Breaking Down the Jaguars' Game-Winning TD vs. the Saints

The Jaguars and Saints were tied at 24 with 3:19 remaining and Jacksonville facing a 2nd-and-8 near midfield. After giving up a 24-9 lead, the Jaguars needed a score.

They came out in an empty formation and used two coverage indicators pre-snap. They motioned Christian Kirk across the formation, and they had running back Travis Etienne align on the perimeter. Since cornerback Paulson Adebo aligned over Etienne and no one followed Kirk’s motion, this appeared to be zone. Specifically, it looked like some kind of quarters coverage:

The Jaguars attacked with a concept they like to use frequently - 4 verticals and Christian Kirk running an option route underneath from the slot:

The vertical routes knocked the top off the coverage. Both corners ran with their receivers on the ouside. The front-side safety attached to Evan Engram’s vertical from the #3 position. The backside safety turned his attention to Engram as well after he saw Kirk, the #2 to the weakside, release underneath:

Underneath, the nickel DB ran with the #2 vertical since it was his responsibility to take him if he ran his route up or out. The mike linebacker carried Engram’s vertical inside, delivering him to the safety:

That left just Kirk vs. Tyrann Mathieu underneath:

Kirk had a lot of space to maneuver and ran a great route to win vs Mathieu, leaving him in the dust on the way to the go-ahead TD:

The Jaguars would hold on and win this game 31-24. While it hasn’t been a smooth first 7 weeks for the Jaguars, they’ve found a way to go 5-2 and take control of the AFC South.