NFL Week 4: Texans 24, Jaguars 20 — Four Winners, Four Losers

The last time that Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence played a good, winning game of American football was in Week 12 of last season. That day, he engineered a 24-21 win over the Houston Texans at NRG Stadium, a win that drove the Jaguars record to a rock solid 8-3 at that time. As we all know by now, the Texans would eventually catch and surpass the Jags last season, winning the AFC South with a 10-7 record.

As for Lawrence, other than signing a $275 million contract in the offseason, his football life has been a nightmare since then, going 0-8 as a starter, coughing up a divisional lead in the standings in an historic choke, and regressing as a passer. The Houston Texans knew on Sunday that they could NOT allow NRG Stadium to be a safe haven for Lawrence, and allow him to get well as a QB.

Ultimately, the final result on the scoreboard indicated Texans success toward that endeavor, as the Texans defeated the Jaguars 24-20, thanks to a last minute TD drive by C.J. Stroud. The win, though, like the other three Texans games this season, had some disturbing layers to it, especially considering the Buffalo Bills are coming to town next weekend.

Let’s look at Sunday’s winners and losers:

WINNERS

4. Eric Murray
Hey, it’s not very often that Murray cracks this article, on either side, winners or losers. People sometimes forget Murray is even on the team, but he is now amazingly in Year 5 as a Texan. He’s been here for every head coach since Bill O’Brien in 2020, which probably says something about his professionalism. On Sunday, he showed up huge twice, the first time with a big sack on third down of Jacksonville’s first drive of the second half, and then a pass breakup on third down of the Jags’ final possession to get the ball back for the Texans’ final, game winning drive.

3. Dare Ogunbowale
The Texans came into Sunday super-depleted at running back, with Dameon Pierce out again with a hamstring, and Joe Mixon not quite ready to return from an ankle injury. Cam Akers got the lion’s share of the carries, but when the team needed a reliable vet on the field at the end of the game, it was Ogunbowale they chose. Earlier in the game, Ogunbowale had a huge 3rd and 18 conversion, but it was his touchdown on 3rd and goal, with 18 seconds remaining that gave the Texans their winning margin.

2. C.J. Stroud
Sunday’s game was one of those games where you ask yourself afterward “Where the hell would this team be without C.J. Stroud?” So many times, he bailed the team out of awful, self-inflicted poor down and distance situations. Up until the game winning drive, Stroud and the offense had gone dry in the second half, and yet when he got the ball at his own 31 yard line with three minutes remaining, most Texans fans were probably confident that he would engineer a game winning drive. Stroud is ridiculously elite.

1. Nico Collins
Speaking of elite, Nico Collins is, in my mind, an early favorite for Offensive Player of the Year, which is essentially the non-QB MVP award. No Houston Texans wide receiver in team history has put up more receiving yards in the first four weeks of a season. Keep in mind, Andre Johnson played a decade for the Texans. DeAndre Hopkins played seven seasons here. Neither had more than Collins’ 489 yards through four games. On Sunday, Collins was the whole offense, at times, with 12 catches for 151 yards. Collins’ $24 million per year extension this offseason looks absurdly cheap right now.

LOSERS

4. Texans’ pass rush
Through three games, the edge rusher tandem of Will Anderson and Danielle Hunter had been, for the most part, exactly what Nick Caserio and DeMeco Ryans ordered, as the pair were first and second in the league in pressures, coming into Sunday. However. against the Jaguars, the pass rush had a tough time getting home, and only hit Lawrence three times all game long. The only sack came on a corner blitz from Murray. They will need to be more disruptive to beat Josh Allen next weekend.

3. Laremy Tunsil
I’m not sure what DeMeco Ryans and OC Bobby Slowik are supposed to do at this point. For all the good things that come with a specimen like Tunsil, mostly in pass protection, the penalty epidemic is ridiculous right now. Whereas last weekend, Tusnil picked up five pre-snap procedural penalties, on Sunday, he picked up two crippling holding penalties on fourth quarter drives that ended in punts two plays later. Tunsil’s lack of discipline is a major hindrance to this offense coming anywhere close to its potential right now.

2. Bobby Slowik
Leading up to this game on Sunday, Slowik was as under siege as he’s been anytime in his tenure with the Texans. People are tired of the offensive inconsistency, the stubborn play calling of play-burning runs, and the complete lack of a run game the team can lean on in the second half of games. On Sunday, the running backs ran for 78 yards in 22 carries. Granted, the Texans’ top two backs were both out of this game injured, but the insistence on pounding a subpar running game, on a day where Stroud was clearly dialed in, had fans infuriated.

1. Steven Sims
You want to know how to get cut from an NFL team? Have a job where you’re only asked to do ONE thing, like say, return kicks, and then muff a punt doing that one thing you’re asked to do, allowing the opposition to score a two-yard touchdown a couple plays later. Finally, when given a second chance to do your job, pick up a 15 yard penalty for jawing at the opponents. If you do those things, you two can be Steven Sims on Sunday. Brutal, and honestly, Sims is worth making an example out of. Send him packing. That was ridiculous.

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