Week 7 TNF Recap

Written by: William Petersen •

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Coming into their first primetime matchup of the season, the Jacksonville Jaguars arrived in the bayou ready to extend their three game winning streak into four. Jaguars starting quarterback Trevor Lawrence was riding the injury designation wave all week after suffering a knee injury in last week’s win over the Indianapolis Colts. Lawrence having a stiff knee seemed to be the least of the Jaguars problems as Lawrence finished the game 20/29 for 204 yards a TD and the Jaguars outlasting the New Orleans Saints 31 to 24 on week 7’s installment of Thursday Night Football. Saints starting quarterback Dereck Carr struggled all night, unable to find momentum until the fourth quarter which caused Carr to finish; 33/55 for 301 yards, TD, and an interception. Carr had a hard time digesting the coverages that Jacksonville was manipulating but some relief was found in workhorse Alvin Kamara. In Kamara’s second game back this season he catalyzed the Saints’ offense; 17 carries for 62 yards and 12 receptions for 91 yards. The Saints clearly wanted to run their offense through Kamara, where he was able to find success but not enough to result in the Saints to now be on a two game slide. Jacksonville continues to be one of the hottest teams in the NFL after their fourth consecutive win.

The Jaguars came into this game questioning if Trevor Lawrence’s sprained knee was healed enough to efficiently manage this primetime tilt. Lawrence quickly cleared up any speculation after scrambling for a 15 plus yard scamper on the first drive of the game that would ultimately result in Travis Etienne Jr. scoring the first of his two touchdowns on the night. Etienne Jr would finish with 14 carries for 53 yards as well as his two scores. Etienne’s game changing performance produced Doug Pederson to maintain a perfect 8-0 record on TNF, and the Jaguars to continue their winning streak to four straight games. Jacksonville will be relieved to see that Lawrence’s knee was not nearly as beat up as initially thought, and the Jaguars will try to continue their winning ways in week 8 as they travel to Pittsburgh for a date with the 3-2 Steelers.

The New Orleans Saints will have extra time to regroup following their missed opportunities in Thursday night’s loss as they travel to Cleveland next Sunday to try and put their season back on course. Dereck Carr continues to show how mediocre of a NFL quarterback he is after missing 22 throws and frankly struggling until the middle of the second half to get the Saints offense going. Carr is an upgrade from Jameis Winston last season, but I believe Carr will continue to struggle for the rest of his time this season due to the scheme that surrounds him. It was apparent in tonight’s loss that Alvin Kamara is the engine that drives the New Orleans offense. Even though Kamara was making a consistent impact when the ball found his fingertips, the rest of the offense was unable to make contributing efforts due to Carr’s inability to dissect and adapt to the zone coverage that the Jaguars were running all evening. With Carr struggling, WR1 Chris Olave had a frustrating night as well finishing with 7 receptions for 57 yards. Some optimism can be found in this loss as Michael Thomas was able to find the endzone after only playing in 10 games during the last 3 seasons due to injury. New Orleans will continue to have an up and down season as long as Carr is behind the helm and the Saints will look to win their division for the first time since 2020. New Orleans will welcome the 3-3 Indianapolis Colts to town next Sunday as they try to get back to .500.

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