Halftime Update: Jaguars Trail Texans 20-16

Two quarters into Sunday's Week 9 bout between the Jaguars and the Texans, Jacksonville is down by just four points in a 20-16 affair.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The first half of Jake Luton's NFL debut was certainly an interesting one. 

Through two quarters, Luton and the Jaguars are trailing the Houston Texans by a score of 20-16. While the Jaguars clearly have a lot to go over in the locker room before they return to the field, one has to think this is a better scenario than the Jaguars or most others through they would be in after the first half, mostly due to the unknown of Luton. 

Luton started off hot in his first NFL start, throwing a 73-yard touchdown strike to DJ Chark on his second-pass attempt. For weeks the Jaguars had struggled to get the ball downfield and to Chark, but Luton alleviated both of those issues on the third-down score. 

👀 6 goes for 6 👀@JakeLuton6 connects with @DJChark82 for a 73-yard TD on his first career pass. pic.twitter.com/F53Vr9VveW

— Jacksonville Jaguars (@Jaguars) November 8, 2020

The sixth-round passer also made a few big plays on Jacksonville's second scoring drive, a 12-play, 75-yard drive that was capped off by a one-yard James Robinson score. Robinson fueled Jacksonville's drive, carrying the ball eight times and getting Jacksonville down to the one-yard line with a pair of 12-yard runs. Luton was able to fit a 17-yard strike to Tyler Eifert on the same drive, along with a good short conversion to Chris Conley. 

Jacksonville's defense had some struggles. They gave up a 75-yard scoring drive on just two plays on Houston's first possession, allowing a 57-yard touchdown to Brandin Cooks. The defense mostly stiffened as the half wore on, however, eventually culminating in Myles Jack forcing a Duke Johnson fumble. 

The Jaguars were unable to take advantage of the Jack turnover, but it did help the team enter halftime with a tie instead of a big deficit. The Jaguars then allowed a touchdown drive of 98-yards, though 55 of those yards came from penalties. Duke Johnson punched it in from a yard out to give Houston the halftime lead, and that was all she wrote for the first half of Week 9 ... until Josh Lambo hit a career-long 59-yard field goal at the end of the half. 

Other notes

• Josh Jones started the game at safety but was benched for several possesions after Cooks' touchdown. Rookie safety Daniel Thomas took his place at strong safety for the next two possessions, but Jones then returned. 
• Doug Costin started at three-technique defensive tackle instead of Taven Bryan. It was the first game this season that Bryan has not started. 
• Laviska Shenault left the game in the first quarter with a hamstring injury. 
• Jacksonville is still dealing with penalty woes. They racked up 68 yards in penalties, including a 50-yard infraction on CJ Henderson on a pass interference.