{"id":98176,"date":"2025-12-29T00:27:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-29T00:27:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/98176\/"},"modified":"2025-12-29T00:27:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-29T00:27:08","slug":"quick-thoughts-after-jaguars-23-17-win-over-colts-in-week-17","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/98176\/","title":{"rendered":"Quick Thoughts After Jaguars’ 23-17 Win Over Colts in Week 17"},"content":{"rendered":"

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. \u2013 Senior writer John Oehser, senior correspondent Brian Sexton and team reporter Kainani Stevens offer quick thoughts on the Jaguars\u2019<\/a> 23-17 victory over the Indianapolis Colts in a 2025 Week 17 game at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Ind., Sunday<\/a><\/p>\n

\n John Oehser, Jaguars Senior Writer\u2026<\/p>\n

Anyway, anyhow. The Jaguars won narrowly Sunday, but make no mistake: If this wasn’t the sort of one-sided victory they made seem routine while taking control of the AFC South in recent weeks, it was a very important \u2013 and in a very real sense, very impressive \u2013 victory. “When you’ve got dubs (victories) man, the fun is in the winning,” Jaguars running back Travis Etienne Jr.<\/a> said. “We can’t take any of these for granted.” The Jaguars on Sunday had to grind, scrap and claw their way past an opponent that played well \u2013 and they also had to overcome their own mistakes. These sorts of games happen in the NFL. They particularly happen late in the season on the road when playing division opponents for a second time in four weeks. The fact that the Jaguars didn’t win by 14 or more points, which they had done for a franchise-record four consecutive games entering Sunday, mattered not a whit. What mattered is they overcame a 10-point first-half deficit and stayed at least within a score during a back-and-forth third quarter. They then held the lead or stayed tied through a tense fourth quarter and controlled enough of the game to win. This game could have slipped away, which likely would have cost the Jaguars the division. That they managed to win and give themselves a chance to clinch the division in Week 18 is yet another good sign for this team that just keeps showing those signs as the postseason approaches.
\nCredit the defense. This wasn’t the most impressive victory of the Jaguars’ season, but it was a solid \u2013 and impressive \u2013 day for the defense. “Our guys did a great job digging in,” Head Coach Liam Coen<\/a> said, with quarterback Trevor Lawrence<\/a> adding, “Our defense really stepped up and made some huge stops.” While the Colts’ downfield passing game was expectedly limited with 44-year old Philip Rivers at quarterback, the Jaguars’ defense did its job in limiting a strong Colts running game and held All-Pro running back Jonathan Taylor under 75 yards rushing for a second time in four games. Taylor, who rushed for 74 yards and a touchdown on 21 carries in the Jaguars’ 36-19 victory in Jacksonville in Week 14, rushed for 70 yards and no touchdowns on 21 carries \u2013 a 3.3-yard-per-carry average \u2013 Sunday. The Jaguars’ defense also created two fourth-quarter takeaways \u2013 an interception by cornerback Jarrian Jones<\/a> that set up kicker Cam Little<\/a>‘s go-ahead 34-yard field goal with 6:58 remaining and safety Antonio Johnson<\/a>‘s end-zone interception on the game’s final play. The defense allowed just 204 yards total offense. With the offense committing red-zone turnovers and unable to match its recent productivity, the Jaguars needed a top effort from the defense. Because they got it, they can clinch the South with a home victory over the Tennessee Titans next weekend.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. \u2013 Senior writer John Oehser, senior correspondent Brian Sexton and team reporter Kainani Stevens offer quick…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":98177,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[3216,3214,881,116,118,41033,117,885,3217,880,884,883,3215],"class_list":["post-98176","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-brian-sexton","tag-category-waste-pro","tag-front-page-headline","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-jaguars-at-indianapolis-colts-2025-reg-17","tag-jacksonville-news","tag-john-oehser","tag-kainani-kai-stevens-zaskey","tag-news-front-page-headline","tag-news-gameday","tag-news-jaguars-news","tag-news-quick-thoughts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98176","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=98176"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98176\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/98177"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98176"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98176"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98176"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}