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USA Today Sports Media Group
USA Today Sports Media Group
Sport
Adam Stites

2 Doug Pederson decisions after a questionable spot cost the Jaguars

The Jacksonville Jaguars had a 17-13 lead early in the fourth quarter and were threatening to extend that lead over the New York Giants. A drive deep into Giants territory was about to break into the red zone when Jaguars wide receiver Christian Kirk took a reverse for what appeared to be a first down.

Instead, Kirk was ruled short of the line much to the surprise of just about everyone.

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“We were under the impression it was first down, but it wasn’t,” Jaguars coach Doug Pederson told reporters after the game. “Those are situations, too, where do you want to risk a challenge, a timeout in those situations where you know it’s going to — at least it’s going to be at worst, it’s going to be third and one or third and a couple of inches. Try to get the first down that way.”

Instead of using a challenge that likely would’ve resulted in a first down, Pederson went with a Travis Etienne run on third down that also could’ve been spotted as a first down but was ruled short.

On fourth down, the always aggressive Pederson made another call that didn’t go his way. Rather than kick a 37-yard field goal that could’ve given the Jaguars a 20-13 lead, Trevor Lawrence was stopped on an attempt to sneak on the fourth down try.

“We were having really a lot of success on the ground,” Pederson said of the decision. “And it was a great situation right there to do that. Credit the Giants, they stopped us.”

Neither the decision not to challenge nor the decision not to kick a field goal were egregious mistakes. If the Jaguars managed to run for a yard on either third or fourth down, it would’ve negated those options. But with hindsight being 20/20, those two calls proved to be the incorrect ones and they were extremely costly.

The Giants took over on downs and eventually took the lead with a 10-play, 79-yard drive that took just under six minutes. A Jaguars three-and-out was followed by a three-and-a-half minute drive from the Giants that ended with a field goal to push the lead to six. And a final drive for Jacksonville ended one yard short of a game-winning touchdown.

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