‘We expected to win this’: What the Jaguars had to say after avenging their AFC Championship loss
The Patriots couldn't stage another comeback this time around.
After eight winless tries, the Jacksonville Jaguars knocked off Patriots quarterback Tom Brady for the first time Sunday afternoon.
“I never really looked at it like that as far as beating Tom Brady,” quarterback Blake Bortles said after the game. “I don’t play against him. We play against their defense and he plays against ours. It will for sure be cool — he’s a no-doubt Hall of Famer — to say that on this day we beat Tom Brady.”
With a “MYLES JACK WASN’T DOWN” banner flying overhead, Bortles and the Jaguars secured a 31-20 victory to avenge their AFC Championship loss from eight months ago. Bortles outperformed Brady, throwing for 377 yards — five shy of his career-high — and four touchdowns. The 26-year-old finished with a quarterback rating of 111.1, displaying a fearless attitude and competent decision making.
“I thought [offensive coordinator] Nathaniel [Hackett] did a really good job calling plays and obviously did a good job during the week putting the plan together with the coaches,” Bortles said after the game. “I thought it was called incredibly well and executed at a high level. We had a penalty here and there, but besides that, I thought we played within ourselves and did a good job moving the chains and making plays.”
The Jaguars had been eagerly awaiting this matchup, with linebacker Myles Jack calling Sunday’s bout “the most important game of [his] life,” but coach Doug Marrone told his players in the locker room the game “wasn’t about revenge.”
“This is a different team,” Marrone said. “I’m going to tell you why it’s different. You guys are one year older. The guys that have been here, you’re one year into it. We’ve got some new guys that have bought into what we’re doing. We care about each other. The team’s the most important thing, and, as long as we keep doing it for each other in this room, we’ll keep winning football games.”
Bortles echoed Marrone’s sentiment.
“I think being in the system for another year helps,” he said. “I think when we are focused and locked in and go through a good week of preparation — like we expect to every week — as long as we don’t hurt ourselves, have stupid penalties, or turn the ball over, we have a chance to win every game.”
The Jaguars opened their season 2-0 for the first time since 2006. Up next, they’ll face the Tennessee Titans and the New York Jets. For some, however, Sunday’s contest was more than just any regular-season game.
“It was a statement game for people to recognize us,” defensive lineman Malik Jackson said. “Because we were the underdogs. Nobody really believed in us once again. They thought they were going to come in here and steamroll us.”
“We expected to win this,” defensive end Dante Fowler Jr. added. “We turned the page. We understand that if we won this game, we’re not going to the Super Bowl, so just wanted to make a nice statement for them.”
The Patriots and the Jaguars have sparked a relatively new rivalry ever since their heated conference championship last season: Jacksonville held a 20-10 lead in the fourth quarter, but New England rattled off 14 unanswered points to advance to Super Bowl LII — leaving the Jaguars reeling. Sunday’s game felt like it was headed down a similar path when Patriots linebacker Kyle Van Noy intercepted Bortles in the fourth quarter, but shades of Super Bowl LII interrupted any potential shift in momentum. Trailing by 11 points and pushing for the red zone, Brady was strip-sacked three plays later. Jacksonville regained possession and held on.
“That is how we want to win,” center Brandon Linder said. “We kept saying, ‘Don’t take your foot off the throat.’ That’s what we kept saying, and we did that.”
The Jaguars won’t see the Patriots again until the postseason should both teams advance. Cornerback Jalen Ramsey, who’s been relatively outspoken in the leadup to Sunday’s game, stayed relatively mum following the victory, though his teammates made sure the message still got across.
“If they have to see us again, they know what time it is,” Fowler said.
“We’re here and we’re not letting up,” cornerback A.J. Bouye added. “It’s that simple.”
