The Houston Texans dropped their third straight game of the season on Sunday, falling to the Jacksonville Jaguars 17-10 at EverBank Stadium in Jacksonville. With the loss, the Texans are now 0-3 to start the season; the Jaguars are 2-1.
It wasn't a pretty game on either side of the ball, with both teams falling victim to their own mistakes throughout the day. Both offenses struggled to reach the red zone and convert on third down, unable to find any kind of rhythm.
The Jaguars punted on five of their six first-half drives – they punted four straight times to close out the first half. Quarterback Trevor Lawrence completed 11-of-22 passes for 90 yards and the Jaguars rushed for just 11 yards in the first half.
And yet, they took a 7-3 lead into halftime thanks to a one-yard rushing touchdown from running back Bhayshul Tuten; as stagnant as the Jaguars were, the Texans were worse.
Quarterback C.J Stroud had 13 completions for 69 yards in the first half and the Texans had just 107 net yards. They also punted four times, converting just three of their seven first downs and missing a 52-yard field goal. Kicker Ka'imi Fairbairn made a 27-yard field goal later in the second quarter when the Texans struggled to put together a play to reach the end zone and were forced to settle for three points.
The second half of the game was much of the same, but the Jaguars were able to rally to hold a little bit of an edge in their home stadium. They scored another field goal in the third quarter and, after allowing the Texans to capitalize on an interception to score a 50-yard touchdown and tie the game, came back for a touchdown of their own just after the two-minute warning.
The Texans got the ball back with 1:48 remaining and two timeouts, but Stroud was picked off by safety Antonio Johnson at the four-yard line to seal the game for the Jaguars.
"Huge ability to stay the course." head coach Liam Coen said. "You're winning the game for the majority of it. They got and tied it up but even though obviously not playing our best football offensively, defense kept us in it. They played their tails off. Offensively found a way to have 75 yards rushing in the second half which obviously we didn't have much in the first...very proud of this group. They played their tails off and kept competing."
One of the major things the Texans pointed to after the game were their self-inflicted errors; they committed seven penalties for 66 yards (the Jaguars had nine for 70 yards), had two interceptions and a costly fumble recovered by the Jaguars in the fourth quarter.
Nico Collins, who was the one to tie the game with the 50-yard touchdown earlier in the game, was also the one who fumbled the ball away; after catching a short pass from Stroud, the wide receiver tried to spin around a defender and lost his grip on the football, sending it flying out in front of him to be recovered by linebacker Devin Lloyd.
"You turn the ball over three times, man, that's tough to win in this league," head coach DeMeco Ryans said. "It's tough enough to win, but when you put yourself in a position where you are helping the opponent, that's not a good recipe for winning football. So until we clean up the things we can clean up and play winning football, then we have a chance to turn it around. Again, we're close. That's what it is. We're close, but close isn't good enough. So we have to pick it up and find a way to get a win."
