WOOOOO! Yes sir, it's been a long 287 days since a win. Who cares about pretty? Who cares about this or that?
Did.
We.
Win?
Yes SIR! So, let's take a look at some of the key plays in this win
10:12 in the 3rd quarter
2nd and one
-7 yard line
Texans tied 6-6
The Jaguars were knocking very loudly on the end zone door with the game tied in the third quarter. On 2nd and one, they put every tight end that they had on the roster into the game, then went heavy YY wing to the right side. Then, not shockingly, the Jaguars called the EXACT SAME play that the Chargers ran twice on them in the game last weekend. Lawrence reversed out and rolled right to the side with all the TE. Last week RB Austin Ekeler was wide open in the flat, but this time DB Jalen Pitre sprinted through all the chaos to Jaguars RB Travis Etienne to take away Lawrence's first option in the flat. So, Lawrence held the ball as the rest of the zone defenders took away passing lanes in the end zone. DB Derek Stingley Jr. read run immediately but then bailed out in a hurry back into his zone. As he felt no receivers in his area, he wheeled back around and saw one of the tight ends running the back line. He immediately made a beeline to the TE as Lawrence thought he could stick it into that receiver. Stingley Jr. pounced and picked off his first pass as a Texan.
*We'll excuse him on the excitement of trying to bring it out of the end zone :)
8:28 in the 4th quarter
3rd and two
-33 yard line
Texans tied 6-6
The Texans didn't pick up many third downs to that point in the game, but when they needed them in the fourth quarter, they got them…starting right here. The Jaguars blitzes had gotten home all day long so they decided to bring everyone and play cover one behind it. QB Davis Mills was in the pistol and the Texans OL/RB did a solid job picking up the blitz. Mills had just enough time, with the Jaguars right DE bearing down on him, to throw one down the sideline to Nico Collins. Now, Nico had two steps on Tyson Campbell, but with a DE in his face, Mills did all he could to get the ball far enough downfield. With the safety slow to come over, Campbell had no help and when the ball was thrown a bit short, Collins reacted back to the ball. He went up over Campbell who was flagged for defensive pass interference and "Moss'd" him for a huge 24-yard catch at the most important time in the game. For years I've seen teams play single safety coverage against the Texans, on guys like DeAndre Hopkins and Will Fuller V and Brandin Cooks and a deep shot usually came their way. Today, that was Nico Collins coming up clutch in the fourth quarter against that coverage.
6:10 in the 4th quarter
3rd and ten
+38 yard line
Texans still tied 6-6
After a Texans false start to make it third and ten, OC Pep Hamilton put 11 personnel in the game and had QB Davis Mills in empty. Mills brought Nico Collins into a condensed split with RB Rex Burkhead on the left side. But, Mills wanted to stay with his trips set on the right side, where he had Brandin Cooks, Tyler Johnson and TE Jordan Akins. Cooks and Johnson ran hard to the inside to clear out for Akins who was lined up in the #3 spot on that side. Akins ran out and up on zone coverage. Shaquill Griffin, the outside CB to that side, followed Cooks too far inside and that allowed Akins space to widen to the sideline. With a defender in his face, Mills threw toward the sideline where Akins caught the ball a yard or two short of the first down. He then lunged over the top of Griffin, ball outstretched to pick up the first down. HUGE first down. Massive.
5:03 left in the 4th quarter
2nd and five
+22 yard line
Texans tied 6-6
The Run. The Texans had 11 personnel in the game and one of the wide receivers was Tyler Johnson. He was winged left as the Texans ran power to that left side, pulling A.J. Cann from the right side over to the left side. LT Laremy Tunsil had a wonderful downblock on Roy Robertson-Harris and a small hole opened. Johnson did a tremendous job walling off the safety who had been creeping around the box all day. RB Dameon Pierce had to navigate the hole, which wasn't huge, but it was just enough. He fought through an arm tackle, then a flying tackle attempt. He ducked out of that attempt and then looked up anyone in a teal jersey and ran into, and out of, their tackle attempts. He eventually was brought down at the one yard line. I mean, bravo, young buck, bravo.
