JACKSONVILLE, Florida – In a near must-win game for the Cincinnati Bengals Sunday at EverBank Field they watched their starting right tackle have to go the hospital due to an illness and their soft-spoken star wide receiver get ejected for fighting and perhaps any hope of an AFC Wild Card berth slide away as well in a 23-7 loss to the Jaguars that dropped them to 3-5 overall.

"I'm at a loss for words, because, I don't know – I'm so used to ... "

As Adam Jones, a Bengal for eight years, a captain in the past and a defensive leader, searched for the words, he buttoned the top of his shirt and raised his voice so his message could be heard. Literally.

"I know we ain't gonna win every game, but at a certain point it's a reality check with the guys in the locker room," Jones said. "And do you really want to win?

"That's my question to some of these guys. How much do you want to win? And I ain't saying everybody gotta make every play. That's not what I'm saying. But I'm talking about heart and playing with a passion. At this point, we ain't playin' with no f------ passion. And it is what it is. They'll sugarcoat it to y'all however they want to sugarcoat it, but y'alls gotta realize man we're playing for a f------ livelihood, you know? At the end of the day, when things go bad, they'll find somebody else to do it. I'm just trying to stay positive and do my part and keep working. That's all I can do."

The other defensive backs were behind Jones, the defensive line in front of him.

"It’s just frustrating when you go out there and play your heart out," Dre Kirkpatrick said. "Adam getting on a lot of things. You can only play with you, what your job is, it’s a team sport. You have to play along. I feel where his frustration coming from. You just have to pull it together, man."

An offense already bereft of playmakers lost A.J. Green on the second-to-last play of the first half when he got up from a Jalen Ramsey shove to tackle Ramsey and throw punches at the Jaguars’ corner.

More:Cincinnati Bengals' A.J. Green talks fight, ejection: ‘It’s a respect thing’

More:Daugherty: A.J. Green not the only Bengals player lacking composure, discipline

Both players were ejected, but the Bengals offense couldn’t get anything going all game long – let alone in the second half when Andy Dalton had few options to throw to and the running game was taken away due to a lengthening deficit.

Even in the first half, when a late touchdown cut the deficit to 13-7 and had the team, technically, within reach, the Bengals had managed only five first downs and 118 yards of total offense. And in the second half, it only worsened. There was little threat of a pass game and the run game never was established, allowing the Jaguars (5-3) to play conservatively on offense and pin their ears back and get after Dalton defensively.

The Bengals ran 37 plays, including two kneel downs, and gained just 148 yards of offense.

Brandon LaFell echoed Jones' statements, that some 'want to' is needed on the offense as well.

“We definitely do," LaFell said. "We just need to stand up and be a man and stop letting the guy across from you dominate you. Point blank. Point blank. That’s it.”

The Bengals averaged just four yards per offensive play, with Joe Mixon running 13 times for 31 yards and leading the team with three catches for another 15 yards.

Andy Dalton was just 10-for-18 for 136 yards. He was sacked twice and hit two other times. The Jaguars also had five other tackles for loss.

"We are into November football," center Russell Bodine said. "Panic doesn’t do anybody any good, but certainly, there’s a sense of urgency. Everybody has to step it up a little bit. We haven’t been playing well enough to win consistently.

"We need to get hot in a hurry, that’s for sure."

In the week leading up to the game, Bengals defenders talked about slowing down the Jaguars' potent running attack and making quarterback Blake Bortles put the ball in the air.

Jaguars head coach Doug Marrone assisted the Bengals in their first effort by deactivating star running back Leonard Fournette for breaking team rules prior to the game, but the Bengals had a hard time stopping backups Chris Ivory and T.J. Yeldon.

And then when Bortles did throw, he picked the Bengals apart to the tune of 195 yards on 18 of 27 passing for a rating of 100.1 and a touchdown as the Jaguars took a 13-7 lead into the half.

The Jaguars had free receivers running all over the secondary, and they were particularly effective on third down, going 9-for-11. That included conversions of six, 12 and eight yards along with a host of manageable four-yard situations.

For the game the Jaguars finished 12-for-18 (67 percent).

"They converted by the inch," Bengals defensive end Carlos Dunlap said. "On a lot of third downs we tackled them at the first-down marker, but in a game of inches you gotta win the inch."

In a game the Bengals had to have in terms of evening their record and gaining a tie-breaking advantage over the Jaguars, the defense couldn’t get off the field and the offense couldn’t manufacture points, in many of the same ways that led to the team’s previous four losses.

"Those guys, they came out and played with passion, pure, point blank," Jones said.

He then looked at the TV reporter who had asked the question if a lack of passion contributed to the Jaguars' success on third down.

"I don't know, you tell me. You watched the game right? You're a reporter?"

Yeah.

"Did we play with passion?"

No.

"All right."

GAME BALL

Tyler Kroft

Even before A.J. Green was ejected, Bengals wide receivers had a hard time getting open. Kroft, on the other hand, made himself available for Andy Dalton in two key situations. He also showed some run-after-the-catch toughness on his two catches, breaking plays for 58 and 21 yards. His 58-yard reception set the Bengals’ lone touchdown of the day and his 21-yard catch looked like it would have jump-started the first possession of the second half before a hold on third-and-five from the Jaguars’ 48 derailed that drive.

Quote of note

“We try to get the instigators of a situation like that. That’s who we believe we got.” – Referee Brad Allen on why only two players were ejected.

UPON FURTHER REVIEW

Running back Joe Mixon dove into the end zone with 4:13 to go in the first half to bring the Bengals to within 10-7, but all scoring plays are reviewed. On the replay provided on the big board inside EverBank Field, it looked like Mixon was perhaps down at the 1-yard line. If that had been the ruling, the Bengals would have then marched backwards to the 16 as right tackle Andre Smith was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct after the play.

But, the officials deemed that Mixon did indeed break the plane of the goal line for the Bengals’ first score.

INJURY UPDATE

Bengals veteran defensive tackle Pat Sims injured his right calf in the first quarter, and he was doubtful to return before being ruled out.

Following the Bengals’ first two offensive possessions, starting right tackle Jake Fisher was ruled as questionable to return after falling ill. He was then ruled out at the half and taken to a local hospital for further evaluation.

Safety Shawn Williams injured a hamstring in the first half and did not return.

PERSONNEL MOVES

Pregame was more interesting than usual as starting running back Jeremy Hill was a surprise inactive following pregame warmups. Joe Mixon was then formally promoted to the starting spot.

Also after warmups, the Bengals determined that kicker Randy Bullock couldn’t go with a back injury, meaning Marshall Koehn made his NFL debut. And with the return of Cody Core from his concussion and emergence of Josh Malone the last week, first-round pick John Ross was a healthy inactive. Koehn made his only kick, an extra point in the first half.

THREE KEYS REVISITED

Make Bortles beat you

The Jaguars helped the Bengals try to accomplish this by making star running back Leonard Fournette inactive to start the game, but the back end of the defense forgot that Bortles could indeed throw the ball in a forward direction for most of the first half. Bortles had a 100.1 first-half rating and threw for 195 yards and a score, and he played safe football from there on out to keep the Bengals from getting easy points.

Protect and pray

The Bengals did an OK job in protecting Dalton early, but he missed out on a could-be touchdown to a wide open A.J. Green by throwing one deep strike out of bounds down the sideline. Dalton was clean the entire first half and first series of the second, but after the Jaguars went ahead 16-7 halfway through the third quarter the Jaguars were able to turn up the heat and began sacking Dalton and pushing the Bengals backward in the second half.

Score early

In the Jaguars’ four victories, they led 69-6 at halftime. In their three losses, they trailed 40-24.

The Jaguars picked apart the Bengals via the run and the pass to take a 10-0 lead while the Bengals offense foundered from the beginning with 37 first quarter yards and two punts.

5 KEY NUMBERS

0

Sacks and passing touchdowns by the Bengals.

1

A.J. Green was ejected for the first time in his career after a second-quarter fight with Jaguars corner Jalen Ramsey.

81.8

Percentage of third downs (9-for-11) the Jaguars converted in the decisive first quarter, helping lead them to three first half scores.

82-13

First half margin in favor of the Jaguars in their five victories – including a 13-7 halftime lead over the Bengals.

TWEET OF THE GAME

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SONG OF THE GAME