BALTIMORE — The clock was at 0:00, and Blake Bortles was on the ground.
At that point, if the Jacksonville Jaguars were going to break their horrid road losing streak, it was going to take a miracle.
“Call it what you want,” Bortles would say later. “Whatever. It happens.”
Not often, that’s for sure. Bortles rose to his feet and was promptly grabbed by Baltimore linebacker Elvis Dumervil, who snagged the quarterback’s facemask while dragging him to the ground.
That gave Jacksonville 15 yards and one more play, and Jason Myers kicked a 53-yard field goal for a 22-20 victory on Sunday.
“I’ve never seen anything like that before,” Jaguars linebacker Paul Posluszny said. “That was wild, but I’m glad it ended the way it did.”
Long after the final whistle, the players were whooping and laughing in their locker room. It was a celebration nearly two years in the making, because Jacksonville had lost 13 in a row on the road since winning at Cleveland on Dec. 1, 2013.
“Unbelievable game,” coach Gus Bradley said.
Down 20-19 with no timeouts, the Jaguars got the ball at their 20 with 1:06 left. After moving to the Baltimore 49, Bortles got collared by Dumervil after time expired.
Because a game can’t end on a penalty by the defense, the Jaguars got the ball at the 35.
“I take full responsibility for that one,” Dumvervil said. “It can’t happen.”
Dumervil’s penalty was merely one of many by the bumbling Ravens (2-7), who committed four turnovers and were penalized nine times for 121 yards.
Baltimore was on the brink of surviving those miscues — until Myers’ decisive kick.
“Obviously about as tough a loss as you ever going to see, you’re ever going to have to deal with,” coach John Harbaugh said.
Bortles went 22 for 45 for 188 yards and two touchdowns for the Jaguars (3-6). One of his TD throws went to Allen Hurns, who extended his franchise record for consecutive games with a touchdown catch to seven.
Baltimore has lost its seven games this season by a total of 32 points. None hurt more than this one.
“I saw zeros on the clock so I started jumping up and down,” cornerback Jimmy Smith said. “Then they snapped the ball so I jammed my guy. I looked back and I see the guy fall. There was a flag. I thought the game was over.
Joe Flacco went 34 for 45 for 316 yards and three touchdowns, but he threw two interceptions and lost a fumble.
“We’re not the type of team that’s finding ways to win right now,” Flacco said.
Baltimore trailed 19-14 in the fourth quarter before Flacco directed a 10-play, 80-yard drive that ended with a 14-yard touchdown pass to Chris Givens with 7:30 left.
The Ravens couldn’t hang on, and now they’re 6-2 under Harbaugh coming off a bye.
Although Flacco gave the ball away three times in the third quarter, Jacksonville managed only a field goal from the miscues and entered the fourth quarter trailing 14-13.
The Jaguars were provided another turnover in the fourth quarter, and this one they turned into a touchdown. After a fumbled punt by Jeremy Ross was recovered by Nick Marshall at the Baltimore 37, Bortles connected with Allen Robinson on a 15-yard touchdown pass for a 19-14 lead with 13:01 remaining.
Flacco went 21 for 28 for 204 yards in the first half to stake the Ravens to a 14-10 lead at the break.
But Davon House twice intercepted Flacco in the opening 4 1/2 minutes of the second half. The first one set up a field goal to cut the deficit to 14-13, and the second came at the Jacksonville 6.
Flacco made it three giveaways on three possessions when he lost a fumble at the Jacksonville 41. But in this game of errors, Myers was wide left on a 26-yard field goal try.
Notes: Ravens C Jeremy Zuttah left in the fourth quarter with a shoulder injury. … Jacksonville TEs Mercedes Lewis and Nic Jacobs both left the game with injuries. … Baltimore fell to 13-3 at home in November under Harbaugh.
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