Engram celebration, Allen performance among few positives in Jaguars' OT loss to Cincinnati

Taking a look at the good, the bad and the ugly from the Jaguars’ 34-31 overtime loss to the Cincinnati Bengals Monday night at Everbank Stadium.

Up: Short-lived celebration

When Evan Engram scored his first touchdown of the season, taking a short pass from Trevor Lawrence and scooting 22 yards down the left sideline, he couldn’t resist leaping into the south end zone stands to celebrate with the fans. He stayed there longer than most players do after TDs because he wanted to take in the moment.

“I saw the black end zone,” said Engram. “I had to get in there. I wanted to celebrate with the fans. Everybody was hitting me up, tweeting me about my touchdown. Wish it was with a win, for sure.”

Down: Jaguars’ M.A.S.H. unit

When receiver Christian Kirk went down with a groin injury on the Jaguars’ first play from scrimmage, after falling down while catching a 26-yard pass, it turned out to be a bad omen. A slew of injuries, to nickel back Tre Herndon, offensive tackle Walker Little, defensive tackle Foley Fatukasi, and worst of all, to Lawrence, only added to the dismay of eventually falling in overtime.

Up: Josh Allen

The Jaguars’ outside linebacker was about the only bright spot on a defense that surrendered 491 total yards and couldn’t keep Bengals’ quarterback Jake Browning (32 of 37, 354 yards, 115.5 rating) from dismantling them. Allen had 1.5 sacks, bringing his season total to 13.5, and also intercepted a pass by receiver Tyler Boyd when he attempted a throwback to running back Joe Mixon on the opposite side of the field. Allen is now within one sack of tying Calais Campbell’s single-season franchise record of 14.5 set in 2017.

Jaguars report card: Offense looked decent, defense flunks test on Monday Night Football stage

Down: Monitoring Trevor

Most of the chatter about Trevor Lawrence the past couple weeks centered on how well he bounced back from that 34-3 beatdown to the San Francisco 49ers. Unfortunately, once he went down in a heap with a right ankle injury in the fourth quarter and could barely walk, all anybody will be talking about is his medical status and holding their breath that he’s not lost for the season. Given how much pain Lawrence seemed to be in afterward, it’d be more than remarkable if he was only out for a game or two.

Down: Secondary coverage

Since a lot of Jake Browning’s throws were either of the quick variety or on run-pass options, it was disappointing that the Jaguars’ coverage didn’t hold up better. This was the first road start for the Bengals’ second-year quarterback and he threw only five incomplete passes, two of which happened on drops. The Jaguars’ defense had only two pass breakups, one each by Allen and nickel back Gregory Junior.

Down: Running wild

You’d never know Cincinnati was the worst rushing team in the NFL, at 75.8 yards per game, the way Joe Mixon (19 carries, 68 yards) and speedy backup Chase Brown (9 carries, 61 yards) continually gashed the Jaguars’ defense. Part of the reason Browning was so effective throwing the ball is the Bengals’ previously stagnant running game pounded the Jaguars and kept the chains moving.

Up: Highlight catch

With Kirk sidelined, rookie receiver Parker Washington got his most playing time of the season and made the most of his opportunity. He caught all six passes thrown in his direction for 61 yards, none more impressive than a 14-yard touchdown reception to tie the game 21-21 in the third quarter. Though Lawrence’s pass to the back of the end zone deflected off the hand of Bengals’ safety Dax Hill, a focused Washington kept his concentration and cradled the ball with his right hand before bringing it into his body for the TD.

Down: Lost AFC opportunity

The Jaguars got some help from the Green Bay Packers when they knocked off the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday night, which gave Jacksonville a chance to seize the No. 1 seed position in the AFC if they could beat the 10-point underdog Bengals. Unfortunately, the overtime loss dropped the Jaguars (8-4) into the No. 4 slot, still a full game behind No. 1 Miami Dolphins (9-3) and the second-seeded Baltimore Ravens (9-3). The Jaguars will play at home against Baltimore in two weeks, and the Ravens also have a Week 17 matchup with Miami, so the AFC playoff picture could still shuffle quite a bit.

Up: Short-yardage success

Despite struggling too much this season on third-and-1 or fourth-and-1 situations, the Jaguars converted five out of seven times against the Bengals. The only failures came when Travis Etienne was stopped twice on third-and-1. The Jaguars found their greatest success with Lawrence sneaking twice for a first down. At the goal line, the Jaguars’ quarterback went over the top and stuck the ball out with his right hand to break the plane, a touchdown that gave his team a 28-21 lead late in the third quarter.

Down: Missed connection

Calvin Ridley, coming off two of his best games when he combined for 192 yards the past two games, only managed 26 yards on four catches. However, it’s not like the Jaguars weren’t trying to get him the ball. He was targeted eight times, including two deep passes that didn’t lead to a connection. Lawrence, after dropping a shotgun snap, picked the ball up and heaved it downfield for Ridley, but he couldn’t bring in the underthrown pass. On another Lawrence deep ball, Ridly was too well covered to have a shot at a catch. In overtime, Ridley did haul in a 43-yard pass from C.J. Beathard to the Cincinnati 2, but the play was nullified on a holding penalty by offensive tackle Anton Harrison.

Down: EverBank-rupt -- Maybe it's a good thing the Jaguars will hit the road for Sunday's game against the Cleveland Browns because playing at home sure doesn't seem to be much of an advantage. While the crowd of 67,951 was plenty loud and supportive of the Jaguars, getting on the Monday Night Football stage only continued a season-long trend of sub-par performances at EverBank Stadium. The Jaguars are now 2-4 at their Duval County venue, averaging a meager 15 points in those games. For whatever reason, getting away seems to work as the Jaguars have won eight consecutive road games.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Jaguars Up-Down drill: Bad defense, Trevor injury made for MNF nightmare