Jacksonville Jaguars Lose to Baltimore Ravens 20-12: Quick Notes

In what has become a disturbing trend, the Jacksonville Jaguars once again failed to do anything offensively in the second half of a football game, and the result was yet another disappointing loss, this time 20-12 to the Baltimore Ravens. Despite heading into halftime with a 12-10 lead, the Jaguars still had an uphill climb thanks to their inability to turn long drives into touchdowns. Josh Scobee bailed the offense out with 4 long field goals, and the feeling that those field goals weren’t going to be enough came to fruition.

Yes, there were some encouraging things from this game, the most prominent of which was Blake Bortles, but the frustration is still there – the Jaguars could have won this game if they had found a way to turn field goals into touchdowns.

• The Jaguars were let down by couple of veterans who failed to make vital plays – tight end Marcedes Lewis and wide receiver Cecil Shorts. Lewis dropped a great pass from Blake Bortles early in the contest, and the play would have netted huge yardage. This offense can’t afford to miss out on big plays like that. Shorts had a similar drop that would have resulted in a first down later in the game, and it would have landed the Jaguars deep in Ravens’ territory.
• After being a punchline for most of the season, Toby Gerhart has played solid football over the last few weeks. Gerhart assumed a bigger role because of the season ending injury to Denard Robinson, and he had a handful of effective runs. His 13 carries for 54 yards is about what most people expected out of him when he was signed this offseason, and he continues to be a reliable option out of the backfield catching the ball.
• The defense lost Ryan Davis for most of the day, and it reflected in their inability to rush the passer. Flacco had time to throw on pretty much every dropback, but he had a hard time getting into a rhythm thanks to good play from the secondary. The Ravens were also helped out by a couple of terrible calls – an unnecessary roughness call on J.T. Thomas and a pass interference on Aaron Colvin were both questionable at best.
• The Jaguars lost their best offensive player at the worst possible time when Brandon Linder went down late in the 4th quarter. The Ravens ended the Jaguars potential game-winning drive by collapsing the interior offensive line and not giving Bortles the time to make the necessary throws.
• Bortles didn’t have an impressive day if you only look at the box score, but he actually put together an encouraging performance. He made a handful of “wow” throws, and he should have had a significantly higher yardage total if not for a few crucial drops. The Ravens were credited with 8 sacks, and some of those could definitely be attributed to Bortles holding onto the ball too long. Still, overall it was something to build on for Bortles moving forward.