had just three more carries for 2 yards.
The Chiefs took a 27-17 lead with 10 third-quarter points–a 47-yard field goal from Todd Peterson and Gonzalez’s 12-yard reception–and forced the Jaguars out of their running game.
Still, the Jaguars had their chances. After cutting the deficit to 27-24, the Jaguars drove inside the Chiefs’ 20-yard line two more times but failed to score.
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Josh Robbins is a staff reporter for the Orlando Sentinel, a Tribune newspaper.
