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Jaguars DE Travon Walker's first touchdown was preceded by rock, paper, scissors

Travon Walker scored his first career touchdown after recovering a Saquon Barkley fumble in Week 9. Kathryn Riley/Getty Images

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Jacksonville Jaguars defensive end Travon Walker scored his first career touchdown because he picked rock.

That's what he used to beat defensive end Josh Hines-Allen in a best-of-three battle of rock, paper, scissors to determine who would be the other defensive end on the field with reserve Arik Armstead.

Walker threw rock and Hines-Allen threw scissors on the final turn, so Walker was on the field to pick up Philadelphia Eagles running back Saquon Barkley's fumble at the Eagles' 35-yard line and return it for a touchdown late in the third quarter to cut Philadelphia's lead to 22-16.

"We didn't want to be both off the field at the same time," Walker said.

Jaguars defensive coordinator Ryan Nielsen said Thursday that Walker was supposed to be on the field for that drive per a set rotation and that players don't decide who is going to play on a particular drive.

"I don't believe Travon would've let him run on the field [if Hines-Allen had won the battle]," Nielsen said. "... I think we're making way more out of it than what it really was."

Nielsen also said not having Hines-Allen and Walker -- the Jaguars' two best pass rushers -- on the field together is part of the normal rotation, as is having them both off the field at the same time.

"We have a rotation and as we have the entire year," he said. "I've seen some things where we've been called hockey subs and things like that. That's what we do. We have our rotation and the next guy up and at that time, the next guy was up and away we go. Same thing with [DE] Myles Cole. All those guys are ... having a certain number of snaps we like them to get."

That gave Hines-Allen a pretty good view of Walker's return. Walker scooped up the ball, bounced off right guard Mekhi Becton, broke out of an attempted tackle by wide receiver Johnny Wilson and then put a small move on quarterback Jalen Hurts at the 4-yard line.

"I actually seen [Becton] so I was already bracing for that impact right there," Walker explained. "He was a big guy, too. He just helped give me a little extra momentum to get up out of there, so I appreciate that."

Hines-Allen said he had to hold himself back from sprinting on the field early to celebrate Walker's touchdown.

"They're like, 'Just go down, Travon [after recovering the fumble],'" Hines-Allen said. "I said, 'Shut up. No, go score.' It was almost like a back-and-forth.

"I just was waiting for him to score so I could run out on the field. I was like, 'Don't run Josh. Wait, wait, wait.' And so as soon as he hit [the end zone], I was out there."

It could have been the other way around -- Walker running on the field to celebrate Hines-Allen scoring a touchdown -- if Hines-Allen had chosen paper instead of scissors.