JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Jacksonville Jaguars coach Gus Bradley got exactly what he wanted early Sunday afternoon.
He has talked repeatedly about young teams feeding off momentum, and his team certainly had it after the first 30 minutes against the Houston Texans at EverBank Field.
The Jaguars led 13-10 (just their third halftime lead this season) and held quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick to just 27 yards passing. They didn’t allow the Texans to convert a third down (0-for-5) and had held defensive end J.J. Watt pretty much in check.
Plus, this was just a week after the Jaguars rallied for a come-from-behind victory over the New York Giants.
It was a perfect set up and just what the youngest team in the NFL needed. Momentum was wearing a teal T-shirt and waving black and gold pom-poms.
With all that energy behind them, the Jaguars went out and gained just 73 yards (four in the third quarter), managed only five first downs, gave up 17 points and ended up falling by the score of 27-13, their 27th double-digit loss since the beginning of the 2012 season.
"When you’re a young team, you kind of feed off momentum, and I think that’s who we are," Bradley said. "We saw it last week. We start making some plays, and good things happen to us after that. … The first half, we did that, and to not be able to finish it in the second half, I think that’s the part that was frustrating for all of us."
Frustrating but not surprising.
Several players -- notably receiver Cecil Shorts and left tackle Luke Joeckel -- said they weren’t sure what happened in the second half. It’s the same thing that happened against Philadelphia, San Diego, Pittsburgh, Tennessee, Miami and Indianapolis. The young offense commits mistake after mistake, nobody steps up to make a play, and the defense, which has done a remarkable job of keeping the games close, eventually breaks down under the pressure of having to be perfect.
It is the Jaguars’ identity in 2014. The players don’t want to admit it, but they’ve done it week after week.
"I don’t think I can answer that and say, ‘Yeah, that’s what we are,'" Sen'Derrick Marks said. "I think we’re just a team of youth, and we have to find a way to continue to be consistent. We’ve got to figure out a way how we can finish games because that’s what it boils down to. We were still in the game, driving the ball in a two-possession game, [and] all we had to do was score and get a stop, but we’ve got to find a way to finish games on both sides of the ball."
Here’s how the Jaguars went about not finishing:
The offense’s first three drives of the second half gained five, minus-1 and 10 yards.
The Texans’ first possession lasted 17 plays and 8:29, and it ended with rookie running back Alfred Blue's first career touchdown.
Quarterback Blake Bortles was intercepted by safety D.J. Swearinger to end the Jaguars' second possession. Bortles tried to hit running back Toby Gerhart on an out route, and Swearinger undercut the throw for the easy pick.
"I probably should have never thrown it," Bortles said. "I had Cecil on the sideline, sitting out there. I probably should have thrown it to Cecil or thrown it over [Gerhart’s] head."
Houston turned that turnover into a touchdown when Arian Foster scored on a 1-yard run on fourth down. Foster tried to run off right guard but ran into a mass of players. He reversed field and went into the end zone untouched to put the Texans ahead 24-13. The closest defender was safety Johnathan Cyprien, who swiped at Fosters’ feet as he dove over the pile.
Shorts also dropped a pass when he was wide open that would have resulted in a first down, and defensive tackle Roy Miller jumped offside on a fourth-and-1.
The Jaguars held the ball for just 9:11 in the second half.
"I’m not sure exactly what happened [in the] second half, but we’ve got to figure out a way to get this thing going," Shorts said. "We can’t have one good half and one bad half. We have to put a full game together."
And learn how to capitalize on momentum.
