Texans 20, Jaguars 3
Texans clinch AFC South after 20-3 win over Jaguars
Dec 30, 2018, 3:17 pm
Benardrick McKinney and the defense came up big. Bob Levey/Getty Images
The Texans clinched the AFC South title with Sunday's 20-3 victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars and now wait to see who their first playoff opponent will be. It started slowly for Houston's offense with the usual three-and-out to start the game, but they turned it around quickly with another stellar performance from Deshaun Watson and never looked back. It helped that the Texans' defense completely shut down Jacksonville's offense, whose only points were a field goal after a Houston special teams fumble that the Jaguars recovered at the Houston 10-yard line.
J.J. Watt and the defense got pressure on Jaguars quarterback Blake Bortles early and often, including Watt's league-leading seventh forced fumble of the season. He finished the game with a half sack, giving him 15 for the season, and four seasons of 15 plus sacks in his career. Bortles finished the game with only 107 yards passing and the Jaguars offense managed only 119 total yards of offense.
Houston's offense didn't put up a lot of points on the scoreboard, but they didn't need to. They had a bad series inside the red zone after five plays on their second possession put them inside the 20. They made it first and goal at the five-yard line and two plays later looked like they had a touchdown run by Watson. Upon review, he was ruled down at the 1-yard line. They failed to punch it in on third down and were forced to settle for a field goal, the 36th one made by Ka'imi Fairbairn this season and a team record for most in a season. He added number 37 in the fourth quarter and with the two extra points he made, he added to his league leading points scored total to finish with 150.
While the defense was dominating Jacksonville in the first half, the Texans were able to string together two touchdown drives of 51 and 63 yards to go up 17-3 at the break. The first one came after the special teams made up for their earlier turnover that gave the Jaguars three points. After a three-and-out forced a Houston punt, and it was muffed by Jacksonville's returner Dede Westbrook and linebacker Zach Cunningham secured it at the Houston 49-yard line. Watson led a quick four play drive that he finished himself with a five-yard touchdown run. Later in the second quarter, the offense put together a nine play, four-and-a-half-minute drive that ended with Lamar Miller lowering his shoulder for a seven-yard touchdown.
All of the Texans' offensive success ran through Watson, but he got a lot of help from one of best wide receivers in all of football, DeAndre Hopkins. Watson ended the game 25 of 35 for 234 yards and a rushing touchdown and 12 of those completions went to Hopkins, who turned them into 147 yards. That's almost 50% of the passing game going through Hopkins. He didn't score today but he made everything Houston did possible. His season ends with 115 receptions (tied for franchise record with Andre Johnson), 1,572 yards and 11 touchdowns.
It wasn't a complete success though. Watson had a rough day behind his offensive line. He was sacked six times, for a total of 62 this season, the most an NFL quarterback has taken since 2006. Offensively Bill O'Brien has been playing with fire regarding Watson's health. The quarterback's running ability has been great for the offense and Watson again led the team in rushing today; but with the sacks and 13 rushing attempts he takes a lot of hits. His arm helped him finish the season with 4,165 yards passing and 26 touchdowns while his legs led to 551 yards and five touchdowns, the second leading rusher on the team. Lamar Miller led the team on the ground for the season, finishing with 973 yards and four touchdowns.
It was a great win for the Texans, who finish the season 11-5, after a 4-12 record just a season ago. They have secured their division again and hope for losses by the Chargers and Chiefs to get a bye next week. Barring that, they are the third seed and will have a home playoff game next weekend.
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C.J. Stroud and the Houston Texans are looking for answers after their passing game couldn’t get going in a loss to the Green Bay Packers.
Houston’s passing attack had been a strength all season, and the Texans ranked fifth in yards passing per game through their first six games. But on Sunday at Lambeau Field, Stroud was limited to a career-low 86 yards in the 24-22 loss, which snapped a three-game winning streak.
Stroud was 10 of 21 and didn’t have a touchdown pass for the first time this season. The second-year player was under duress for much of the day and was sacked four times and hit seven other times.
“We have to go back to the drawing board and see what those issues were,” coach DeMeco Ryans said. “As we watch the film, we’ll see what happened, starting for me the communication and just guys being on the details of the job.”
'Everything is on the table. We have to get it fixed' #Texans coach DeMeco Ryans on offensive line and if personnel changes are being contemplated @KPRC2 pic.twitter.com/AwK0rqeU2z
— Aaron Wilson (@AaronWilson_NFL) October 21, 2024
The Texans scored a season-high 41 points in a win over New England a week earlier in which Stroud threw a season-best three touchdown passes despite being without star receiver Nico Collins.
They were unable to replicate that success Sunday with Collins out for the second of at least four games after a hamstring injury landed him on injured reserve.
Stefon Diggs led the team with five receptions against the Packers, but they only amounted to 23 yards. Tank Dell, who the Texans expected to step up with Collins out, was targeted four times but didn’t have a catch.
Stroud discussed the importance of getting Dell more involved in the offense.
“We have to find a way to try and get him the rock early and often and then go from there,” he said. “It has to be a focus for us, not only just him, but the whole offense clicking early. That is really my job to get the ball out on time and to where it is supposed to go. So yeah, that definitely has to be fixed.”
Ryans spoke about his confidence is getting Dell going.
'I have all the faith in Tank' #Texans coach DeMeco Ryans expressed confidence in Tank Dell ability to get back to making explosive plays again as he did as a rookie @KPRC2 pic.twitter.com/bojBEx3lYo
— Aaron Wilson (@AaronWilson_NFL) October 21, 2024
What's working
The Texans have forced seven turnovers combined in their last two games after they hadn’t caused any in their previous three games.
Houston scored 16 points off three turnovers Sunday. The Texans had two interceptions and recovered a fumble on a punt. In their win over the Patriots, they scored 17 points off a season-high four turnovers.
What needs help
The Texans won’t get to where they want to be this season if Stroud doesn’t get back on track. Before Sunday, last year’s AP Offensive Rookie of the Year was averaging more than 262 yards passing a game, giving the team confidence that the problems in the passing game are fixable.
Ryans knows the line must give Stroud more time to throw and said the coaching staff will focus on improving in that area this week.
Stock up
RB Joe Mixon continued to shine Sunday in his second game back after missing three games with an ankle injury. Mixon, who is in his first season in Houston after a trade from Cincinnati, had 25 carries for 115 yards and two touchdowns against Green Bay.
Mixon is confident the Texans will rebound this week if they quit making mistakes.
“Does it look I’m worried? I’m not worried at all,” he said. “Like I said, we got a ... good football team. At the end of the day, we are our own worst enemy.”
Stock down
Dell was unable to help Stroud get the passing game going. The second-year player had a solid rookie season with 709 yards receiving and seven touchdowns in 11 games before breaking his leg. But he hasn’t been able to build on that success this year and has just 194 yards receiving with one score in six games.
Injuries
LB Azeez Al-Shaair (knee), LB Henry To’oTo’o (concussion), CB Kamari Lassiter (shoulder) and S Jimmie Ward (groin) all missed Sunday’s game and it’s unclear if any of these starters can return this week.
Key number
3 — Safety Calen Bullock had his third interception Sunday to tie Dunta Robinson and Jumal Rolle for most interceptions by a rookie in franchise history through the first seven games. He leads NFL rookies in interceptions this season and is tied for third-most among all players.
Next steps
The AFC South-leading Texans (5-2) return to division play Sunday when they host the second-place Colts (4-3), who have won two in a row and four of five.