Travis Hunter’s pick-six that never was still produced one unreal moment
The defensive back looked like a receiver with open grass in front of him
There was a moment Sunday when Travis Hunter looked every bit like the electrifying two-way playmaker the Jacksonville Jaguars believed they were getting. The only problem? The play never officially happened, at least not in the box score.
Late in the first quarter of Jacksonville’s Week 4 matchup with the Cincinnati Bengals, quarterback Joe Burrow dropped back on third down and took a shot toward Tee Higgins streaking down the right sideline. Burrow gave his receiver a chance, but the pass sailed a little too far. Hunter was waiting.
The Jaguars' two-way star read the throw perfectly, stepped in front of Higgins and secured the interception with relative ease. And then, with the ball suddenly in his hands, Hunter turned upfield. Higgins was the only thing standing between Travis and a potentially enormous return.
Hunter made a sharp move that sent Higgins stumbling in the wrong direction, producing the kind of ankle-breaking moment usually reserved for highlight packages and social-media clips. For a split second, the defensive back looked like a receiver with open grass in front of him rather than a defender who had just intercepted Burrow.
That's what made the moment so tantalizing
Hunter had just made a big-time play against one of the NFL's premier quarterbacks, and then put a spectacular move on one of Cincinnati's best receivers. Except there was a flag. Hunter's interception was wiped away because of a roughing-the-passer penalty on Jaguars defensive lineman Arik Armstead.
Armstead hit Burrow late after the quarterback had released the football, drawing the flag. Roughing the passer carries a 15-yard penalty and an automatic first down, meaning the defensive play, and everything that came after it, was erased. Technically, Hunter didn't record an interception.
He didn't record return yards. And the Jaguars didn't get to enjoy the field position that could have come with Hunter's return. But the penalty doesn't erase what happened on the field. Burrow's throw was simply overthrown, giving Hunter an opportunity to make the play.
It's difficult to argue that Armstead's late hit caused the interception, considering the football was already out of Burrow's hands when the contact occurred. The Jaguars therefore lost what could have been a huge defensive moment because of a penalty that occurred after the throw.
Social media doesn't care about the stat sheet
In another era, Hunter's move on Higgins might have disappeared almost as quickly as the interception itself. The officials waved off the play. The statistics would show no interception. No return. No highlight. But that's not how the NFL works anymore.
Someone almost certainly has a slow-motion clip of Hunter's move , and once it starts circulating, the distinction between an official play and an unofficial one becomes considerably less important. The highlight will live on.
That's particularly true because of who Hunter made miss. Higgins isn't some anonymous receiver trying to make a desperation tackle. He's one of Cincinnati's most talented offensive weapons, and he found himself on the wrong end of a spectacular open-field move from a player whose offensive opportunities have been limited so far.
Hunter's ability with the football is one of the most intriguing parts of his game. He arrived in Jacksonville as a rare prospect capable of contributing on both sides of the ball, but opportunities to showcase what he can do as a ball carrier in the NFL have not exactly been plentiful. On Sunday, he briefly got that opportunity.
