Jaguars rout reeling Colts 42-7, stretch AFC South lead to three games
Trevor Lawrence throws three touchdowns and Jacksonville's defense scores on a 92-yard pick-six as Indianapolis absorbs its worst loss in nearly four years, one week after firing its general manager.
The Jacksonville Jaguars routed the Indianapolis Colts 42-7 before an announced crowd of 42,156 at EverBank Stadium on Sunday, building a 28-0 halftime lead and extending their hold on first place in the AFC South to three games over the idle Houston Texans. The result was Indianapolis's largest margin of defeat in nearly four years, according to the team's own game report, and it came one week after the club fired general manager Chris Ballard and traded away two veteran starters.
Jacksonville Scores on Offense, Defense and Special Teams
Quarterback Trevor Lawrence completed 10 of 14 passes for 210 yards and three touchdowns without an interception before leaving the game early in the fourth quarter. He opened the scoring with a 12-yard touchdown pass to Brian Thomas Jr. in the first quarter, then added touchdown throws of 31 yards to Nate Boerkircher and 25 yards to running back Bhayshul Tuten, the second coming as time expired in the third quarter.
Jacksonville also scored twice without its offense on the field. Safety Rayuan Lane III returned an interception 92 yards for a touchdown in the final seconds of the first half, and running back Chris Rodriguez Jr. added a 28-yard rushing touchdown in the third quarter. Tuten rushed for 104 yards on 16 carries, part of a Jaguars ground game that gained a season-high 183 yards on 33 attempts, per ESPN's box score. Jacksonville finished with 366 total yards to Indianapolis's 243 and converted 6 of 12 third downs; its defense recorded four sacks and three takeaways, according to theScore's recap.
Indianapolis avoided a shutout in the third quarter when quarterback Daniel Jones threw a six-yard touchdown pass to Josh Downs, but the Colts managed just 109 rushing yards and threw two interceptions, one of which Lane returned for a score. Jones finished 19 of 28 for 144 yards. Running back Jonathan Taylor, who entered the week fending off trade speculation, carried eight times for 23 yards, his lowest total in a game he started and finished healthy since his rookie season, and lost a fumble on a backward pitch to Downs. Indianapolis turned the ball over three times in all.
Jaguars coach Liam Coen credited the defense's takeaways for setting up the rout. He said afterward, describing how the offense and defense fed off each other, that "we played complementary football." Tuten, who also caught a 25-yard touchdown pass, said he felt in control throughout: "I think I played fast and physical today, and I played worry free."
A Colts Team Already in Upheaval
The loss dropped Indianapolis to 2-6 and extended its losing streak to four games, a stretch that includes a 26-20 defeat to a previously winless Tennessee team in Week 6 and a 16-10 loss to Minnesota in Week 7. A Week 4 win over Washington in London had briefly pulled the Colts back to .500. The skid arrived a week after Colts owner and chief executive Carlie Irsay-Gordon fired Ballard, the team's general manager since 2017, and after the club traded guard Quenton Nelson and defensive tackle DeForest Buckner. Indianapolis has committed 15 turnovers through eight games, nine of them interceptions. With the NFL's trade deadline set for 4 p.m. ET on Nov. 10, Taylor's situation remains unresolved; he said before the game that he could not control the club's trade decisions.
Backup quarterback Anthony Richardson Sr., the former fourth overall draft pick who lost the starting job to Jones in the offseason, entered in the fourth quarter for his first regular-season snaps in more than a year, after Jacksonville had already pulled Lawrence in favor of backup Quinn Ewers with the outcome decided. Colts coach Shane Steichen declined to name a starting quarterback for the coming week, saying only that the coaching staff would look at "every position going forward."
"It's embarrassing. And that's on us. We gotta own it," Taylor said after the game, addressing his own performance rather than the trade talk surrounding him.
Jaguars Widen Their Division Lead
Jacksonville improved to 5-2 and holds a three-game lead over Houston (2-5), which lost to the New York Giants earlier Sunday, in the AFC South. Tennessee fell to 1-7 after a 43-36 overtime loss to Cincinnati. Coen's team has won four of its last five games, with its only recent defeat a 34-31 loss at Houston in Week 6, and the coach entered Sunday with a 13-4 record against AFC opponents since taking over in Jacksonville. Several Jaguars starters, including Lawrence, Tuten and edge rusher Travon Walker, were pulled in the fourth quarter once the outcome was decided. Defensive tackle DaVon Hamilton, a seventh-year veteran, left the game on a cart with a knee injury and was ruled out; guard Ezra Cleveland and Walker were both banged up during the game as well.
Lawrence downplayed talk of a division run after the game, telling reporters that "good teams don't think about the division lead they have." The Jaguars have a short week ahead: they play at the Baltimore Ravens on Thursday night, their only Thursday Night Football appearance of the season and first such game since 2023, before hosting Tennessee on Nov. 29.
For Indianapolis, the next test comes amid continued roster uncertainty rather than any realistic path back into the division race. Steichen said effort, not scheme, had been the problem Sunday: "The effort and the energy has to be there every week. If not, you're going to get beat like that." With the trade deadline nine days away and the quarterback job unsettled, the Colts' performance against Jacksonville is likely to keep attention on the front office's next moves, including any decision on Taylor, as much as on the team's record over its final nine games.
