It seemed for a while that the Jacksonville Jaguars were going to cruise to an easy win against the New Orleans Saints on Thursday night.
The Jaguars offense had two 75-yard touchdown drives on its first three possessions and the defense wasn’t allowing the Saints to do much of anything. At the end of the third quarter, the Jaguars had a 15-point lead over a New Orleans team that hadn’t yet scored a touchdown.
Then the Saints came roaring back with a pair of fourth quarter touchdowns to tie up the game.
But when the Jaguars needed it most, the offense found its spark in the form of a 44-yard touchdown. Then a gassed Jacksonville defense did just just enough to seal the game with a red zone stop.
Here’s who and what stood out most in the win:
Stud: RB Travis Etienne Jr
Fair warning: Don't let @swaggy_t1 find the edge!#JAXvsNO on @nflonprime pic.twitter.com/dz5At6X4LR
— Jacksonville Jaguars (@Jaguars) October 20, 2023
Etienne continues to rack up touchdowns at a torrid pace. In fact, with two touchdowns Thursday, he became the first Jaguars player ever to record multiple rushing touchdowns in three straight games. That’s not insignificant on a franchise that got 130 combined touchdowns out of Fred Taylor and Maurice Jones-Drew.
Studs: CBs Darious Williams, Montaric Brown, Tre Herndon
BIG TIME BUSTER!@lockdown_2121 | #JAXvsNO on @nflonprime pic.twitter.com/nOHFgSP2o5
— Jacksonville Jaguars (@Jaguars) October 20, 2023
The Jaguars run defense was mostly good and the pass rush did enough to make Derek Carr uncomfortable, but no unit made a bigger impact on that side of the ball than Jacksonville’s defensive backs. Saints wide receivers were hardly ever open Thursday night. Short passes to Alvin Kamara was just about the only effective thing the Saints offense could find for most of the night.
Stud: Jaguars offensive line
Trevor Lawrence’s knee didn’t seem to bother him too much Thursday, but there had to be concern for the Jaguars that a hit could make things worse. Jacksonville never had to find out. Lawrence was hardly sniffed by the Saints pass rush. His quick release was part of the reason, but the offensive line certainly did its part.
Dud: Jaguars punt units
bully ball pic.twitter.com/MMVeJlaiQL
— Fitz (@LaurieFitzptrck) October 20, 2023
Tevaughn Campbell made a huge error early in the game when he didn’t clear out of the way and allowed himself to get shoved right underneath a punt and into Jamal Agnew. Not long after, Antonio Johnson made a special teams mistake of his own when he ran over the Saints’ returner. The two plays were a large part of the reason the Jaguars’ great start only yielded an 11-point halftime lead.
Stud: Jaguars offense's start
Fair warning: Don't let @swaggy_t1 find the edge!#JAXvsNO on @nflonprime pic.twitter.com/dz5At6X4LR
— Jacksonville Jaguars (@Jaguars) October 20, 2023
The Jaguars opened the game with a 10-play, 75-yard touchdown drive that included a 21-yard reception for Evan Engram, a 15-yard rush for Travis Etienne Jr., and a 14-yard reception for Jamal Agnew before Etienne punched it in. While a Christian Kirk fumble doomed the next drive, Jacksonville responded with a seven-play, 75-yard touchdown drive.
Dud: Jaguars' next seven drives
After racking up 164 yards through the first three drives, the Jaguars’ next drives went punt, punt, field goal, punt, punt, turnover on downs, punt. If Marshon Lattimore managed to hang on to an interception before halftime, none of those seven drives would’ve resulted in points.
Stud: Jaguars goal line defense
The Saints ran 12 plays inside the Jaguars’ 10-yard line. Six were runs for a combined four yards. Six were passes that were all incomplete.
Stud: LBs Foye Oluokun, Devin Lloyd
Oluokun and Lloyd combined for 25 tackles, which isn’t that surprising for anyone who watched the game. They were everywhere. That included when Oluokun was in the right place at the right time to record an interception and his first ever NFL touchdown.
Stud: Jaguars training staff
Not only did Trevor Lawrence play Thursday — something that everyone in the building, including Lawrence, seemed to think was a long shot on Monday — he led the Jaguars in rushing. The half-week of work the training staff did with Lawrence to get him as right as possible should be the model for all teams dealing with a knee sprain.
