Houston Texans vs. Jacksonville Jaguars Final Score: Jaguars Beat Texans 27-20 to Complete Season Sweep
By Josh Hill
If you saw the Houston Texans traveling to Jacksonville to play the Jaguars on the schedule at the beginning of the season, the last thought that crossed your mind was how much of a battle the game might be. But with the Jaguars and Texans equally terrible this year, the game was entertaining in the trashiest of ways.
This was a far cry from the Broncos-Patriots game from a few weeks ago but it was definitely the best matchup we could have hoped for out of two absolutely terrible teams. For the most part, the Jaguars dominated the game behind the power of tight end Mercedes Lewis who caught a touchdown early in the game to put the Jaguars up in the first quarter.
He also managed to burn the Texans defense later in the first half on a play that personified the struggles of the Houston defense perfectly. On the play, Lewis made two defenders look foolish as Texans linebacker Daryl Sharpton had no clue where the ball was when Lewis caught it. That’s the kind of night it was for Houston as things got so bad that Case Keenum was eventually replaced by Matt Schaub late in the game. But as you’d expect, the game ended on the Texans last drive thanks to a Matt Schaub interception, which is so fitting.
Keenum didn’t have an awful game but anytime you’re trying to justify a so-so performance against the Jaguars, you’ve had a pretty bad night. For the Jaguars, they deserve a lot of credit for hanging in there against Houston when they really would have benefited more, draft pick-wise, by just tanking and totally not trying. The win was the first the Jaguars first win at home since November 25, 2012.
The same can be said for Houston who despite going down big early to the Jaguars, fought back and made things interesting in the end. They ultimately lost the game though and are now in last place in the AFC South, something that looks like it will stick through the end of the season. On the bright side though, next season’s new head coach will have a new franchise quarterback to draft at the top of the NFL Draft.
It wasn’t a battle of AFC titans, but watching the bottom dwellers beat their skinny chests like they matter in the NFL was actually more interesting that we though it would have been.