The Jacksonville Jaguars roared back from a 17-point second-half deficit Sunday to force overtime against the Dallas Cowboys. That set up Rayshawn Jenkins' heroic play.
With Dallas driving following a Jacksonville punt, Jenkins was in the perfect spot as a Dak Prescott pass bounced off Noah Brown's hands into the safety's lap. Jenkins then raced 52 yards for the game-winning score in an improbable 40-34 victory.
"I was thinking about going and scoring," Jenkins said, via the team’s official website. "I saw it pop up in the air, and I said, 'Yo, I've gotta score right here. It's only Dak.' I caught it. I got a huge block by somebody. I was running for daylight. My hamstring was about to pull and everything. I had to score. That was cool.
"All I kept doing was [waving goodbye to the fans]. That's all I could think about: 'Bye-bye.' Onto the next one."
The game-winning score wasn't Jenkins' only big play. The safety also intercepted a pass that set up another score as the Jags came back from down 17 points with under six minutes remaining in the third quarter. Jenkins led the team with a whopping 18 tackles, the most by a player with at least two INTs in a game since at least 1994, per NFL Research.
Edge rusher Josh Allen called it "one of the best performances I've ever seen."
"We needed it," Allen said. "We needed guys to make plays like that to win a game like this. He was that guy. This is the momentum we need."
Jenkins' 52-yard score was the 21st overtime pick-six in NFL history and the second by a Jags player (Rashean Mathis at Pittsburgh in Week 6, 2005 -- 41 yards).
After getting down big early, Trevor Lawrence caught fire and Zay Jones snagged three TDs as the Jags motored through the Cowboys defense. But the Jacksonville D, led by Jenkins, came up with the game-winning score.
"We finish," Allen said of the comeback. "We don't try to win the game in the first quarter, second quarter, third quarter. It's a four-quarter game -- plus more if it needs to be. That's when we know. I've been in this organization for four years. There were times when we were behind, we were behind; we couldn't find our way back. Now we have the offense, defense and special teams that can continue to fight. We have the determination, and we have the mentality to finish every game."
The thrilling victory kept the Jags' playoff hopes alive. Generating back-to-back wins after being humiliated in Detroit, Jacksonville (6-8) sits just one game behind the collapsing Tennessee Titans in the AFC South with three to play. The Jags must keep the comeback vibes alive as they face the 7-7 New York Jets on Thursday night.
