The Jacksonville Jaguars fell to the Houston Texans in Week 6, moving to 4-2 on the season.
Shucks.
Here are a few stats that stand out from the loss.
0
That’s how many sacks the Jaguars allowed to Will Anderson Jr., Danielle Hunter, and the rest of the Texans’ pass rush.
If we made a list of all the reasons Jacksonville lost on Sunday, it’d take a while to get to the offensive line. Who woulda thought?
With Anton Harrison placed on injured reserve last week, the Jaguars’ undermanned OL against the Texans’
potent DL was widely seen as a mismatch going into Sunday’s game.
Shoutout to the 13% of fans who felt very confident in Walker Little and Cole Van Lanen to step up after Harrison’s injury.
According to PFF, rookie left guard Emmanuel Pregnon was the only Jaguar to allow a quarterback hit. Trevor Lawrence was kept clean on 32 of his 44 dropbacks (72.7%). Whenever he bailed from the pocket, it seemed to be because of a lack of open receivers rather than a leak in pass protection.
Jacksonville kept Lawrence upright, which is a huge win. He completed 8 of 17 passes for 126 yards and 2 touchdowns against the blitz (111.4 passer rating), per NFL Pro. But I should also point out that Jacksonville couldn’t get C.J. Stroud on the ground. He completed 9 of 13 passes for 93 yards and 1 touchdown against the blitz (115.2 passer rating).
Both offensive lines did a better job than anyone expected of giving their quarterback time to attack downfield.
5.7%
That’s how much win probability the Jaguars would have added if Liam Coen had gone for it on 4th-and-4 with two minutes left in the game, per ESPN Analytics.
Instead, he had Cam Little attempt a 60-yard field goal to tie the game.
Back to that hypothetical list of reasons why Jacksonville lost to Houston. The defense’s inability to close out games has to be up there — but if we had to point to a specific moment, it’d be Coen’s decision to put the game in the hands of that very defense.
Little connected on his third career 60+ yard field goal, which is awesome. The kid isn’t just making some of the longest field goals in the NFL; he’s making some of the most clutch ones. (And shoutout to new long snapper Jacob Bobenmoyer for holding it down (no pun intended) in Ross Matiscik’s absence.)
The players did their job… but they should’ve never been put in that position. While I understand Coen trusting his kicker, I don’t get him trusting his defense. Not after the first 58 minutes of Sunday’s contest, anyway. Even if we all believed that Little making the field goal was a sure thing, getting a stop sure wasn’t!
Houston was humming all game, and of course, that didn’t stop in the final two minutes. They had three timeouts and didn’t even need ‘em. A busted coverage (far from the first of the game) allowed Woody Marks to scoot for 19 yards on a 3rd-and-2. With a couple of positive run plays, the Texans quickly got in position for a 49-yard game-winning field goal.
Coen should’ve trusted his offense to gain four yards and keep the drive alive, rather than trusting his kicker to make a 60-yarder AND his defense to keep Houston out of field goal range. It’s frustrating that he didn’t let his own quarterback decide the fate of the game. Of course, one moment doesn’t decide the entire outcome, but this was a late-game decision Coen probably wants back.
3
That’s the number of NFL players to record a receiving touchdown and an interception in the same game since at least the 1970 merger. The list is Roy Green (Week 3 of 1981), Brian Dawkins (Week 4 of 2002), and Travis Hunter (Week 6 of 2026).
Hunter’s performance was the epitome of a silver lining. It’s absolutely a bummer that the Jaguars lost — but did you see the unicorn streaking across the field?! This stat suggests that he’s one of three, but clearly, the dude is one-of-one.
If Jacksonville defeated Houston, the only thing we’d be talking about is how it was The Travis Hunter Game. He finished with 4 catches for 59 yards and a touchdown on offense, plus 3 tackles and an interception on defense.
Hunter certainly wants back a handful of plays, like the 42-yard catch by Nico Collins on a double move or the “12 men on the field” penalty that gave the Texans offense a fresh set of downs. It was not a perfect game… but dang, was it an exciting one!
Hunter has played over 98% of defensive snaps in three straight games — his deployment on that side of the ball shouldn’t change. (He also has a pass breakup in five straight games, the longest active streak in the NFL.)
The bigger news is that Hunter played a season-high 9 offensive snaps on Sunday. That may not sound like much, but anyone who watched the game could tell you how much smoother Jacksonville’s operation looked when Hunter was on the field as a receiver. Brian Thomas Jr. played 15 snaps in the first half and 0 snaps in the second half, per ESPN. Hmmmmmmmm.
Other numbers to know:
- 5: NFL players with 400+ receiving yards and 4+ receiving touchdowns this season. The list is Jaxon Smith-Njigba, CeeDee Lamb, Christian Watson, Davante Adams, and Parker Washington.
- 4: Consecutive games with a 20+ yard reception for Brenton Strange, the longest active streak among NFL tight ends.
- 7: Interceptions by Jacksonville this season, tied for the most in the NFL.
- 4: Redzone takeaways by Jacksonville this season, twice as many as any other NFL defense.
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