TEXANS RIDE 21-POINT FOURTH QUARTER TO 31-20 VICTORY OVER JAGUARS
Team’s character takes positive turn with dominant, aggressive fourth quarter
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The Texans, being the Texans, not unexpectedly crept up to the fall-apart line.
Right to that point where in so many of this franchise’s games, one more foolish error, a lone misstep, would send them over the cliff, falling helplessly to defeat.
Near the end of the third quarter, the Texans faced an important fourth-and-inches at the Jaguars’ 45. They lost 3 yards.
Four plays later, they decided not to cover Julius Thomas, who last year with Denver became the first tight end in NFL history to score 12 or more touchdowns in consecutive seasons. Thomas pranced into the end zone with a pass from Blake Bortles for a 29-yard touchdown to give Jacksonville a 14-10 lead.
Apparently stunned, the Texans were then penalized for having too many men on the field for the extra-point attempt.
Offense. Defense. Special teams. Coaching.
Yep, the Texans were about to fall apart. Again. But they didn’t. They started making smart plays. The Jaguars started making mistakes.
And for a change, the Texans
benefited from some good fortune — a catch on the helmet here, blown coverage there.
The Texans we had seen for the first five weeks of the season, the ones who had managed only one victory, were nowhere to be found in the fourth quarter at EverBank Field on Sunday.
Instead, we saw a team that looked like it knew what it was doing. A team that looked like a winner.
A team that stood on the fall-apart line, looked over the cliff at a 1-5 start, and then turned in its most impressive quarter of the season.
“They were not going to be denied today,” Texans coach Bill O’Brien said after his squad scored 21 straight fourth-quarter points in a 31-20 victory. “They just felt at halftime, no matter what happened, that they were gonna be resilient. They were gonna come out of here with a win. No matter how, we were gonna find a way. And they found a way.”
Adopt winning ways
Finding a way to lose has been such a staple of the Texans that the phrase should be written into their theme song.
This season, they have struggled to find a way to be competitive.
They hope that against the Jaguars, they found their way.
For what it is worth, the players believe.
“I’ve been on a lot of different kinds of teams in the NFL — run-of-the- mill teams, 12-4 teams, 2-14 teams — and this team doesn’t feel like a 2-14 team,” tailback Arian Foster said. “It feels like a team that’s going to fight. It feels like a team that’s going to right the ship.”
Like this year’s team, that 2-14 team in 2013 had issues at quarterback and a host of key injuries.
When the waters turned rocky, it capsized.
Those Texans were uncontrollably attracted to the fall-apart line. They were doomed.
This squad seemed headed to a similar fate.
But Brian Hoyer engineered a nine-play, 81-yard touchdown drive to give the Texans the lead. Along the way, DeAndre Hopkins had a ridiculous ball-against-helmet catch for a 29-yard gain before hauling in a perfect strike for the touchdown from Hoyer when the Jaguars’ secondary inexplicably lost him.
Breaks go Texans’ way
The Texans needed the breaks, particularly the turnovers from Bortles, who threw three interceptions. Andre Hal picked him off at the Jacksonville goal line in the first half and ran another one back 31 yards for a touchdown during the Texans’ fourthquarter blitz.
The Texans, who didn’t commit a turnover for the first time this season, also needed to show mettle. Even if it was against the lowly Jaguars, who are more house cats than the vicious felines for which the team is named, turning a 14-10 deficit into a 31-14 lead in half a quarter was impressive.
“That is one of those (moments) that tests your grit, and we passed that test,” Foster said. “But every week in the NFL is a new day. You can’t dwell on anything.”
Bouncing back from poor play, even dumb play, is something these Texans better learn to do if they want to have a successful season.
Injuries continue to pile up as well. With linebacker Jadeveon Clowney (ankle) and safety Quintin Demps (hamstring) out, not to mention J.J. Watt slowed by an illness, the Texans finished the game without cornerback Kareem Jackson (ankle) and backup safety Lonnie Ballentine (knee).
Injuries overcome
The offensive line is a mess because of all the shuffling due to injuries, but at least Foster (112 yards from scrimmage) is rounding into shape after missing the first three games. And Hopkins (10 catches for 148 yards) is virtually unstoppable.
Hoyer was good, completing 24 of 36 passes for 293 yards and three touchdowns, but the question for him, as is it is for the Texans, is can he repeat it.
“Now the trick is to do it again,” O’Brien said.
Next up for O’Brien’s crew are a trip to Miami (23) and a home game against the 1-4 Titans, which give the Texans a solid opportunity to take a 4-4 record into their week off.
For a team so close to falling apart, that wouldn’t be so bad.