Gene Frenette: Not easy for Chiefs — or anybody — to kill Jacksonville 'cockroaches'
It’s not that Rayshawn Jenkins meant anything offensive. He was trying to pay his team a compliment.
Sometimes in the euphoria of your team winning by the third-largest comeback in NFL playoff history, a choice of words can seem odd, but the Jaguars’ safety was — in this instance — grossly accurate.
When asked about the resiliency of the Jaguars in the postgame locker room after overcoming a 27-0 deficit to beat the Los Angeles Chargers 31-30 Saturday night, Jenkins, a native of St. Petersburg, compared his team to a rather unpopular insect well known for its creepiness and survival instincts.
“We play for four quarters, we’re like cockroaches,” said Jenkins. “Cockroaches are the longest-living thing on this earth. You can’t kill a cockroach.”
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Now that point is debatable, since any Floridian or person living in warm-weather climates has probably exterminated one out of anger/fear, either by stepping on them or spraying a can of insect repellent.
But the gist of Jenkins’ analogy is spot on. As the Chargers and several teams have discovered this season, if you don’t put away the trailing Jaguars when the opportunity arises, then be prepared to ultimately get killed.
The Las Vegas Raiders, Dallas Cowboys, Baltimore Ravens and Tennessee Titans all found that out the hard way. Now the Chargers have an entire offseason to try and flush the River City Resurrection from their minds.
Seriously, how many times do the Jaguars have to excavate themselves from a double-digit hole to prove that opponents can never take any big lead for granted?
Head coach Doug Pederson bristled a bit when I brought Jenkins’ cockroach comparison to his attention, but he sort of understood where one of the Jaguars’ best defenders was going with it.
“I mean, cockroaches are kind of disgusting,” said Pederson. “Maybe that’s what we are, I don’t know. They are … I probably would have used a different analogy there.”
'Never out of a fight'
There’s no question — repugnant insect comparison aside — the Jaguars’ relentless mindset is a quality instilled by their boss. Pederson likes having a team that keeps coming at opponents regardless of what the numbers say on the scoreboard.
“Look, players, coaches, we all see it differently, but the same,” said Pederson. “Right now, our team is, we’re a tough football team, we’re a physical football team. Those are some of the things we pride ourselves in. We’re not perfect. We still make mistakes. It was evident Saturday night.
“But one thing our team is going to do is they’re going to battle. They’re going to keep fighting, scratching and clawing. We’re going to give ourselves a chance in the fourth quarter. I hope that’s what [Jenkins] meant by cockroaches.”
He absolutely did. Look, there were a half-dozen instances in the Chargers game where they were one play away from likely closing out the Jaguars’ season.
But L.A. kept leaving a slight crack in the door, which, incidentally, is more than enough for a cockroach to slither through.
Quarterback Justin Herbert missed wide open Keenan Allen on third-and-goal that would have put the Chargers up 31-0 late in the first half. Instead, they settled for a field goal. Then, on his next possession, Herbert miscommunicated on a third-and-1 handoff with receiver Michael Bandy, preventing the Chargers from eating up the rest of the first-half clock.
When Jaguars QB Trevor Lawrence later connected on a fourth-down pass to Marvin Jones on the subsequent drive, it led to an Evan Engram TD reception just before halftime.
From that point on, a tidal wave of momentum flipped toward the Jaguars. The Chargers did nothing to stop it.
Herbert threw three straight incompletions from the Jaguars’ 38 on the opening second-half drive, forcing a punt. A Joey Bosa offside nullified a 16-yard sack by Bryce Callahan on third down, which was as big as Bosa’s unsportsmanlike conduct penalty that led to the Jaguars’ critical 2-point PAT.
Between Lawrence and the offense finding a rhythm and the Chargers throwing the Jaguars repeated lifelines, it only intensified a belief the home team — invigorated by 70,250 screaming fans — was on the verge of an epic comeback.
“We never wavered,” said Jaguars’ outside linebacker Josh Allen. “Things got bad, but until the clock says zero, zero, zero, we’re never out of a fight.”
It was Trevor time
What made this furious comeback so mind-blowing is the Jaguars pulled it off without the benefit of an L.A. turnover, after making five of their own in the first half.
That kind of scenario just doesn’t happen, not without a hot quarterback who has the maturity to stay in the moment and trusts his teammates to do the same.
“[Lawrence] came over to me and was like, ‘we can’t score a 27-point touchdown, it’s got to be one play at a time,’ “ receiver Zay Jones said. “Those were his words. I’ve never been a part of anything like that before.
"That was something truly special. That was a miracle, man. Glory to God, that one. That was so awesome to be a part of.”
It happened because Lawrence has the demeanor to keep attacking, not getting distressed over a nightmare first half and focusing on the next play.
Those five consecutive one-score losses in October might have discouraged a lot of young quarterbacks. Not Trevor. It only provided fuel for him to make things right, to get the Jaguars back on a course where they shockingly erased the Tennessee Titans’ four-game lead in the AFC South.
“Coach [Pederson] didn’t lose belief in us,” Lawrence said after the Chargers game. “That’s how we dug our way out of it, and same thing we did tonight. … I was able to turn it around and play well in the second half, but it all stems from the collective belief of the team.
“When you get in that situation and you don’t — and you feel like everyone doesn’t really believe you’ve got a shot and things start to crumble around you. … Whether that’s defense, offense, that’s kind of when you’re in trouble and it doesn’t feel like you’ve got a shot to win it, and there was never that feeling.”
Jaguars not an easy out
That belief is exactly what makes the Jaguars, who face the No. 1 seed Kansas City Chiefs on Saturday at Arrowhead Stadium in the AFC divisional round, as dangerous as anybody else left in the playoffs.
The Jaguars are so filled with confidence, and playing with house money now, they might be the one team in the field nobody wants to play.
When the Buffalo Bills overcame the largest playoff deficit in the 1992 wild-card playoff round — trailing the Houston Oilers 35-3 in the third quarter before prevailing 41-38 in overtime — a lot of home fans left then Rich Stadium rather than brave the chilly western New York temperatures in anticipation of the Bills getting blown out.
But that remarkable comeback, engineered by backup quarterback Frank Reich (starter Jim Kelly was injured and couldn’t play), fueled the Bills. They went on the road to Pittsburgh and Miami the next two weeks, beat the AFC’s top two seeds, and returned to a third consecutive Super Bowl.
Do the Jaguars have it in them to make that kind of postseason run? You can’t rule it out after what happened against the Chargers.
“Playoffs is a time where everyone is watching,” said Jones. “Anybody can play a game at one o’clock, but can you play it on prime time in an adverse situation, down 27-0 in your own home stadium, and it seems very, very bleak? People are frustrated, maybe giving up all hope. What type of character do you have as a man to withstand that?
“That’s what me and Christian [Kirk, Jaguars receiver] talked about on the bench. This is the time to show everyone what we have on this roster. We demonstrated that.”
So beware of the Jacksonville Cockroaches. The NFL is on notice they won’t be an easy kill.
Gfrenette@jacksonville.com: (904) 359-4540
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Resilient Jaguars will be tough out for Chiefs, anyone in NFL playoffs
