Not this time: Jaguars defense finally preserves a lead in 27-20 victory over Raiders

Not today, said Jaguars safety Andrew Wingard.

Not another fourth-quarter fold.

"We've been talking about this a lot, how we have to want to be on the field in those situations," he said after the Jaguars reversed their fortunes with a 27-20 victory over the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday at TIAA Bank Field. "You can't run from it. And we didn't run from it."

The script — and perhaps a season — was flipped with a fourth quarter in which the Jaguars (3-6) held the Raiders (2-6) to three first downs, 41 yards of offense and more importantly, no points, after giving up 62 points in the final period in the previous five losses.

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The defense had yielded a fourth-quarter lead in four of the Jags' six defeats this season, with the opposition scoring the go-ahead touchdowns with less than six minutes remaining.

It had to stop if the team's losing streak was to stop.

"Before the game we talked about the game coming down to the fourth quarter and we knew we were going to have to step up," said rookie linebacker Devin Lloyd. "We had opportunities that we didn't take advantage of. We preached it ... whenever we have that opportunity, which did present itself, we're going to take advantage of it this week."

Situation looked bleak early

There's talking and there's doing and when the Jags trailed 17-0 and had given up 176 total yards in the first 20 minutes of the game, any vows the defense had made were ringing a bit hollow.

But other than a 37-yard field goal by Daniel Carlson in the second period, the Jags' defense finally rose to an occasion, holding quarterback Derek Carr to 8 of 19 passing for 60 yards and wide receiver Davante Adams (10 receptions for 146 yards) to three catches for 30 yards after the Raiders' initial 17-point explosion, and one catch for zero yards in the second half.

Carr completed 13 of 17 passes for 199 yards and Adams caught seven passes for 126 yards and touchdown receptions of 25 and 38 yards in building the early Raiders lead. Carr was 8 for 19 for 60 yards after that.

Once the Jaguars' offense and quarterback Trevor Lawrence righted their own particular ship and took the lead on Travis Etienne's 5-yard touchdown on the first play of the fourth quarter, the defense forced two punts, a turnover on downs and then a fumble on the Raiders' final play.

The Jaguars held an opponent scoreless in the final period for only the third time this season and the first time since their last victory, 38-10 over the Los Angeles Chargers on Sept. 25.

Prior to Sunday's game, the Jags had been outscored 62-37 in the fourth quarter.

Jags made no big adjustments

Defensive end Dawuane Smoot, who had two sacks to break a tie with Josh Allen and take over the team lead with five, said the team was determined to preserve a lead after so many let-downs.

"We had to finish and that's what we did," Smoot said. "We had to get over that hump and we definitely did that today. We did whatever we had to do to get that done."

And it was no great mystery. Smoot said the Jaguars came in with a solid game plan to stop Josh Jacob on the ground (he had 67 yards on 17 carries), get after Carr — perhaps the least-mobile quarterback the Jags have faced this season aside from the Colts' Matt Ryan — and have cornerback Tyson Campbell stay with Adams as much as possible.

But Adams burned Campbell for the first touchdown (Campbell failed to follow the ball into Adams' hands), took advantage of a busted coverage to score his second and there were a handful of missed tackles.

There were no halftime adjustments to speak of — it was a simple case of executing what coordinator Mike Caldwell believed was a good scheme.

"We made it about us," Campbell said. "With all the mistakes we made, we were still in the game. We make our tackles; make the right plays and we can be in a position to win the game. We played more clean in the second half."

Jaguars coach Doug Pederson said it was a matter of taking a deep breath after the lead was cut to 20-10 at halftime.

"Obviously [Adams] had some big plays there but we regrouped at halftime," he said. "I don't think there were a ton of changes, quite frankly. The guys were in position in the second half. They got a great pass rush. We had our chances at some interceptions —we have to work that, obviously. Just a really good defensive performance in the second half."

The Jags offense helped give the defense some rest in the third quarter on two drives that controlled nearly 12 minutes in the clock.

After taking the lead, it was then up to the defense.

Wingard made key plays

The Raiders moved to the Jaguars' 45 after Etienne's touchdown but DaVon Hamilton stopped Jacobs for a 2-yard loss, then combined with Foley Fatukasi to nail Jacobs after a 2-yard gain.

Jenkins was injured on the play and Wingard replaced him and lined up as a box safety. He blitzed Carr hard from the right and when Carr tried to evade Wingard, he but was met by a hard-charging Foye Oluokun, who jumped to force a wild pass that fell incomplete.

The Jags didn't move the ball but when the Raiders took over after 50-yard Logan Cooke punt, Wingard blitzed hard to hurry Carr into an incompletion, stopped Jacobs after a 3-yard reception and Lloyd then blitzed to force another incompletion.

The offense could have helped on its final two possessions. Etienne was stopped for a 1-yard loss on third-and-one at the Raiders' 23 and Riley Patterson clanged a 41-yard field-goal attempt off the right upright.

Carr hit Hunter Renfrow with an 8-yard pass but the Jags denied the Raiders on three attempts to pick up 2 yards and a first down, with Campbell breaking up one pass intended for Adams and covering him so well on the next play that Carr threw the ball away. Carr then overthrew Renfrow on fourth down.

Etienne missed getting a game-clinching first down when he was stopped a yard shy and Patterson atoned for his miss by making a 48-yard field goal with 1:03 left.

That left enough time for a veteran quarterback like Carr. However, Darious Williams tipped a pass that Campbell nearly intercepted, Adams dropped a high pass over the middle, Smoot logged his second sack and Lloyd recovered a fumble by tight end Foster Moreau after the Raiders tried a series of laterals on their final play.

The Jaguars also had players such as Wingard and Smoot step up with the Raiders paying special attention to edge rushers Allen and Travon Walker, who combined for five tackles.

Oluokun led with nine tackles, Jenkins had five before leaving the game and five players had at least one tackle for a loss.

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

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Dawuane Smoot, Andrew Wingard make key plays as Jaguars defense finally gets a save