The Cleveland Browns shut the door on Jacksonville’s attempted two-point conversion with 2:14 to play and denied the Jaguars another opportunity with a 27-25 win last Sunday at TIAA Bank Field.
In his first start since 2017, Jaguars’ quarterback Mike Glennon completed 20-of-35 passes for 235 yards and two touchdowns with zero picks including a 46-yard TD strike to receiver Collin Johnson.
“I thought Mike [Glennon] made some good throws, some accuracy throws. I think he took some shots which I was happy with,” said Jaguars head coach Doug Marrone. “I think it was a little rough, obviously he hasn’t played a game since I think ’17 or ’18. I think there was a lot of good things.”
Johnson caught four passes for a career-high and team-best 96 yards. His 46-yard touchdown reception in the first quarter marked the second-longest TD by a Jaguars player in 2020 and the longest TD reception by a Jaguars rookie since Keelan Cole Sr. caught a 73-yard pass in 2017.
Jacksonville linebacker Joe Schobert, playing against his former team for the first time, forced the first fumble of his Jaguars career in the third quarter, which safety Andrew Wingard returned for 17 yards.
The Jaguars (1-10) turned the turnover into points with a two-yard TD reception by tight Tyler Eifert.
Glennon led the Jaguars on an 11-play 78-yard drive to pull within two points with 2:14 remaining in the game. Trailing 27-19 the Jaguars got the ball back with 5:29 to play, leaving the visitors with nothing to show for a possession that spanned more than six minutes.
The Jaguars needed to convert a fourth-and-long at the Browns’ 25 with 3:43 to play. Olivier Vernon sacked Glennon. But Vernon was penalized for unsportsmanlike conduct. The penalty gave Jacksonville’s another series of downs.
Rookie running back James Robinson then ran for a 4-yard score, setting up a game-tying two-point conversion that resulted in an incomplete pass.
Robinson turned in a career-best 159 scrimmage yards, 128 rushing and 31 receiving, to become the first undrafted rookie in NFL history to total 1,100 scrimmage yards through their first 11 career games. He extended his season total to six rushing touchdowns and eight total TDs. Robinson joins Fred Taylor and Maurice Jones-Drew as the only players in franchise history to gain 1,000 rushing yards and score eight or more TDs in the first 12 weeks of a single season.
Quarterback Baker Mayfield threw for 258 yards and two touchdowns for the Browns (8-3). Jarvis Landry had his best game of the season, catching eight passes for 143 yards and a touchdown.
“There’s no doubt that we are going to try to win every single game that we play, and I can tell you that. That is not a question so whatever we have to do to win, we are going to be able to do,” Marrone added. “I think that getting these guys healthy, getting them to play, getting them back, we’re holding out hope for some of these guys to come back to help us from an IR standpoint and as soon as they’re ready to go we’re going to bring them back and play. There’s no doubt that’s the direction that we’re headed as coaches and players.”
The Jaguars play at Minnesota (5-6) at 1 p.m. Sunday.
