Finding the football: Jaguars rookie Tyson Campbell finally gets his first NFL interception

It was a sweet moment in another bitter loss for the Jaguars on Sunday at TIAA Bank Field.

Rookie cornerback Tyson Campbell, maligned since training camp for his uncanny knack of covering a receiver well, then losing the football in the air, pulled down his first career NFL interception against the Atlanta Falcons late in the second quarter, doing just what he had failed to do earlier this season — he tracked a high pass from Matt Ryan intended for tight end Kyle Pitts, jumped in front of Pitts and hauled in the ball.

Campbell went on to knock down two other passes and made three tackles in the Jags' 21-14 loss, a continuation of the progress he's made since recovering from a shoulder injury that kept him inactive against Tennessee and Miami.

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On his interception, Campbell started out guarding wide receiver Olamide Zaccheaus in a cover-two zone. When Zaccheaus stopped on a short route, Campbell said he saw Ryan look deeper — to Pitts, who had cut in front of safety Rayshawn Jenkins.

Campbell left Zaccheaus, raced to where Pitts was waiting, and leaped in front of him to snare the ball.

"My main focus was to reroute the receiver that I was lined against [Zaccheaus}, and make sure I had width and depth for the safety to be able to play his half," he said. "I was playing my zone, and I did read his [Ryan's] eyes ... saw the ball and got the ball."

In the last five games, the former Georgia Bulldog has five passes defensed (he had only two in his first four games), with 16 solo tackles.

When Campbell kept losing balls in the hot summer sky in training camp, Jags coach Urban Meyer talked of the second-round pick needing to respond to "snapshot moments."

Campbell said there was nothing complicated about the process and through sheer hard work, his photo album is gradually filling up with big plays.

"It's just working, putting in the work after practice, putting in the work in practice, just learning how to be a pro," he said. "Having faith in myself and my craft, not paying attention to the outside noise and keeping the main thing the main thing. I think that's part of this league. I'm learning [there are] going to be ups and downs but it's how you bounce back from it. That's what I've been doing."

Campbell has had Meyer in his corner all along.

"I think he's going to be a really good player ... I really love his attitude," Meyer said. "He had a bad shoulder, fought through it ... he's a really good worker. Glad we've got him."

And those snapshot moments? Every one of his Campbell's passes defensed and his first solo tackle either was or could have been huge for the Jags.

Two of them were wasted by a bizarre penalty. After running back James Robinson fumbled the ball away at the Jags' 29, Campbell helped hold the Falcons to an apparent 43-yard field goal by Younghoe Koo when he broke up a second-down pass intended for Tajae Sharpe, then sent Russell Gage sprawling after a 4-yard gain with a short Ryan pass.

In both cases, Campbell came barreling up from behind to make the play.

However, the Jaguars' Roy Robertson-Harris was called for a "leverage penalty" on Koo's field goal, using a teammate for support in an attempt to block the kick.

The 13-yard penalty was too juicy for Falcons coach Arthur Smith to turn down, so he took the three points off the board and took his chances. Cordarrelle Patterson scored on a 12-yard run on the next play.

Campbell's interception at midfield following Matthew Wright's field goal with 19 seconds left gave the Jags a chance to score but quarterback Trevor Lawrence threw three incompletions on second-and-one.

The next pass Campbell batted down also gave the Jaguars a chance to score — their last, as it turned out.

After moving his team from his own 21 to the Jaguars 46, Ryan threw a pass to Zaccheaus on a short slant, but Campbell had him covered and knocked the ball down. Atlanta had to punt but the Jaguars failed to move the ball and lost it on downs.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Tyson Campbell finally gets 1st NFL interception with Jags vs. Falcons