Skip to main content
Advertising

Daily Brew: Special teams play a turning point in London win

Momentum, if you believe it exists in the course of an NFL game, was about to swing back the Jaguars' way on Sunday at Wembley Stadium.

After heading into the locker room down 9-3, the Jaguars would receive the kickoff to start the second half. They'd taken some good shots from the Texans, but were still only trailing by six points. Score coming out of the break, and then let a ferocious defense go to work, and Jacksonville would be on its way.

Sure enough, the Jaguars started at their own 25-yard line, steadily marched down the field, and got as far as the Texans' 23-yard line. Then Jacksonville saw Gardner Minshew complete a 19-yarder to D.J. Chark, and it looked like the Jags were in business with a 1st-and-goal at the Houston 4. But Chark was called for an offensive pass interference, and the offense got pushed back to the 32. A Jaguars completion on 2nd down got them a yard, and then Minshew threw incomplete on 3rd-and-14, so on came the field goal unit.

Then disaster struck.

The Jaguars mishandled the snap, Briean Boddy-Calhoun popped the ball loose, and the ball squirted back to the 50-yard line.

"That was a big play," Texans head coach Bill O'Brien said. "I thought our guys did a good job reacting to that play, almost got the ball. But in the end it's our ball anyway."

Boddy-Calhoun was credited with a strip-sack of Logan Cooke, as well as a tackle for loss when he fell on kicker Josh Lambo, who fell on the fumble.

In all, Jacksonville burned 6:04 of game clock and came away without points. They had a chance to take the lead with a touchdown, then a chance to pull within three with a field goal, and instead, saw the Texans pick up a few yards on the ensuing possession and kick a field goal of their own when Ka'imi Fairbairn connected from 42 yards out.

"It was a very big play in the game at that point because the game was still definitely in balance," O'Brien said. "I think we only got a field goal out of that drive. But it was a big play in the game."

Jaguars head coach Doug Marrone explained how that turn of events affected his squad.

"Football is a game of momentum, and I think that's something that was disappointing," Marrone said. "It's just unfortunate because that was the first drive of the second half in a 9-3 game."

The Jaguars punted on their next possession, turned it over on downs after that, and then tossed a pair of interceptions before their final two drives ended in fumbles.

Houston Texans Fans travel all the way to Wembley Stadium in London for the ninth game of the 2019 NFL season against the Jaguars.

Related Content

Advertising
;