The red-hot Jaguars will travel to New Orleans on a short week for a Thursday night primetime matchup with the Saints. Jacksonville is coming into this matchup as winners of three in a row, and New Orleans will be looking to bounce back after a loss to the Texans this past Sunday.
Although the Saints have been dealing with injuries, trying to get guys back onto the field like Alvin Kamara who has only appeared in three games so far, and acquiring a veteran quarterback like Derek Carr, they’ve been underwhelming to begin this season. New Orleans, who started the season at 2-0, has now found themselves sitting with a 3-3 record.
The Saints currently have 13 players on the injury report, with six of them not practicing, six who were limited in practice, and quarterback Derek Carr who was a full participant on Tuesday. A few notable names that are dealing with the injury bug for the Saints are Demario Davis, Cameron Jordan, Tyrann Mathieu, Chris Olave, Jamaal Williams, and Landon Young.
Jacksonville has significantly fewer players dealing with injuries, but all six players are starters. Both Brandon Scherff (ankle) and Tyson Campbell (hamstring) left the game in week six and did not return. Zay Jones and Walker Little both missed last week’s game as they’ve been nursing knee injuries, and Davon Hamilton came off the injured reserve list last week and will be aiming to make his season debut this week. The most notable injury for the Jaguars is with quarterback Trevor Lawrence, as he suffered a minor knee sprain in the victory over the Colts and is still listed as day-to-day.
Jaguars backup quarterback CJ Bethard stated that despite him taking a majority of the first-team reps, “it’s very likely Lawrence will play.” Trevor, who practiced with a knee brace on Tuesday, had this to say in regards to his availability for this week seven matchup:
“I’m just trying to be smart about it, trying to protect it as long as I can to put me in the best position to play on Thursday. I’ve been working out and trying to strengthen everything else to keep my body in good shape and all that.”
The key to this game will come down to the New Orleans offense being able to put up points against a Jacksonville defense that is playing at an extremely high level.
Despite the Saints ranking just 24th in points per game and 20th in total yards per game, Derek Carr has the arm talent to make deep accurate throws and that is complemented very well by two wideouts who can take the top off a defense with Chris Olave and Rashid Shaheed. When Carr isn’t making passes of 20 yards or more, this offense loves to get running back Alvin Kamara involved with runs to the outside, check-down passes, and screen passes to let him use his speed out in the open field.
Jacksonville’s defense is number one in the NFL in turnovers generated (15) and they’re number two in turnover differential (+7), as they will need another strong outing to get this road win. Both Darious Williams and Andre Cisco each have three interceptions, which is tied for first in the NFL. Fifth-year linebacker Josh Allen is tied for third in the NFL with seven sacks on the season and will be looking to take advantage of an injury-depleted offensive line for the Saints.
The matchup for the Saints’ defense versus the Jaguars’ offense should be entertaining as both sides have a plethora of talent. Saints defensive coordinator Joe Woods likes to run a lot of cover one single high safety concept with Tyraan Mathieu (Honeybadger) manning the back-end of that defense. This can potentially open up shots for the Jaguars to take down the field if they can get Calvin Ridley in man-to-man coverage on the outside, as he is one of the most crafty route runners in the game today.
The Saints open up as -1.5 point favorites (via Fanduel) as everyone is pending the health and injury status of Trevor Lawrence. New Orleans will be looking to get back in the win column and get back to being above .500, as the Jaguars will look to get their fourth win in a row.
Kickoff will be at Caesars Superdome on Oct.19 at 8:15 PM EST.