Florida proud
The Jaguars play — and win — to boost morale in their state as well.
With Hurricane Irma barreling north and Florida’s infrastructure endangered by the storm’s fury, Jaguars defensive lineman Calais Campbell said Sunday he wanted to give fans something to remember should the lights flicker out for a time.
Campbell, the veteran who signed this year with Jacksonville as a free agent, responded with four of the Jaguars’ franchise-record 10 sacks of Tom Savage and Deshaun Watson in their 29-7 rout of the Texans.
Along with Yannick Ngakoue (two sacks), Malik Jackson and Abry Jones, Campbell overwhelmed a Texans offensive line that struggled without contract holdout Duane Brown.
“I was thinking that a lot of people are going to start losing power after the game is over, so I wanted to motivate people and give them something to be proud of while they’re going through what they’re going through,” Campbell said. “It feels good to show Duval (Duval County, of which Jacksonville is the county seat) that they will have something to be proud of this year.”
Corners toyed with Savage
On the back end of the Jacksonville defense, cornerbacks Jalen Ramsey and former Texans player A.J, Bouye toyed with Savage and, after an initial surge, neutralized Watson, who led the Texans to their touchdown.
“Rush and cover go hand in hand,” Ramsey said, “When they get pressure and we’ve got tight coverage, well, what are they gonna do? That’s what happened.”
It didn’t help the Texans, Ramsey implied, that they started the wrong quarterback to begin with.
“Come on, man,” Ramsey said. “Deshaun should have been starting the whole game.
“Look, I don’t want to be disrespectful, but they had one savage. We’ve got a whole bunch of them — 20 (himself ), 21 (Bouye), 93 (Campbell). Come on, man.”
Ramsey said Watson gave the Texans a chance at a comeback before the Jaguars adjusted to the change of pace he brought to the offense in the second half.
“He gives them a better chance. He gives them a new dynamic,” Ramsey said. “He took them down on that first drive and got a couple of lucky breaks, to be honest, and then we went to the sidelines, recomposed ourselves and then came out and handled business.”
It helped, Bouye said, that the Jaguars got off to a fast start to neutralize whatever emotional push the Texans received from a supportive crowd bolstered by Hurricane Harvey first responders.
“They (the Texans) always emphasize starting fast,” Bouye said. “We had to get on them fast, and that is what we did. Coach (Doug Marrone) had me and (Ramsey) on an island most of the day, and our defensive line was great. Our offense controlled tempo and kept converting on third down and we were able to take advantage of turnovers.”
As for the Jacksonville offense, quarterback Blake Bortles’ long string of futility against the Texans was interrupted in large part because he was efficient, completing 11 of 20 attempts with no interceptions for 125 yards and a touchdown, and in larger part because rookie running back Leonard Fournette ran for 100 yards and a score on 26 carries.
“We know how good they are up front, what these guys can do and what they have done in the past,” Bortles said. “Our guys up front took that on as a challenge. They opened up holes and gave Leonard a chance to run. We gave up zero sacks, hats off to those guys.”
Fournette makes an impact
Jacksonville used Fournette frequently on its two first-half field-goal drives and on the 53yard drive for their first touchdown on his 1-yard run. He had three catches for 24 yards.
Jacksonville’s success in the ground game prevented the Texans from capitalizing on the sort of energy Fournette, a former LSU standout, recalled the Saints utilizing in their post-Hurricane Katrina return to the Louisiana Superdome in 2006.
“We knew it would be crazy, and we knew we had to fight and keep fighting,” Fournette said. “You feel sorry for what happened here, but we practiced all week, too. We have a hurricane where we’re at and our families are evacuating, too. It’s kind of 50-50, if you ask me. We did a great job of staying focused.”
That requires concentration, not flights of fancy, as Marrone quipped when asked if he had in his wildest dreams imagined his team recording 10 sacks against the Texans.
“I don’t know if I dream in my wildest dreams,” he said. “Most of the time, I’m thinking about my wife in my wildest dreams.
“Honestly, I dream of how we are going to play the game, how we are going to win the game. … I think about it. I visualize it. I try to get the players to visualize it and teach them.”
Other than an injury to Allen Robinson that sidelined the receiver for most of the game, there wasn’t much Marrone could have visualized that didn’t go his way Sunday.