The Jacksonville Jaguars rallied from a 27-point deficit after a nightmarish first half on Saturday to beat the Los Angeles Chargers 31-30 in the playoffs.
It’s the third-biggest comeback in NFL history in a playoff game.
Travis Etienne set the table for Riley Patterson’s game-winning 36-yard field goal with a 25-yard run on fourth down and a yard.
Trevor Lawrence threw four interceptions in the first half before recovering with four touchdown passes without committing another turnover. Lawrence is the second quarterback to throw four touchdowns and four interceptions in a playoff game after Ben Roethlisberger in 2020.
Lawrence completed 28 of 47 passes for 288 yards.
“We couldn’t have written a crazier script,” Lawrence said. We said in the locker room that this is kind of how our season is going. We are never out of the fight. I’m a little speechless, honestly. »
Three of Lawrence’s four interceptions came from Asante Samuel Jr., who became the first rookie in history to steal three times in his first playoff game.
The Chargers led 27-0 late in the second quarter before Lawrence gave a sign of life before returning to the locker room with a nine-yard touchdown pass to Evan Engram.
Lawrence from zero to hero
Lawrence was intercepted by Drue Tranquill on his very first pass of the game, which quickly set up a 13-yard touchdown from Austin Ekeler.
Lawrence again threw an interception on the Jaguars’ second streak, this time into the hands of Samuel. The Chargers took advantage of this second turnover to add three points on Cameron Dicker’s 22-yard field goal.
Lawrence once again saw Samuel intercept one of his passes late in the first quarter. The Chargers took the ball 16 yards from the end zone and Ekeler wasted no time in scoring his second major of the game.
The Chargers added a third touchdown in the second quarter when Justin Herbert joined Gerald Everett on nine yards and Lawrence was intercepted again by Samuel afterwards.
As if that wasn’t enough, the Jaguars suffered another turnover on a Chargers punt moments later. Dicker took the opportunity to add three points with a field goal from 23 yards.
Back from the locker room, the Jaguars immediately picked up where they left off after Ingram’s touchdown late in the first half. Lawrence completed a six-yard touchdown pass to Marvin Jones Jr. to cut the deficit to 13 points in the Jaguars’ first offensive streak in the third quarter.
After another Dicker field goal, Lawrence turned to Zay Jones on the next stretch to close the gap to 30-20.
Dicker missed a 40-yard field goal midway through the fourth quarter and Lawrence then cut the gap to three with a nine-yard touchdown pass to Christian Kirk.
Joey Bosa then received a penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct after throwing his helmet to the ground in frustration. The Chargers took the opportunity to try their luck for a two-point conversion from the one-yard line. Lawrence snuck in to cut the Chargers’ lead to just two points with 5:25 on the clock.
The Jags defense forced the Chargers to punt after just three plays on the next streak and, 10 plays later, Patterson was running for 36 yards with a punt that just stayed inside the posts for the win to his own as the last seconds ticked away.
