Jaguars Miss Out on Key Opportunities and Fall 30

The Jacksonville Jaguars (1-4) fell to the Houston Texans (1-4) by 30-14 on Sunday, landing the Jaguars in last place in the AFC South with the Texans holding the tie breaker.

Coming into the day, the Texans had the league’s worst run defense. The Jaguars looked to exploit it from the opening snap, letting James Robinson gash through the line for an 11-yard gain. But that was one of the few positive plays Robinson had on the day as the Texans swarmed to the rookie and seemed to center their defensive game plan around stopping the prolific back.

Offensive coordinator Jay Gruden said during the week that he hoped to have Robinson with 20-25 carries this week. He finished with 13 carries and just 48 yards.

Robinson did finish with 70 total scrimmage yards however, meaning he joins Browns running back Kevin Mack (1985) as the only undrafted players in NFL history to total at least 500 scrimmage yards through five career games.

Following the positive Robinson run, however, the first quarter was a punting exhibition, with both teams punting it away on each of their respective possessions. The Jags did win the coin toss and elected to receive, abiding by head coach Doug Marrone’s new philosophy, but it was moot after the drive stalled in their own territory.

Houston quarterback Deshaun Watson opened play with a deep 41-yard shot down field but the Jaguars defense quickly settled down and forced a punt three plays later.

Despite a Logan Cooke punt being downed a the 9-yard line (one of three on the day downed within the 10-yard line), the Texans drove down field on a 17-play drive to get on the board first with a 36-yard field goal.

But the Jags answered with a 12 play drive of their own and quarterback Gardner Minshew found Keelan Cole in the corner of the endzone for the first touchdown of the day. Before today, Jacksonville had been 9-1 in games when Cole caught a touchdown. That stat is now 9-2.

After a quick shot from Houston with tight end Darren Fells to go up 10-7, the Jags looked poised to tie the game. Kicker Stephen Hauschka, who hadn’t played since being signed in Week 3, missed a 24-yard chip shot though.

It was the first of two misses within a minute of game time.

The Texans turned the ball over twice but the Jaguars were unable to capitalize off either. The first time came on Houston’s last drive of the first half. Deep in his own territory, Deshaun Watson threw a deep pass over the middle. As he released, defensive end Dawuane Smoot tipped the pass at the line and corner Sidney Jones—playing significant minutes with CJ Henderson sidelined with injury—nabbed the ball.

Who said DB's don't have hands? 👀 @SidneyJonesIV @Jaguars pic.twitter.com/bN0TreUF6D
— The Checkdown (@thecheckdown) October 11, 2020

With four seconds to halftime, the Jags trotted out Hauschka again for the 49-yard attempt. It would have been short from 40, and the Jaguars went into the locker room trailing and

As the Jaguars trotted to the locker room, defensive end Cassius Marsh tried to hype up Hauschka. But the Jaguars wouldn’t need to turn to him again save for a point after attempt in the fourth quarter, which he did make.

On the evolving roulette wheel of which phase will play down this week for the Jaguars, it was a little big of everything and nothing. The Jags offense was efficient in the middle of the field, with Gardner Minshew going 31-of-49 for 301 yards and two touchdowns on the day.

With Myles Jack and CJ Henderson dutifully watching every play from the sideline, the defense made some key stops early in the game and forced turnovers late and special teams was steady the entire 60 minutes. The problem in this loss was the inability to take advantage of opportunities when presented.

Hauschka missed two field goals within a minute. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

Hauschka missed the field goal after the first Texans turnover. The second, on the Texans second drive of the second half, was again thanks to Sidney Jones. The corner tipped a deep pass and safety Jarrod Wilson—in his first return since Week 1—returned the ball 47-yards with blockers.

Four straight Robinson runs from the Houston 27-yard line moved the Jags to the 8-yard line. From there, James Robinson lined up in the wildcat with Minshew out wide. Robinson attempted to bounce outside and looked to pitch the ball but fumbled. J.J. Watt recovered and the Texans took advantage, going up 20-7, effectively a 14-point swing.

Head coach Doug Marrone said they practiced that play “a bunch” but didn’t do a good job executing.

It was those moments, the productive plays that were negated, are what Marrone says were the unfortunate “key to the game, not being able to take advantage.”

A dime from Minshew to rookie Collin Johnson on the Jags first drive of the fourth quarter kept things close, but Watson and the Texans answered right back for the pull-away score.

Gardner escaped and dropped the DIME 🎯 @GardnerMinshew5 @Jaguars pic.twitter.com/n9iQNI17ut
— The Checkdown (@thecheckdown) October 11, 2020

With injuries on the defense, the coach admitted he thought they would have to score a lot of points to keep up in this game, but those that were in—like Jones and K’Lavon Chaisson for Josh Allen—were able to make plays when called upon.

As for their effort says Marrone, “I can’t ask for more. We can play smarter and we can make some plays, yes…we’ve gotta learn to get this momentum back in our favor.

“You need to take advantage of it because if you don’t take advantage of it this is what happens.”

As the clock wound down, players met at mid-field and hung around for several minutes. Houston corner Vernon Hargreaves III spent a long time with Jags receiver Keelan Cole, showing respect and Chris Conley stayed for several minutes with Texans running back David Johnson. Marrone met Houston interim coach Romeo Crennel at mid-field and shared a long word. These are two teams in much the same position, with uncertainty and struggling to catch a break, creating a mutual understanding that all took a moment to share with each other.

And as Marrone said, now the key moving forward will be taking advantage of each break that comes their way.

The 1-4 Jaguars will next face the Detroit Lions in Jacksonville.

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