Jaguars lose 27-17 to Rams as special teams mistakes doom team

The Los Angeles Rams traveled to play the Jacksonville Jaguars in a matchup of two first place teams. Sounds weird, right? Well somehow, this game added on to the weirdness for both teams this season, especially the start of it.

The Rams came out with a boom, as Pharoh Cooper returned the opening kickoff 103 yards for a touchdown. Greg Zuerlein made the extra point, making the score at 7-0.

Before anyone could take a breath, the Jaguars answered right away with a 75-yard touchdown run form Leonard Fournette on their first play of the game. Fournette flashed his world class speed once he got in open space, leaving defenders in the dust. Myers made the extra point, tying the score at 7-7.

After quick drives by both teams that ended in punts, the Rams took advantage of a 16 yard Brad Nortman punt, scoring a field goal with the excellent field position. Zuerlein nailed the kick, giving the Rams a 10-7 lead.

The Jaguars responded accordingly, picking up over 70 yards in just four plays. The drive was capped off by a 22-yard screen pass for a touchdown, from Blake Bortles to Chris Ivory. Myers nailed the extra point, giving the Jaguars back the lead 14-10.

After the two teams traded punts, Jared Goff lead the Rams down their field for the best drive of the day so far. The seven-play, 66-yard drive was capped off with a four-yard shuffle pass from Goff to Gerald Everett. Zuerlein made the extra point, giving the Rams the lead of 17-14.

The teams would go on to combine for a plethora of punts, until one went disastrously wrong for the Jaguars. Nortman’s punt was blocked and returned for a touchdown by Malcom Brown. This extended the Rams lead to 24-14.

The Jaguars tried to redeem themselves at the end of the half, but would come up short with a missed 54-yard field goal from Jason Myers, taking a 24-14 deficit into the half.

Special teams were a disaster in the first half for the Jaguars, and proved to be costly in the outcome of the game.

The Rams looked poised to drive downfield in their first drive of the second half, but the defense stepped up yet again. Telvin Smith poked the ball out of Robert Wood’s hands, and was recovered by Aaron Colvin. The play was ruled dead on the field, so the Jaguars did not have a chance to return the fumble. It was reviewed, and was clearly a fumble, giving the Jaguars the ball.

The Jaguars were able to take advantage of the turnover, but had to settle for a 41 yard Myers field goal. The lead was cut to 24-17.

On their next offensive possession, the Jaguars got into field goal range on what looked to be a promising drive. Then Bortles went full Bortles, fumbling the ball on one play where Cam Robinson luckily recovered it. Then on the ensuing play, throwing an interception on an ugly pass to Nickel Roby-Coleman, who returned it 31 yards into Jaguars territory.

The defense stepped up and held the Rams to a three-and-out, only to be followed by the offense sputtering, and Fournette being taken off the field with an ankle injury.

The Rams would go on to convert an important 3rd and 6 with a little over 5 minutes left, as Goff completed a 22 yard pass to Cooper Kupp, which would prove to be the final nail in the coffin.

The Rams burned five minutes off the clock, and ended their drive with a 29-yard field goal by Zuerlein, extending the Rams lead to 27-17.

In a last-ditch effort to get back in the game, the Jaguars drove down the field with no timeouts left. Head coach Doug Marrone decided to kick a 53-yard field goal down by two scores, a questionable move for sure, but one that kind of made sense if you had a dependable kicker.

Instead, we have Jason Myers. It ended about as how one would expect from this game — Myers missed it wide left.

The Jaguars went on to lose the game 27-17, and now fall to 3-3 on the season.

They travel to Indianapolis next weekend in an important division game against the Colts.

Hey, at least next week is an odd week right?