Jaguars 31, Saints 24: Jacksonville Pulls Out a Close Win on Thursday Night Football

The Jaguars improved to 5-2 after a big Thursday Night Football win.

The Jacksonville Jaguars played with fire on Thursday Night Football, but they managed to pull out a close 31-24 victory over the New Orleans Saints thanks to a fourth-down pass breakup by second-year Buster Brown to close the game.

The Jaguars entered the game with an injured Trevor Lawrence, but the third-year quarterback completed 20-of-29 passes for 204 yards and a touchdown, throwing a 44-yard game-winning touchdown to Christian Kirk with 3:19 left in the game.

Lawrence hardly looked hobbled to start the game, completing 5-of-6 passes for 60 yards as the Jaguars scored an opening-drive touchdown for the second week in a row. A 21-yard catch-and-run by Evan Engram and a 15-yard gain by Travis Etienne on a screen helped set up an eventual two-yard Etienne touchdown run, giving him five touchdowns in the last nine quarters.

The Saints' offense picked up some key first downs of their own right on the following drive, with Derek Carr shaking Travon Walker on a scramble for 10 yards and Chris Olave breaking a Montaric Brown tackle for 14 yards. 

But then the Jaguars' defense stiffened, with Foyesade Oluokun making a nice play in coverage to break up a target to Olave on second down. A play later, slot cornerback Tre Herndon landed a quarterback hit to force a Carr incompletion, setting up an eventual missed Saints field goal.

A play later, though, the Jaguars had some of their early-season tendencies pop up as Christian Kirk fumbled after a 19-yard gain, giving the Saints the ball near midfield. 

Despite the Jaguars forcing a punt, self-inflicted mistakes reared their ugly head again as cornerback Tevaughn Campbell -- who was called up from the practice squad on Thursday -- was driven into Jamal Agnew's path on a punt return, resulting in the ball hitting Campbell in the back and becoming a second lost fumble.

The Saints' own red-zone struggles continued, though, as Brown broke up a third-down pass intended for Michael Thomas to force a Saints field goal and a 7-3 Jaguars lead. 

The following drive saw Lawrence continue to put his knee injury behind him, with Lawrence tying a career-long with a 26-yard scramble to set up another Etienne touchdown, this time a 17-yard run around the left edge to give him six touchdowns in the last three games.

The Jaguars forced a fourth-down turnover on the next drive as they continued to frustrate Carr, but a three-and-out by the offense and then a special teams penalty on Antonio Johnson forced the Saints to a short field and an eventual 35-yard field goal to make it 14-6. 

Jacksonville managed to drive before the half thanks a fake punt call by Doug Pederson, resulting in a big gain from Logan Cooke to Tim Jones. Disaster nearly struck as Marshon Lattimore seemingly picked off Trevor Lawrence, but it was ruled incomplete and Brandon McManus nailed a 42-yard field goal to give them a 17-6 lead. 

The Jaguars' defense came up with a few solid plays to open the second half, but the Saints again gambled on 4th-and-Short. Again, it paid off, with Alvin Kamara picking up 17 yards to keep the drive alive and set up a 42-yard field goal, cutting the Jaguars' lead to 17-9.

Then, the Jaguars defense did what they do best.

After forcing an NFL-best 15 takeaways in the first six weeks, the Jaguars had come close, but just a bit short several times on Thursday. 

That changed halfway through the third quarter, though, as Darious Williams broke up a Carr pass and tipped it into the hands of Foyesade Oluokun, who returned it 24 yards for his first-ever pick-six, giving the Jaguars a 24-9 lead. 

The Saints then managed to hold onto the ball for the rest of the quarter, putting together a 16-play, 73-yard touchdown drive that was capped off by a one-yard Taysom Hill touchdown on 4th-and-inches.

Much like three of the previous four drives, the Jaguars' next drive resulted in nothing. After an early first down, the Jaguars punted after just four plays, giving them just seven plays in the 20 minutes of the second half. 

The Jaguars seemed poise to punt again, but a pass interference flag on Paulson Adebo helped the Jaguars stay on the field. The Jaguars then faced 4th-and-inches from the Saints' 47 but Etienne was bottled for a gain of zero, resulting in the Jaguars turning it over on downs.

It then took the Saints just three plays to strike, with Michael Thomas beating Brown for his first touchdown of the season on a 17-yard catch, which followed a 19-yard catch by Hill and another 17-yard catch by Thomas. A two-point conversion catch by Kamara then tied it up at 24-24, with the Jaguars' 15-point lead evaporating before their eyes. 

A 23-yard Lawrence scramble helped the Jaguars get to midfield on the next drive, but three designed plays to Ridley resulted in zero yards: a zero-yard rush and back-to-back incompletions, leading to another Jaguars fumble. 

The Jaguars' defense managed to force a much-needed three-and-out, with Josh Allen recording his ninth pressure and his third quarterback hit of the game in another dominant performance. 

Jacksonville then finally got a boost on special teams, with the Saints putting it just 39 yards, resulting in a nine-yard Agnew return to the Saints' 46-yard line. A few short plays later, Kirk scored on a 44-yard touchdown for his third touchdown of the season, giving the Jaguars a 31-24 lead. 

The Saints wouldn't go away, though, with Hill catching an 18-yard pass and Kamar hitting a big 15-yard run to drive it to the Jaguars' 18-yard line. Olave and Kamara helped the Saints get to the Jaguars' 8-yard line, but the Saints' first attempt in the red-zone fell incomplete to Thomas with Brown in coverage. 

Allen then recorded his 10th pressure on 2nd-down, forcing another Carr incompletion with 0:30 left. Foster Moreau then dropped an open touchdown on third down, giving the Saints and Jaguars one more play to decide the game. 

After giving up an earlier touchdown in a similar spot, Brown made the play of his career by getting a near-interception on Olave to end the game and officially give the Jaguars a 31-24 win and a 5-2 record.

Stats of the Game (10/19/23 @ the Saints) Via: @theryanmichael

Trevor Lawrence finished the game 20 of 29 (69.0%) for 204 yards (7.0 YPA), 1 touchdown, 0 interceptions, 0 sacks and a 100.4 passer rating.

Lawrence led the Jaguars in rushing, producing a career-high 60 rushing yards. He averaged 12.6 yards per carry on 1 healthy leg, excluding kneel downs.

Travis Etienne carried the ball 14 times for 53 yards (3.8 YPC) and 2 touchdowns.

Christian Kirk led the Jaguars in receptions (6), receiving yards (90), yards per-reception (15.0) and touchdown receptions (1).

Foyesade Oluokun led the Jaguars with 14 tackles (9 solo), defended 2 passes and hauled in an interception that was returned for a touchdown.