The New Orleans Saints began the 2026 preseason at home, inside the Caesars Superdome on Saturday. Their opponent was the Jacksonville Jaguars, a team that won 13 games last season.
New Orleans jumped out to an early lead and was up by two touchdowns at the half before Jacksonville mounted a comeback. By the end, the Black and Gold fell 24-20 to the Jags.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
Saturday’s game didn’t feature any starters for either team, but that didn’t stop all three units of the Saints from making a big play by the midway point of the first quarter.
Ty Chandler caught the Jacksonville kick coverage sleeping on the opening kickoff, returning the ball 86 yards to the Jaguars’ nine-yard line. On the first play from scrimmage, Audric Estime bounced outside and carried the ball to the left pylon for the touchdown, putting the Saints ahead 7-0 just 21 seconds into the game.
On defense, the first big play for New Orleans was a diving interception by linebacker Jaylan Ford in the redzone. Backup edge rusher Garrett Nelson was called for an illegal block in the back, minimizing the return. Nelson made up for it on the next drive by sacking the Jags quarterback Nick Mullens on third down, bringing out the special teams units.
Spencer Rattler was the starting QB for the Black and Gold and was stripped by Yasir Abdullah at the team’s 20-yard line. Jacksonville’s BJ Green II recovered the fumble at the Saints’ nine-yard line. The Jags would go backwards on their next possession, losing seven total yards when Myles Cole had a big tackle for loss, and Mike Heldman sacked Carter Bradley. Jacksonville settled for a second of two field goals in the first quarter.
On Rattler’s final drive, he led the offense 57 yards in 15 plays that resulted in a 49-yard field goal by Tanner Brown to put the Saints ahead by four.
Jayden Price, who has been spoken highly of in training camp, jumped Carter Bradley’s pass on an interception and returned the ball to the Jacksonville 28-yard line. Zack Wilson, who subbed in at QB on the previous drive, found Bub Means over the top for a pickup of 27 yards. Rookie tight end Oscar Delp then caught Wilson’s one-yard touchdown pass with 3:02 left in the first half.
Wilson led an 84-yard drive in the final minute, hitting Means and Barion Brown down the right sideline for big gains. Ultimately, Tanner Brown knocked through a 29-yard kick and put New Orleans ahead 20-6 at the half.
New Orleans got one drive in the third quarter, and it resulted in a missed 52-yard field goal by Charlie Smyth. For the Jaguars, they went 79 yards in 10 plays, leaning on the ground game, but it was tight end Hunter Long, who zigged while everyone else zagged, and caught a one-yard touchdown pass from Carter Bradley. Jacksonville also converted on a two-point conversion to make it a six-point game.
Wilson left the game in the fourth quarter, but had a good showing in his limited action, throwing for 145 yards on 11/16 passing, and that one-yard throw to Delp.
The Jaguars continued to score in the fourth quarter, putting up 10 more points, including a touchdown run by J’Mari Taylor. New Orleans couldn’t respond despite an impressive drive by Hunter Dekkers at QB and the Saints fell to Jacksonville 24-20.
BIG NUMBER: 14
The Black and Gold watched as its third and fourth team units gave away its 14-point halftime lead. New Orleans failed to score a point in the second half after Charlie Smyth missed a field goal on the team’s only real chance to score in the final 30 minutes.
PLAYER OF THE GAME: Michael Heldman
An unlikely candidate, yet Michael Heldman made plays throughout the game. In his final stat line, the rookie edge rusher sacked the Jags QB twice and recorded three tackles for loss on six total tackles in the Saints’ 24-20 loss on Saturday.
UP NEXT: The New Orleans Saints will gear up to play in their second preseason game, this time on the road. They’ll face the Los Angeles Rams at 3:00 PM on Saturday, August 22nd.