Jacksonville Jaguars lose 38-31 to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers

The Jacksonville Jaguars fell behind early to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 20-7, crawled their way back to a 24-20 lead in the third quarter, and then ultimately lost in embarrassing fashion 38-31.

The final score wasn’t as embarrassing as was the way the Jaguars lost, failing to stop a Tampa Bay rushing attacked powered by what was supposed to be a terrible offensive line.

Whether it’s the offense stalling in the redzone or the defense failing to stop the run, the Jaguars seem to have something every week that keeps them from winning games. This Sunday, the Jaguars let Doug Martin and Charles Sims run roughshod over a defense that is built to stop rushing attacks. Jameis Winston played OK, but he didn’t need to do much with the Jaguars beating themselves.

The first half was an indictment on the Jacksonville run defense and it showed how much they miss middle linebacker Paul Posluszny. Doug Martin had 93 yards on 13 carries with a touchdown, and he tacked on another 23 yards on 2 receptions with another touchdown in the first 2 quarters. Additionally, the Jaguars let rookie quarterback Jameis Winston get entirely too comfortable. After Winston lucked out on a fumble-reversal that wiped out one of his more boneheaded plays, he was able to sit back in the pocket and pick apart the Jacksonville secondary.

The Jacksonville offense put up 14 points in the first half, but the team wasn’t exactly consistent on that side of the ball. Blake Bortles bounced back from a horrific interception and led a touchdown drive at the end of the second quarter that kept the game within reach after halftime.

The Jaguars took the lead after a terrific drive capped off with a touchdown pass to T.J. Yeldon, but they effectively gave the game away a few drives later when Corey Grant fumbled on a toss play and the Bucs returned it for a touchdown. The Bucs tacked on another touchdown with ease on the subsequent drive, putting the game out of reach with a 38-24 margin.

The Jaguars managed to put another touchdown on the board to make the score look respectable, but this was another horrible loss that put another nail in the figurative coffin of Gus Bradley’s tenure as head coach.

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