Jaguars Allowed a Pivotal Second Half Conversion to a Colts Player Not Supposed to Be on Field

Early on in the second half, the Colts faced a massive 3rd and long. The way they beat the Jaguars' defense to get the conversion? Throw it to a player who wasn't even supposed to be in the game.

With the Jacksonville Jaguars trailing the Indianapolis Colts 10-7 early on in the third quarter of Sunday's game at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, the Jaguars' defense had a chance to make a big third-down stop. 

After all, it was third and 19. The Colts would have to gain almost a fifth of the length of the field to convert. It seemed like as long as Jacksonville didn't make any harmful gaffes, the offense and Nick Foles would get them the ball back and have a chance to get the Jaguars back into the game. 

Instead, the Colts kept their drive alive. Colts quarterback Jacoby Brissett threw a screen pass to Jonathan Williams and the reserve running back gained 31 yards. Six plays later, Brissett threw a touchdown to Marcus Johnson from the one-yard line and the Colts didn't let up. 

The Colts would wind up winning 33-13, and the defense's inability to stop the Colts in even the most advantageous of situations was one of the lowlights of an already lowlight filled game. 

But it wasn't just the 31-yard gain that should hurt Jacksonville's defenders. It is the circumstances of how the plays happened. After all, Williams was not even supposed to be on the field for that play, Colts head coach Frank Reich said after the game.

“That was actually really funny because Nyheim (Hines) was supposed to be in for that and there was a miscommunication," Reich said in his postgame press conference. "It doesn’t really matter how it happened and Jonathan’s (Williams) was out there for the play."

As Reich would go on to explain, Williams carved up the Jaguars' defense on a play he had not run prior to Sunday.

"As coaches we’re talking about, ‘Jonathan’s never run this play. I’m not sure he knows what to do,'" Reich said. "This was truly just a Nyheim play and then he ripped that off. That was pretty funny.”

A successful screen play is oftentimes dictated by the blocking given to the ball carrier, and in Williams' case it was tremendous. He made one man miss and then there was truly nobody to stop him short of the sticks, Jaguars head coach Doug Marrone said.

“They get the ball out there on the perimeter and we’re not pressuring so they wound up blocking us, getting the lanes and we couldn’t get enough people to it to make a play," Marrone said.