First-year kicker Jason Myers struck home a 28-yard field goal in the final minute of the Jacksonville Jaguars' Week 2 game against the in-state Miami Dolphins to power the Jags to a 23-20 upset win over their fellow Floridians. Myers also hit a booming 58-yard kick to give Jacksonville a seven-point lead as the game went to halftime.
The Jaguars were without five starters; tight end Julius Thomas, offensive tackle Luke Joeckel, defensive tackle Sen'Derrick Marks, defensive end Andre Branch, and strong safety Johnathan Cyprien were all on the team's inactives list.
It was a very contested matchup between two young and talented quarterbacks, Ryan Tannehill for Miami and Blake Bortles for Jacksonville.
Jacksonville, after a frustrating defeat to the Carolina Panthers in Week 1, clicked right from the gate. Bortles led the offense in a surge of 10 plays and 81 yards down the field, hitting Allen Robinson for a three-yard score to cap off the drive and hand the Jags their first opening-drive TD since November of last season.
Robinson had a big day on the receiving end, racking up 145 yards and a pair of scores on six receptions. There was something different in the Jaguars offense from the opening drive in the game, a fire within the offense that would give them a kickstart to begin the game.
The Dolphins also found very good success in the passing game, with another member of the secondary of the Jags getting an injury in cornerback Davon House, in addition to the Cyprien injury.
Tannehill exploited Jacksonville's short-handed secondary and finished the game with 359 yards and two touchdowns on 30 of 44 passing. Two Dolphins wide receivers had over 100 yards throughout the game as well, with Rashad Matthews (115 yards on 6 receptions) and Jarvis Landry (110 yards on 8 receptions) putting up prime performances.
However, the theme of the game for Miami was their non-availability to a rushing game for a second straight week, as their leading rusher was Tannehill at QB, who finished with 17 yards on three carries.
A major downfall for Miami was their crucial turnovers down the wire, highlighted by defensive end Oliver Vernon's shove to Jaguars tight end Clay Harbor that would give 15 yards to the Jags, which set Jacksonville up in the redzone within the final two minutes of the game. The Dolphins had 13 penalties that accumulated for 112 yards Sunday as a Joe Philbin-coached side that thrives on reducing penalties.
It was an exciting win for the Jags, and they will have their biggest test in the past few seasons into the tenure of head coach Gus Bradley, a road trip to Gilette Stadium in Foxborough, MA to face the New England Patriots.
Jacksonville reduced its mistakes Sunday and thrived on an early passing-game storm, as well as defensive heroics late into the game. Next week, it will take a game of a lifetime for the Jags to seek out a win against the defending Super Bowl champions.
Can the Jaguars make the biggest upset of the season? The organization just wants to salvage Sunday's victory and try to do the same in preparation to face Tom Brady and the Patriots next week.
