Jaguars shut out Panthers, snap 4-game losing streak
Mark Long
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Travis Etienne scored twice, including one on his longest run of the season, and the Jacksonville Jaguars ended a fourgame skid with a 26-0 shutout of the woeful Carolina Panthers on Sunday.
The Jaguars (9-7) won for the first time in December – and with quarterback Trevor Lawrence (shoulder) watching from the sideline – to set up a regular-season finale at Tennessee that will help decide the AFC South.
The Panthers (2-14) dropped to 0-9 on the road and were held scoreless for the first time since losing to Atlanta in Week 12 in 2002. Jacksonville now can clinch the division with a victory next weekend. A loss to the Titans would hand the AFC South to the winner of the Houston-Indianapolis game.
Lawrence missed the game with a sprained throwing shoulder, ending his consecutive starts streak at 51. C.J. Beathard completed 17 of 24 passes for 178 yards in his first start since 2020 and played turnover-free football.
The Jaguars had 10 giveaways in their losing streak.
Etienne finished with 102 yards on the ground, with 62 of them coming on a scoring scamper early in the third quarter. He tied the longest run of his career and became the franchise’s first player since Maurice Jones-Drew in 2009 to notch at least 10 rushing touchdowns in a season.
Tight end Evan Engram and linebacker Josh Allen also had milestone days for Jacksonville.
Bryce Young completed 19 of 32 passes for 112 yards, with an interception. He was sacked six times.
Engram became the eighth tight end in NFL history to catch at least 100 passes in a regular season.
Engram needed two receptions to reach the milestone and reached it before halftime against the Panthers. He finished with six catches for 60 yards.
He joins Tony Gonzalez (Kansas City, 2004), Dallas Clark (Indianapolis, 2009), Jason Witten (Dallas, 2012), Zach Ertz (Philadelphia, 2018), Darren Waller (Las Vegas, 2020), Mark Andrews (Baltimore, 2021) and Travis Kelce (Kansas City, 2018, 2020, 2022) on the list.