Thursday Night Football between the Jacksonville Jaguars and New Orleans Saints from Louisiana provided us a whole heck of a lot.
Jacksonville opened up a 17-6 lead at the half on two Travis Etienne touchdowns. The team then found itself up 24-9 in the fourth quarter with the Saints failing to do anything in the red zone (three field goals).
That’s when Derek Carr and Co. stepped up on offense with two scoring drives to tie the game up at 24. Unfortunately for the Saints, it was not to be.
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Jacksonville went up 31-24 with less than seven minutes remaining in the fourth quarter after Trevor Lawrence hit Christian Kirk on a 44-yard catch-and-run.
After the Saints drove down the field late in the fourth quarter, Derek Carr missed on four consecutive passes from the Jaguars’ six-yard line to put this one away for the Jags.
Jacksonville now moves to 5-2 on the season with its fourth consecutive win. The Saints fall to 3-4 and have now dropped four of five. Here is a look at the top highlights from this Thursday Night Football matchup.
Thursday Night Football highlights in Week 7
The New Orleans Saints were driving late in the fourth quarter in an attempt to tie this game up. They had first-and-goal from the Jaguars’ six-yard line. Four consecutive Carr passes fell incomplete, including on fourth down to Chris Olave.
That was game, set and match.
What an answer from the Jacksonville Jaguars. After blowing a 24-9 lead earlier in the fourth quarter and seeing New Orleans tie this one up, the Jags drove down the field 46 yards on just two plays, culminating in a 44-yard touchdown pass from Trevor Lawrence to Christian Kirk. It was a great pass-and-catch between the two and an even better route from Kirk.
After New Orleans defense stepped up big time to stop the Jaguars, Derek Carr and the offense drove down the field 51 yards on three plays. It culminated in a touchdown pass from Carr to Michael Thomas.
Carr then hit Alvin Kamara on the two-point conversion attempt to tie this one up at 24 each.
Talk about New Orleans waking up big time in front of its home crowd. After struggling big time, Derek Carr came through and did his thing in a big way to get this one even with less than seven minutes remaining in the fourth. Crazy stuff.
The Jaguars and Saints would go on to exchange three-and-outs before Jacksonville was on the receiving end of a pass interference penalty against New Orleans. Even then, the Saints defense was able to stop Travis Etienne on fourth-and-inches from New Orleans’ 47-yard line. It was a tremendous stand for Nola’s defense.
The Saints finally scored a touchdown at home for the first time in eight quarters to open up the fourth Thursday night. It came with the Jacksonville Jaguars leading by 15 and after 16 plays. Backup quarterback/tight end/all-everything player Taysom Hill ran from one yard out on fourth-and-goal to make this a game.
Anything to come up with points, right?
Down 17-9 midway through the third quarter, a Derek Carr pass intended for Rashid Shaheed was deflected up in the air and picked off by Foye Oluokun for a 24-yard pick-six.
Some will say it’s never a quarterback’s fault when the ball is tipped in the air. But Carr threw that in between three Jaguars defenders. It wasn’t going to end well for New Orleans. Following said inrerception Carr had completed just 16-of-30 passes for 138 yards with an interception.
New Orleans was able to drive down the field 52 yards on 11 plays to open up the second half, culminating in a 42-yard field goal from Blake Grupe to pull the game to within 17-9 five-plus minutes into the third quarter.
Even then, continued struggles getting into the end zone has to be frustrating for Derek Carr and the New Orleans Saints. That’s three field goals thus far on Thursday Night Football.
Immediately after Jacksonville succeeded on a fake punt, it was able to kick a field goal to go up 17-6. It came after Trevor Lawrence seemingly threw an interception into the hands of star Saints cornerback Marshon Lattimore. Officials on hand in the Superdome reversed the original call of a pick, giving the Jags an opportunity to kick the field goal and take a two-score lead into the half.
One of the biggest takeaways of the first 30 minutes were the boo birds that fans in New Orleans presented their team with. Said booes were loud as the teams made their way to the locker room.
Up 14-6 in the second quarter, the Jaguars were seemingly punting from the Saints 46-yard line. That’s when Doug Pederson and Co. went with the fake punt. It resulted in a completion from punter Logan Cooke to wide receiver Tim Jones.
Talk about some pretty awesome trickery right there from the aggressive Jags.
In between mistakes, the Jaguars continued to prove Thursday night that their offense is elite when clicking on all cylinders. That included a second 75-yard touchdown scoring drive and Travis Etienne hitting paydirt for the second time within the first 17 minutes of the game.
That’s just a great play call right there with the jet streep. At one point, Etienne reached north of 20 miles-per hour while taking it to the house.
Even after being on the receiving end of second Jaguars giveaways, the Saints couldn’t take advantage of a short field. They took over at Jacksonville’s 17, only to see the drive stall at the five, leading to a chip-shot field goal from Blake Grupe to pull the game within 7-3. It led to more booes coming from Saints fans in the Bayou.
That’s two turnovers for the Jaguars within a minute after Engram fumbled earlier in the first quarter. This time, it came on special teams. Jamal Agnew went to return the punt and his own teammate took him out, leading to a muff of the ball.
After an initial touchdown-scoring drive in which their offensive looked unstoppable, the Jags are keeping New Orleans in this one with mistake after mistake.
After making two catches on the opening drive, Evan Engram fumbled the ball in an attempt to gain more yards after a completion from Lawrence.
It set New Orleans up at the team’s own 41-yard line. Unfortunately, Carr and the Saints’ offense went three-and-out on its next possession.
Blake Grupe missed two field goals in last week’s loss to the Houston Texans. With New Orleans down 7-0 early Thursday night, the rookie came on to the field to attempt a 51-yard field goal, It ended up missing wide right, keeping this one a touchdown difference. Grupe is now 13-of-17 on the season after the Saints chose him over veteran Will Lutz heading into the season.
That did not take the Jaguars too long. On their first drive of the game Thursday night, the Jags drove down the field 75 yards on 10 plays. It culminated in a two-yard touchdown run from Travis Etienne.
About Lawrence’s knee injury? He completed 5-of-6 passes for 60 yards, including two to tight end Evan Engram, on the drive. Rightfully so, Saints fans inside the Superdome were not too happy about how this one started.
The Saints’ players showed up to the Superdome in style. Check it out.
As we noted above, Lawrence is officially active for the Jaguars Thursday night. They showed the star quarterback going through his pre-game routine. He looked pretty good heading in.
Jacksonville Jaguars inactives
- WR – Zay Jones
- RB – JaMychal Hasty
- CB – Tyson Campbell
- LB – Yasir Abdullah
- OL – Walker Little
- QB – Nathan Rourke
New Orleans Saints inactives
- S – J.T. Gray
- TE – Juwan Johnson
- OT – Landon Young
- OL – James Hurst
- OL – Ryan Ramczyk
- WR – A.T. Perry
- DE – Kyle Phillips
Everything you need to know about Thursday Night Football Week 7
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