The Jacksonville Jaguars (2-3) lost for a ninth straight time to the Houston Texans (1-3-1), falling 13-6 on Sunday in a sloppy game for the second straight week.
The Texans entered the game winless, having only tied with the Indianapolis Colts in Week 1 of the regular season.
The Jaguars were unable to retain their grasp of first place in the AFC South with the Titans (3-2) and the Colts (2-2-1) leading the way.
Entering the game, the last time Jacksonville defeated the Texans came in 2017, 45-7 to clinch the AFC South that season. Prior to today, Jacksonville had lost 14 out of their last 16 games to the Texans with an average margin of victory of 12.75 points for Houston.
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Prior to the contest, the Jaguars ruled out defensive lineman Foley Fatukasi due to a quad injury suffered during the team’s Week 4 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles. Fatukasi was replaced by veteran defensive lineman Corey Peters, who was activated off of the team’s practice squad Saturday.
Last week, the team was without wide receiver Zay Jones due to an ankle injury. Sunday, he was deemed active after practicing on a limited basis throughout the week, along with outside linebacker K’Lavon Chaisson (ankle) and offensive lineman Cole Van Lanen (hamstring).
Travis Etienne gets off to hot start, underutilized during second half
During the first half of the game, Jaguars running back Travis Etienne appeared to be headed for a stellar outing, rushing for 61 yards on six carries, while catching a pass for 20 yards. His explosive play carried the team to two of its best drives, though the Jaguars couldn’t capitalize.
Entering the game, Etienne carried the football just 34 times for 144 yards, while catching eight passes for 81 yards.
Still, the Jaguars were unable to get him the football throughout most of the second half, leaving him with just 10 total carries for 71 yards and three receptions for 43 yards, essentially the same stat line he posted during the first half of action.
Jaguars running back James Robinson wasn’t nearly as effective during the contest, rushing 10 times for 27 yards.
Trevor Lawrence, Jaguars offense have messy outing
There wasn’t a lot to like about the Jaguars offense Sunday. Though the team was able to move the ball in chunks, they weren’t able to succeed when it mattered most, particularly on third down.
Jacksonville began the game unable to convert their first three third downs. The most glaring early miss came on the team’s second drive of the game when Lawrence threw short of the sticks to receiver Zay Jones, giving no opportunity for the team to convert.
All three failed third-down conversions to start the game came via Lawrence passes.
At halftime, Lawrence completed just 11 of 19 passes for 137 yards. The team converted just one of six third downs, totaling 236 net yards. Jacksonville was 0-2 in the red zone, resulting in just two field goals, including one with time nearly expired during the first half of play.
Lawrence finished the game completed 25 of 47 passes for 286 yards and two interceptions.
During the third quarter of action, the Jaguars had an opportunity to take the lead over the Texans, getting deep into enemy territory. On second-and-1 from the Houston 7-yard-line, Lawrence tossed an inexcusable interception to Texans cornerback Derek Stingley.
The Jaguars received the football one other time in the third quarter as Houston was allowed to hold onto the football for 8:10, much of the third quarter.
With the score 13-6 in the Texans’ favor, the Jaguars had just one final drive with 41 seconds remaining and zero timeouts. The Jaguars weren’t able to get anything done, tossing a final interception on a hail-mary attempt by Lawrence. A sloppy finish to a sloppy game.
Jaguars defense holds Texans to just 248 total net yards
Though the Jaguars’ offense struggled throughout the contest, the Jacksonville defense was able to post a stellar outing against the Texans offense. During the first half of the game, Jacksonville held the Texans to 0-for-5 on third-down conversions, along with just 120 net yards.
Though Jacksonville’s defense was stout for much of the game, they were unable to get a handle on Texans running back Dameon Pierce late in the action, allowing the rookie back to score the Houston go-ahead touchdown with a few minutes remaining in the fourth quarter.
Pierce finished with 26 carries for 99 yards and one touchdown. He caught three passes for 14 yards.
Though Texans second-year QB Davis Mills began the game having completed 7 of 13 passes for 63 yards, he made up for it in the second half, to an extent. Mills finished the game by completing 16 of 24 passes for 140 yards.
That was all that was needed against Jacksonville on Sunday.
Demetrius Harvey is the Jacksonville Jaguars reporter for the Florida Times-Union. You can follow him on Twitter at @Demetrius82.
