Jaguar Report

Young Players Fuel Jaguars to 27-20 Victory Over Colts

Jacksonville picks up the big Week 1 victory over the Colts thanks to a host of big plays from their youthful core of talent.

John Shipley

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — For the first time since 2011, the Jaguars (1-0) are leaving from home in Week 1 with a 1-0 record thanks to a 27-20 victory over the Indianapolis Colts (0-1). And for most, it came at the most surprising time possible.

With many pegging the Jaguars as the likely leading candidate for the No. 1 overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft, the young and hungry Jaguars team made sure to open the 2020 season with a resounding answer to their critics. The win marked the sixth consecutive victory for the Jaguars over the Colts in Jacksonville.

Things got off to a bumpy start for Jacksonville but the Jaguars rallied and scratched and fought all the way until the final buzzer, taking their first lead with six minutes left in the game and never giving it up. The biggest factor to the win was the Jaguars being +2 in the turnover margin department, picking off Colts quarterback Philip Rivers twice.

First-round rookie cornerback CJ Henderson recorded his first NFL interception at the start of the second quarter, setting up a six-yard touchdown pass from Gardner Minshew to DJ Chark for Jacksonville's first score of the day. 

"That was huge for our defense. Kind of started to set the tone for our turnaround," linebacker Joe Schobert said of Henderson's interception.

But the biggest interception would come with 5:52 left in the game, with second-year safety Andrew Wingard on the receiving end this time. Wingard sat down in a zone after subbing into the game for an injured Jarrod Wilson, and he was able to read a short Rivers pass perfectly, intercepting it to give the Jaguars a chance to build upon what was a 24-20 lead at the time.

"Andrew goes in there and comes up with a great play. I mean, really a great play," head coach Doug Marrone said. 

The interception would propel the Jaguars to a 46-yard field goal from Josh Lambo, who also made a 50-yard field goal earlier in the game. The field goal would give the Jaguars a 27-20 lead, and then the Jaguars would turn to their rookie cornerback once more to seal the game. 

On 4th-and-5 at the Jaguars 26-yard-line with just 0:49 left, Rivers looked to his right immediately off of the snap to get the ball to his No. 1 wide receiver T.Y. Hilton. Hilton nearly had the ball for a first down, but Henderson knocked it out of his hands before the two hit the ground to seal the win. Henderson finished the game with one interception and three pass deflections.

The Jaguars struggled overall with Rivers, allowing 17 first downs through the air and 357 yards on 46 attempts, but the defense was able to force Rivers into enough mistakes to offset his big plays. 

Offensively, the Jaguars didn't have a ton of explosive plays but they moved the ball efficiently. The team leaned upon undrafted rookie running back James Robinson as their starter, giving him 16 carries for 62 yards (3.9 yards per carry). ) He is the first undrafted rookie to start on the first week of games and rush for at least 45 yards in NFL history.

Robinson had 10 carries for 61 yards at halftime, but the Colts bottled him up for the entire second half. Still, the young running back got the Jaguars into good down-and-distance situations early on. He then made a huge play in the fourth quarter as a receiver, taking a swing pass for 28-yards after a wildly impressive hurdle over two Colts defenders. 

The hurdle preceded the Jaguars taking their first lead of the game: a terrific play-action pass from Minshew to Keelan Cole for a 22-yard score, which was Minshew's third touchdown of the day, capping off a day in which Cole led the team in yards (47), targets (5) and catches (5). It was the third time Minshew has thrown three touchdowns in a game in the NFL, with two instances coming against the Colts. 

Minshew didn't have any completions outside of the one to Cole for a touchdown that went for further than 20 yards in the air, but he moved the ball efficiently all day and stayed out of bad decisions. He finished the game 19-of-20 for 173 yards (8.7 yards per attempt), which gives him a staggering 95.0 completion percentage for the day. 

His only incomplete pass? A drop by rookie receiver Laviska Shenault in the game. 

But Shenault moved on from that drop easily, making a few big plays for the Jaguars before halftime. In one drive alone, Shenault caught an 18-yard pass near the right sideline, got a five-yard gain as a wildcat quarterback and then caught a 15-yard touchdown pass.

Jacksonville's young players have as much pressure on them as any in the league considering what is at stake for the team in 2020, but on Sunday they met that pressure head-on and scoffed at it. From Henderson to Robinson to Shenault, the Jaguars had their young core help push them to a Week 1 victory: something most predicted would be impossible for the Jaguars. 

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John Shipley
JOHN SHIPLEY

John Shipley has been covering the Jacksonville Jaguars as a beat reporter and publisher of Jaguar Report since 2019. Previously, he covered UCF's undefeated season as a beat reporter for NSM.Today, covered high school prep sports in Central Florida, and covered local sports and news for the Palatka Daily News. Follow John Shipley on Twitter at @_john_shipley.

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