In the final two minutes of the New Orleans Saints’ stunning victory over the Baltimore Ravens, it was tight end Juwan Johnson that contributed a game-changing, late-game performance.
The effort, the determination and the fight for extra yards, served as a turning point moment by Johnson, who rookie tight end Oscar Delp has anointed the “Fourth Quarter Grim Reaper.”
In the fourth quarter and overtime of the team’s first two games, Johnson has reeled in five of his seven receptions, 85 of his 120 receiving yards and his lone receiving touchdown on the season. He’s also gained first downs on four of those receptions.
Two of his first-down catch-and-runs altered the Saints’ game plan significantly, allowing the team to chase a late touchdown, instead of having to settle for a field goal with just under two minutes remaining.
First, on a third-and-8 approaching the red zone, Johnson caught a pass short of this first down marker, surrounded by three defenders. He avoided all of them to pick up the first down and then evaded another closing defender to turn the three- or four-yard completion into a 26-yard gain.
Then, two plays later, a diving effort at the goal line almost gave New Orleans the lead, but after being called short, Johnson helped the Saints get scoring opportunities for a pair of quarterback sneaks that would ultimately win the road game for the Saints.
These two plays helped lift the Saints to a 24-17 victory despite trailing 14-3 at one point in the first half.
Reserve quarterback Zach Wilson called the third-and-8 reception a “game-changing moment” because of the opportunity it provided the team.
“We needed a scoring drive there and a big situation where we’re going to have to maybe try and play that fourth down,” Wilson said. “[The Ravens are] bringing pressure to try and get [the ball] out of our hands quickly. They got exactly what they wanted, to rally and tackle.
“So, to be able to put the ball in play before a first down, and allow a guy like that to make a couple missed tackles and and go, it’s not only a momentum thing for us, but also just like, ‘Wow!’ as a quarterback,” Wilson said. “I don’t need to try and make the big play on third down and eight. I can get it to my checkdown, and allow him to go get yards after catch and pick it up for me.”
Head coach Kellen Moore was equally enthusiastic about both plays and their impact on the game’s flow and his options as a play caller.
“It’s a special play,” said Moore. “Got a lot of juice and energy. Obviously, it very much changed the entire game management moving forward. After that, to not only earn the first down, but then put yourself in position to be on the goal line and have a chance to score a touchdown. At that point, that was a huge play. Just a great effort by Juwan. (It) Gave us a chance to ultimately get that touchdown.”
Other players on the roster felt a charge from that play on both sides of the roster. Wide receiver Devaughn Vele described the play as “contagious” and one that motivated the rest of the offense to make a play of similar effort when next called upon.
Linebacker Danny Stutsman said that the play was a “huge momentum boost” that even charged up the defense. But Stutsman wasn’t surprised to see it from the big-bodied tight end and has come to expect such defining moments from his teammate.
“Obviously, that’s going to quiet the crowd, get our fans into it, but you know it doesn’t really surprise us,” Stutsman said. “We see the work that he does in the weight room, at practice, outside of it, how he is a father, how he’s as a man. It’s how he does everything.”
The defense took the field after the touchdown on back-to-back goal line quarterback sneaks, plays that Johnson paved the way for, and shut down the Ravens’ offense with a game-sealing pressure and interception.
In a game as exhilarating as the Saints’ upset over the Ravens, individual efforts can go a long way in turning around an 11-point deficit into a satisfying win.
Johnson, the ‘Fourth Quarter Grim Reaper’, exemplified the possibilities of such an individual effort by fighting for extra yards and putting his team in position to take down a bona fide Super Bowl contending team on the road.
