Saints 13, Jaguars 6: Instant reactions
For one of the first times during the Garder Minshew era, the Jacksonville Jaguars offense fell apart and led directly to a loss, with the Jaguars falling 13-6 to the New Orleans Saints at home.
Aside from a 13-play drive in the 2nd Quarter to put the Jaguars on the board for the first time with a field goal, Minshew looked off the entire first half. He had happy feet in the pocket, wasn't on the same page with his wide receivers and threw several near interceptions.
The second half didn't start off much better with Minshew throwing an interception to Marshon Lattimore on the fourth play of the half. Despite Minshew's off day, where he finished 14-of-29 passing for only 163 yards, the Jaguars defense largely did their part after hearing all week about their disaster performance in Carolina in Week 5.
The Jaguars recorded three sacks and held Saints running back Alvin Kamara to 31 yards rushing on 11 carries. But even with a better defensive outing, the Jaguars still struggled to force turnovers and All-Pro wide receiver Michael Thomas was largely dominant in the second half, tearing the Jaguars up on third down and ending the game with eight catches for 89 yards.
But at the end of the day, this loss falls squarely on the offense's shoulders. Minshew was indecisive and confused by the Saints two high safety scheme and the wide receivers simply were not creating enough plays on their own.
One big reason the offense struggled was due to the fact that wide receiver DJ Chark was being covered by bracket coverage, with Lattimore and a safety trailing him all game. The Jaguars failed to take advantage of this and were not able to make the plays they needed to due to that failure.
