Special, until they weren't: Jaguars special teams were a mixed bag vs. Chiefs

The Jaguars' special teams gave and the special teams — with some help from the offense — took away Sunday at Kansas City.

Most of the pivotal kicking game plays came in the first half of the Chiefs’ 27-17 victory over the Jaguars at Arrowhead Stadium, and the net result was the Jags left at least six points on the turf (missed field-goal attempts 41 and 51 yards by Riley Patterson), and possibly more.

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The two key opportunities were the field position the Jags had after Patterson executed a nifty onside kick that he recovered himself to open the game (at their own 46), and a fumble by KC’s Jody Fortson on a kickoff with seven seconds left in the half, forced by Caleb Johnson and recovered by Adam Gotsis at the Chiefs’ 32.

At the very least, Kansas City’s 20-7 halftime lead could have been in the 20-16 neighborhood.

But it’s also why the Chiefs (7-2) and the Jaguars (3-7) are who they are at this point of the season.

Farwell sold Pederson on onside kick

The special-teams intrigue began from the opening kickoff. Jaguars coach Doug Pederson dialed up the onside attempt with Patterson tapping the ball, then trailing it the mandatory 10 yards before pouncing on it in front of Kansas City’s two nearest players, Leo Chenal and Bryan Cook.

The Jaguars got one first down but Christian Kirk dropped a deep ball from Trevor Lawrence around the 10-yard line and the Jags had to punt.

Pederson said he decided to go for the onside kick after special teams coordinator Heath Farwell, spotting an opening on the front wall of the Chiefs’ kickoff return team, lobbied all week to give it a try.

“Heath and [assistant special-teams coach] Luke [Thompson] do a great job of studying the opponent,” Pederson said. “Any time you can take advantage of an opportunity you do it, especially against a good football team. We thought we could steal a possession, get 3 or 7 [points] and take some of the sting out of the crowd. As the week went on, I was more comfortable with taking the onside kick if it was there.”

Fluke touch costs Jags

The Jaguars missed another chance later in the first quarter by a fingertip but it was the result of Chris Claybrooks’ hustle in an effort to down a punt near the goal line.

Punter Logan Cooke (who averaged 46.8 yards on six attempts and had two downed inside the 20 because of good coverage) bounced a punt inside the Kansas City 10. For an instant, it appeared that the Chiefs' Chris Lammons fumbled when he tried to pick the ball up, with Daniel Thomas recovering around the goal line.

However, replays showed that Claybrooks, leaping at the ball on the first bounce in an effort to keep it out of the end zone, got a fingertip on it, which meant the Chiefs couldn’t fumble since the receiving team had already touched the ball.

Jamal Agnew returned a punt 19 yards in the second quarter to the Jaguars’ 46. Lawrence got the Jags to the Chiefs’ 31 but the drive stalled (mostly due to the first of two ineligible receiver downfield penalties called on Jags’ offensive linemen — this one on Jawaan Taylor) and Patterson missed from 51 yards out.

Fumbled return by Chiefs wasted

The most agonizing waste came after Lawrence hit Kirk with a 3-yard TD pass to cut Kansas City’s lead to 20-7 with 11 seconds left in the first half. Patterson's kickoff was fielded by Fortson, who had the ball knocked out by Johnson. Gotsis recovered and the Jags had seven seconds and 32 yards to negotiate.

Lawrence hit a quick pass to Zay Jones for a 9-yard gain, and he rolled out of bounds to stop the clock with three seconds left. But Patterson missed again, tugging a 41-yard attempt left.

With the Jaguars getting the kickoff to start the second half, it was a rude interruption of the momentum Lawrence had generated after Agnew returned a kickoff 39 yards.

Patterson atoned somewhat with a 35-yard field goal on the first possession of the third quarter but it came after a TD pass to Evan Engram was wiped out on another ineligible receiver downfield call on Cam Robinson.

Aside from Patterson’s two misses, it was a pretty good day for the Jaguars’ special teams. Agnew, in his second game back from a knee injury, has 52- and 39-yard kickoff returns, both kick-starting touchdown drives, and has averaged 10.6 yards on three punt returns.

Cooke had one poor punt, a 35-yarder that was downed at the Chiefs’ 37 in the second quarter, but the Jaguars' defense made a stop. He made up for that with a 63-yarder on his next attempt, and one that traveled 52 yards in the fourth quarter, with the coverage teams holding Kadairius Toney inside the 10 both times.

Kicker Riley Patterson in a slump

A troubling new issue is Patterson, who was signed before the season partly because the Jaguars valued his accuracy over a strong leg. Patterson was 13 of 14 on field goal attempts for Detroit last season and made 11 of his first 12 attempts for the Jags for a career mark of 24 of 26 (.923) through the Broncos game in London.

Patterson also made the first 29 conversion attempts in the NFL, including his first 13 for the Jaguars.

But since the Giants game, Patterson has missed one conversion and three field-goal attempts. A kicker on a cold streak entering a bye week — especially with another kicker, James McCourt, on the practice squad — shouldn't feel comfortable.

McCourt, a rookie from Illinois, was actually signed before Patterson when the kicking position was a game of musical chairs during training camp and the preseason.

In a seven-day span, McCourt made 15 of 15 field goal attempts, a combination of a joint practice against Atlanta (8 of 8), the preseason game against the Falcons (2 of 2) and a practice at TIAA Bank Field (5 of 5) the day before Patterson was signed.

Contact Garry Smits at gsmits@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter @GSmitter

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Jags special teams filled with highs and lows in loss to Chiefs