The Jacksonville Jaguars on Saturday pulled off a remarkable playoff comeback, fighting back from 27 points down to beat the Los Angeles Chargers 31-30, while rookie quarterback Brock Purdy led the San Francisco 49ers past the Seattle Seahawks 41-23 in the NFL playoffs.
A last second, 36-yard field goal from Riley Patterson completed an astonishing turnaround from the Jaguars, who had trailed 27-0 late in the second quarter of the American Football Conference wildcard clash.
It was the third-biggest comeback in NFL playoff history and came after Jacksonville quarterback Trevor Lawrence endured a nightmare first half, throwing four interceptions.
Photo: AFP
“They couldn’t have written a better script,” Lawrence said. “We are never out of the fight.”
The game had all the hallmarks of a blowout as the Chargers took advantage of Jacksonville’s turnovers, with a pair of rushing touchdowns in the first quarter from Austin Ekeler.
Asante Samuel had grabbed three of the picks for the Chargers, who extended their advantage to 27-0 with Gerald Everett collecting a nine-yard touchdown pass from Justin Herbert and Cameron Dicker converting a 23-yard field goal.
Photo: AFP
“I was breaking. Not a good record in the first quarter. I had a couple of interceptions. We were not looking good offensively, but we just kept believing in one another,” Lawrence said.
The Jags gave themselves some hope just before the interval with Lawrence finding Evan Engram with a nine-yard touchdown pass, but there was no sign of what was to come.
Jacksonville began the second half with a 14-play, 89-yard drive that ended with Lawrence finding Marvin Jones in the corner of the end zone.
Photo: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY
After a Cameron Dicker 50-yard field goal for the Chargers, Lawrence threw a 39-yard touchdown pass to Zay Jones.
With 5 minutes, 25 seconds left in the fourth, Lawrence connected with Christian Kirk and then reached across the line for a two-point conversion.
That left Jacksonville needing just a field goal to complete the stunning result and a 10-play, 61-yard drive left Patterson to convert from 36-yards and set off the wild celebrations.
San Francisco quarterback Purdy, who only took on the starting role last month after injury to Jimmy Garoppolo, became the first rookie quarterback with three touchdown passes and a rushing touchdown in a playoff game.
Putting any early nerves aside, Purdy threw for 332 yards and no interceptions, while running back Christian McCaffrey rushed for 119 yards.
The 49ers made a strong start, opening up a 10-0 lead when McCaffrey rushed three yards into the end zone to finish off a drive that had seen him produce a blistering 68-yard run.
Seattle responded early in the second quarter with Kenneth Walker III’s seven-yard rushing TD.
A 33-yard field goal from Robbie Gould for the 49ers made it 13-7, but Seattle put themselves in front when quarterback Geno Smith found D.K. Metcalf with a 50-yard scoring pass.
Another Gould field goal restored San Francisco’s advantage, but some ill-discipline from the normally rock solid Niners defense allowed the Seahawks to go in at halftime with a 17-16 lead.
However, San Francisco started the second half in emphatic fashion with a 13-play drive ending in a quarterback sneak from Purdy.
Seattle fell further behind when they left Deebo Samuel in acres of space to collect a pass from Purdy and burst down the left for a 74-yard touchdown.
When Smith was picked off by Deommodore Lenoir it was all over for a Seattle team who had snuck into the playoffs when the Green Bay Packers lost their final game of the regular season.
‘REMARKABLE’: Gaelic football is a traditional Irish sport that blends the skills of soccer and rugby, and hurling is an ancient sport played with a wooden stick and ‘sliotar’ The Taiwan Celts Gaelic Football Club marked a milestone achievement at the Asian Gaelic Games in Bangkok on Nov. 23 and 24, with two sides advancing to the knockout stages and competing at hurling for the first time. The event brought together 68 teams from 16 clubs across Asia, with more than 800 players in men’s and women’s tournaments. Gaelic football is a traditional Irish team sport that blends the skills of soccer, rugby union and basketball. Hurling is an ancient Irish sport played with a wooden stick, called a hurley, and a small ball, or sliotar. The Taiwan Celts’ women’s team reached
LIVERPOOL WIN: The 50th Champions League goal by Mohamed Salah helped the leaders of the Premier League to keep their perfect record intact Real Madrid’s big stars on Tuesday turned on the style to revive the Spanish giant’s faltering UEFA Champions League title defense. Galacticos Kylian Mbappe, Vinicius Junior and Jude Bellingham all scored in a thrilling 3-2 win against Serie A leaders Atalanta BC. However, Madrid still had to ride their luck as Mateo Retegui fired over from in front of goal in stoppage-time when handed a golden chance to level the game. It was only Madrid’s third win in the competition’s revamped league phase and leaves the 15-time champions in the unseeded playoff positions in 18th place. “It’s a very important win. Not everyone wins
Taiwan’s Chou Tien-chen yesterday exited at the BWF World Tour Finals in China, losing in the semi-finals to China’s world No. 1 Shi Yuqi. Shi, who was named the BWF Men’s Singles Player of the Year, had a 9-4 record against Chou going into the match. He extended that record to 9-5 with a 21-14, 21-18 victory. Chou advanced to the men’s singles semi-finals on Friday by upsetting top-seeded Anders Antonsen of Denmark in a must-win match at the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Center Gymnasium. The 16-21, 21-18, 21-15 victory saw Chou secure his second semi-finals appearance at the tournament, despite his relatively older
TO NO AVAIL: The Denver Nuggets’ Serbian center Nikola Jokic surpassed his 53-point performance in the 2023 Western Conference semi-finals against Phoenix The Washington Wizards withstood a 56-point explosion from Denver star Nikola Jokic to beat the Nuggets 122-113 on Saturday and snap their 16-game NBA losing streak. Jokic, who won his third NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) award last season, posted a career scoring high — surpassing a 53-point performance in game four of the 2023 Western Conference semi-finals against Phoenix and a 50-point regular-season best against Sacramento in 2021. The Serbian big man added 16 rebounds and eight assists, but it was all to no avail as Washington, buoyed by 39 points from Jordan Poole, won for the first time
RSS