What was behind the Jaguars' doomed play call against the Eagles?

With about 1:40 left in Sunday's 28-23 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, the Jacksonville Jaguars had one Chance to pull off one of the biggest upsets of the 2024 season.

After the Jaguars recovered from a 22-0 deficit thanks to a defensive score and two rushing touchdowns from Trevor Lawrence, Jacksonville had the ball at the Eagles' 13-yard line and faced 1st-and-10.

The Jaguars then faced the obvious question: Get into the end zone or continue to rack up yards and kill time.

“Yeah, with the time left we had talked on the sidelines about slowing the pace down a bit at the end, you know, and that's just something you have to try to do, right? “If you can stay within the boundaries, you stay within the boundaries,” Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson said after the game.

“Or if it's incomplete, you play down again, whatever it may be. But the bottom line is we still had to score and I had a good feeling with the way our defense played, they were going to give us a chance.”

The Jaguars decided to take their shot, and it came in the form of a pass to third-string running back D'Ernest Johnson. Johnson was paired with Eagles linebacker Nakobe Dean and found himself on the receiving end of a game-winning interception in the back of the end zone from Trevor Lawrence.

“Yes, he is the first to read. “Great play from (Eagles LB Nakobe Dean),” Pederson said.

“I mean, you still have a minute and 40 points left on the clock. I think it was the first down, something like that. It's still part of our red zone game plan. It wasn't like we forced a throw at the end. “I'm saying it was part of our red zone game plan. Such a great game from (Eagles LB Nakobe Dean).”

No Evan Engram, no Brian Thomas Jr. — it was Johnson the Jaguars turned to on the biggest play of the game. And it was the same play that Pederson and Trevor Lawrence wanted to play all along.

“Yes, they did a good job of creating variety in defense. But, you know, (we) kind of started getting more people towards the end. We played some big plays. Just when we hit (Jaguars WR Austin Trammell), we took advantage of that and got there,” Lawrence said.

“And then, you know, it was kind of a play (based) on what we used to do, and we did some stuff with the running back and some option routes and tried to outdo it. And just.” I have to give (Eagles LB Nakobe Dean) credit – he did a great job and it's just tough when it ends like that, I thought we had a chance, left it in there a little bit and (Dean) got it his eyes back. You know, a lot of times these linebackers can't get their eyes back and play the ball, and I thought we'd go up and make it. And he did a great job.”

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