The Jacksonville Jaguars were floundering at 1-5 with no
relief in sight as they took on the Baltimore Ravens on October 24, 2011. It
had been nothing but one defeat after another for Head Coach Jack Del Rio’s
team following an opening-week victory over the Titans. While the offense
contained a formidable talent in RB Maurice Jones-Drew, scoring points was
difficult with QB Blaine Gabbert very much a work in progress and a weak
receiving corps. The defense was the far better unit, but could only do so much
without more point production.
Meanwhile the Ravens, under Head Coach John Harbaugh, had
been to the postseason in each of the previous three seasons and was 4-1 coming
into the contest at Jacksonville. Long known for solid defense, Baltimore ’s offense
featured an outstanding running back of its own in Ray Rice and a skilled, if
oft-criticized, quarterback in Joe Flacco.
There was a crowd of 62,976 for the Monday night game at
EverBank Field. Neither offense was able to move effectively during the first
quarter. The Jaguars got the first break when Rice fumbled (his first in 522
touches) and CB Rashean Mathis recovered at the Baltimore 34. But after a drive that featured
Jones-Drew runs of 11 and 12 yards, the star running back fumbled on a
first-and-goal play at the three and LB Jameel McClain recovered for the Ravens
(originally ruled down by contact, the call was reversed upon replay).
The defensive struggle continued into the second quarter.
Midway through the period, Gabbert started a series for the Jaguars with
back-to-back completions of 24 yards to WR Jason Hill and 11 yards to WR Mike
Sims-Walker to get to the Baltimore
38. The drive stalled there and once again Gabbert was sacked on third down,
but the ensuing punt was nullified when DE Paul Kruger was penalized for
running into the kicker. While it was just a five-yard penalty, it led to three
more points for the Jaguars as Scobee again connected from 54 yards. Neither of
the teams was able to get out of its own territory for the remainder of the
period and the score remained 6-0 at halftime. The Ravens had failed to
register a first down and gained a total of just 25 yards of offense for the
half (as opposed to 85 yards for the home team).
Heading into the fourth quarter the teams traded punts
until, with 5:22 on the clock, the Ravens put together a long scoring drive.
Starting from their 10, Flacco completed five straight passes and, going to the
air on every play, went 10 for 13. The last was complete to WR Anquan Boldin
for a five-yard touchdown and, with the successful extra point, it was a
two-point game at 9-7.
Now with just over two minutes remaining, Baltimore
attempted an onside kick, but it was touched by a Raven before going the
required distance and Jacksonville
took over. Three short carries by Jones-Drew set up a 51-yard field goal
attempt by Scobee that was successful. While there was still time for the
Ravens to try and win the game, a Flacco pass was intercepted by CB Drew
Coleman to nail down the 12-7 win for the Jaguars.
In a game in which neither offense had much success, Jacksonville led in total
yards (205 to 146) and first downs (13 to 11). Baltimore ’s normally proficient ground game
was held to 34 yards while the Jaguars had just 73 net passing yards. The
Ravens turned the ball over twice, to one turnover by Jacksonville , and also hurt themselves with
10 penalties.
Maurice Jones-Drew (pictured above) was, not surprisingly, the key to the
offense with 105 yards on 30 carries, making him the first running back to
reach the 100-yard mark in a game against the Ravens defense in 2011. Blaine
Gabbert completed 9 of 20 passes for 93 yards, and while none were for scores,
he also threw no interceptions. Jason Hill was the top receiver with 4 catches
for 62 yards. Josh Scobee became the sixth NFL placekicker to boot three field
goals from over 50 yards in a game.
For the Ravens, Joe Flacco was successful on 21 of 38 throws
for 137 yards with a TD and an interception. Ray Rice rushed for just 28 yards
on 8 carries but also led the club in receptions with 5 catches for 35 yards.
Anquan Boldin gained 40 yards on his four receptions that included the only
touchdown of the game.
“It finally feels good to win one after all those losses,”
said Maurice Jones-Drew.
“They basically beat us with their defense,” summed up Coach
Harbaugh for the Ravens. “I don’t think it was any one thing. It was a lack of
execution. It’s almost as bad as you can play on offense.”
“You’ve got to give them (the Jaguars) credit,” added Anquan
Boldin. “They played like it was their Super Bowl.”
The Jaguars lost the next week and won just once more before
Coach Del Rio was fired. Overall, they ended up with a 5-11 record to finish
third in the AFC South. Baltimore
recovered to win 8 of their remaining 10 regular season contests and top the
AFC North at 12-4. The Ravens advanced to the AFC Championship game before succumbing
to the New England Patriots.
Maurice Jones-Drew led the league with 343 carries for 1606
yards and was a consensus first-team All-Pro as well as Pro Bowl selection.
In his eighth season with Jacksonville , Josh Scobee ranked third in
field goal percentage (92 %) as he connected on 23 of 25 attempts. He was five
of six from 50 or more yards out.
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