Texans hang on to beat Jags
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The Texans got the win — their first on the road.
They improved to 6-3 overall and 3-0 in their division.
They beat Jacksonville 24-21, got their first defensive touchdown of the season, and had a few highlights to build on. Those are all good things. Good things. Not great ones. A win’s a win, pretty or not, and the Texans grabbed another one.
But they’ll have to be better moving forward.
The Texans have work to do before heading to Mexico City to take on Oakland, which is 7-2 and well-rested from an open date, next Monday.
The Texans are going to need to go from good enough to beat the 2-7 Jaguars to great enough to beat tougher teams on the road if they want to keep getting wins.
Coach Bill O’Brien isn’t concerned. He will happily take the
Jacksonville win.
At the end of the day, there is a “W” next to the game on the schedule, and that’s all that matters.
O’Brien isn’t worried about some of the disconcerting stats:
Quarterback Brock Osweiler was 14-of-27 for 99 passing yards.
DeAndre Hopkins, targeted 13 times, had five catches.
Kicker Nick Novak was 1-of-3 on field goals.
It’s not about stats, O’Brien said after the game.
“I think everyone needs to understand that in the National Football League, it’s all about winning,” he explained. “That’s simplifying it quite a bit.”
Obviously, wins are what matter, but to get those wins against teams that are better than the Jaguars (basically every team left on the schedule), Osweiler is going to have to connect with his receivers more, Novak is going to have to make field goals consistently, the running game will have to keep improving, and the defense is going to have to get even stronger.
The Texans had a list of positives.
The game started with an impressive Kareem Jackson interception returned 42 yards for a touchdown — the Texans’ first defensive score of the season.
It set a good tone in a road game the team needed to win.
Miller’s return welcome
Lamar Miller was back after struggling with a shoulder injury that still seems to be nagging him. Despite that, he had 83 rushing yards, including a 45-yard run early in the game.
In the areas where they struggled — with numbers that don’t look good on paper — they found ways to overcome.
Osweiler’s 99 passing yards are too low. He didn’t pass well enough. Hopkins is an elite receiver. Osweiler needs to connect with him more often to boost the Texans’ offense.
That said, Osweiler found Hopkins when it mattered most — in the fourth quarter on third down with the game on the line. The connection kept Jacksonville from getting the ball back, sealing the victory.
“I felt confident that we would get it, even in that situation where they were trying to come back,” Hopkins said. “We have to keep getting better, but this was a good step for us.”
The Texans lost control of the game Sunday. They led by 21-10 in the third quarter before the Jaguars closed the gap and forced the Texans into a nailbiting situation with just over two minutes to play.
“We stayed calm and didn’t get worked up,” Hopkins said.
Chemistry a plus
That’s growth. Team chemistry is strong. The Texans believe in each other and in what they are doing. But …
“We have some things we need to improve,” Osweiler said.
He cited third downs. The Texans converted seven times on 16 tries Sunday. Two of those misses led to the missed field goals of 49 and 50 yards.
Those misses didn’t matter in the end. But next week against Oakland, they will.
The Texans had big plays — the 45-yard Miller run, a 57-yard punt return by Tyler Ervin, Jackson’s pick-6 — surrounded by a lot of mediocre play.
Still, it was another step forward. Another win.
It was good enough this week. It needs to get a lot better.