Leonard Fournette Bemoans Key Play In Jaguars-Patriots Title Game
Jacksonville's core players later left a potential Super Bowl contender
The New England Patriots prevented multiple teams from achieving their championship goals during their dynasty, and players from those franchises still carry a bitter taste from those defeats.
One of those players is Leonard Fournette. The free agent running back was on “Good Morning Football” on Thursday and reflected on the 2017 AFC championship game between the Jaguars and Patriots.
Jacksonville came into Gilette Stadium as an upstart team that featured one of the league’s top defenses led by Calais Campbell and Jalen Ramsey. Blake Bortles was in his fourth year leading an offense that featured a then-rookie Fournette and Allen Robinson.
The Jaguars went up 14-3 in the second quarter, until Tom Brady and Danny Amendola worked their magic and led a comeback victory to send the Patriots to Super Bowl LII.
But that comeback might not have happened. The biggest play of the game was in the fourth quarter when New England ran a trick play where Amendola caught a screen pass and threw it to the other side of the field to Dion Lewis. The running back ran into open space, but Myles Jack came in from behind and stripped Lewis.
The Jaguars had possession back up 20-10, but there was controversy over whether or not Jack was down. If the referees did not blow the play dead, the linebacker likely would have run it back for a touchdown, which would have put Jacksonville up three scores.
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It’s unknown if Brady still could have led the Patriots to a comeback, but the referees’ decision to rule Jack down and negate a potential touchdown remains a huge “what-if.”
“Myles Jack was not down,” Fournette said. “That’s the famous quote we always say. It just brings back so many memories. I know for a fact if we won that game, that franchise team still would have been together. Who knows what would have happened, how many we could have won. But at the time, we had a lot of vets. … Never would have knew, man.”
The Patriots lost to the Philadelphia Eagles in the Super Bowl, and the Jaguars eventually blew up their team and started over.
Fournette also spoke on “Good Morning Football” about his experience with Tom Brady when they were with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and won Super Bowl LV. He said he understood who “Tommy Boy” was and why he’s the greatest of all time.
But there still will be lingering feelings from the Jaguars on that pivotal play in 2017.
