Jaguars' Up-Down drill from their 31-21 victory over the Indianapolis Colts

Jaguars Up-Down drill

Taking a peek at the good, the bad and the ugly in this up-down drill from the Jaguars’ 31-21 win over the Indianapolis Colts Sunday at Lucas Oil Stadium.

Up: Big moment defense

The Indianapolis Colts don’t exactly have a firepower offense with rookie quarterback Anthony Richardson making his NFL debut and missing former league rushing champion Jonathan Taylor, but the Jaguars’ defense repeatedly came up big in game-turning moments. Indy went a combined 3-for-17 on third and fourth downs. The Colts came up empty on their last six possessions, including a paltry seven yards total on five straight series before stopping Indy on fourth-and-goal from the 1 with 52 seconds remaining.

Up: Trade worth the price

When the Jaguars acquired Calvin Ridley in a trade with the Atlanta Falcons in November, there was a lot of excitement within the fan base about having a true No. 1 receiver. During his first NFL game in almost two years, Ridley showed little sign of rust as he snagged a 9-yard TD pass to open the scoring and went over the 100-yard mark early in the third quarter. All it cost the Jaguars was a 2023 fifth-round draft pick and a conditional 2024 selection, which could be as high as a second-rounder if Ridley signs a contract extension with the Jaguars. It'll be worth it if he delivers more games like what Ridley did in his Jaguars' debut.

Down: Frozen in time

Late in the third quarter, the Colts took the lead for the only time in the game on a bizarre touchdown where the Jaguars’ offense lost focus. When Trevor Lawrence was strip-sacked by DeForest Buckner, the ball bounced into the hands of running back Tank Bigsby. Thinking the play had been ruled an incomplete pass, Bigsby casually held the ball before linebacker Zaire Franklin punched it out. An alert Buckner picked up the loose ball and ran it back 26 yards to the end zone for a touchdown, which forced the bewildered Jaguars to rally in the fourth quarter to pull it out. Doug Pederson admitted his team "froze on the play." You can bet Pederson’s emphasis in Thursday practices to aggressively fall on loose balls will be conducted with greater intensity this week.

Up: Special play I

The highlight reel of the day was Trevor Lawrence zipping a perfect 18-yard touchdown strike to Zay Jones, who made a diving grab with two hands, then let the ball go into his right hand before pulling it into his chest to secure possession. Jones showed remarkable concentration with his feet off the ground by cradling the ball for a 14-7 lead.

Up: Special play II

It was a tough rushing day for Travis Etienne, who accumulated just 51 yards on his first 17 carries. On his last run of the day, it initially looked like Etienne might get thrown for a loss in the backfield. But he slithered out of a traffic jam in the middle, bounced to his left and had three Colts’ defenders grabbing at air on his way to a 26-yard touchdown with 4:08 remaining to basically seal the outcome. Etienne’s burst on that play might have been the most instinctive run of his young career.

Down: Short-yardage woes

It's hard to believe the Jaguars put up 31 points while being so inconsistent moving the chains in short-yardage situations. On eight plays where they needed four yards or less on third/fourth down (twice on fourth-and-1), the Jaguars failed to get a first down. They got away with it going against the offense-challenged Colts, but probably not again this week if they come up short with that kind of frequency against the Kansas City Chiefs.

Up: D-line backup support

For a defensive line without stalwart DaVon Hamilton’s presence for the foreseeable future, it’s important to have some backup support come through. Two reinforcements, Adam Gotsis and Angelo Blackson, answered that call. Gotsis batted down a fourth down pass to kill one drive, while Blackson recovered a fumble at the Jaguars’ 32 that was forced by Andre Cisco and Foye Oluokun.

Down: Unnecessary roughness

The Jaguars kept the yellow flags in reasonably good check, but the two biggest penalties for unnecessary roughness led to different results. Cisco drew an unnecessary roughness call for a hit on tight end Drew Ogletree, but made up for it by forcing a fumble on the next play. In the third quarter, linebacker Devin Lloyd drew a 15-yard flag for roughing up running back Evan Hull, which led to a game-tying TD after the Colts got  a first down at the Jacksonville 32.

Up: Alone at the top

The Jaguars couldn’t have asked for a more ideal start to the season. Not only did they win in comeback fashion on the road against a division rival, but their other two AFC South rivals — the Tennessee Titans and Houston Texans — each lost openers away from home. Tennessee was edged by the New Orleans Saints 16-15, while the Texans got handled 25-9 by the Baltimore Ravens. That leaves the Jaguars in sole possession of first place in the AFC South after Week 1 for only the third time in history, preceded by the 2018 and ‘17 seasons.

Down: Scherff's bum ankle

On the Jaguars' first series of the second half, standout right guard Brandon Scherff was down on the ground for a few minutes and needed help limping off the field, putting minimal pressure on his right foot. He missed a couple series, then tried to return briefly late in the third quarter before being declared out for the game with an ankle injury. Tyler Shatley replaced him, and it's unknown how long Scherff might be sidelined.

Up: Team Takeaway

The Jaguars began creating turnovers in greater abundance over the second half of last season and that trend continued in the season opener. Fumble recoveries by Blackson in the second quarter and Lloyd in the third quarter ended promising Colts’ drives, while a leaping fourth quarter interception by CB Tyson Campbell led to Etienne’s game-clinching score. The Jaguars have 12 takeaways in their last five regular-season games.

Up: Special returns

One of the Jaguars’ most forgotten assets, return man Jamal Agnew, pulled off some more magic when his team was staring at poor field position. Agnew fielded a punt that bounced right to him at his own 5, which fooled one of the Colts’ gunners who was getting ready to make sure the ball didn’t squirt into the end zone. He didn’t expect the punt to go right into Agnew’s belly. The seven-year veteran decided not to call a fair catch, fielded the punt and made a beeline down the wide open right sideline for a 48-yard return into Indianapolis territory. That Agnew runback set up the Jaguars’ go-ahead touchdown run by Bigsby.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: What went right and wrong for the Jaguars in a 31-21 win over Indianapolis