Jaguars hang in before mistakes lead to 28-23 loss to Jets

The Jaguars blew a golden opportunity in the fourth quarter.

Sunday’s game against the New York Jets was a good football game, it was fun to watch and was suspenseful up until the interception thrown by Blake Bortles that ended the game. Let’s look at three takeaways from the win in week 9. “It’s hard to get in this league”.

But Ryan Fitzpatrick threw two touchdown passes while playing with a torn ligament in his left thumb, Chris Ivory ran for two scores and the Jets took advantage of late mistakes by the Jaguars to squeeze out the victory.

A six-play, 51-yard drive midway through the first quarter put the Jets up 7-3 when quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick found wide receiver Eric Decker for a six-yard touchdown catch.

“There’s a chance it could get damaged, but the way they have got it bandaged up, he’s been OK with it”, Bowles said. “You look back on it, a lot of these were self-inflicted, the turnovers and the penalties at inopportune times. We did it to ourselves”. “We worked out a couple today”, the coach said.

Bradley said while he sees progress offensively at the season’s midway point, and while there are positives defensively such as the run defense, “unfortunately we’re not doing enough of those things at critical times”.

It sounds as if Jets quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick will indeed have surgery on his injured left thumb Friday, the day after the Jets play the Bills.

“I’ve got to get rid of the ball or take off and run or do something”, Bortles said of the turnover.

The Jets staked themselves to a 14-3 lead midway through the second quarter and seemed to be in cruise-control but then let the game almost fall through their fingers.

If Fitzpatrick can keep up the pace, it’s up to Todd Bowles and defensive coordinator Kacy Rodgers try to come up with a way to slow down opposing offenses while the Jets hope to make a push for the post-season in his first year at the helm. Three plays later, Marshall made his big grab in the back of the end zone that made it 28-16 with 2:41 left.

But the craziest one of all was kicker Nick Folk’s right quad. Folk was scheduled to have an MRI on Monday.

Cornerback Antonio Cromartie also left with a thigh injury, and safety Dion Bailey has an ankle injury.

Fitzpatrick was much better than decent on Sunday, despite essentially taking his snaps one-handed.

– 2013 Titans won 20-16. The Jaguars might have scored the go-ahead touchdown and pulled the upset if not for the numerous mistakes they made in the fourth quarter, when Jacksonville turned the ball over three times and was flagged for a costly offsides during a first-and-goal from the Jets’ 10-yard-line.

Former Hurricanes wide receiver, Allen Hurns, is making an unexpected – at least to those outside of Miami – splash in the NFL. The narrative of “close but no cigar” is becoming all too familiar for a team that has lost five games by 11 points or less en route to a 2-6 record to start the season.