Saints rally falls short on Thursday Night Football

The Jacksonville Jaguars defeated the New Orleans Saints 31-24 on Thursday night in the Caesars Superdome, ruining a strong second-half rally by the Saints.

The loss, the second consecutive for the Saints, dropped them to 3-4. The Jaguars improved to 5-2.

The Saints' struggles on offense continued early Thursday as they fell behind 24-6. They didn't score their first touchdown until the fourth quarter. It was just the team's second touchdown at home this season. Taysom Hill ran it in on fourth-and-goal from the 1-yard line with 14:21 to play. After a fourth-down stop by the defense, the offense quickly struck for another score, this time a 17-yard touchdown reception by Michael Thomas from quarterback Derek Carr. Carr then connected with Alvin Kamara on the 2-point conversion to tie the score at 24. The Saints' other points came on three Blake Grupe field goals (he also missed a 51-yarder).

But the Jaguars took over with 3:45 to play on the Saints' 46-yard line and Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence quickly connected with receiver Christian Kirk on a 44-yard touchdown pass for the winning points with 3:08 to play. The Saints marched to the 6-yard line on the next possession but Carr's fourth down pass to Chris Olave fell incomplete.

The Saints dominated time of possession (36:10 of 23:50) but Lawrence and the Jaguars' offense were able to move the ball when needed, especially early, scoring on 2- and 17-yard touchdown runs by Travis Etienne in the first half. The Jaguars' defense contributed a 24-yard pick-six in the third quarter.

Kamara had an effective outing, especially as a receiver, with 12 catches for 91 yards and 17 carries for 62 yards. Carr was 33 of 55 for 301 yards with one touchdown and one interception. New Orleans struggled on third down (three of 18) but had some success keeping drives alive on fourth down (four of six).

The Saints played with a make-shift offensive line of Andrus Peat at left tackle, Max Garcia on left guard, Erik McCoy at center, Cesar Ruiz at right guard and Cameron Erving at right tackle. Only McCoy and Ruiz are regular starters at those positions. In an interesting wrinkle, the Saints used defensive tackle Khalen Saunders as a fullback on several plays in the second half.

The Saints will play at the Indianapolis Colts (3-3) on Sunday, Oct. 29.