A big night by the defense, a timely throw by Trevor Lawrence and huge play at the finish by Buster Brown delivered a primetime win on Thursday night.
The Jaguars hung on at the finish to escape New Orleans with a wild 31-24 win over the Saints that stretched their winning streak to four games. The Jaguars (5-2) are hot, but they aren’t without issues to work on. They head to Pittsburgh next Sunday atop the AFC South standings before a well-timed Week 9 bye.
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They’ve found a blueprint that works.
Defense.
A little bit of offense.
More defense.
And some good old fashioned luck.
They needed all of those to shoo away Derek Carr and the Saints.
“Number one, the biggest stat that matters to me is the scoreboard, right? The fact that we won the game,” said Jaguars coach Doug Pederson. “... There were a lot of individual efforts that were good to see. Just a lot of credit to those guys in the locker room.”
Lawrence’s return from a knee sprain on a short week in primetime was the big storyline, but it was the play of Jacksonville’s defense that did the lion’s share once again.
And deliver it did.
Brown, starting in place of cornerback Tyson Campbell, batted down a fourth-down pass in the end zone with 25 seconds left to seal a wild win over the Saints. One play before that, that luck came in handy as Carr’s pass to a wide-open Foster Moreau in the end zone bounced out of the tight end’s hands. Moreau had beaten both defenders and was all alone in the end zone, but couldn’t bring in the touch pass.
It was a thrilling final quarter in a game that Jacksonville had controlled most of the night.
The Saints blitzed the Jaguars for 15 unanswered points in the first eight minutes of the fourth quarter and knotted things at 24-all with 6 minutes, 42 seconds left. The teams swapped punts before the Jaguars answered in two plays, with Lawrence hitting Christian Kirk on a drag route over the middle, and then Kirk stretching it into a 44-yard touchdown.
But with 3 minutes, 19 seconds left, Carr had plenty of time to work. He took New Orleans down the Jaguars 6, but Jacksonville forced two incompletions with its pressure on Carr, then the dropped pass by Moreau before Brown nearly picked off the pass on fourth to ice it.
New Orleans (3-4) didn’t find the end zone until Taysom Hill took a fourth-down snap and scored on a 1-yard run two plays into the fourth quarter to spark its surge. But Lawrence, bad knee and all, did enough to stay a step ahead until the finish.
“I was happy with it and didn’t bother me too much,” Lawrence said of his knee. “Definitely did not set it back. So, I am really happy with that and that was the goal, to play, find a way to win the game and not set it back and we have 10 days now to recover and get ready for Pittsburgh. So it went perfect, honestly.”
Etienne stays hot
Travis Etienne is riding the best stretch of his NFL career and has shown no sign of slowing down. Etienne scored his sixth rushing touchdown of the season on Jacksonville’s opening drive, a 2-yard run, and then ripped off a 17-yard touchdown early in the second quarter for a 14-3 lead.
He’s scored two touchdowns in Jacksonville’s last three games, something no other Jaguars player has accomplished, according to NFL Research. Maurice Jones-Drew and Fred Taylor had back-to-back games with multiple rushing touchdowns, but never stretched that to three. Etienne had five rushing touchdowns last year, but now has seven in seven games this season.
And with Lawrence less than full strength due to his knee sprain, Jacksonville certainly needed that. Etienne finished with 77 yards of offense on 17 touches.
The offense was effective early and then limped to the finish line. With Lawrence less than 100% due to a knee sprain, Jacksonville never got into a flow on that side of the ball and labored most of the game until it needed a big play. Lawrence delivered it to Kirk and Jacksonville’s defense did the rest.
“It’s a play that we know well and in situations like that, it’s kind of good for us all but when I motioned over, they had [Saints S] Tyrann Mathieu down low,” Kirk said. “I didn’t think he was going to match me, but you know, after he popped out after the snap, I knew I was running my option route off of him so, it was just really beating him and then Trevor did a great job stepping up in the pocket and give me an opportunity to catch a run.”
Lawrence finished 20 of 29 passing for 204 yards and a touchdown. Even with the bad knee, he led the team in rushing with 59 yards. Kirk had a team-best 90 yards receiving.
“On Monday, I would have told you he was not playing in this football game, but that’s not who Trevor is. Again, I’m proud of his effort — the ability to escape the pocket and run,” Pederson said of Lawrence. “Fortunately, they were straight-ahead runs. He didn’t have to cut too much. A lot of gutsy performances out there, and his is probably the No. 1.”
The defense
New Orleans’ offense hasn’t been the most consistent this season, but the Jaguars knocked it around from open to close. Darious Williams saw his interception streak end at three games but turned in an excellent game in the secondary.
His coverage on Rashid Shaheed on a third-and-10 play midway through the third quarter led to a 24-yard Foye Oluokun pick-six that pushed Jacksonville’s lead to 24-9. Tre Herndon had a solid game in the nickel spot, including a near-sack of Carr on third down that forced a punt. And Buster Brown, starting in place of injured corner Tyson Campbell, broke up a pass in the end zone against Michael Thomas that forced the Saints to settle for a field goal.
Turnovers sting
The Jaguars had an excellent opening drive and followed it with two bad ones. After the Saints missed a field goal, Lawrence hit Kirk on a pass in the seam that went into New Orleans territory. But Kirk fumbled on the hit and the Saints recovered.
Jacksonville forced a three and out but Tevaughan Campbell clobbered teammate Jamal Agnew on the punt return and the Saints recovered. Campbell was charged with the fumble since he touched the ball first. That led to a 23-yard field goal by Blake Grupe to get New Orleans within 7-3. The Jaguars hadn’t committed a turnover in the opening quarter in any of their first six games. They avoided a third giveaway in the opening half when a Lawrence interception by Marshon Lattimore was overturned on review.
Lawrence’s injury limited some of the short yardage options, too. Facing a fourth and inches at the New Orleans 47, Jacksonville went shotgun and Lawrence handed it off to Etienne. He was smothered for no gain. The Saints scored three plays later on a 17-yard touchdown pass from Carr to Thomas, then got a two-point conversion pass to Kamara to tie things at 24-all.
“I challenged them to be great. They don’t have to be perfect,” Pederson said. “Just be great. Have great passion, have great energy. They did that tonight.”