Jaguars 26 49ers 21: Post Game

The Jaguars picked up another big gritty win to advance to 3-1 so far on the season. It wasn't perfect by any means but this Jaguars team is finding different ways to win each week and that's all that matters come playoff time. Lawrence didn't light up the stat sheet but as far as I'm concerned most of the day he played winning football. After a down year, it appears Ettiene is all the way back to being a top 10 running back in this league. Any concern that Tuten would cut into his workload should be eased for at least a little while as Ettiene go 20 touches to Tuten's 5. Ettiene finished with 19 carries for 124 yards and a touchdown. The defense made another statement adding another 4 takeaways to their total, bringing them to a league leading 13 already this year.

The Jaguars defense was able to hold San Francisco to a field goal on their first drive. Then after a Jacksonville punt, LB Dennis Gardeck forced a 49ers fumble that was recovered by S Andrew Wingard. The very next play Ettiene takes a pitch 48 yards to the house giving the Jaguars an early 7-3.

The very next drive the new king of Jacksonville, Devin Lloyd, intercepts a ball that was tipped off of McCaffery's fingertips, giving the Jaguars a chance to build an early lead. Trevor Lawrence and the Jaguars offense would then have its best drive this season. The Jaguars were backed up with 3rd and 15 from their own 4 yard line when Lawrence ripped a ball up the seam and hit Hunter, who made a fantastic play on a high ball, to come down with the catch and pick up a key 1st down. Lawrence went 8/8 on the drive finishing it off with a perfectly placed throw to Hunter Long for a TD. If the Jaguars can get this version of Trevor Lawrence more often they could be a really scary team come January.

The 49ers were able to get a field goal with about 40 seconds left in the 1st half but the Jaguars offense, with the help of a few penalties were able to get a field goal themselves making it 17-6 at the break. The Jaguars absolutely dominated the first half in San Francisco and probably played their best half of football so far.

The 3rd quarter was absolutely atrocious for both teams. The Jaguars offense started with a bad 3 and out only managing to gain 4 yards. The 49ers would march down with the help of some Jaguar penalties and finally find the end zone. McCaffery scored on a little shovel pass play that must've been sent out in a memo to every OC this week. The 49ers picked up the two point conversion to get the score to 17-14 with all the momentum in their favor.

After the Jaguars punted on the next drive it looked like the 49ers would have the perfect opportunity to take a lead and crush some spirits. Unfortunately Brock Purdy and the 49ers just did not see Devin Lloyd coming today. The first play of the 49ers drive, Purdy has a ball barely tipped at the line by Maason Smith and it goes straight into the arms of Devin Lloyd who read the seam route perfectly. Lloyd and Oluokon have been on fire so far and they just outplayed maybe the best LB duo in the league in Fred Warner and Dee Winters.

Unfortunately the Jaguars offense went dead cold in the 3rd quarter and they settled for field goal. While the Jags did manage to hold on, it seems like they still missed a ton of chances to put this game away down the stretch, a lot like last week. Luckily the 49ers kept giving them plenty of chances. After a quick 3 and out on the next drive, San Fran would make the mistake of punting to Parker Washington who took it 87 yards to the house pushing the lead to 26-14 at the end of the 3rd quarter.

The 49ers would then turn the ball over on downs in Jacksonville territory instead of kicking the field goal and taking the points. Understandable at the time, given a field goal still would kept it a two score game. However, that kick could have made it so all they needed on the final drive was a field goal to win. Maybe they didn't believe the Jaguars would go three and out again, which of course they did the very next drive. The 49ers would then take the next possession 92 yards in just 8 plays, scoring a TD to make it a 26-21 game. You can only contain the Shanahan screen game for so long and he finally burned the Jaguars on a nicely designed and executed TE screen to Tonges.

The Jaguars were able to run about 4 minutes off the clock but had to settle for a field goal to try and push the lead to 8. Little pushed the kick wide right and it looked like the 49ers who had just shredded the Jaguars defense would get a chance to go down and win the game. Fortunately, the Jaguars defense had the answer as Arik Armstead strips Brock Purdy of the ball and its recovered by Oluokon all but sealing the game. After a little bit of late game drama caused by Lawrence going out of bounds the Jags would eventually finish running out the clock.

This is a massive early season win for a now 3-1 Jaguars team that's tied at the top of the AFC South with the Colts. I know the 49ers were banged up but Purdy did play and the 49ers were 3-0 coming into this game. The Jaguars have also historically been abysmal on these west coast road trips so this win should give them confidence the next time they have to do it. Lawrence's stat line isn't going to blow anyone away as he finished with just 171 yards passing going 21/31. He played winning football for most of the game though. He and BTJ seemed to be a little more ins sync this week and he finally connected on a big play with Hunter. Things are looking up in his first year under Liam Coen and if he can just be a little bit more consistent I think this offense has another gear it can hit. San Francisco is one of the best pass defenses in the league and Lawrence did well to avoid the big mistake today. The Jaguars will take on the Chiefs next week in a massive Monday Night Showdown back in Jacksonville. The Chiefs seem to be rounding into form after just beating the breaks off the Ravens today. It will undoubtedly be the biggest test of the Jaguars season so far. A win could go a long way in putting some eyes on Duval this year.