Jaguars 27, Bengals 17: Instant Reaction

The Jacksonville Jaguars picked up a much-needed road win against the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday thanks to their defense.

Well, a very Jacksonville Jaguars-like game has drawn to a close as the Jaguars will walk out of Paul Brown Field with a 27-17 win over the hapless Cincinnati Bengals. Jacksonville is now 3-4.

Any win in the NFL is hard to come by so even a win over a 0-7 Bengals team should be a reason to celebrate, but the way the Jaguars made this win happen gives reason for pause as well.

The Jaguars defense was magnificent for the entire day aside from one touchdown drive before the first half concluded where they let Alex Erickson beat their secondary for gains of 48 and 27 yards before Joe Mixon scored a two-yard touchdown.

Their defensive front did not get great pressure in the first half of the game but the secondary made Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton look foolish on more than one occasion. The latter trend continued in the second half as Dalton threw interceptions on three consecutive drives to Myles Jack, Yannick Ngakoue and Ronnie Harison in the game’s final quarter. Ngakoue returned his interception for a touchdown.

But the Jaguars pass rush improved dramatically in the second half, with pressures from Josh Allen, Abry Jones and Taven Bryan leading directly to some big plays for Jacksonville. The Jaguars’ front seven also limited Joe Mixon to two yards on 10 carries. Defensively, the Jaguars did what they had to do.

Offensively, the Jaguars created a ton of reason for concern. They amassed more than 300 yards and got into the red zone several times in the first half, but they entered halftime with only six points. Things weren’t much better in the second half as they went one-for-three in red zone opportunities.

From dropped passes to poor pass blocking to Gardner Minshew just never looking extremely sharp, the Jaguars offense struggled to put points on the board against a very bad Bengals defense. Leonard Fournette had a big day, but at the end of the day, it barely mattered.