Bortles shines in London romp
LONDON — Jaguars wide receiver Allen Hurns knew Sunday ’s game against the Baltimore Ravens had to be different.
It was — significantly. Blake Bortles threw four TD passes, three to tight end Marcedes Lewis, and the Jaguars routed the Ravens 44-7 in their fifth game in Britain’s capital.
Jacksonville (2-1) had a 17-point lead over the Buffalo Bills in 2015, only to win by three points. Likewise, they had a 17-point edge against Indianapolis a year ago before emerging with a three-point victory.
“The main thing we talked about coming in at halftime was not letting up,” said Hurns, whose 5-yard touchdown reception from Bortles in the second quarter gave the Jaguars a 20-0 lead. “The team had put pressure [on the Ravens] as far as an offensive standpoint, so call what we’re going to call — not just being lackadaisical and calling all runs. Keep pushing the gas.”
Hurns, who has now scored in each of the Jaguars’ last three overseas games, matched erstwhile Patriots receiver Brandon Lloyd as the only players to score three touchdowns at Wembley Stadium.
The Jaguars finished with 410 yards, easily outpacing their output in their first two games, and handed the Ravens (1-2) their worst defeat since Nov. 9, 1997, when they lost 37-0 at Pittsburgh.
Only a 6-yard pass from Ryan Mallett, who entered in relief of Joe Flacco in the fourth quarter, to Benjamin Watson with 3:24 remaining prevented the shutout.
“You can be 100 percent honest about it, they did a good job executing today,” said Ravens linebacker Terrell Suggs. “They outplayed us. You’ve got to take your hat off to the Jacksonville Jaguars. But it’s only one game. We’ve just got to make it up. It happened. It’s very unfortunate. We did a lot of uncharacteristic things.”
Jacksonville punctuated the victory with a fake punt on the last play of the third quarter, with Corey Grant taking a direct snap 58 yards before rookie running back Leonard Fournette punched it in from the 3.
Flacco, who finished 8-for-18 for 28 yards, was intercepted twice, once by UCF alum A.J. Bouye in the second quarter and once by FSU alum Jalen Ramsey in the third.
Former UCF star Bortles also left the game early, replaced by Chad Henne on the Jaguars’ first drive of the fourth quarter after completing 20 of 31 passes for 244 yards. Fournette, who finished with 59 yards on 15 carries, became the first Jaguars player to rush for a touchdown in each of his first three games.
Baltimore crossed midfield three times — and not until the third quarter when Terrance West gained 7 yards to reach the Jaguars 45. On the next play, West failed to secure a handoff and fumbled, leading to linebacker and FSU alum Telvin Smith returning it 52 yards to set up Lewis’ third touchdown.
Flacco, who joked at practice on Friday he thought players would be “zombies,” said the travel wasn’t to blame.
“We all felt different at times, but by the time game day came around, by the time 2:30 came around, we felt pretty good,” Flacco said. “The other team was going through the same exact thing, so that’s just part of this game.”