Jaguars stave off Colts in London 30-27

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Following last week’s home loss to the Baltimore Ravens, Jaguars’ Head Coach Gus Bradley stated the team had problems and that he was a problem fixer.

Facing a fourth straight loss to open the NFL season playing the reeling Indianapolis Colts went a long way toward fixing the problem.

Bradley’s coaching hot seat can now be passed to Colts’ Head Coach Chuck Pagano. After reaching the AFC Championship Game two years ago, the Colts missed the playoffs last season, have now lost two straight to division rival Jacksonville and have not been good in this season’s 1-3 start.

“Too little, too late,” Pagano said after the game. “You can’t spot a team 17 points, 20 points, and expect to come back and win those type of games.”

Jacksonville QB quarterback Blake Bortles threw two scores and rushed for another in the 30-27 victory on Sunday at Wembley Stadium in London. Bortles finished 19 of 33 for 207 yards with TD passes to Allen Hurns and Allen Robinson.

“We’re excited about it, we’ll celebrate it,” Bortles said. “And it feels good to go a week through a preparation, come over here…and to handle some adversity.”

An early turnover, late-half penalties and dropped passes added up to the Jaguars getting out to a 17-6 lead at halftime on Sunday and they never trailed.

“Obviously a big win for us,” Bradley said following the win in front of 86,734. “I like that we came back. You can’t win the game in the first quarter. You can’t win it in the second quarter. You can’t win it in the third quarter. You have to win it in the fourth quarter. That’s what we did.”

Indy QB Andrew Luck threw two TD passes in the fourth quarter to spark a rally. But defensive back Josh Johnson broke a fourth-down pass to end Indianapolis’ hopes of a comeback. Indianapolis running back Frank Gore also scored on a three-run. Luck, who was sacked six times, completed 27 of 42 passes for 234 yards and an interception.

“Probably everybody feels like they played better in that second half,” Luck said. “But again it’s not enough.”

Indianapolis kicker Adam Vinatieri booted a pair of field goals in the first half and has made 33 straight kicks, the longest active streak in the NFL. Jason Myers added a field goal for the Jaguars.

“Must win,” added Jaguars’ left tackle Kelvin Beachum said. “We had to have it. You can’t go into the bye week with a record like that. It was a division game with a lot on the line.”

 Jacksonville is now 1-0 in the AFC South Division and has a bye this week.

 “It was huge,” said Jacksonville defensive tackle Malik Jackson. “To be able to win this game for Gus and this team and silence all the critics is awesome. We just have to keep the ball rolling.”