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Say what you will about the Texans failings in various areas of the field, but at least they know how to beat AFC South teams. The Texans let the Jags mount a semi-comeback late to keep the game close but managed to close out a 24-21 win behind a Kareem Jackson pick-six and a big special teams play from Tyler Ervin.
The Texans started the game on a bright note after the Jaguars’ opening drive was stopped by a Kareem Jackson INT which he promptly returned for a TD to put the Texans ahead 7-0. The Texans then led their opening offensive drive down the field for a touchdown to TE Ryan Griffin. The Jaguars responded in kind with a scoring drive of their own before following it up with a FG to cut the Texans’ lead back down to four points, where it remained going into halftime.
The Texans’ offense struggled mightily during a game where Brock Osweiler had a string of nine incomplete passes at one point during the second and third quarters. The Jaguars, however, were not to be outdone in the offensive ineptitude column. Blake Bortles struggled the entire day to throw the ball with any kind of accuracy or velocity. In particular, Bortles overthrew Allen Hurns early in the third quarter while Hurns was wide open near the end zone.
The Texans finally started to pull away after a Tyler Ervin kickoff return started a Texans’ drive within the red zone. From there, the Texans utilised the play-action fake with the TE Stephen Anderson running across the middle to generate an easy completion and a TD, which put the Texans two scores up. The Jags continued to struggle to move the ball with John Simon tallying a sack midway through the fourth quarter. The Jags then mounted a comeback with two minutes left on the clock the Jags finished off a 92 yard drive with a 14-yard pass to Allen Robinson, who also caught the two-point conversion afterwards. The Texans came out on their following possession, picked up a gigantic first down on an Osweiler pass to DeAndre Hopkins, killing the remainder of the Jags’ timeouts and the clock to grind out the victory.
This win was by no means impressive. With each passing week, it’s honestly distressing to watch this team play at times. Osweiler finished a dire 14-27 with 99 yards and two TDs. DeAndre Hopkins managed five receptions for 48 yards on 13 targets. It’s a win no matter how else I explain it, so instead of plying you with more depressing statistics from today’s game, I will leave you all to let your feelings known about today’s game in the comments below.