Colts vs Jaguars Week 4: Highlights, score, and recap

The Jacksonville Jaguars were looking for their first win of the season when they hosted the 1-2 Indianapolis Colts on Sunday in London. They got it.

The last time that the Jacksonville Jaguars won a football game, they pounded the Indianapolis Colts back in December of 2015. Gus Bradley’s club rolled to a 51-16 win over their AFC South rivals but dropped their final three games of the season and got off to a 0-3 start this year.

But all’s well that ends well. On Sunday in London, the Jaguars opened up a 23-6 lead in the third quarter and held on for a 30-27 win.

It was a snoozer than turned into a fourth-quarter free-for-all. The Jaguars took a 17-6 lead into halftime thanks to quarterback Blake Bortles, who threw for one score (to wideout Allen Robinson) and ran for another. Meanwhile, the Colts managed a mere 92 total yards despite having the football for more than 18 of the game’s first 30 minutes. Andrew Luck was sacked three times and one of his deflected throws was picked off by rookie defensive end Yannick Ngakoue.

The Colts finally reached the end zone early in the fourth quarter after Jacksonville had opened up that 17-point lead. A Frank Gore scoring run and a Luck TD toss to T.Y. Hilton and suddenly Pagano and company were within three points. The clubs traded touchdowns in the closing minutes and while Indianapolis got the ball back within the final 30 seconds, they failed to tie the game and fell to a disappointing 1-3 on the season.

Highlights

Three Stars

1. Blake Bortles

The Jaguars had scored a combined 54 points during their 0-3 start. But the third-year quarterback threw for 207 yards and a pair of scores and also ran for 36 yards and a touchdown as Gus Bradley’s club got win number one on the season. Perhaps just as important was the fact that the young signal-caller played turnover-free football (as did the team) after giving away the football seven times in the first three games.

2. Frank Gore

Teammate Andrew Luck threw for 234 yards and two touchdowns (1 interception) and did his best against a Jacksonville pass rush that dumped him six times. But the 12-year veteran running back was the team’s best player for the vast majority of the game. Gore ran for 68 yards and a score on 16 carries, plus caught five passes for 27 yards in the team’s narrow loss in London. The longtime performer now ranks 10th in NFL history with 12,293 yards rushing.

3. Paul Posluszny

The veteran linebacker led a defensive unit that gave up some big plays late but spent most of the afternoon harassing Colts quarterback Andrew Luck. Posluszny had 1.5 of the team’s six sacks and also finished second on the team with seven tackles. Jacksonville held off Indianapolis, 30-27, and despite the Colts’ fourth-quarter flurry the Jaguars’ defense gave up just 284 total yards in the victory.

must read: NFL Week 4: Picks and Predictions

Odds

Despite playing in London for the fourth straight year (and this being a “home” game), the Jacksonville Jaguars were a 2.5-point underdog to the Colts in Sunday’s contest.

Next Week

It’s a tricky week for the Colts, who will host the Chicago Bears next Sunday following their trip to London. The Jaguars are off next week but will travel to the Windy City in Week 6 to face these same Bears.