The Jacksonville Jaguars (1-4) could not hold their late lead, falling to the Cincinnati Bengals (3-2), with a score of 30-20. The Bengals took advantage of a flurry of late miscues from the Jaguars, erasing a four point deficit with less than nine minutes remaining in the game.
The Jaguars opened the first quarter with an impressive 10-play drive, culminating in a 6-yard Maurice Jones-Drew touchdown run, giving the Jaguars an early 7-0 lead. The Bengals responded, however, taking their opening drive 69 yards for a crazy 37 yard touchdown pass: After Jeremy Mincey sacked Bengals rookie quarterback Andy Dalton for a 7 yard sack, it appeared the Jags defense had stymied the Bengals offense, but on 3rd and 17, Dalton rifled a pass to A.J. Green along the sideline, dashing into the end zone for a touchdown and a 7-7 game.
Early in the second half, Andy Dalton lobbed an ill-advised toss which safety Dwight Lowery plucked from the air, dashing within five yards of a Jags touchdown. Unfortunately, the Bengals defense stiffened, holding the Jags to a 19-yard Josh Scobee field goal and a 10-7 lead.
With the first half ending, the Bengals playing with a short field, drove 57 yards for a 3-yard touchdown pass to tight end Jermaine Gresham. The Bengals had to settle for six points, however, as Mike Nugent could not push the extra point kick through the blustery Jacksonville afternoon, leaving the game tied at 13-13.
Neither offense looked impressive in the third quarter, as the both teams added zeros to the scoreboard. The Jags offense, in 3 third quarter drives, amassed a total of 1 yard as the Bengals offense put up 39 yards over 3 drives.
In the fourth quarter, the Bengals took a 16-13 lead with under 10 minutes remaining, but the Jags responded quickly as rookie quarterback Blaine Gabbert heaved a touchdown pass deep to the wide-open Jason Hill. The 74-yard touchdown pass gave the Jaguars a 20-16 lead with only eight and a half minutes remaining.
Unfortunately, two drives later, punter Matt Turk -- who had previously had an impressive game -- booted a 22-yard stinker of a punt, which died in the howling winds and set up the Bengals for a Bernard Scott touchdown run and a 23-20 advantage.
With a few ticks under 2:00 minutes left, the Jags began to attempt a two-minute drill. After two incompletions, though, a premature snap from Brad Meester sailed by Blaine Gabbert, giving the Bengals the ball and 1:13 to kill. After they could not get a first down, though, the Jags received the ball on downs with just enough time to execute a short-pass-and-pitch play, which disastrously ended with a fumble recovery and Bengals touchdown by Geno Atkins, and the final 30-20 score.
On the day, the Jags coaching staff had be relatively pleased with the performance from Blaine Gabbert, who threw for over 200 yards and avoided any costly interceptions. The defense, despite playing very well in the preceding weeks, allowed the Bengals offense to go 8 for 19 on 3rd down conversions and, a more troubling stat, 2 for 3 on 4th down. The Bengals only amassed 239 total offensive yards on the day, but the yards they most needed, they got.