JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Jacksonville Jaguars running back Denard Robinson rushed for a career-high 127 yards on 22 attempts and scored his first NFL touchdown late in the game to help the Jaguars break a nine-game losing streak with a 24-6 win over the Cleveland Browns Sunday.

Robinson started in place of injured Toby Gerhart and bettered his previous career best in the first quarter when he rushed for 62 yards. His most important yards came with just under six minutes left in the game when he went around end from 8 yards out to give Jacksonville a more comfortable 17-6 lead.

Robinson’s run was set up after a fumbled punt by Cleveland’s Jordan Poyer. Jacksonville’s LaRoy Reynolds recovered at the 8-yard line, and Robinson ran it in from there on the next play.

“I believe in what’s for you is for you, that God has a plan for you,” Robinson said. “So I believe in it. I think God gave me a great opportunity today and the offensive line gave me the opportunity to see holes and hit it and run. I wasn’t getting touched for five yards, so when you’ve got an opportunity like that, you’ve got to make the most of it.”

Following the kickoff, the Jaguars were able to cement their first win since Dec. 5, 2013, when they beat Houston 27-20. A pass by Cleveland quarterback Brian Hoyer bounced off Browns running back Ben Tate and was grabbed by Jaguars linebacker Telvin Smith, who returned it 14 yards to the 8-yard line. It took Jacksonville two plays to score, with running back Storm Johnson getting the 4-yard touchdown, the first points that Cleveland had allowed following a turnover this season.

It marked just the second home win (Houston) for the Jaguars in Gus Bradley’s two seasons as head coach.

“What an exciting time in the locker room, it was crazy,” Bradley said. “I told them let’s revel for 24 hours, let’s have fun with it. I am just so excited for our guys. … I’m pleased with our effort defensively. That’s what it takes. [Cleveland] is such a good offensive team, such a good running team and they just wait for you to break down and get an explosive run. It was a total team effort. I am really pleased with our guys’ effort and how it came out there.”

The Jaguars shut down the Browns’ running game. Cleveland averaged 146.4 yards per game coming in, third best in the NFL, but managed to gain 69 yards in 30 attempts Sunday.

The six points were a season-low allowed by Jacksonville and represented the Browns’ lowest point total of the season. Cleveland had scored at least 21 points in every game in 2014.

Jacksonville turned in its strongest effort of the season running the ball. The Jaguars gained 185 yards in 35 attempts, a massive leap forward from their NFL-low average of 69.5 yards per game through six weeks.

Jaguars rookie quarterback Blake Bortles had his season-low passing total and threw a season-high three interceptions. Bortles finished 17 of 31 for 159 yards. But the Jaguars defense bailed Bortles out, twice stopping the Browns on downs and holding the visitors to a field goal on the third occasion.

What the Jaguars said:

“Of course you’ve always got to stay humble. You can’t get too high, can’t get too low. You’ve just got to stay even-keeled all the time and just continue to thrive. That’s something coach has been teaching us. The last couple of weeks we’ve been playing lights out football on defense. Now we’re not making as many mistakes as we were. The biggest thing now is just continuing to grow as a team.” — Defensive end Chris Clemons.

What the Browns said:

“This is disappointing. But that’s the nature of this league. You win one game and you’re crowned Super Bowl champions. You lose a game and you’re announced as the worst team in the league. I hope we have the perspective to know that’s the way it goes in the NFL. I said earlier in the week that this was the best defense we would have played thus far. Everyone just kind of snickered and said, ‘Oh yeah, he’s just trying to pump his team up.’ But seriously this is the best defense we have played so far. They sell out to stop the run. We knew it was going to be very hard to run the ball. We obviously didn’t execute the way we wanted to run the ball. We knew we weren’t going to have 200 yards running the ball, their defense is just too good.” — Left tackle Joe Thomas

What we learned about the Jaguars:

1. The defense is getting better. For the fourth consecutive game, Jacksonville reduced the total yards it allowed its opponent. After surrendering a season-high 529 yards to Indianapolis followed by a 407-yard effort to San Diego and a 372-yard total to Pittsburgh, the Jaguars have now put together back-to-back sub-300 yard totals. It marked the first time since 2011 that they allowed less than 300 total yards in back-to-back games. The 266 yards are the fewest by a Jaguars opponent since the Houston game (216) last year. “I think we played very consistent on defense — front and back end,” said defensive tackle Roy Miller. “The offense kept giving us a chance. We just played well together as a team.”

2. What made the Jaguars’ first win of the year even more significant is that they did it with quarterback Blake Bortles having his worst game of the season. After performing so well in his previous four games — all losses — Bortles had season lows of 17 completions, 31 attempts, 159 yards and passer rating of 40.3. In his first three starts, the rookie quarterback had thrown for 780 yards. Fortunately for Bortles and the Jaguars, the team picked this game to break out its running game, accumulating a season-high 185 yards on the ground. Bortles was the first to admit that he did not have a good showing. “Bad. I mean not good,” he replied when asked to evaluate his performance. “I think the defense, offensive line and the running game really won the game. There’s no doubt, I think everybody can see that. I’ve got to improve. I’ve got to keep getting better. Obviously I’m not happy with the way I played, but I’m extremely happy with the outcome of the game.”

–RB Denard Robinson showed he’s definitely found his home as a running back. After being used at a number of different positions a year ago, Robinson has been used almost exclusively as a runner this year. In the first six games, when he shared playing time with teammates Toby Gerhart and Jordan Tillman, Robinson never had more than nine carries in any game, nor more than 33 yards in any contest. That all changed against the Browns when Robinson was called on 22 times and responded with 127 yards. He almost approached his career total of 160 yards on the ground that he’s accumulated in 22 NFL games prior to the Cleveland game.

–DE Andre Branch left the game a groin injury and was scheduled to have an MRI Monday to determine the severity of the injury.

–C Luke Bowanko suffered an ankle injury during the game. He later returned to the lineup, but had an X-ray taken of his ankle after the game. The results will be known on Monday.

–QB Blake Bortles had five runs for 37 yards to add another dimension to the Jaguars’ ground attack on Sunday. Bortles wishes he had made a sixth run. He was still blaming himself for a poor decision on his third interception of the game when the Jaguars were marching for a score in the third quarter. They had the ball at the Cleveland 14 when Bortles, who looked like he was going to take off on another scramble, pulled up and fired the ball toward Cecil Shorts, only to have Browns defender Buster Skrine step in front of Shorts for an interception. “I should have just tucked it and ran,” Bortles said. “I stepped up, the protection was really good. Instead of trying to do something stupid like that, just tuck it and run. Get the first down and if not, then get a field goal and go up by seven.”

–LB Paul Posluszny had a pectoral injury and will have an MRI taken on Monday to determine the severity of the injury.

What we learned about the Browns:

1. Cleveland played its first full game after losing the services of center Alex Mack to a broken fibula during the Pittsburgh game the previous week. Even though the Browns insisted that they could adjust to losing a player that many feel is the best center in the NFL, the showing by the offensive line against the Jaguars may say otherwise. Cleveland was held to just 69 rushing yards in 30 attempts, 29 of which came on two plays. “I don’t think you can blame it on us not having Mack,” said John Greco who moved from guard to the center spot to fill in for Mack. “You can say it would have gone a different way, but at the end of the day, this is what we’re working with. They made more plays than us. Credit our defense, they gave us enough turnovers that we should have won. We just couldn’t get it into the end zone.”

2. Quarterback Brian Hoyer’s ability to put points on the board was held in check by the Jaguars on Sunday. In Hoyer’s eight previous NFL starts (five this year, three in 2013), the Browns averaged 26.6 points. Cleveland averaged 17.6 points per game in all other games since 2013. Hoyer had directed the offense to put up at least 26 points in six of those eight starts, including three games over 30. But he was held to just two field goals against the Jaguars, who came into the game having allowed the second highest total of 185 points in the NFL coming into this game. But the Browns couldn’t get the ball into the end zone in their two trips to the red zone, having to settle for field goals on both occasions. “When you get turnovers, you’ve got to turn them into points, not field goals,” Cleveland coach Mike Pettine said. “When you’re only kicking field goals, you start to press and that factors into about going for it on fourth down later on.”

–RBs Ben Tate (4.6 yards per attempt), Isiah Crowell (5.4) and Terrance West (4.4) all came into this game with solid averages in their average per carry. But all three Browns’ running backs had a tough afternoon. Crowell had the best average per gain at 2.6, followed by Tate at 2.3 and West at 1.6. Half of Tate’s 36 yards in 16 carries came on one 18-yard run. Otherwise he gained 18 yards in 15 attempts.

—QB Brian Hoyer, who was averaging 236 yards per game with a passer rating of 99.5, was held to 215 yards — 65 of which came on one completion to Andrew Hawkins — and a passer rating of just 46.3. “We’ve got to take this loss for what it is, that we got our butts handed to us,” Hoyer said. “But it’s a long season, we’ve got a chance to move on and get a couple wins at home the next two weeks.”

—WR Miles Austin was targeted eight times in the game but had just three receptions. The five passes that fell incomplete were part of a total of 25 incompletions by QB Brian Hoyer. It was part of a long, frustrating afternoon for Austin and the other Browns’ receivers. “There are so many components to having a successful completion,” he said. “One little breakdown in blocking, in throwing, in receiving can cause for an incompletion. We just have to keep working hard to do everything right on each passing down.”