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Jaguars "fumble" away fifth straight loss

A Rashad Greene fumble with 1:23 remaining ended a would-be, game-winning drive for the Jacksonville Jaguars, sending them to their fifth straight loss.

INDIANNAPOLIS, Indiana — Well, where to now?

On a day the offense finally clicked and star running back Leonard Fournette returned to the lineup, the Jaguars' heralded defense surrendered 29 first-half points, en route to the team's fifth straight loss. The 29-26 win is the Indianapolis Colts' third straight win. With the loss, Jacksonville (3-6) is now in sole possession of last-place in the AFC South -- a far cry from this year's 3-1 start and last year's AFC Championship Game appearance.

"It's utterly unexplainable," defensive tackle Malik Jackson told the Florida Times-Union following Sunday's 29-26 loss to the Colts. "I can't tell you what's going on. I can't tell you what we need to change.

The 29 points is the second most points allowed in the first half by the Jaguars' this season. Colts' tight end Eric Ebron led the way for Indianapolis (4-5) with three touchdowns. Quarterback Andrew Luck was 21 of 29 passing for the game, throwing for 285 yards.

Those numbers could've been much greater, but, after their lackluster first-half, the Jaguars responded by holding the Colts to just 22 net-yards on their first three possessions of the second half. Jacksonville forced two, three-and-outs, and Telvin Smith recorded an interception.

But the damage had been done.

"We beat ourselves sometimes," cornerback Tyler Patmon said to the Times-Union. "We know nobody is good enough to beat us, but man oh man, we bust sometimes. It's something we've got to continue to cut out."

With all that said, the defense did do enough in the second half to give Jacksonville a chance in the end.

After a rare, missed field goal by the Colts' Adam Vinatieri, the Jaguars offense got the ball back with 2:58 to play and tremendous field position. Blake Bortles had the offense within field goal range when his third-down pass to Rashad Greene was fumbled.

Initially, officials ruled Greene down by contact. After further review, the call was overturned, ending the comeback bid.

“It [freaking] sucks," Jackson continued to the Times-Union. "I hurt for him. I hurt more for this team because it’s not like you were in the middle of the game where lost the ball. It cost us a game. But you could look at a lot of plays that happened that cost us the game.”

The Jaguars are 0-3 in the division following losses to the Titans, Texans, and now Colts. The Titans defeated the New England Patriots Sunday 34-10 to move to 5-4. Houston (6-3) was idle this week.

Thus, the margin for error is razor thin. But the veterans in the Jaguars locker room refuse to give up.

“You lose five in a row, and you can win five in a row,” defensive end Calais Campbell said to the Times-Union. “It’s going to take us winning seven in a row. Ten wins gets you in the playoffs in this league more often than not. And if it doesn’t, I’ll live with that. But this team is capable of winning 10 in our current state. I believe it and I challenge anybody who disagrees.”

Jacksonville returns home next weekend to face the Pittsburgh Steelers (6-2-1). Kick-off has been flexed from the originally scheduled 8:25 p.m. start time to a 1 p.m. kick.

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