The Houston Texans traveled to Jacksonville to play their rivals, the Jaguars. This game would be the second consecutive division game for the Texans, after losing the home opener to the Indianapolis Colts. Houston’s injury report was already long but by Sunday it grew.
Having an impressive passing game, one would think the rushing attack started strong. Well, this wasn’t the case. Despite having a touchdown, running back Dameon Peirce was very lackluster finishing the game with 14 carries and 31 yards. The Texans ended the game with 86 rushing yards but had a disappointing 3.3 yards per carry. One has to be concerned about the late start with Dameon Pierce. The explosiveness has not been seen from the young promising back. The offense has been the smoking barrel for this team and has the promise only to be better. By week 5 all starting offensive linemen should be back on the field to help protect the rising quarterback or open the hole for the cannonball running back.
On the other side of the ball, is the defense. Many of us were concerned with the secondary due to losing Derek Stingley Jr. to the IR list, but despite the obstacles the secondary seemed to keep the receivers in check. No Jaguars wide receiver had over 100 yards receiving and kept Trevor Lawrence to 27/40 279 yards, 1 touchdown, and 1 interception. Missing though was the pass rush, 0 sacks and only 7 quarterback hurries. Solid game from the pass rush defense but the main concern has to be the rush defense. The Jaguars ended the game with 27 carries, 116 yards, 1 touchdown, and 4.3 yards per carry. One has to ask Doug Pederson why he stopped running the ball. The Texans were missing their tackling machine middle linebacker Denzel Perryman and it showed.
With the defense helping slowdown the high-power offense of the Jaguars, the special teams forced their imprint on this game. Rookie edge rusher Will Anderson Jr. came up with a huge field goal block to turn the momentum and give the offense great placement.
After running back Mike Boone muffed the kick return, fans thought that was it for the momentum. Welp, we all were wrong! Full-back Andrew Beck recovered the muff and ran back the return for the touchdown to help put the dagger into the Jaguars, with a final score of 37-17.
If you want to see Texans fans continue to rub the dirt into Jaguar fan’s faces, make sure to tune into the AFC South Fan Battle Podcast tonight at 830 pm central. This guy is going to let them hear it! Subscribe and watch live here
