JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — If anyone could appreciate the feeling of going from the bad end of something to the opposite Monday night, it was Jaguars linebacker Devin Lloyd.
The Chiefs and quarterback Patrick Mahomes were at the Jacksonville 3-yard line late in the third quarter, poised to retake the lead, when Lloyd picked off Mahomes, then ran it back 99 yards down the Jaguars sideline for a game-changing touchdown.
“It was just a great call,” Lloyd said after the game. “It was a zero look, and I was able to pop out. We know the ball is coming out quick, so it’s really about me getting my eyes back and getting in the right vicinity. So, the ball was right there, thankfully, and I picked up a couple blocks. Those were big. I don’t know if I would have made it if I didn’t get those. Grateful for everybody who helped me get into the end zone.”
After picking off Patrick Mahomes, Jaguars linebacker Devin Lloyd races with a convoy of blockers for a 99-yard pick-six. (Photo by Mike Carlson/Getty Images)
The game was far from over, but an hour later, the Jaguars got another apropos touchdown, with quarterback Trevor Lawrence falling down as he tripped over a guard’s foot, struggling to get up, then diving into the end zone for the winning score with 23 seconds left. The resilient Jaguars, once down 14-0, pulled out a 31-28 win over the defending AFC champs, improving to 4-1 in a surprising start under first-year coach Liam Coen.
“Hopefully we put the league on notice, but obviously, it’s a week-by-week basis, so we can’t really look at it too far outward,” defensive end Josh Hines-Allen said. “We can only look internally, and I think defensively, we can get a lot better. Offensively, we battled our ass off, and special teams, they did a great job as well.”
Much has been made of the Chiefs being 12-0 last year in one-score games and now being 0-3 this season, but the Jaguars are the opposite side of the same scoreboard. Jacksonville went 3-10 in 2024 in one-score games, but now they’ve won three of those in a row against the Texans, 49ers and Chiefs.
“We were close, but we never finished those out,” Lloyd said. “For us, I think we always had grit, and it was more so execution. We can’t beat ourselves. I think now we’re at a point where we’re really not beating ourselves, and then … when we needed [it] most, guys stepping up, executing and making plays.”
Game-changing takeaways have been the Jaguars’ strength under first-year defensive coordinator Anthony Campanile. They have forced opponents into 14 turnovers while no other NFL team has more than 10. A year ago, they forced an NFL-low nine turnovers, so they’ve gone from worst to first. Lloyd has led that charge, with a league-best four interceptions in five games, matching his total in his first three NFL seasons.
“A playmaker,” Coen said of Lloyd. “A guy that has just gotten better and better every day, and he’s put it on tape through training camp. He’s put it on tape throughout the season. Really proud of Devin as a competitor, as a leader. He’s somebody that is walking around the facility with a chin up and really confident right now, for a reason.”
How good can the Jaguars be? Take away a Bengals touchdown with 18 seconds left in Week 2, and they would be undefeated. As it stands, they’re even with the Colts atop the AFC South, and their schedule still includes two games against the Titans (1-4), one against the Raiders (1-4) and another against the Jets (0-5).
Coen, hired after a single season as the Buccaneers’ offensive coordinator, took Tampa Bay’s run game from the worst in the league in 2023 to a top-five rushing attack last year. He’s doing the same in Jacksonville. The Jaguars’ run game ranked 26th a year ago and now ranks fifth, led by running back Travis Etienne Jr., and the Jags have jumped from 26th in scoring offense to 10th.
A team with two playoff appearances in the past 17 seasons now has a clear path to the postseason, and a tough win like Monday against the Chiefs sends a message of how big the turnaround has been in just five weeks.
“It wasn’t perfect by any means, but the resiliency is really what I think this team has and has continued to show,” Coen said. “There was really no flinch or blink when you’re down 14-0. I think early on we might have had a little bit of bright eyes in a kind of big game, that you can understand a little bit, in some ways. But got down early, made an effort to come back. The guys stuck with it. … A ton of stuff to correct, but the toughness and resiliency is really something I’m proud of.”
Greg Auman is an NFL Reporter for FOX Sports. He previously spent a decade covering the Buccaneers for the Tampa Bay Times and The Athletic. You can follow him on Twitter at @gregauman.
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