Love yourself as much as Jaguars players love celebrating basic plays while they’re down five possessions. During the second half of the Patriots’ 50-10 route over Jacksonville Sunday, multiple players on the visiting team decided to showboat their way through the catastrophe.
They may not win another game this season, but at least they’re going to have fun doing it. The euphoric high from ousting Urban Meyer is apparently long-lasting.
Mac Jones threw all over Jacksonville to the tune of 227 yards and three touchdown passes. The Patriots kept passing the ball into the fourth quarter, much like in their late-October demolition of the Jets, which propelled a seven-game winning streak. N’Keal Harry fill-in Kristian Wilkerson was one of the stars of the afternoon, coming down with four catches and two touchdowns. So in the fourth quarter, Jones tried to feed him again.
The first pass was a heave down the right side of the field that was slightly overthrown — just outside of Wilkerson’s outstretched arms. The incompletion prompted Jacksonville corner Chris Claybrooks to point his fingers in the air and do the “ssshhh” taunt, even though the Patriot were up 41-3, and he didn’t do anything to break up the pass.
Three plays later, Jones tried to hit Wilkerson down the left side of the field, only for the little-known wideout to drop the pass through his fingertips. While the ball wasn’t perfectly thrown, Wilkerson probably should’ve come down with the reception. Jaguars corner Andre Cisco tapped Wilkerson on the helmet, which might’ve played a small role in the incompletion.
So naturally, Cisco put his hands up in the air, as if the DJ was playing his favorite song.
The Patriots wound up scoring a field goal at the end of the drive and added another touchdown to conclude their next possession. That means the score was 50-3 when the Jaguars touched the ball last. But that lopsided tally didn’t stop receiver Laquon Treadwell from enthusiastically signaling a first down when he caught a pass over the middle of the field to move the chains.
He made sure he got the full attention of the camera as well.
Those antics would’ve been irritating under normal circumstances, but the Jaguars are a special case. They’re the worst team in the NFL and just suffered through one of the most tyrannical and failed head coaching reigns in league history.
Break out the champagne, or in this case, mild taunting.