Gardner Minshew credits Leonard Fournette with 70-yard Chris Conley touchdown

Jacksonville Jaguars running back Leonard Fournette only has one rushing touchdown this season — in fact the entire team only has one, fewest in the league — but he has been absolutely instrumental in the team’s success on offense this year.

At the end of the first quarter, safety Jamal Adams was coming on a blitz. Fournette, as he has done countless time this season, picked up the blitz and edged enough of Adams to where both he and Adams were on the ground and Minshew was free to make the throw to wide receiver Chris Conley, who took it to the house for a 70-yard score.

And Minshew knew exactly who to thank when the play was brought up in postgame.

“I knew he was going to catch it, but I didn’t realize he was going to go all the way like that,” Minshew said after the game. “What made that play was Leonard [Fournette] starting to fake and then came all the way back to make that block to send him around where I could step up and make that. That’s not on the stat sheet but that’s a Leonard Fournette play right there. That was absolutely huge.”

When it happened live, I didn’t even notice it. But now that Minshew mentions it, if not for Fournette this play doesn’t happen.

Fournette is the single most important player to Minshew’s success this season and despite not having the touchdowns he has exceeded even our wildest expectations of him from before the season started.

Go Jaguars.