JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Somehow, despite missing three starters and losing two more during the game, the Jacksonville Jaguars' defense cobbled together a respectable performance for much of the game against the Houston Texans.
But the offense and special teams stumbled around in a 30-14 loss to the Texans at NRG Stadium.
Kicker Stephen Hauschka missed two field goals, RB James Robinson fumbled on a fourth-down play inside the 10-yard line, and QB Gardner Minshew II lost another fumble. Both of those turnovers led to Texans touchdowns and it's just another week in which the Jaguars couldn’t put together anything resembling a complete game.
But that’s what bad teams do, and the Jaguars, at 1-4 after their fourth consecutive loss, are definitely a bad team.
“I’m pulling for these three phases to come together and we’re working on that and we talk about that, but we’re not able to do that, play in and play out right now,” coach Doug Marrone said. “And it’s not like we don’t have opportunities. There’s opportunities out there. We just haven’t been able to take advantage of it."
Even when LB Myles Jack, DE Josh Allen and CB CJ Henderson have been on the field, the Jaguars haven't been very good on defense, allowing opposing quarterbacks to complete 77 percent of their passes. But the offense, for the most part, had shown it was productive enough to win games.
And the Jaguars did compile 364 yards and Minshew threw for 301 yards (going back to 2019, the Jags are 0-5 when he throws for 300 or more yards), but it wasn’t anywhere close to good enough because of the miscues. The Jaguars just don’t have much margin for error.
Unfortunately, that’s the one area in which they’ve been pretty consistent.
Troubling trend: Looks like the Jaguars may be working out kickers again this week after Hauschka missed a pair of field goal attempts against the Texans -- in disturbing fashion, too: He pulled a 24-yarder wide left and came up short on a 49-yard attempt as the first half ended.
Hauschka is the fourth kicker the Jaguars have used this season. They have already missed four field goal attempts this season. They missed two in 2019.
Troubling trend II: The Texans were last in the NFL in rush defense (181.8 yards per game) entering the weekend, but the Jaguars managed just 75 yards on the ground on Sunday. James Robinson had 13 carries for 48 yards. The Jaguars did a good job of mixing things up in the first half, with Robinson running for 43 yards on eight carries, but falling behind by double digits again meant dumping the run game.
That’s pretty much been the issue the past several weeks. They also fell behind against Miami and Cincinnati and got one-dimensional.
Robinson has been a pleasant surprise for the Jaguars and one of the league’s best rookies. He’s a tough runner with more elusiveness than expected and he’s shown he’s a good pass-catcher. The Jaguars just haven’t given him the chance to grind clock with a lead in the fourth quarter.
Pivotal play: Despite two missed field goals and a fourth-down fumble in the red zone, the Jaguars weren’t out of the game and had a chance to pull within two points late in the fourth quarter. But Minshew was hit from behind by Texans LB Whitney Mercilus and fumbled, the Texans recovered, and four plays later took a 16-point lead. Minshew was scrambling to buy some time and stepped up in the pocket and never saw Mercilus get free from RT Jawaan Taylor.
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October 12, 2020 at 03:32AM
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Jaguars still can't put together a complete game in loss to Texans - Jacksonville Jaguars Blog- ESPN - ESPN
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