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Jacksonville Jaguars CB Jourdan Lewis makes great first impression, leads turnover parade
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- Jacksonville Jaguars CB Jourdan Lewis makes great first impression, leads turnover parade
Remember the Jacksonville Jaguars ' 2024 season on defense, when turnovers were harder to come by than a winning Powerball ticket?
The first game of 2025, under new coordinator Anthony Campanile , paid off in a big way when it came to forcing the opposition to cough up the football.
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With cornerback Jourdan Lewis recovering a fumble and intercepting a pass, and linebacker Foye Oluokun adding an interception and forcing the fumble that Lewis recovered, the Jaguars took the heart out of the Panthers and quarterback Bryce Young with three turnovers and almost a fourth in a 26-10 victory on Sept. 7 at EverBank Stadium.
The first two turnovers, the Oluokun interception and the Lewis fumble recovery, led to 10 second-quarter points, a TD pass from Trevor Lawrence to Hunter Long and the second of Cam Little's four field goals with six seconds left in the half.
Lewis' interception, a diving, one-handed grab, ended Carolina's final possession with less than a minute to play.
Turnovers 'a staple' of great defense
"It's a staple of a really good defense, a great defense," said Lewis, a nine-year veteran who was part of the Jaguars' free-agent class. "Getting the ball back. We pride ourselves on getting the ball back and being physical. Hopefully, those things come in bunches."
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And it was a setback for the Panthers and Young. After being benched last season, Young returned and played better over the final part of the season. The off-season narrative was that Young was ready to take the next step.
Not against the Jaguars.
"I obviously can't turn the ball over like that," Young said. "It cost the team. I have to be better than that."
Turnovers were a team effort
The first two turnovers the Jaguars secured were collaborative.
Oluokun's interception came after Young's pass was tipped by Eric Murray and enabled Lawrence and the Jaguars offense to set up shop at the Panthers' 35. Eight plays later, Lawrence hit Long with the team's first 2025 touchdown and a 10-0 lead.
Jacksonville Jaguars linebacker Foyesade Oluokun (23) causes Carolina Panthers quarterback Bryce Young (9) to fumble during the second quarter of an NFL football game between the Carolina Panthers at Jacksonville Jaguars at EverBank Stadium Sunday September 7, 2025. [Doug Engle/Florida Times-Union]
Lewis' fumble recovery came after Oluokun jarred the ball loose from Young when he was diving for extra yards. With only 48 seconds to work with, Lawrence completed four of five passes for 44 yards to set up Little's field goal.
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Oluokun said there was a risk in making a play on Young when he dove head-first.
"I hate when quarterbacks kind of do that," he said. "He's trying to get his extra yards ... so he decided to go head-first. You don't want to dive on the guy and maybe get the penalty. So, he put the ball out as he was stumbling forward. He's already going to the ground. Might as well take my shot at it."
Andrew Wingard 's pick six called back
The Jaguars nearly had four turnovers and the one that didn't count was a big one. Safety Andrew Wingard interception Young at the Jaguars' 25 and returned in 75 yards for a touchdown. Lewis, however, was flagged for defensive holding and Young threw a 27-yard TD pass to Chubba Hubbard on the next play.
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Lewis made up for it with his closing pick.
He said his fumble recovery was part of the team's goal coming out of a one-hour and 16-minute lightning suspension midway through the second quarter: come out fast.
Travis Etienne made the first big play, with his 71-yard run that set up a touchdown on a jet sweep by Brian Thomas Jr.
Jacksonville Jaguars cornerback Jourdan Lewis (2) recovers a fumble by Carolina Panthers quarterback Bryce Young (9) during the second quarter of an NFL football game between the Carolina Panthers at Jacksonville Jaguars at EverBank Stadium Sunday September 7, 2025. [Doug Engle/Florida Times-Union]
Lewis then came up with the fumble by Young to pave the way for Little's field goal.
"Absolutely," he said when asked if the team was determined to come out of the delay with a purpose. "Come out fast and get a turnover so the offense could get out there and put some points on the board. It felt good to see that we could play some complementary football, get some stops and then the offense could run some clock and get some scores. It really felt good today the way we played."
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Jaguars also forced two turnovers on downs
The Panthers were 0-for-2 on fourth down conversion attempts, both in Jaguars territory in the third quarter and both of them huge, given the fact that the Jags offense went a bit stagnant in that period.
On the first, the Panthers had a first-and-10 at the Jaguars' 14 after a pass interference penalty on Jarrian Jones . After Hubbard gained 8 yards on first down he was stopped for no gain by Wingard and Murray and nailed after a 1-yard gain by Oluokun.
On fourth-and-one at the 6, Young was pressured by Travon Walker , stepped up, and under more pressure by Devin Lloyd and DaVon Hamilton , threw incomplete, and badly, to Xavier Legette .
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Two possessions later, Jaycee Horn set the Panthers up in Jaguars territory when he intercepted Lawrence. On fourth-and-five from the Jaguars 33, Young went deep to Tetairoa McMillan , who appeared to have a half-step on Tyson Campbell .
Campbell reached around and knocked the ball down. The Jags then went on a time-consuming drive that started with the final play of the third quarter and ended on a Little field goal, eating up 7:38 of the fourth period.
Jaguars' struggled to get a pass rush
The turnovers also came in handy because the Jaguars couldn't get much pressure on Young, mostly due to Carolina's scheme: the Panthers emphasized getting the ball out of his hand quickly, and he used his mobility to escape several pressure situations, gaining 40 yards on five scrambles.
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There was only one sack, by Dawuane Smoot , and two additional quarterback hits, by Josh Hines-Allen and Murray.
Carolina also converted 8 of 15 third-downs and had only four penalties, much cleaner than the Jags' 11 for 93 yards.
No one expected everything to go swimmingly after a 2024 season in which the Jaguars defense was last in most categories.
"We have a lot of things to clean up," Lewis admitted.
But coach Liam Coen dryly observed, "to get three [turnovers] in one game is probably a good start," he said.
Foye Oluokun said there's a new attitude
The Jaguars' defense forced only nine turnovers last year, tied for the second-fewest in the league.
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Now, one game into the 2025 schedule, they're one-third of the way to surpassing that meager total.
"We put a lot of work in this whole offseason," Oluokun said. "New faces in here, we gained a lot of trust and a lot of good camaraderie … it just felt great. We're doing stuff right. Let's keep doing it. Let's keep improving on it."
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Jacksonville Jaguars defense gets greedy with 3 turnovers vs Panthers
