Jaguars had to run to have a chance against Dallas. Travis Etienne, Jamal Agnew came through

Lost in the hoopla of quarterback Trevor Lawrence being among the hottest quarterbacks in the NFL over the past six weeks was the fact that the Jaguars had not been as productive running as earlier in the season when Travis Etienne snapped off three 100-yard games in a row and five games in succession with 100 or more yards from scrimmage.

But on Sunday the Jaguars were facing the Dallas Cowboys and two premier pass-rushers, Micah Parsons and DeMarcus Lawrence. The Cowboys were second in the NFL in sacks and second against the pass.

There was serious doubt that the Jags could win a game with only 38 yards rushing (their output in a 28-27 victory over Baltimore) and 60 yards (in last week’s 36-22 victory over Tennessee). The Jags also had not run for more than 100 yards as a team in four games and Etienne gained only 134 yards over that span — 22 less than he had in his career-high of 156 against Denver.

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“Definitely, our focus was on getting the running game going,” Etienne said.

It did and went a long way to providing Lawrence some breathing room by slowing down the Cowboys' pass rush.

Etienne ran for 103 yards on 19 carries, Jamal Agnew contributed 52 yards on three reverses and the Jags ran for 192 yards, the second-highest total in a game this season in the 40-34 overtime victory over Dallas at TIAA Bank Field.

The Jaguars averaged 7.1 yards per run, also the second-best total this season. It was the third-most rushing yards in one game allowed by Dallas this season.

Etienne bounces back again

Etienne battled back from his second fumble in three weeks, ending the Jags’ first possession after Lawrence guided them to two first downs. Etienne now has 933 yards for the season, 67 short of becoming the team’s fifth 1,000-yard rusher in history.

“My team has a lot of belief in me,” Etienne said. “We don’t want to go out there and make mistakes. It’s not what we want to do at all. It just shows that the coach believes in us to put the ball right back in my hand."

Coach Doug Pederson’s approach, at least at this point, is to keep putting Etienne back in the game after fumbles, a departure from the head games former coach Urban Meyer played with James Robinson last season.

“It’s like the quarterback. You throw a pick, we’re going to put the ball back in your hands the next time we get a touch,” Pederson said. “I wanted to make sure Travis knew we had a lot of confidence in him and we’re going to keep feeding him the football. He did a nice job after that. We’ve just got to keep coaching him and make him understand that ball security is everything.”

Running plays kept drives alive

While Lawrence threw for four touchdowns, key plays in the running game kept drives going or were the big plays of scoring drives.

• Agnew continued to serve as an effective change-up and had an 18-yard gain to the Dallas 9-yard line to help set up the first touchdown of the game, a 5-yard pass from Lawrence to Zay Jones.

• Etienne had two carries for 16 yards prior to Lawrence’s 59-yard TD pass to Jones that began the comeback from a 27-10 deficit.

• On the next possession, Agnew snapped off a 30-yard gain after Rayshawn Jenkins’ first of two interceptions, three plays before Lawrence hit Marvin Jones for a 10-yard TD pass.

• Then on the drive in which the Jags scored to take the lead for the first time, 31-27 on Lawrence’s 3-yard TD pass to Zay Jones, Etienne had a 16-yard gain on the first play of the possessions and he carried five times for 32 yards on the drive. JaMycal Hasty contributed a 13-yard gain on a sweep.

Lawrence added 21 yards on three carries (but nearly lost a chance to win the game when he fumbled at the end of an 11-yard gain that would have been a first down at the Dallas 39 just inside the two-minute warning) and seldom-used rookie Snoop Conner got into the act, gaining 3 yards to convert a second-and-one.

Jags kept running, even when behind

“The offensive line did a nice job,” Pederson said. “We had some misdirection runs … you saw Agnew on the perimeter. And T.J. [Etienne] between the tackles. Just being able to keep a defense like that off-balance and not really know where the run’s coming from opens up the movement game, some play-action stuff. It’s just great to see our guys were able to do that.”

And not abandoning the run, even after the Jags trailed 21-7 at halftime and 27-10 late in the third quarter, kept Parsons and the rest of the Cowboys off Lawrence’s back. Parsons had sack in the first quarter but Lawrence never hit the ground after that and escaped the pass rush with a couple of deft scrambles.

“Knowing they had two great pass rushers and how Parsons can just dominate the game all by himself, we had to be able to run the ball,” Etienne said.

Agnew said it would have been difficult to put the game on Lawrence’s shoulders against the Cowboys.

“The last few weeks, even though we’ve been winning, we weren’t doing as well [on the run] as the beginning of the season,” he said. “Naturally, that’s going to open up stuff.”

Agnew, Lawrence provide key gains

Etienne said Agnew adds another dimension with Pederson using him on reverses and jet sweeps.

“Jamal is very talented, very explosive with the ball in his hands,” he said. “Any time you have a player like that on your team, you want to get the ball in his hands. I feel it keeps the defense honest. He’s really fast when he gets around the edges. He’s a great punt returner and when he gets in the open field it feels like a punt return for him.”

Agnew said there’s another side to the Jags running game: Lawrence, who has scored four touchdowns and is averaging 4.8 yards per carry.

“Trevor is sneaky athletic,” Agnew said. “Obviously he has a rocket arm but he’s dangerous in the run game. Teams have to account for that.”

The only nagging issue was when Etienne left the game in the fourth quarter with what was announced as an ankle injury. He was able to return in overtime and had one carry, then caught a pass from Lawrence for an 11-yard gain on third-and-14, his first pass reception in two games.

“I kind of got rolled up in a pile but I said if we go overtime, there’s no way I’m going to sit on the sidelines,” Etienne said. “I’ve got to find a way to make it right for my guys.”

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Etienne, Agnew lead Jaguars run game that kept Dallas pass rush on heels