Jacksonville quarterback Trevor Lawrence was playing with a sprained left knee, and the visiting Jaguars hurt their own cause with turnovers and penalties, but they were still good enough to overcome that and pull out a dramatic victory that extended their winning streak to four games.
Travis Etienne on Thursday ran for two touchdowns, Foyesade Oluokun returned an interception for a score and Christian Kirk’s late 44-yard touchdown after a short catch over the middle lifted the Jaguars to a 31-24 victory over the New Orleans Saints.
“I don’t think I’ve run that fast since college,” said Kirk, a former Texas A&M University star, whose late score made up for his lost fumble in the first half. “That was some vintage stuff. I’m glad I was able to do it in that moment.”
Photo: AP
Lawrence returned from the knee injury that forced him out of the final minutes of a victory over Indianapolis on Sunday and wound up leading Jacksonville (5-2) with 59 yards rushing.
“It’s crazy how you have something like that going on and don’t plan on moving a lot, and you end up running the ball more than you usually do,” Lawrence said. “It felt pretty good. It didn’t bother me too much and definitely didn’t set it back. That was the goal, to play, find a way to win the game and not set it back.”
Lawrence also completed 20 of 29 passes for 204 yards and one touchdown to help the Jaguars secure their best start since opening 5-2 in 2007.
Photo: AFP
After Kirk’s touchdown broke a 24-24 tie with 3 minutes, 8 seconds left, the Saints (3-4) were in position to answer when they drove inside the Jacksonville 10 in the final minute, but stalled out with four straight incomplete passes.
Derek Carr’s third-down pass bounced off of tight end Foster Moreau’s hands in the back of the end zone and a fourth-down timing throw to Chris Olave along the left sideline fell incomplete.
“We’re finding it hard to start fast, finding it hard to maintain, to execute sometimes, and we’re finding it hard to finish,” said Saints running back Alvin Kamara, who gained 153 yards from scrimmage on a mix of runs and catches. “That’s kind of the glaring and recurring theme.”
As time ran out, Moreau, a New Orleans native in his first season back home, looked disconsolate on the bench with his head in his hands. Teammates consoled him and later said there were too many other missed opportunities throughout the game to pin the loss on his drop.
“It doesn’t come down to one play,” Carr said. “There’s so many things that we could have done.”
Jacksonville gave the Saints numerous chances to stay in the game, losing two fumbles in the first half and committing untimely penalties throughout the game.
It almost came back to haunt them.
The Saints rallied from 24-9 down to tie the game on touchdowns by Taysom Hill on a one-yard, fourth-down run and Michael Thomas on a 17-yard reception — the latter followed by Carr’s pass to Kamara for a two-point conversion.
Carr finished 33 of 55 for 301 yards as New Orleans outgained Jacksonville 407 yards to 330, but the Saints again struggled to finish promising drives in the end zone after losing in a similar fashion at Houston.
After practicing on a limited basis this week and being listed as questionable, Lawrence completed five of his first six passes for 60 yards and even scrambled for nine yards during a game-opening touchdown drive that ended with Etienne’s two-yard run.
“We have to do a better job of not letting the freakin’ quarterback scramble,” Saints coach Dennis Allen said, calling Lawrence’s improvised runs a “black eye on the whole thing.”
New Orleans’ first drive ended with Blake Grupe’s missed 51-yard field goal, but the Saints got the ball right back when Kirk was stripped by cornerback Paulson Adebo after a 19-yard catch and defensive end Carl Granderson recovered.
When New Orleans punted soon after, Jacksonville turned it over again when Tevaughn Campbell, who was trying to block, collided hard with returner Jamal Agnew as Lou Hedley’s punt descended and hit Campbell’s back.
Lonnie Johnson recovered for New Orleans, who stalled on the Jaguars five and settled for Grupe’s field goal.
Etienne became the first player in Jaguars history to rush for two touchdowns in three consecutive games when he ran around the left end for a 17-yard score that made it 14-3.
After their seventh third-down failure of the first half, the Saints settled for another Grupe field goal.
In the final minutes of the half, Jacksonville converted a fake punt, with Logan Cooke completing a 13-yard pass to Tim Jones on fourth and two, setting up Brandon McManus’ 43-yard field goal for a 17-6 halftime lead.
Hong Kong-based cricket team Hung See this weekend found success in their matches in Taiwan, even if none of the results went their way. Hung See played the Chairman’s XI on Saturday morning, the Daredevils that afternoon and PCCT yesterday, with all three home teams winning. The team for Chinese players at the Happy Valley-based Craigengower Cricket Club sends teams on tour to “spread the game of cricket.” This weekend was Hung See’s second trip to Taiwan after visiting Tainan in 2016. “The club has been traveling to all parts of the world since 1982 and the annual tradition continues [with the Taiwan
Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei yesterday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while Coco Gauff’s dreams of a first women’s singles title in Melbourne were crushed in the quarter-finals by Paula Badosa. World No. 2 Alexander Zverev was ruffled by a stray feather in his men’s singles quarter-final, but he refocused to beat 12th seed Tommy Paul and reach the semi-finals. Third seeds Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia defeated Elena-Gabriela Ruse of Romania and Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine 6-2, 5-7, 7-5 in 2 hours, 20 minutes to advance the semi-finals. Hsieh and Ostapenko converted eight of 14 break
The San Francisco Giants signed 18-year-old Taiwanese pitcher Yang Nien-hsi (陽念希) to a contract worth a total of US$500,000 (NT $16.39 million). At a press event in Taipei on Wednesday, Jan. 22, the Giants’ Pacific Rim Area scout Evan Hsueh (薛奕煌) presented Yang with a Giants jersey to celebrate the signing. The deal consisted of a contract worth US$450,000 plus a US$50,000 scholarship bonus. Yang, who stands at 188 centimeters tall and weighs 85 kilograms, is of Indigenous Amis descent. With his fastest pitch clocking in at 150 kilometers per hour, Yang had been on Hsueh’s radar since playing in the HuaNan Cup
HARD TO SAY GOODBYE: After Coco Gauff dispatched Belinda Bencic in the fourth round, she wrote ‘RIP TikTok USA’ and drew a broken heart on a television camera lens Defending champion Hsieh Su-wei of Taiwan yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while compatriot Chan Hao-ching on Saturday dominated her opponents in the second round, as world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka swept into the quarter-finals. Third seeds Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia toppled Hungary’s Timea Babos and Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US 6-4, 6-3, hitting 24 winners and converting three of seven break points in 1 hour, 18 minutes at 1573 Arena. Although rivals at last year’s Australian Open — where Hsieh and Belgium’s Elise Mertens beat Ostapenko and Ukraine’s Lyudmyla Kichenok 6-1, 7-5
RSS