How Did the Saints Defense Bring Minshew Mania Down to Earth?

After a month of dazzling the NFL, rejuvinating the Jacksonville Jaguars offense and racking up rookie awards, Gardner Minshew had his rookie moment in Sunday's 13-6 loss to the New Orleans Saints.

Unfortunately for the Jaguars, the rookie moment lasted from the first snap to the last and prevented the Jaguars from scoring a single touchdown for the first time all season. During Sunday's games, no team scored fewer points than the Jaguars aside from the Tennessee Titans, who were shut out.

Against the Saints, Minshew put forth a terrible statistical game for the first time this season. He finished 14-for-29 passing for 163 yards with an interception and zero touchdowns. Just how much did he regress statistically from his previous four starts? (All stats per Pro Football Reference).

First game with a completion percentage below 57.58 (48.28).
Least amount of yards in a start by 41 yards.
First game without a touchdown pass.
First game with a quarterback rating below 97.2 (51.4)

“Yeah it was a tough day; they are a good team. I missed some balls that I can’t miss," Minshew said following the game.

“Looking back, I know the one that we thought was pass interference on Chris [Conley], should’ve had that one. Then looking back, there were some that I shouldn’t have thrown in general that I wish I could have back.”

So, what did the Saints do exactly to derail Minshew Mania so drastically? As most Saints defenders who spoke to the media after Sunday's game said, they simply made him play a different style of football than he had played in previous starts.

"But when you talk about us being accustomed to a scrambling-type quarterback, we had a game plan set in motion. I feel like we went out and executed just that," Saints defensive end Cameron Jordan said Sunday.

"We made him a pocket passer, and we created opportunities for our defense to create turnovers, and we capitalized on one out of a possible three.”

Some of Minshew's best plays this season have came when he was able to either extend plays inside of the pocket by evading defensive lineman or when breaking outside of the pocket and throwing on the move. It was obvious to the Saints coming into the game that stopping this would be their No. 1 priority as defense.

MINSHEW MAGIC!@GardnerMinshew finds @track_chaser for the TD.#DUUUVAL pic.twitter.com/eqQfYsH1fG
— Jacksonville Jaguars (@Jaguars) September 29, 2019

"I thought we did a good job of putting the quarterback [Gardner Minshew II] on the spot where we wanted them, not allowing him outside," Saints head coach Sean Payton said on Sunday.

“Our objective was to make him play in that phone booth and give him looks defensively we felt like he hasn’t seen (before). I thought we did a good job of that. There were a couple of extended plays, but not many.”

The best example's of these strategies were a few third downs early in the game where the Saints rushed only three lineman. They were not focused on getting to Minshew in the pocket — instead, they wanted him to have to stay in the pocket and try to find an open man vs. a defense that was taking away the quick passing game.

Minshew's struggles were not all his fault. The Jaguars wide receivers struggled to seperate vs. the Saints secondary, mostly because DJ Chark was being bracketed by Marshon Lattimore and a safety throughout the game.

But all of these factors worked together. From not allowing Minshew to extend plays, to locking down Chark with two defensive backs, the Saints simply had a perfect game plan to stop Minshew and the Jaguars offense.

The worry for the Jaguars offense moving forward is what happens when teams replicate the Saints strategy to slow down Minshew. Most defenses aren't as talented as the Saints, but defensive coordinators will likely model what they saw on Sunday regardless.

"I think that when someone does have success against you playing in coverage that you have to make sure that you do a good job, because this is a league that if they see something being successful against you, they’ll do it again," Jaguars head coach Doug Marrone said on Monday.

The Jaguars entire offense, players and coaches included, failed to adjust to the Saints defensive strategy on Sunday. For Minshew, Marrone and others, they will need to be prepared for the next time they see a defense play them the way the Saints did.

"I think that Gardner [Minshew II] will be able to recognize it," Marrone said Monday.

"It’s something that has happened before to me, even with veteran quarterbacks, where they’ve switched it. And the faster we can make those adjustments from coaches, myself included, the better opportunity we’ll have to make plays."

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