Broncos get smoked at home by underdog Jaguars; lose for first time in 91 days

Living on the edge eventually catches up to you and for the Denver Broncos it finally caught up to them in Week 16 after an 11-game win streak with the visiting Jacksonville Jaguars coming into Denver and punching the NFL’s best record holding team right in the mouth. It is a tough game to drop, but I feel better about the Broncos facing some adversity before the playoffs start just to remind them how it feels to come up short.

The question now is whether or not they can bounce back and close out the season with the number one seed in the AFC. This was their first loss at home since Week 6 of last season, so making the conference come through Denver is ideal.

Broncos vs. Jaguars final score

First Quarter

The Broncos defense came out to play with two early third down sacks to force three-and-outs, but a missed 44-yard field goal by Wil Lutz breathed life into the Jaguars offense. Albeit, they were aided by some garbage officiating (yet again) and capped their third possession with third 12-yard touchdown pass from Trevor Lawrence to Parker Washington.

Denver would open things up on their next drive with a big play, but did end the quarter down by a touchdown.

Jaguars 7, Broncos 0. Full first quarter recap.

Second Quarter

That big play was a 34-yard dime to Evan Engram to close out that first quarter.

The drive would lead to some Nix to Courtland Sutton action with a beautiful floater from 15-yards out right into the bucket for a game-tying touchdown.

The Jaguars offense would annoyingly not go away despite the constant three-and-outs. In between, they would get drives going and would convert with touchdowns. Late in the second quarter they’d score another touchdown with Brenton Strange pushing off P.J. Locke fairly egregiously, but that’s how the cookie crumbles.

Denver’s defense kind of disappeared late in first half and gave up chunk yardage with two minutes left to set themselves to extend their lead with a field goal to end the half.

Jaguars 17, Broncos 10. Full second quarter recap.

Third Quarter

Denver came out strong in the second half with a couple of nice completions by Bo Nix, then from 38-yards out RJ Harvey broke multiple tackles on his ways to a touchdown to tie the game up early in the third.

The Jaguars would answer with a touchdown of their own thanks almost entirely to some of the worst officiating we’ve seen all year. Some phantom “body weight” personal foul penalty, a no call delay of game, and then another phantom DPI call on Jahdae Barron. You just can’t make up the string of errors from officials. It’s not just this game, it has been in enough games across the entire league to confirm to me that the NFL has a massive officiating problem and its damaging their sport at this point.

That would be the end of needing officiating help, though, as the Jaguars would put up another touchdown drive behind a 63-yard catch and run by Parker Washington. The route was on it seemed from there.

Bo Nix and Jaleel McLaughlin would have a bad exchange on Denver’s next drive that would lead to a Jaguars fumble recovery. Jacksonville would end up with another first and goal at the end of the quarter after a big catch and run by Parker Washington after a Riley Moss missed tackle on third down.

Jaguars 31, Broncos 17. Full third quarter recap.

Fourth Quarter

Que Robinson opened up the fourth quarter with a sack and the Broncos defense did hold on a goal line stand to force a field goal. However, down by 17, the Broncos needed a lot of offense and a lot of luck to come back from this one.

Nix and the Broncos offense wasn’t quite dead yet, though, and on their next drive they hit the big play on a 49-yard strike to Troy Franklin to setup a first and goal at the Jaguars nine yard line.

A quick pass to Pat Bryant for six setup a second and goal from the three yard line where things would stall out. They would kick the field goal to try to at least make it a two score game again.

The Broncos defense got a quick three-and-out, which is what Denver needed. RJ Harvey would take a quick swing pass outside and turn nit up field for a 32-yard gain into Jaguars territory on the Broncos first offensive play of their next drive.

Harvey would pick up eight on the next play, but two incompletions later they’d be faced with a fourth and two from the Jaguars 41-yard line. Nix would throw an interception with Pat Bryant well covered on the sideline. That would be how the Broncos 11-game win streak would come to an end.

Jaguars 34, Broncos 20.

At 12-3, the Broncos still have the inside track to the one seed and that’s all that matters. They need to come out and win on Thursday against the Kansas City Chiefs and then close out with a win over the Los Angeles Chargers in Week 18.