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NFL bettors are not happy with a late game decision by Jacksonville on Sunday. While trailing by four points in the fourth quarter of play, the Jaguars opted to go for a two-point conversion rather than kick the extra point to get within a field goal.
That choice wouldn’t have a major impact on the result of the game, but it certainly affected the outcome for a number of gamblers.
Many grabbed the Jaguars at +3 or +3.5 on the spread, and prayers of a cover appeared to be answered with a late score. Trailing by 10 points in the fourth quarter, Trevor Lawrence threw a touchdown pass to Evan Engram with a minute and a half remaining.
Jags score a late TD to cut it to 4.
📺: #JAXvsCLE on CBS
📱: Stream on #NFLPlus https://t.co/pWMED8S30C pic.twitter.com/a1vRaBRat9— NFL (@NFL) December 10, 2023
But then, disaster.
Rather than tack on the extra point, Jacksonville went for two. The move was certainly an interesting one as it only would’ve pulled them to within two points.
The Jaguars would miss that two-point conversion, keeping the score at 31-27. They’d fail to put the ball in the endzone again, falling to the Browns by four points.
Viewers immediately asked the same question after the fact, seeing that final score fall just shy of the spread for Jags bettors.
Why didnt @Jaguars just kick the XP?
— trey wingo (@wingoz) December 10, 2023
Others quickly reacted online.
“I will never ever agree with this- ever- it’s a horrible decision…”
“It will never ever make sense and the coaches who do this should be automatically fired.”
“This killed my parlay today.”
There were some that believe it to be the correct call, theorizing that it would be easier for the Jaguars to win in regulation had they successfully converted the two-point conversion as opposed to going into overtime.
I had Jax +3.5 in Circa Millions.
Jax was right to go for 2 there. If your are the underdog, t’s really not even a close decision. 20 years from now, every NFL underdog team will go for 2 down 4 late.
If you are a favorite, you can kick the extra point.
— Steve Fezzik (@FezzikSports) December 10, 2023
It certainly wasn’t the best call for Jacksonville backers Sunday.