Trailing 10-0 late in the second quarter, the Jacksonville Jaguars had a golden opportunity to get a field goal or even a touchdown just before halftime of Sunday night’s game against the Baltimore Ravens.
One play all but guaranteed that the Jags would get something on the board while the next completely guaranteed that they wouldn’t.
With Jacksonville facing a second-and-11 from the Baltimore 41-yard line, Trevor Lawrence went deep and found Zay Jones for 36 yards. Jones came down in bounds and the Jaguars didn’t have a time-out remaining. But as he came down with about 25 seconds left, Jacksonville had time to run down the field, spike the ball and still likely have enough time remaining to try one pass to the end zone before settling for a field goal. Only, that’s not what the Jaguars did.
Jacksonville did sprint down the field and quickly got lined up for another play. Only, Lawrence did not spike the ball to stop the clock. The ball was snapped with 11 seconds on the clock, but Lawrence didn’t throw to the end zone. Instead, he quickly threw the ball to receiver Parker Washington. Baltimore’s Marcus Williams tackled Washington in bounds, which didn’t leave the Jaguars enough time to run another play.
The final sequence of the first half summarized the entire half for the Jacksonville Jaguars. 🏈🤦 #SNF pic.twitter.com/PoATGXliIo
— The Comeback (@thecomeback) December 18, 2023
Short of a turnover, it’s hard to imagine Jacksonville butchering this play any worse.
While conventional wisdom would have been for the Jags to spike the ball, there’s nothing inherently wrong with the decision not to. However, nothing about the play they ran made any sense.
One of the advantages of running a play in that situation is you might catch the defense off guard. Dan Marino’s fake spike in 1994 is the best example of this. But even without that, defenders might let their guards down if they’re expecting the ball to be spiked. The problem here is that there was no element of surprise. You can only spike the ball under center. Once the Ravens saw Lawrence in the shotgun, they knew Jacksonville would be running a play.
Logic would also dictate that the smart play would be to pass the ball to the end zone. Of course, Baltimore also knows that. And at the five-yard line, there’s not a lot of room to get open. So, again, throwing the ball short of the end zone and to the sidelines isn’t the worst idea. If you catch the defense off guard, you get a touchdown. If not, you likely at least get out of bounds and stop the clock.
And that’s where Lawrence needs to get a better read of the play. While throwing the ball short of the end zone and toward the sidelines could theoretically open the door for a touchdown or getting out of bounds, neither seemed particularly likely here. The Ravens had the play well read. Seeing that, the better play would have been to throw the ball at his receiver’s feet.
It was a tough first half for the Ravens on Sunday. Brandon McManus missed a pair of field goals, Trevor Lawrence had a big fumble and in general, the offense seemed off. Getting points on the last possession could have made things look a lot better. What actually happened made things look a lot worse.
[Photo Credit: NBC]
