100 moments in 100 days: Maurice Jones-Drew purposely downing the ball on the 1 yard line against the New York Jets

This year marks the 25th season for the Jacksonville Jaguars. To celebrate, we’re counting down 100 days from our regular season kickoff with the top 100 moments in franchise history.

Yesterday it was that guy in Denard Robinson’s draft day video.

Today? Maurice Jones-Drew purposely downing the ball at the 1-yard line against the New York Jets.

November 15, 2009

It’s a forgotten game now in a largely forgotten season, but it was one of the more interesting endings to a game I can remember — complete with the Jets trying to allow a touchdown, the Jaguars refusing to score it, and a running back purposely downing himself inches away from the goal line.

The New York Times has some really good insight into the players’ thoughts following the game from both sides.

Jaguars running back Maurice Jones-Drew, one of the stars of the game, intentionally dropped to his knee before the end zone after a 9-yard gain to set up the winning field goal while running time off the clock.

Mindful of what some fans care about most, Jones-Drew said, “Tell my fantasy owners I’m sorry.”

He did it to run down the clock because the Jets had no timeouts and the Jaguars did not want the Jets to get the ball back after what was to be a 21-yard field goal by Josh Scobee.

Jones-Drew already had one touchdown and 123 rushing yards. Another score by him would have meant valuable points to fans who drafted him for their fantasy leagues, but, he said, “I’d rather take a win any day.”

Still, when he was told not to score, Jones-Drew said he was surprised at first. “I’m like, a knee? What do you mean?” he said. “I took a deep breath and took a knee.”

What made it even stranger was the play before that. On first-and-10 from the Jets’ 14 with two minutes left, Jets Coach Rex Ryan told his defenders to let Jacksonville score. Ryan figured it would give the Jaguars a 6-point lead but leave his team time to take the ensuing kickoff and drive the field for a game-winning touchdown.

Because not all of his defenders got the message, Jones-Drew was tackled at the 10 by Marques Douglas and Sione Pouha after a 4-yard run.

“We couldn’t even get that right,” Ryan said.

That forced Ryan to use his last timeout. Jones-Drew dropped to a knee at the 1-yard line on the next play, and quarterback David Garrard knelt on the next two downs to waste more time and set up the winning kick.

And the highlight reel is still preserved on good ol’ YouTube.

Send us your favorite moments and we’ll dig into each one until the Jaguars kick off on September 8th — including whatever video, audio, or stories we can find.

Comment below, tweet at us, comment on our Facebook, or DM us on Instagram!