New Orleans Saints lose again as improving QB Blaine Gabbert leads Jacksonville Jaguars to victory
Things are not looking too good for the New Orleans Saints in the preseason as they suffered another defeat on Friday this time against lowly Jacksonville Jaguars.
In their first preseason game at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome the Saints looked shaky with their defence being easily penetrated by a Jaguars side that is showing consistent improvement this year.
Jaguars quarterback, Blaine Gabbert had come in for strong criticism from fans and analysts alike for his poor production in his first National Football League (NFL) season last year but this year the rookie quarterback is showing great awareness and improvement to his game as he helped the franchise to its second straight pre-season victory.
Jacksonville started off well and put pressure on the Saints right away as Gabbert delivered some big plays. However, the Saints responded and both teams remained neck-and-neck right to the end of the game.
With just seconds of play left in the final quarter Jaguars backup quarterback, Jordan Palmer sent an 11-yard pass to wide receiver Kevin Elliot to win the game and send the Saints to their second straight preseason defeat.
Gabbert ended the game with 13 completions from 16 pass attempts for a total of 112 passing yards and two touchdowns to cap a game rating of 135.4 after putting up a great performance in the first half of the game.
He even outperformed Saints quarterback Drew Brees who had a slow game completing 10 passes from 13 attempts for a total of 133 yards and a single touchdown.
The Jaguars quarterback put his side ahead at 9:38 after he sent a 16-yard pass to talented wide receiver and rookie Justin Blackmon.
Blackmon who is set to become Gabbert’s favourite weapon this season made no mistake and with a brilliant burst of pace reached the end zone to make it 7-0 for the Jags.
It took the Saints three minutes to respond with Garrett Hartley’s 37-yard field goal at the 6:19 mark making it 7-3.
Gabbert though was not done yet and in the second quarter sent another touchdown pass at nine minutes this time to Colin Cloherty to make it 14-3 in favour of the Jags while less than two minutes later kicker Josh Scobee scored a 36-yard field goal to put Jacksonville 17-3 ahead after the Jags got the ball back thanks to defenseman Jeremy Mincey sacking Brees.
The Saints quarterback though bounced back immediately and finished an 85-yard drive with an eight-yard pass to Devery Henderson to make the score 17-10.
Chase Daniel replaced Brees in the third quarter and the backup put the Saints on level terms after a huge 53-yard pass to Joseph Morgan at 11:13.
The score did not remain tied for long as Scobee sent another field goal at the end of the third quarter from 47 yards putting the Jags up 20-17.
New Orleans got the lead for the first time during the game near the end of the final quarter when Daniel sent another touchdown pass this time to Travaris Cadet from 24-yards to make it 24-20.
However, the Saints hopes of running out the winners were crushed when Jaguars backup quarterback Palmer sent in the winning pass with just seconds left on the clock to beat the Saints 27-24.
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