Jaguars 24, Texans 21: Jacksonville Wins Thriller in Houston Behind Huge Trevor Lawrence Performance

The Jaguars are (for now) the No. 1 seed in the AFC.

Late-game heroics lifted the Jacksonville Jaguars past the Houston Texans on Sunday, giving the 8-3 Jaguars a two-game lead in the AFC South after Trevor Lawrence threw for 364 yards and score two touchdowns.

A sack by Josh Allen and Travon Walker forced the Texans into a 58-yard attempt with 0:34 left, with Houston kicker Matt Amendola kicking just short to give the Jaguars a 24-21 win.

Jacksonville's offense recovered from their Week 3 embarrassment vs. the Texans with an effective first drive that ended in a 40-yard field goal from Brandon McManus, his 17th made field goal in a row. 

The scoring drive was largely influenced by Trevor Lawrence, who went 3-of-3 on third down for 36 yards, including completing conversions to Zay Jones and Christian Kirk on 3rd-and-6 and 3rd-and-11 to keep the offense on the field. 

Houston's defense faced an early hole on the next drive, with Josh Allen drawing a first-down hold from Shaq Mason to force 1st-and-20. Allen then recorded a quarterback hit on second-down to force an errant throw, eventually setting up a punt and a 22-yard return by rookie Parker Washington.

Jacksonville was forced to punt after two early incompletions to set up the drive, with left tackle Cam Robinson suffering a lower-body injury early in the drive to force a shift along the defensive line. 

Jacksonville came back on the next drive with an eight-play, 64-yard drive that ended in a one-yard Lawrence rushing score that was set up by a 42-yard catch-and-run by D'Ernest Johnson. 

Houston quickly struck back with a touchdown drive of their own, with Stroud completing passes of 26 and 33 yards before connecting with Tank Dell on a seven-yard touchdown pass to make it 10-7. 

Jacksonville quickly picked it up on the following drive thanks to an early 42-yard catch by Luke Farrell, the longest catch of his career. McManus then made a field goal from 48 yards out to extend the Jaguars' lead to 13-7 after Calvin Ridley failed to bring in a potential touchdown from Lawrence.

Stroud didn't go into halftime without putting together another impressive drive, however. He scrambled for 11 yards and connected with Dell for 17 yards to set up a 50-yard field goal attempt. 

The kick went wide right, however, setting the Jaguars up at their own 40 with two timeouts and 23 seconds left. After a 57-yard strike from Lawrence to Kirk set the Jaguars up at the one-yard line with just enough time to run one play, Doug Pederson kept the Jaguars' offense on the field.

Unfortunately for Jacksonville, though, Houston came prepared. The Texans shut down a pitch to Etienne at the goal line, leaving Jacksonville with zero points and 11 points left on the field between the last two drives.

Jacksonville came out of halftime with a drive-killer, too, as Lawrence was intercepted by Derek Stingley after a questionable non-call when it looked like Evan Engram was held by the defender. Stroud then capped it off with a one-yard touchdown run on third-down on the following drive to give Houston a 14-13 lead.

The Jaguars fired back, though, with Ridley picking up 45 yards on first-down. After two pass-interference calls on Houston, Ridley found the end-zone on a one-yard touchdown catch. Ridley then scored the two-point conversion, giving the Jaguars a 21-14 lead.

With the Jaguars' defense on its heels due to Stroud and his potent room of weapons, Mike Caldwell's unit then made their biggest play of the day as Allen sacked Stroud on third-down to force a punt.

A few more odd calls from the refs on both sides later, and the Jaguars faced a 4th-and-1 from Houston's 30. The Jaguars got the yardage with a quarterback sneak but Farrell failed to line up on the line, resulting in an illegal formation penalty. 

The Jaguars were then forced to settle for a 53-yard field goal, though McManus once again came in clutch with another big kick, giving them a 24-14 lead with 11:20 left. 

Jacksonville forced a turnover on downs while holding a 24-14 lead with 9:15 left after they forced rookie sensation C.J. Stroud to throw incompletions on 3rd-and-1 and 4th-and-1.

The Jaguars forced the Texans off the field on the first drive, with Josh Allen nearly sacking Stroud as the Jaguars eventually forced him out of bounds on a third-down scramble.

McManus' field goal streak would finally end after he missed a 55-yard field goal with 7:05 left, though the Jaguars' offense did him no favors by getting -3 yards on second- and third-down. 

The Texans then took over at the Texan's 45-yard line, with Stroud quickly completing a 34-yard completion to Xaiver Hutchinson to move it to the Jaguars' 21. Stroud then connected with Nico Collins for a score, making it a 24-21 game with 5:15 left.

Jacksonville managed to get the ball to midfield after Etienne's longest rush of the day went for 20 yards, though Lawrence missed an open Farrell on second down to set up 3rd-and-7. 

Lawrence and the Jaguars then went for a kill shot, with Lawrence having a deep ball to Zay Jones on the right sideline. Jones made an improbable grab with Stingley draped over him, but he only managed to get one foot in bounds. 

Houston then picked up 21 yards after getting the ball at their own 11, with Stroud scrambling for 16 yards and Tre Herndon being flagged for holding, adding another five yards.

Stroud managed to drive Houston to their own 47, but Allen's second sack of the game knocked them back 15 yards to set up 2nd-and-25. The sack gives Allen 11.5 in 2023, setting a career high and breaking his previous high of 10.5 in 2019.

Stroud then got 17 yards on second down before getting 14 yards on 3rd-and-8. The Jaguars managed to push them back on the next play, however, with Allen and Travon Walker splitting a sack, giving Allen 2.5 sacks.

Stats of the Game (11/26/23 @ Texans) Via: @theryanmichael

• Trevor Lawrence finished the game competing 23 of 38 passes (60.5%) for 364 yards (9.6 YPA), one touchdown, one interception, zero sacks and a 90.2 passer rating.
• Lawrence rushed for one touchdown and had a successful two point conversion completion.
• Lawrence’s 9.6 yards per passing attempt was a career-high (45 games).
• Travis Etienne carried the ball 20 times for 56 yards (2.8 YPC).
• Calvin Ridley caught five passes for 89 yards and a touchdown.
• Christian Kirk caught four passes for 89 yards.
• Foyesade Oluokun led the Jaguars with 12 tackles (nine solo).
• Josh Allen notched 2.5 sacks—eclipsing Yannick Ngakoue (37.5) to move into second place in Jaguars franchise history with 39.5.