Jacksonville Jaguars Collapse Against Houston Texans
By Luke Sims
The Jacksonville Jaguars lost to the Houston Texans after leading 13-10 at halftime. The second half began and the Jaguars looked like they had been declawed on both offense and defense.
The final score was 27-13 for the Houston Texans, the Jags failed to score in the second half. They move the ball well on a couple of drives but couldn’t put anything together in the stat that matters: points.
The Jags racked up their 13 points on three of their first five drives. They had just one three and out in the first half, managing to move the ball and keep the Texans offense off the field.
Second half adjustments, however, killed the momentum as the Texans were able to make the changes needed and to build around the one good thing going for them in the first half: the running game.
Blake Bortles managed to spend the first half without tossing an interception, but the steak didn’t hold with D.J. Swearinger stepping in front of a third quarter pass. The Texans punched it in from one yard out on fourth down, putting the Jags down by 14.
The Jags responded over a drive later with two big plays to Marcedes Lewis and Marqise Lee, but stalled again just outside of the Texans’ red zone. After turning it over on downs, this game was essentially in the books.
The real story of the game is a lack of execution by the Jaguars. They were dominated by Arian Foster, who allowed the Texans to eat up chunks of clock while moving down the field. Their 8:30 drive in the third quarter exposed Jags’ weaknesses and put them in a solid position to win it. Foster finished the day with 127 yards on 24 carries with one score. Three different Houston running backs saw the end zone.
Lacking the ability to play a complete game is becoming a trait of this Jaguars team. They are either too young and inexperienced or poorly coached as they collapsed today after putting together solid work in the first half. The Jacksonville Jaguars cannot be satisfied with where they are right now. They’ve got to be hungry for more. That hunger just doesn’t translate to on-field execution, unfortunately.