Jaguars Get Dominated in Baltimore, Lose 40-14 to Ravens

The Jacksonville Jaguars have tied a franchise-long losing streak at 13 games after a terrible showing in Baltimore, losing 40-14 to the Ravens.

The Jacksonville Jaguars entered Week 15 as the David to the Baltimore Ravens' Goliath, but this time around, Goliath proved to be too much. 

With each team on two completely different trajectories, the Ravens (9-5) did what was expected of them and disposed of the Jaguars (1-13) with relative ease in a 40-14 blowout.

Lamar Jackson did Lamar Jackson things, making the Jaguars look silly in and out of the pocket. And on the other side of the field, the Jaguars struggled to get off the ground as they allowed 26 points and recorded just 61 yards of offense. 

Jacksonville talked all week about making Jackson their biggest focus, but it ended up not mattering how much attention the Jaguars' defense gave him. Jaguars safety Josh Jones intercepted Jackson on the first drive of the game, Jones' first interception of the season. 

Due to a blindside block penalty on Jarrod Wilson, however, the Jaguars got the ball at their own 1. Two players later, Matthew Judon beat Tyler Eifert to sack Gardner Minshew for a safety. 

But it was all downhill for the Jaguars following that, with their joy over the turnover and first-drive performance lasting for just a few fleeting moments. 

Jackson finished the game 17 of 22 for 243 yards, three passing touchdowns and one interception with a passing rating of 133.1 -- and he did this without playing the last several series, as the Jaguars were behind by so many points that the Ravens sat their starting quarterback. Jackson also added 35 yards and a touchdown on the ground.

While Jackson frequently made big play after big play (and even a Ravens offensive lineman picked up 22 yards on a fumble recovery), the Jaguars had little go their way on offense. They picked up just 61 yards on 29 plays in the first half, just 2.1 yards per play. 

The biggest reason for this? Well, there was no biggest reason. The passing game struggled, with Minshew gaining just 33 net passing yards on 15 drop backs in the first half due to four sacks. But the running game was also ineffective as James Robinson rushed for just 18 yards on nine carries through the first half.

"It was very hard. It felt like everything we were doing, they had an answer for it," Minshew said after the game. "I felt they played really well and we didn’t execute consistently enough in the first half.”

Things got slightly better in the second half, specifically on the first drive. The Jaguars took the ball downfield 80 yards in 10 plays, their best drive of the day. It was then capped off by a 17-yard James Robinson touchdown catch over Patrick Queen on a wheel route. 

But the Jaguars wouldn't score again until a 13-yard Chris Conley touchdown with 1:13 left in the game. At this point, the Jaguars were already losing 40-7. 

Minshew finished the game with 22 of 29 passing for 226 yards (7.8 yards per attempt) and two touchdowns. He also rushed twice for nine yards. But aside from the volume stats, Minshew had a number of mistakes that hurt the offense. He took a few bad sacks, including a third-quarter sack in which he left a clean pocket in the red-zone and allowed Yannick Ngakoue to strip-sack him on only a three-man rush.

But the Jaguars' offense was also limited by their lack of a punter. Punter Logan Cooke was downgraded to out with an illness. As a result, the Jaguars were forced to have kicker Aldrick Rosas handle both punting and kicking duties, leading to the Jaguars going for it on fourth-down three times. The Jaguars converted just one of these, turning the ball over on downs twice near midfield. 

To add to the woes, the Jaguars allowed Dez Bryant to score his first touchdown in over three years. The former Dallas Cowboys receiver has been mostly ineffective for the Ravens but he caught an 11-yard touchdown over Greg Mabin with 1:29 left in the first half to make it 26-0.

Jacksonville has now lost 13 games in a row, tying this current losing streak for the longest losing streak in the franchise's entire history. The 40-14 loss is the most points the Jaguars have allowed all season and is the biggest point-difference in any Jaguars game this season.

“I don’t know. I mean it’s only like 30 minutes after the game, so it’s still pretty fresh, but we’re definitely going to try to put it behind us," Minshew said. 

"I think there’s an opportunity to learn from it, as there is with every game. But man, we have to move forward, find a sense of optimism and belief that we can go win these next two.”

The Jaguars will next host the Chicago Bears (7-7) at TIAA Bank in Jacksonville.