The pendulum finally swung the other way and it actually cost the Jacksonville Jaguars this time.
After a few weeks of close shaves, the Jags slipped in a winnable game, falling to the Houston Texas 37-34 in London Sunday morning. Jacksonville overcame a 10-point fourth quarter deficit but chose a long field goal instead of going for it which gave the Texans back the ball and most importantly an AFC South victory.
This loss was by no means one of those losses where it feels like the world is falling
apart but it does sting because it was so winnable. If not for a few drops, a phantom holding call or even just one more field goal attempt, the Jags could basically have already clinched a playoff spot. Instead, Jacksonville goes into its bye week with a loss and plenty of time to ponder it.
WINNERS
Travis Hunter
While the loss was brutal, there was plenty of good that happened on the beat up field in Wembley. Notably, Travis Hunter came alive on both sides of the ball.
Hunter scored his second ever offensive touchdown, which both have now come in England, on nine snaps of offense. He caught four passes for 59 yards in total. On defense, he recorded what seemed like a game-saving pick in the end zone.
Overall, he became the fourth player ever with a pick and an offensive touchdown in one game since the NFL merger. Sunday morning’s showing from Hunter was the exact reason the Jags moved up to get him. While it hasn’t always played out like it did against the Texans, the proof of concept was there. Lining Hunter up in the backfield and having him cut hard across the middle of the field behind the linebackers was beautiful to see. Real bad day for the Hunter haters after this one.
Bhayshul Tuten
Another solid offensive performance came from running back Bhayshul Tuten, who did literally all he could running and catching the ball to try and will the Jags to victory.
Tuten only had 39 yards on the ground, but anyone who watched the game saw those were hard, thumping yards. He also caught four passes for 48 yards and two scores. Sunday was his first multi-score game of his career. Last year, Tuten had just two touchdown catches over the course of the season but matched that Sunday. With his evolving pass catching ability, it makes more and more sense why the Jags handed him the keys to the RB1 spot this past offseason.
Tuten did split usage with Chris Rodgriguez (11 carries, 55 yards) but the two made a perfectly fine tandem. The Jags eclipsed 100 yards rushing between the pair, showing that the coaches and Trevor Lawrence have faith in either back to get the dirty work done. Had it not been for that holding call (get used to hearing about that) Tuten might have had a hattrick.
The Offensive Line
Maybe the best offensive day of all was had by the offensive line. What a freaking day by the likes of Walker Little and Cole Van Lanen who helped blank the Houston defensive line for zero sacks.
Houston came into Sunday recording sacks in every game it had played, totalling 18. That number didn’t grow after playing the Jags, much to the surprise of everyone. Maybe the field conditions and slipping had something to do with it but no matter. Outside of a few hurries on Lawrence, Danielle Hunter and Will Anderson Jr. were a non-factor in the pass rush game. That is absolutely how you win games. You stopped the best defensive line tandem in football and rushed for over 100 yards and passed for over 300. Talk about a winning formula.
Huge credit to Little for getting his first start of the year like that and helping to put up a goose egg in the sack category.
James Gladstone
Piggybacking off the Hunter point, James Gladstone gets a nod for his recent draft picks playing well against the Texans.
Obviously Hunter is the big story, and deservedly so, but he wasn’t the only one. Rookie tight end Nate Boerkircher caught his first career touchdown in eye-popping fashion Sunday to hopefully silence the haters on the “reach” of that draft pick. Fellow tight end Tanner Koizol played sparingly, but had a solid block on Hunter’s big gain of 24-yards. Rookie guard Emmanuel Pregnon continued to start and helped the line to its no sack day. And Gladstone was also the guy that drafted Tuten and signed Rodriguez Jr. Gladstone signing Jakobi Meyers led the team in receiving with five catches for 83 yards.
When was the last time we had the general manager of the Jacksonville Jaguars on the winners list? Now he just needs to cook up a trade for number seven.
LOSERS
Brian Thomas Jr.
Speaking of number seven, it’s got to be close to over for Brian Thomas Jr.’s time in Jacksonville. After a couple key drops and literally no snaps played in the second half, Thomas is becoming far more of a hindrance than an addition for this offense. Coupled with Josh Cameron coming on as a true wide receiver (shoutout Gladstone) Thomas makes no more sense on this roster.
Much like the Texans trading for Marvin Harrison Jr. to give that wide receiver a new chance at success, the same has got to be done for Thomas. The third-year receiver hasn’t recorded a catch in two straight games. Both his drops – while maybe not on the prettiest balls ever thrown by Lawrence – were still big time drops. He cost the team again Sunday. It has to come to a time when enough is enough. This past game probably was that.
Liam Coen
This is now two straight weeks where you can point the blame in some capacity at the head coach for his execution of scoring situations. The red zone offense wasn’t the issue like it was last week, it was the decision making on when or when not to try to score more points. The drives that really stick out are:
- Electing to punt on the team’s opening drive, opting out of a field goal well shorter than the 60-yarder to tie the game late.
- Going for it on fourth-and-3 on the 37 and not getting it, leading to a Texans touchdown at the end of the first quarter.
- Kicking that 60-yarder which gave the Texans the ball back with three timeouts and a chance to win the game.
Coen can’t be blamed for that holding call which led to Lawrence’s pick, but leaving a handful of points on the board in a game that was decided by a field goal is glaring. He also maybe gets a bit of egg on his face for not using Hunter more over someone like Thomas after what we saw from Hunter Sunday. Coen has done so much good, but sometimes his game management seems questionable. Game management seems to be a plague all over all of the NFL but Coen is certainly suffering from it.
As was said last week, it’s not solely on Coen. He can’t go out and catch the ball. He can’t prevent weird penalties or even sack the quarterback. But he can do more to help this team win.
The Defensive Line
The biggest loser of Sunday’s loss might have to be the defensive line. Calling out Travon Walker and Josh Hines-Allen is beating a dead horse for the 100th time, but if you are paying two guys a quarter of a billion dollars, you would expect a sack or two a game. I don’t think that’s asking that much.
Those two are helping this defense to its great run stopping numbers, but are not doing enough to help stop the passing attack. Between the two, they had just four tackles. Why can’t one of those be on the quarterback behind the line of scrimmage?
Houston quarterback C.J. Stroud tossed for 312 on 34 attempts. It gets to where you have to direct some blame on the guys that are supposed to be your franchise cornerstones in stopping those type of numbers. The Jags have just one sack in the past two games. That position group, even outside of JHA and Walker, isn’t getting it done.
The Cornerbacks
The group that suffers a great deal because of the lack of pass rush are the defensive backs, who got carved up again Sunday. It wasn’t a great game last week against bad wide receivers, but it was even worse against the Texans. Nico Collins destroyed anyone who was on him and Jarrian Jones played awfully for another week. Even Hunter was on the receiving end of some punishment (and maybe a bad no-call on a pass interference) but when the quarterbacks of opposing teams have all time to throw, eventually the DBs are going to get beat.
Gladstone needs to make a move for a corner or edge rusher soon. These groups are setting the Jags back, especially considering the offense was playing about as well as it could.
Trevor Lawrence
Why is the quarterback of a team who tossed for four touchdowns and over 300 yards a loser you might ask? Because no one will remember it due to the outcome of the game.
Lawrence got screwed on the Brenton Strange holding call that eventually led to his pick, though he did miss an open Parker Washington on the backside upon further review.
However, Lawrence did his part to overcome such mistakes. Yet his receivers and defense failed him. Lawrence and Stroud had a heavyweight battle at the quarterback position, but Lawrence is the ultimate loser since he simply didn’t win.
You’re going to see a lot of skewed discourse on Twitter about Lawrence after that one. It’s all bait. The dude balled out. He just wasn’t given the opportunity to ice it at the end by his coach.
Watch that Hunter touchdown throw again and think about how many quarterbacks can make that throw. But it doesn’t matter, because all any of the casuals will remember is that red zone pick and the loss. Such is life as an NFL quarterback.
Tell us your thoughts on Sunday’s game in the comments. Do you want to see more Hunter on offense? Less Thomas on this team? And we will see you in two weeks after the bye week when the Jags return to Jacksonville to face the Indianapolis Colts on Nov. 1.
