Jaguars shock Colts 22-17 with 80-yard TD pass
INDIANAPOLIS — Blaine Gabbert beat Andrew Luck at his own game Sunday.
The second-year Jacksonville quarterback hooked up with Cecil Shorts III on an 80-yard touchdown pass with 45 seconds left to give Jacksonville its first victory under new coach Mike Mularkey — 22-17 over the Colts.
It was a shocking finish.
Seconds earlier, Jacksonville (1-2) appeared doomed to a 0-3 start when Adam Vinatieri made a 37-yard field goal to give the Colts a 17-16 lead.
But on the next offensive snap, Shorts got behind safety Sergio Brown, and Gabbert hit him in stride on a slant. With nobody behind him, all Shorts had to do was turn up the field and sprint toward the end zone, diving in for the score.
The play stood up to a review, showing Shorts jumped into the air and crossed the goal line before his knee touched the ground at about the Colts 1.
Luck, who led the Colts (1-2) on a last-minute game-winning drive last week, nearly did it again Sunday — twice.
He took the Colts 48 yards in five plays to set up Vinatieri’s go-ahead field goal and led the Colts to the Jaguars 26 with 18 seconds left.
But his first pass to the end zone fluttered incomplete when he was hit before he could step into the throw, and his second pass — to Reggie Wayne in the end zone — was broken up by Aaron Ross.
The ending overshadowed a huge day from Maurice Jones-Drew, who ran 28 times for 177 yards and broke the franchise’s record for rushing TDs when he scooted 59 yards on Jacksonville’s first play of the second half. It was his first score of the season and the 63rd rushing score of his career.
The victory comes one week after Jacksonville got a franchise-low 117 total yards — and one week after Luck rallied the Colts in the final minute for his first career victory.
It’s the first time Gabbert, in his second season, has led a fourth-quarter comeback.
Luck, meanwhile, came within a whisker of doing it in back-to-back games.
After Indy’s defense forced a late Jags punt, Luck took over at his 33 with 93 seconds to go and trailing 16-14.
On the first play, Donald Brown caught Luck’s pass and took it 39 yards to the Jags 28. Indy ran the ball three times, with the Jags calling timeouts after each play to preserve time.
Vinatieri, who had missed a 36-yarder to the left that would have given Indy the lead with 4:40 left, slipped the kick barely inside the left upright to make it 17-16.
But Gabbert took advantage of the missed coverage by finding Shorts for the 80-yard TD, and Luck couldn’t bring the Colts back again.
Luck was 22 of 46 for 313 yards with two TDs and one interception.
Gabbert was 10 of 21 for 155 yards with the one TD. He completed only four passes in the second half.