Escape artist: Jaguars Nathan Rourke worked some magic on one play in victory over Cowboys

It won’t move Nathan Rourke up the Jacksonville Jaguars’ depth chart at quarterback, and because it happened in the first preseason game, it’s possible that few people will remember it.

But the play he made Saturday against the Dallas Cowboys at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, was a nice moment for the Jags' QB3 and showed the versatility and skills that caught the attention of a dozen NFL teams after Rourke, a native of Canada, set records in the CFL in 2022.

“Pretty incredible,” said Jaguars coach Doug Pederson. 

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During the fourth quarter of the Jags’ 28-23 victory over the Cowboys, Rourke easily made the most breath-taking play of a game that already was more entertaining than your average preseason game.

On third-and-16 at the Dallas 21, here’s what happened:

• Rourke took the snap, dropped back and was flushed from the pocket by blitzing linebacker Durrell Johnson.

• He turned left and into the arms of defensive tackle Chauncey Golston.

• Rourke ducked out of Golston’s grasp and eluded a diving attempt by Johnson to grab his left leg.

• Rourke slid inside Jaguars offensive tackle Cole Van Lanen, where he encountered defensive end Ben Banogu.

• Banogu grabbed Rourke around the waist and seemed on the verge of bringing him down. But Rourke was able to plant his feet and get off a pass — with Banogu’s arms still around his waist — and fired the ball downfield to running back Qadree Ollison, just as he fell forward.

• Ollison, who had been chipping Bohanna but went downfield when it appeared Van Lanen had him blocked, got single coverage on linebacker Devin Harper and caught the ball easily in the end zone with 3:56 left in the game. It proved to be the deciding score.

Rourke completed 9 of 17 passes for 153 yards. He played the entire second half, entering the game with the Jaguars leading 14-10.

He also scored a touchdown on a 4-yard run and gained 20 yards on six carries.

The NFL posted the field-level angle of the play, with a nod to another noted escape artist:

There was some fun on social media with the play and NFL analytics expert Warren Sharp joined the NFL in making the same reference when he posted, "If Patrick Mahomes does this, Twitter breaks."

Well, speak of the devil:

And thanks to Brent Martineau of Action Sports Jax, who was the Jaguars sideline reporter for the TV broadcast, for capturing video of the team's reaction when Rourke came back to the sideline.

In particular, the exuberance of Josh Allen and the reactions of Andre Cisco and Evan Engram are priceless:

Anyone who watched Rourke in Athens, Ohio, or Vancouver saw him make those kind of plays on a regular basis when he was a two-way threat at Ohio University and in two CFL seasons.

Rourke accounted for more than 10,000 yards in total offense in three seasons with the Bobcats, throwing for 60 touchdowns and running for 49; and in 10 games for the British Columbia Lions in 2022 he threw for 3,349 yards and 25 touchdowns, and ran for 304 yards and seven scores.

He set the CFL record for passing accuracy in one season at .787 but his season was cut short with a foot injury.

By the way, the Lions were hosting Calgary on Saturday. During the game, the team put Rourke's play on the stadium's large video screen, to the delight of his former teammates:

During Rourke's rehab, he estimated "11 or 12" NFL teams contacted him, including the Jaguars. But he said the Jags were willing to sign him before he was fully healed and he came on board in January.

There isn't much Rourke can do to move up the ladder past Trevor Lawrence and C.J. Beathard. But he might make some plays for someone in the NFL in the future, if not the Jags.

“The toughness and poise in the pocket, with a couple of guys on him … to make that throw … I haven’t seen too many plays like that even in a preseason game,” Pederson said. “He did a nice job leading that group in the second half. He had a really good second half.”

Lawrence said it wasn’t just about that one TD pass.

“Nate had some unbelievable plays,” Lawrence said. “That was really cool to see him play well. That’s what it takes in these preseason games … end of the game, you get a lot of different guys in there. You’ve got to have some plays like that. He won the game for us.”

Rourke had the game in perspective.

“It is just a preseason game, but it’s fun to be out there,” he said. “You get to show them what you got, that you can’t really do with the plays in practice. It’s a good stepping-off point that we will continue to build on.”

Rourke was asked if he put some nice plays on tape.

“I hope so,” he said. “I think there is a lot of stuff to continue to work on. We’ll go back to work.”

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Jaguars' QB Nathan Rourke defied imagination with daring play vs. Cowboys