Devonta Freeman scored two touchdowns in the game's first 5:32 Sunday to give the Atlanta Falcons a lead they would never relinquish in a 24-12 win over the visiting Jacksonville Jaguars.
Matt Ryan completed 32 of 45 passes for 384 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions for Atlanta (6-9), which has won five of its past seven games. The Falcons outgained Jacksonville (5-10) 518 to 288 and got nine tackles from linebacker De'Vondre Campbell.
Rookie quarterback Gardner Minshew hit 13 of 31 passes for 181 yards with a touchdown for the Jaguars, who lost for the sixth time in seven games and clinched a last-place finish in the AFC South.
Atlanta shaped the game's flow before the Jacksonville offense ever took the field. It opened the day with an 82-yard, six-play touchdown drive that Freeman capped with a 17-yard run at the 11:27 mark of the first quarter.
On the ensuing kickoff, Michael Walker fumbled, and rookie running back Brian Hill fell on it for the Falcons at the Jaguars 25-yard line. Four plays later, Ryan zipped an 8-yard scoring strike to Freeman, and it was 14-0 by the time Jacksonville ran its first play.
The teams traded field goals in the second quarter. Josh Lambo got the Jaguars on the board with a 40-yarder with 9:12 left in the quarter, and Younghoe Koo hit from 23 yards out with 10 seconds remaining to give Atlanta a 17-3 halftime lead.
Lambo's 27-yarder with 2:29 remaining in the third quarter inched Jacksonville within 17-6, but Qadree Ollison scored from 3 yards out at the 13:36 mark of the fourth quarter to put the Falcons ahead 24-6.
Minshew and Chris Conley hooked up for a 42-yard touchdown pass with 12 minutes left. The Jaguars could have gotten within a score with under five minutes left, but Minshew's fourth-down pass for DJ Chark from the 7 was incomplete, ending a 15-play drive.
--Field Level Media
Jacksonville | Atlanta | |
Leonard Fournette | Player | Brian Hill |
15 | Attempts | 7 |
71 | Yards | 66 |
4.7 | Avg Yards | 9.4 |
0 | Touchdowns | 0 |
23 | Long | 18 |
Jacksonville | Atlanta | |
Chris Conley | Player | Julio Jones |
2 | Receptions | 10 |
56 | Yards | 166 |
28.0 | Avg Yards | 16.6 |
1 | Touchdowns | 0 |
42 | Long | 32 |
Yards | Scoring | Defense | ||||||
Team | Tot | Rus | Pas | TD | FG | INT | Sck | FF |
Jacksonville | 288 | 115 | 173 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1.0 | 0 |
Atlanta | 518 | 135 | 383 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 3.0 | 1 |