The offensive line …
… could use Duane Brown.
Breaking through the Texans’ porous offensive line Sunday, Jacksonville Jaguars defensive end Calais Campbell kept blasting quarterbacks Tom Savage and Deshaun Watson.
Campbell set a franchise single-game record with four sacks as the Texans’ offensive line struggled mightily without threetime Pro Bowl left tackle Duane Brown.
His absence was glaring during a 29-7 loss, as the Texans allowed a franchise single-game record 10 sacks.
Savage was sacked six times in the first half. Then, Watson was sacked four times in the second.
“You play this game long enough it’s going to happen to you,” left tackle Chris Clark said. “We weren’t expecting this to hit us like this. We just didn’t come to play, I guess. We have to get better. We will be better.”
The Texans briefly benched starting left tackle Kendall Lamm and replaced him with Clark before going back to Lamm.
They also had Greg Mancz substitute for Xavier Su’a-Filo at left guard. Su’a-Filo went back into the game when right guard Jeff Allen injured his right ankle.
“It comes back to me trying to do a better job with these guys of the design of some of the plays … making sure that I’m doing the best I can to do a better job of helping those guys out up front,” Texans coach Bill O’Brien said.
Negotiating a compromise with Brown would be a good start to upgrading the line.
Brown is due a $9.4 million base salary and is on the reservedid not report list. He’s losing $552,000 per week with each lost game check.
When asked about not having Brown, Su’a-Filo said: “I think that’s a better question for coach O’Brien. We’re playing with the guys we’ve got in there.”
“It’s always tough to play without any of our guys,” Clark said. “We’re accountable for each other. We’ve got to pull together. We ultimately beat ourselves.”
Dislocated finger can’t KO Watt
Texans star defensive end J.J. Watt dislocated his finger but returned to play.
The three-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year spent the majority of last season on injured reserve after undergoing a pair of back surgeries. The back wasn’t what was ailing him Sunday, though.
“I felt fine,” Watt said. “I messed up my finger a little bit, but other than that my body felt fine. Just busted the bone through the skin. Nothing bad, just tape it up.”
Watt had one tackle and one quarterback hit.
It was a frustrating day overall for Watt and the NFL’s topranked defense from a year ago, losing to Jaguars quarterback Blake Bortles for the first time in seven career games.
“Terrible, no other way to put it,” Watt said.
Texans roster hit hard by rash of concussions
Five players were forced out of the game with concussions during the painful loss, including middle linebacker Brian Cushing.
All three tight ends on the active roster — C.J. Fiedorowicz, Ryan Griffin and Stephen Anderson. are under the NFL concussion testing protocol. Receiver Bruce Ellington also left after a hit to the head.
The Texans have rookie tight end Evan Baylis on the practice squad, but could need to make more than one roster move heading into a Thursday night road game against the Cincinnati Bengals.
Also, right offensive guard Jeff Allen left the game with a right ankle injury.
“It’ll be tough,” Texans coach Bill O’Brien said of the injury situation.
Jaguars lose Robinson with torn left ACL
The Jacksonville Jaguars lost Allen Robinson, their top wide receiver, to a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee, the team announced Sunday night.
Robinson got hurt on a 15-yard reception during the first quarter. Robinson caught 73 passes for 883 yards and six touchdowns last season.
Bouye’s thoughts split between football, life
Jaguars cornerback A.J. Bouye played four years in Houston and attended college at Central Florida before signing with the Jaguars during the offseason, so his mind has been on Texas and Florida as both states were battered by hurricanes.
“I’ve been sending up prayers because just like Houston was affected (by Tropical Storm Harvey), Florida could be affected (by Hurricane Irma),” he said. “All the people I checked on (in Houston) were good. They were more worried about taking care of everybody else, which I respect. They were looking out for others, too.”
Bouye said he expected a tough contest with the top Texans receiver, former teammate DeAndre Hopkins, and got what he expected.
“I knew there were going to be some iffy calls or some flags,” Bouye said. “Some I probably did deserve, but I knew it would be an aggressive game with him. Me and (cornerback Jalen Ramsey) aren’t allowed to put our hands on him, and even if we had flags, we knew we were going to come back and make plays. It was a good matchup on both ends.”