Jaguars vs. Texans Live Stream: Watch Online, TV Channel, Time

Find out how to watch the Jaguars and Texans go head-to-head in an AFC South showdown on Sunday, Sept. 15.

Author:
SI Wire
Publish date:
Sep 15, 2019

Gardner Minshew is the man of the moment in Jacksonville, as the rookie quarterback gets his first NFL start Sunday when the Jaguars and Houston Texans look to avoid a 0-2 start in a clash of AFC South rivals. The Texans swept the season series last year, limiting Jacksonville to 10 points and 378 yards in the two meetings. The Jaguars have lost eight of the last 10 matchups.

Minshew, who rose to national prominence last year directing Mike Leach’s “Air Raid” offense at Washington State, finished fifth in the 2018 Heisman Trophy voting. He beat out Alex McGough to win the backup job behind Nick Foles after being selected in the sixth round of the draft by the Jaguars. The optimism around Foles, the Super Bowl-winning quarterback who signed a 4-year, $88 million deal with the Jaguars in the offseason, quickly turned to despair after he suffered a broken clavicle.

Minshew, though, showed poise well beyond a 23-year-old making his NFL debut, completing his first 13 passes and finishing 22 of 25 for 275 yards and two touchdowns with one interception in a 40-26 loss to Kansas City.

Houston looked like it was going to escape the Big Easy with a victory Monday night after Deshaun Watson fired a go-ahead 37-yard touchdown pass to newly acquired Kenny Stills with 37 seconds to give the Texans a 28-27 lead. But that was too much time for Saints counterpart Drew Brees, who had three rapid-fire completions to set up a 58-yard field goal by Wil Lutz as time expired, consigning Houston to a 30-28 defeat.

Watson threw for 268 yards and three touchdowns, while also adding a fourth running, but what also stood out was Houston’s balance offensively. Carlos Hyde, a late preseason acquisition, and Duke Johnson combined for 140 rushing yards on just 19 carries against a defense that was ranked second against the run in 2018. The pair proved an effective counterweight to the Watson-DeAndre Hopkins connection with the duo hooked up eight times for 111 yards and a pair of touchdowns.

What also stood out was Watson again taking a pounding behind his offensive line. The Texans -- who yielded a league-worst 62 sacks last season -- addressed this deficiency by acquiring left tackle Laremy Tunsil in the deal with Miami that landed Stills. However, the 13th overall pick from the 2016 draft was overwhelmed at times as the Saints dropped Watson five times.