The Jacksonville Jaguars got the kind of Week 4 win that can steady a season fast: a 22-17 finish over the Cincinnati Bengals that pushed them to 3-1 and erased last year’s loss to Cincinnati in the process.
It wasn’t clean, and it wasn’t simple. The game had the full range - timely stops, explosive plays, ugly stretches, and enough mistakes to keep it tense right through the final minute. But when it mattered most, Trevor Lawrence and the Jaguars found enough answers.
Lawrence was sharp throughout the afternoon, even if the box score doesn’t scream it at first glance. He completed 18 of 23 passes for 227 yards and a touchdown, with the two incompletions to Parker Washington looking like the only real misses that stood out early.
The lone throw that really felt off came in the second half, when he missed a wide-open Brenton Strange in the middle of the field. Outside of that, he handled the situation well, especially given the down-and-distance spots Jacksonville kept facing.
He finished with a 122.3 passer rating and now has eight passing touchdowns against two interceptions through four weeks. More than anything, he gave the Jaguars exactly what they needed as the game tightened: calm execution and another week of efficient play when the moment called for it.
The pass rush also showed up at the right time. Cincinnati dropped back an eye-popping 56 times, which gave Jacksonville plenty of chances to hunt. Josh Hines-Allen, Arik Armstead, and Travon Walker kept Joe Burrow unsettled enough to matter, and that pressure helped produce Jourdan Lewis’ interception in the first half along with several other disruptions.
Jacksonville finished with 11 quarterback hits on Sunday after putting up 13 over the first three weeks combined. Hines-Allen and Walker accounted for five of those hits together, and the overall effort looked like one of the best the Jaguars have produced under Anthony Campanile. Against that kind of passing volume, they answered the challenge.
Travis Hunter kept adding to his growing stack of impact plays. He picked off a pass and took it back for a touchdown, then had a 30-yard return wiped out by a questionable roughing the passer call in the first half. He also registered his first career game with multiple pass breakups, finishing with two PBUs, and added a hard tackle near the sideline that underscored how much more he brings than just coverage ability.
Hunter has now strung together the best two games of his NFL career over the last two weeks. The ball keeps finding him, and he keeps making something happen with it.
On the other side, Cincinnati almost seemed to abandon the run before it ever started. Burrow threw 54 times, while the Bengals’ running backs combined for only 12 carries and 17 yards, a meager 1.41 yards per carry. Chase Brown’s longest run went for just six yards, and he ended up catching more passes than he had rushing attempts, which told the story plenty clearly.
Jacksonville also got useful work from its tight ends, and that mattered in a game where the offense needed balance. The Jaguars were able to run effectively out of 12 personnel when they needed to, Nate Boerkircher chipped in with a 15-yard catch that helped set up a score, and Brenton Strange had one of the best games of his career with seven receptions for 95 yards. That group had not been featured much in the passing game through the first few weeks, but Sunday changed that.
There were still plenty of rough edges. Liam Coen said after the game that he had never been part of anything like Jacksonville’s first half, when the Jaguars were hit with 10 penalties for 100 yards.
Two touchdowns and an interception were wiped away, and the penalties kept biting in key moments late as well. A team that had been among the better penalty groups in the league coming into Week 4 lost that edge in a hurry.
And while the Bengals piled up 428 passing yards, the number came in the context of Burrow’s 54 attempts, so it wasn’t a clean all-around defensive performance. The Jaguars allowed 7.9 yards per attempt, which still beat what Lawrence produced on the other side, but there were too many moments when Cincinnati’s backup receivers were making explosive plays with Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins off the field.
The offensive line also has work to do. Lawrence was sacked four times on just 27 dropbacks, and that has to come down. Cincinnati’s front was built to make things difficult, but the Jaguars will need better pass protection in games like this if they want to avoid that becoming a problem later on.
For now, though, the record says 3-1, and the Jaguars left Sunday with a win that mattered. They also gained a little breathing room in the AFC South. They are one game ahead of the 2-2 Indianapolis Colts, while the Houston Texans sit three games back after starting 0-4.
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Ja'Marr Chase Update Carries Big Consequences After Jaguars Hit
The Jaguars left Cincinnati with a game that carried more than one ripple effect, and JaMarr Chase became one of the biggest after taking a concussion in the first half of Sundays meeting. Chase was ruled out for the rest of the game after catching three passes for 27 yards, a reminder of how quickly a matchup can turn when one of the leagues most dangerous receivers is forced to the sideline.
For Jacksonville, the immediate focus is on what comes next for the Bengals offense and whether Chase can get through concussion protocol in time for Week 5 against Miami. His availability matters not just because of his production, but because of how much the Bengals lean on him when the games start to tighten up. The next few days will determine whether that injury stays a one-game interruption or lingers into another important AFC matchup. [Read more 🡒]
Trevor Lawrence Faces An Early AFC Test Jaguars Fans Will Feel
The Jaguars head into Week 4 with a good early read on where they stand, and Sundays trip to Cincinnati figures to say plenty more. Jacksonville and the Bengals both sit at 2-1, which gives this matchup a little more weight than your usual September road game, especially with kickoff set for 1 p.m. ET at Paycor Stadium and a national CBS audience watching Trevor Lawrence get another AFC measuring stick.
Lawrence has been steady enough to keep Jacksonville in the mix, but Joe Burrow and the Bengals bring the kind of quarterback test that can expose what still needs cleaning up on both sides of the ball. The numbers around each offense and defense point to two teams trying to separate from the pack, and for the Jaguars, this is the sort of early conference game that can shape how seriously the rest of the league takes them. [Read more 🡒]
Tee Higgins Injury Leaves Bengals Facing One Big Offensive Concern
Tee Higgins night ended early against the Jaguars after the Cincinnati wide receiver suffered an adductor injury late in the game and tried, unsuccessfully, to return. For a Bengals offense that leans heavily on its top pass catchers, any issue with Higgins is worth watching closely, especially when it comes on the heels of a physical matchup and leaves another layer of uncertainty in the passing game.
Cincinnati has not offered a recovery timeline, and the next step is further evaluation to determine just how long Higgins might be sidelined. For Jacksonville, the injury was one of the more notable late-game developments from a contest that already carried its share of contact and consequences, and it now puts the Bengals in wait-and-see mode with a key receiver whose availability can shape how that offense looks in the coming weeks. [Read more 🡒]