Jacksonville Jaguars get first win of the 2021 season in London, defeat Miami Dolphins 23-20

The Jacksonville Jaguars traveled across the pond to take on the Miami Dolphins in London for a Sunday morning matinee game, and won the contest by a final score of 23-20. The victory ended a 20-game losing streak for the Jaguars.

The Dolphins received the ball to start the game and wasted no time getting on the scoreboard. Miami drove the ball 75 yards on 13 plays, mostly through the air, and eventually finished with a Tua Tagovailoa touchdown pass to rookie wide receiver Jaylen Waddle from six yards out. Following an extra point from kicker Jason Sanders, the Dolphins took a quick 7-0 lead.

The Jaguars would respond on the next drive, however. Quarterback Trevor Lawrence found wide receiver Jamal Agnew for a 24-yard pass to start the drive. A couple plays later, Lawrence found tight end Dan Arnold for a 19-yard gain. But Jacksonville’s offense eventually stalled out and the Jaguars settled for a field goal. Kicker Matthew Wright knocked the 40-yard attempt through the uprights, and added three points to its total. The score was now Miami 7, Jacksonville 3.

The Dolphins would then get the ball back and answer. Tagovailoa found tight end Mike Gesicki on the first play of the drive. Quarterback Jacoby Brissett came in for a play and found tight end Durham Smythe for 25 yards, and a few plays later, Tagovailoa found running back Salvon Ahmed for a 15-yard gain, which put Miami deep into Jacksonville’s territory at the 10-yard-line. However, Miami would be called for a holding penalty on the next play, and the Jacksonville defense would tighten up and hold Miami to a field goal, making the score 10-3 in the Dolphins’ favor in the early second quarter.

The two teams would go on to trade a few punts before Miami added another field goal from Sanders with 3:11 to play before halftime. The Dolphins drove all the way down to the Jaguars’ six-yard-line before the Jacksonville defense forced the field goal attempt. Miami now had a 10-point lead at 13-3.

On offense, the Jaguars struggled for much of the first half, and Jacksonville was forced to punt once again following the Miami field goal, however, punter Logan Cooke pinned the Dolphins at their own three-yard-line. The Jacksonville defense quickly forced a three-and-out and got the ball back to its offense.

With under two minutes to play in the first half, the Jaguars would finally break through. Jacksonville started in Miami territory and Lawrence found wide receiver Laviska Shenault Jr. for a 10-yard gain to start the possession. The Jaguars would later face a fourth-down-and-six at the Miami 35-yard-line, and decided to go for it. Lawrence found Shenault for a seven-yard gain to extend the drive. Lawrence would then find wide receiver Marvin Jones Jr. in the end zone, as Jones made a great play with single coverage on him. Following the extra point, Miami’s lead was cut down to 13-10. That would be the score after the first half of play.

The Jaguars would then get the ball to begin the second half, and for the first time all season, scored touchdowns on back-to-back possessions. Jacksonville drove 75 yards in just five plays thanks to a 29-yard pass from Lawrence to Agnew, an unnecessary roughness call on Miami and a 24-yard run by running back James Robinson. The drive would then be capped off by a one-yard touchdown by Robinson, and Jacksonville took its first lead of the game, making the score Jaguars 17, Dolphins 13.

Miami would then be forced to punt on its following possession, and the Jaguars would get the ball back and drive into Dolphins’ territory. However, on a second-down-nine play at the Miami 31-yard-line, Lawerence was sacked by Christian Wilkins — his college teammate at Clemson — and fumbled the ball, which was recovered by Miami’s Zach Sieler. The Dolphins took possession of the ball, but then turned it right back over as Tagovailoa threw an interception to cornerback Nevin Lawson on the very next play. That was Lawson’s first career interception.

The Jaguars then took over the ball at the Miami 39-yard-line. Lawrence hit tight end, and fellow rookie, Luke Farrell for 21 yards to begin the drive. Jacksonville eventually got down to Miami’s nine-yard-line and faced a fourth-down-and-one. Instead of kicking the field goal to go up by seven points, head coach Urban Meyer elected to go for it. Robinson was stuffed and the Jaguars turned the ball over on downs. That was a questionable decision at best.

The Dolphins got the ball back and proceeded to march down the field with ease, going 91 yards in just seven plays. Tagovailoa found Gesicki for consecutive big plays to begin the possession, going for gains of 32 yards and 20 yards, respectively. Later, Tagovailoa found Smythe for 18 yards, plus three additional penalty yards on a taunting call. Tagovailoa would then find Waddle once again for a touchdown, this time from two yards out. Following the extra point, Miami regained the lead at 20-17 with 10:25 left to play in fourth quarter.

The two squads then traded punts before Jacksonville would get the ball back with 6:39 to play in the game. The Jaguars would go on to drive 44 yards in nine plays, taking 2:59 off of the clock, highlighted by a 20-yard pass from Lawrence to Jones on a key third-down-and-eight play. The drive ended with a 54-yard field goal by kicker Matthew Wright, which looked like it would miss badly, but just hooked inside the upright. The game was then tied 20-20.

The Dolphins then got the ball back. Miami would get to its own 46-yard-line before facing a fourth-and-one. Miami head coach Brian Flores decided to go for it, but Malcolm Brown was stuffed by the Jaguars’ defensive front, particularly Josh Allen and Chapelle Russell.

Jacksonville took over, but was immediately called for a false start on tight end Chris Manhertz. Lawrence was sacked a couple plays later, and then found Shenault for 12 yards, bringing up a fourth-down-and-eight with just five seconds left on the clock. Lawrence found Shenault for nine yards and a first down, and got a timeout called with one second left to play.

It was Wright who would be called upon again for a long field goal attempt. This time, the kick was from 53 yards out, and he nailed it as time expired, giving Jacksonville its first win of the 2021 campaign and first victory since Sept. 13, 2020 against the Indianapolis Colts.

The Jaguars were out-gained by Miami 431 total yards to 396 total yards, and both teams turned the ball over once, but Jacksonville did what it needed to do to get a victory and end the 20-game losing streak.

The Jaguars will head into a bye week next week with a 1-5 record before traveling to Seattle to play the Seahawks in Week Eight.