CINCINNATI — The Jacksonville Jaguars overcame 13 penalties and 428 passing yards from Joe Burrow to beat the Cincinnati Bengals 22-17 at Paycor Stadium Sunday, a grinding road victory that head coach Liam Coen called a measure of his team’s maturity.
Jacksonville built a 13-3 halftime lead before the Bengals clawed back, but the Jaguars defense stopped Cincinnati a yard short on 4th-and-10 from the Jacksonville 21-yard line with 50 seconds remaining, sealing the win. Safety Rayuan Lane made the game-clinching tackle.
“It says a lot about our team to be able to win these games,” quarterback Trevor Lawrence said. “We lost a game like this in Denver a couple of weeks ago. It’s a good bounce back for us.”
The victory came at a steep self-inflicted cost. Jacksonville committed 10 penalties for 100 yards in the first half alone and finished with 125 penalty yards total — a jarring departure for a team that entered the week as the least penalized in the NFL. Running back Bhayshul Tuten had two touchdowns nullified by holding calls, and the Jaguars’ backfield combination of Tuten and Chris Rodriguez Jr. was held to 108 yards rushing at a 4.69-per-carry average after 53 yards and those two scores were wiped off the board.
“I’m proud of the growth and proud of the group for sticking with it and overcoming a lot of bad stuff,” Coen said.
The Jaguars’ defense held the Bengals to just 23 yards rushing despite Burrow’s prolific passing day. Cincinnati was also hurt when wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase left in the second quarter with a concussion. Cornerback and wide receiver Travis Hunter recorded two pass breakups — a career high — and had a first-half interception of Burrow that was negated by a roughing-the-passer penalty on defensive tackle Arik Armstead. Hunter played a career-high 70 defensive snaps.
Tight end Brenton Strange was Jacksonville’s most productive offensive weapon, finishing with seven catches for 95 yards. Linebacker Foye Oluokun offered the bluntest summary of the afternoon: “Gritty, not pretty.”
The Jaguars, the defending AFC South champions, have now won two of their first four games by comfortable margins and added Sunday’s close-game victory to their résumé. Jacksonville’s next game will determine whether the team can carry the momentum from Cincinnati into its upcoming schedule.