Three takeaways from Jaguars' tough 'TNF' win over Saints
The Jacksonville Jaguars beat the New Orleans Saints on "Thursday Night Football," 31-24, barely holding on at the end thanks to a defensive stand inside the 10-yard line.
Here are three takeaways from that win as the Jags improve to 5-2 and increase their lead in the AFC South.
1. Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence did not look limited at all.
There was some question as to whether or the Jaguars quarterback would be able to go on Thursday night after suffering a knee injury last week against the Indianapolis Colts. Not only did he play, but he didn't appear to be limited in any way during the game.
He completed 20 of 29 passes for 204 yards and a game-winning touchdown pass to Christian Kirk in the fourth quarter, while also showing no hesitation when it came to running the football. The Jaguars pretty much let him play his normal game and take off whenever he saw fit, and it resulted in him running the ball eight times for a team-leading 59 yards. His longest run was a 26-yard scramble down the sidelines, but he was also willing to take several hits when running. It was not his best game, but the injury did not seem to limit him. He now has a long week with some extra rest to get ready for Jacksonville's next game against at the Pittsburgh Steelers on Oct. 29.
2. Foster Moreau is going to have nightmares about this drop.
Give the Saints some credit, just when it looked like they were about to get blown out, they showed some impressive fight in the second half. They were in a position to score game-tying touchdown with less than a minute to play and the ball inside the Jacksonville 10-yard line.
That was when this happened on third down.
That is the potential game-tying pass going right off the hands of Moreau.
That was the only one of the four passes that went the tight end's way on Thursday night that he did not catch.
3. The Saints offensive line is a big problem.
The Saints offense looked awful for most of the night and received a consistent chorus of boos throughout the first half. Quarterback Derek Carr struggled to push the ball downfield, they could not run the ball and they even allowed Jacksonville to get a pick-six in the second half. The one big common denominator in all of those problems was a makeshift offensive line that could not protect Carr or generate any sort of a push in the running game all night.
Carr was constantly running away from the pass rush and struggling to buy time. Even though he was sacked just one time, the pressure from Jacksonville was relentless, as he took seven hits. He also appeared to be injured on two different occasions on the Saints' final drive but was able to power through and remain in the game.
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