Texans 27, Jaguars 25: Game Balls

The Jacksonville Jaguars fell to the Houston Texans for the second time this season. But young talent on both sides of the ball and a veteran performance on defense provided some bright spots off which to build and earned our game balls for Week 9.

The Jacksonville Jaguars (1-7) fell to the Houston Texans (2-6) for the second time this season and suffered their seventh loss in a row. But in what running back James Robinson called their best offensive performance of the season, the Jags managed to showcase young talent and get big play from veteran defensive athletes that can provide something off which to build around moving forward. 

John Shipley and Kassidy Hill examine those performances to give out game balls for the Week 9 game. 

Offense 

Hill: Another game day, another dominating performance from James Robinson. He remained on track for a 1,000-yard season, picking up 99 yards against the Texans. He received 40% of the Jaguars 67 offensive plays and did the job asked of him during the week; provide breathing room for rookie quarterback Jake Luton (26-38, 304 yards, 1 touchdown, 1 interception; 1 rush, 13 yards, 1 touchdown).

Robinson’s best portion of the day came when the offense put a drive on his back. The 12-play, 75-yard drive featured Robinson eight times and he picked up 47 yards, all on the ground, punctuating with the 1-yard touchdown run up the middle.

Robinson's day may have been just shy of the century mark and another bright spot on a losing team, but it's the latter part that will keep the rookie motivated. 

“I just go with (what) the game plan is, and when I get the ball, I try to make a play every time. I think that’s just what’s going to help us. What I’m doing is good, but it’s just not enough. We’ve all got to come together and find a way to win and get over that hump. Offense, I felt like we did pretty well today. The defense did pretty well too, but it’s just that hump that we have to get over. We could have come out on top in this game, but we just came up short.”

Shipley: He's back. After a month of frustrating performances and lackluster production, DJ Chark had his best game of the season against the Texans on Sunday, returning to his 2019 Pro Bowl form. Other than a drop on what would have been only a three-yard gain, Chark was flawless on Sunday, frequently providing Luton a safety blanket at every level of the field. 

Chark made an impact from the first drive of the game, beating Vernon Hargreaves downfield for a 73-yard touchdown catch, the longest catch of his season. On the day, Chark caught seven passes for 146 yards (20.9 yards per catch) and one touchdown, giving Luton a big-play option every step of the way. 

"You play a team twice, you see the things that you could have explored in the first game, so you come out and you run it the second game, and that’s what we did. Hats off to Jake," Chark said. "I feel like [Offensive Coordinator] Coach [Jay] Gruden tried to make this game plan to take advantage of the things that we missed, but also to cater to him, and I think that they did a good job of communicating and doing that.”

Chark has had a rough 2020 season for a number of reasons, but maybe his fortune began to change in Week 9. Even if it doesn't, he was still the best player on the field this Sunday.

Hill: Myles Jack took advantage of the bye week to recover some nagging injuries and became a wrecking ball with a team-leading 11 tackles, a tackle for loss, a pass break-up and a forced fumble that was more like a thief walking into a bank, grabbing the money out of the vault and daring anyone to stop him.

“He nasty,” said defensive end Josh Allen of Jack’s turnover. “He's a ball hawk...when he's healthy, he's a bad man.”

On the Texans' second drive of the game, Jack took over, wrapping up Duke Johnson for a 2-yard loss and then threw Johnson on his rear the next play, knocking the ball loose in the process.

Continued Allen on Jack, “[that’s] him just being a playmaker. He’s obviously, every time he’s out there he’s making a lot of big plays for us and he definitely did today. And so we’re gonna need that every week, consistently and we just need everybody else to be on his level.”

Shipley: For the first time this season, a defensive game ball is going to cornerback Tre Herndon. Herndon hasn't had quite as good of a season in coverage this year as he had in 2019, but he made his presence felt in all phases of the game against the Texans. 

In coverage, Herndon was Jacksonville's best cornerback on Sunday. After being moved to nickel corner following an injury to D.J. Hayden, Herndon has begun to settle in at nickel, leading to him having his best coverage day of the season on Sunday. But was against the run and as a blitzer where Herndon made his biggest impacts, showing that he is a multi-faceted player when given the chance to do more than just backpedal. 

Herndon finished the game with four tackles; among those four tackles was one sack and two tackles for loss. He was a demon sprinting off the edge of the formation each time Todd Wash blitzed him, a sign that he should continue to be used by Wash and the Jaguars in an aggressive manner. 

Special Teams

Hill: A lot will be made—and justifiably so—of the missed extra point by Josh Lambo early in the game that forced the Jaguars to attempt—and fail—a two-point conversion late in the game. But Lambo is also the reason the Jaguars were within two at the end of the game. He knocked through two field goals at different points to keep the Jags in a one-possession game. As the clock expired on the first half, the coaches put Lambo at the teal square at midfield (an aesthetic tragedy resulting from the previous day’s Florida-Georgia game on the field) and asked their kicker to try a 59-yarder…into the wind…with said wind gusting over 15 miles per hour.

The former soccer player kicked it low, as a line drive that just skirted over the bar, but it was good, tying Josh Scobee’s franchise record for longest field goal made in the club’s history. It bested Lambo’s previous career-long of 57-yards.

Unfortunately for the Jags, Lambo was injured during the onside kick attempt at the end of the game. Head Coach Doug Marrone told reporters after the game that he wasn’t yet sure of the extent of Lambo’s injury but “it didn’t look good” and he believes it’s the same hip injury suffered during Week 2 on an onside kick versus the Tennessee Titans. 

Shipley: There is no debating that Chris Claybrooks had a rough first half of the season, but he showed out as a special teamer on Sunday. The rookie seventh-round pick made several huge plays for Jacksonville's third phase of the game, earning praise from head coach Doug Marrone after the game for his work on both return and punting units. 

As a gunner on the punt team, Claybrooks downed two different punts within the Texans' own six-yard line, including one punt being downed at the two. Claybrooks showed off his speed by flying by Houston's return team and then showed off his instincts and awareness by ensuring the ball didn't cross the goal line.

Claybrooks also recorded his best kick return of the season, a 39-yard return at the end of the first half that put Jacksonville at their own 41-yard line. Thanks to his big return, the Jaguars got just inside Josh Lambo's range to help him nail a 59-yard field goal before halftime.