DENVER (AP) — Trevor Lawrence is playing the best ball of his five-year career and now he has a signature win to show for it.
Lawrence threw three touchdown passes and ran for a score, leading the Jacksonville Jaguars to a resounding 34-20 win that snapped the Denver Broncos' 11-game winning streak Sunday and added some spice to the AFC playoff picture.
“I feel great with our offense right now, what we’re able to do, the passing game, guys are making plays, giving them opportunities down the field, and we’re protecting well," Lawrence said. “We’re doing a lot of things well. We just got to not take it for granted."
Lawrence has been on a six-week heater, mastering the nuances of first-year coach Liam Coen’s offense and stoking his connection with trade-deadline addition Jakobi Meyers. The Jaguars had outscored their previous five opponents by a cumulative 171-72, but this was Lawrence’s best performance of his breakout season.
“He's doing it all,” Coen said. “He’s doing everything that you want your guy to be doing, and he’s doing it at a high level right now.”
The AFC South-leading Jaguars (11-4) won their sixth straight game and handed the Broncos (12-3) their first loss since Week 3. It was also Denver's first defeat at home since Oct. 13, 2024, ending the Broncos' 12-game home winning streak.
Although they remain atop the AFC playoff race, the Broncos' lead over the Los Angeles Chargers in the AFC West was sliced to one game. The teams play in Week 18. Denver has a short turnaround with a trip to face Kansas City on Christmas night.
“It's always good to have a short week after a loss like this," defensive tackle Malcolm Roach said, echoing the sentiment in the Broncos' subdued locker room.
After Broncos rookie RJ Harvey pinballed his way for a 38-yard touchdown to tie it at 17 on the opening drive of the second half, it was all Jacksonville.
Lawrence scored on a 1-yard keeper, then hit Parker Washington for 63 yards to set up Travis Etienne's 10-yard TD catch. After Bo Nix fumbled his exchange with running back Jaleel McLaughlin — “Both of us wanted the ball,” Nix explained — Lawrence drove Jacksonville for its fifth consecutive score, a 26-yard field goal by Cam Little that made it 34-17.
On a day Meyers was held to 45 yards on four catches, Washington caught six passes for a career-best 145 yards and a TD.
“We knew we were going to be in a crazy atmosphere today, and we’ve answered the adversity many times throughout this season, and we continue to do that,” Washington said. “I feel like that’s our edge.”
The Broncos were driving after pulling within 34-20. But on fourth down from Jacksonville's 41, Nix telegraphed a throw to Pat Bryant that was easily intercepted by Jarrian Jones. Later, Bryant was carted off after he took a vicious hit in the final minute.
In a matchup of the NFL's two most penalized teams, Denver committed two big penalties on a drive that ended with Lawrence taking it in from the 1 to give Jacksonville the lead for good.
Lawrence was sacked five times by the league's best pass rush — the Broncos have a franchise record-tying 63 sacks on the season — but he still threw for 279 yards with three TDs and no interceptions. Jacksonville was 4 of 5 in the red zone against the league's best red-zone defense.
Nix laments Bryant's injury
Nix threw for a career-best 353 yards, but he wasn't his usual sharp self, turning it over twice and throwing a regrettable high pass that led to Bryant's injury with 31 seconds remaining. Bryant was strapped to a body board and carted off.
“He’s got movement. That’s encouraging,” Denver coach Sean Payton said. “He was moving his hands and his legs.”
Bryant was injured on a whiplash tackle by Montaric Brown after his leaping catch. The officials picked up the flag, however, ruling Brown hadn’t hit him in the neck or head area, although replays appeared to show the crown of Brown’s helmet hitting Bryant’s chin.
Nix was shaken up watching as Bryant was tended to by the medical team.
“You never want to see somebody in that situation and I feel responsible because I threw it," he said. “You really pray he's OK and can be back out there as soon as he can.”
Broncos hindered by their home crowd
On their first scoring drive, Lawrence and the Jaguars actually benefited from the din that rattled Empower Field when Jacksonville was flagged for a false start. Blitzing safety P.J. Locke, however, said he didn't hear the whistle and put a vicious blind-side hit on Lawrence. Only that 15-yard penalty was enforced, jump-starting Jacksonville's TD drive.
Payton expects his team to bounce back
Payton figured the Broncos will handle their first loss in three months the same way they navigated all that winning since September.
“I said to them, one of the things you've managed to do each week is get on to the next challenge,” Payton said. “So I think the same thing has to apply, especially on a short week like this. You've shown the ability to digest the game before and then get onto the next challenge. And you have to do the same after a tough loss.”
Injuries
Jaguars: RG Patrick Mekari (back) was hurt.
Broncos: Lost TE Nate Adkins (knee) and ILB Dre Greenlaw (hamstring) to injuries.
Up next
Jaguars: At Indianapolis next Sunday.
Broncos: Visit Kansas City on Christmas night.
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