Jacksonville’s Maurice Jones-Drew ran for 105 yards against the NFL’s best run defense as the Jaguars ended a five-game NFL slide with victory over the Baltimore Ravens on Monday.
Stepping into the national spotlight of Monday night football, the Jaguars used their best defensive effort in five years to slow down Ray Rice, Joe Flacco and Co.
Jacksonville did not allow a first down until the 5 minute, 26 second mark of the third quarter, due to a mix of stout defense and inept offense.
Photo: Reuters
Flacco finally got the Ravens on the scoreboard with a little more than two minutes remaining. He capped a 90-yard drive with a five-yard touchdown pass to Anquan Boldin.
The Ravens failed to recover an onside kick when the ball bounced inches short of going the required 10 yards. Jaguars kicker Josh Scobee followed with his third field-goal of at least 50 yards — he kicked four in all to account for the entire team score.
Baltimore had one more chance with a final possession, but in fitting fashion Jacksonville’s defense came up big. Drew Coleman stepped in front of Ed Dickson and intercepted Flacco’s final pass.
The Ravens finished with just 146 total yards. The Jaguars had 205 yards.
The Jaguars set a franchise record by allowing only 16 yards in the first half, including one yard passing by Flacco, who was under relentless pressure for much of the night.
Baltimore finally got a first down on their 28th play of the game when Rice broke off a 12-yard run. That was only the second play longer than 10 yards for the Ravens, although they picked up two more first downs on the drive. It ended when Dwight Lowery sacked Flacco and Billy Cundiff’s 52-yard field-goal attempt went wide right.
The teams combined to go none-of-16 on third-down conversions in the opening half. The Jaguars began the third quarter with six first downs.
The Ravens stopped Jacksonville, but Brendon Ayanbadejo was called for a personal foul and ejected from the game when he punched Guy Whimper in the facemask after the play. That gave the Jaguars first-and-goal from the three, but Blaine Gabbert failed to complete two passes in the end zone and Scobee kicked a 22-yard field-goal.
The Ravens had 10 possessions through three quarters — eight punts, a missed field-goal and Rice’s fumble in the third quarter. The first time they reached Jacksonville territory, midway through the second quarter, they went backward 33 yards. Michael Oher was called for holding twice and Flacco completed two passes that lost yards both times.
In a play that summed up Baltimore’s night, Jeremy Mincey knocked down Flacco’s pass. Flacco caught the ball and ran toward the left sideline until he was slung down for an eight-yard loss.
Jacksonville were not much better offensively, though that was not a surprise. The Jaguars are last in the NFL in offense, the lone hope coming from Jones-Drew. He carried 30 times, most of them right into the middle of Baltimore’s revered defense.
Gabbert completed nine of 20 passes for 93 yards. Flacco was 21 of 38 for 137 yards. Rice ran eight times for 28 yards.
Baltimore’s star was Sam Koch, who punted nine times for a 52.2 yard average.
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