The Houston Texans just snatched a wild 34-31 victory over Jacksonville in London this weekend, powered by a walk-off 49-yard field goal from Ka’imi Fairbairn as time expired at Wembley Stadium. This was a monster win for a squad that started the season 0-4, finally giving them something to really build on as they try to dig out of that massive hole, now sitting at 2-4. Coach DeMeco Ryans isn’t wrong, the climb is definitely just getting started, but man, what a response to some early season adversity.
C.J. Stroud Is Still Slinging It, and the Marvin Harrison Jr. Debut Is Real
You absolutely have to talk about C.J. Stroud after this game. Yeah, he threw his first pick of the season, but that dude is still on fire! He went 24 of 34 for 312 yards, tossing a season-high three touchdown passes against Jacksonville. This kid ranks second in the entire NFL with 1,714 passing yards this season, and he’s leading the league with 25 completions of at least 20 yards. He’s spreading that ball around too, hitting 10 different players on Sunday. Ryans said it perfectly: “C.J. has been hot all year and he’s still hot. He’s lighting it up. He’s dishing the ball around to a lot of different people, doesn’t matter who it is. Everybody who has an opportunity, they’re open, they’re getting the football.”
And get this: Marvin Harrison Jr. made his debut after that trade from Arizona last week! The fourth overall pick from the 2024 draft reunited with Stroud, who he played with at Ohio State. He only had three receptions for 34 yards in limited action, but Stroud was hyped, saying, “It felt like old times and I’m proud of him, happy for him. I thought he looked great, looked like he was excited to be out there. And we’ll get him more touches and more plays here in the season.” You just know that connection is going to be big.
Pass Rush Needs a Jolt, but Jawhar Jordan and Foster Moreau Are Stepping Up
Now, not everything was perfect. Houston’s normally fearsome pass rush, led by Will Anderson Jr. (who still leads the NFL with 7.5 sacks, by the way) and Danielle Hunter, got shut down completely on Sunday. They had 18 sacks coming into the game but couldn’t even touch Trevor Lawrence once. That’s a head-scratcher and something they’ve absolutely got to fix.
But on the flip side, some other guys really stepped up. Jawhar Jordan got promoted from the practice squad because David Montgomery is out with a groin injury, and he made his presence felt immediately. Jordan punched in his first career touchdown run, a score that gave them a 31-21 lead late in the third quarter, finishing with six carries for 43 yards. Then there’s Foster Moreau, in his eighth NFL season and first with Houston. He scored on both of his catches on Sunday, marking his first career game with multiple touchdowns and making him the first Houston tight end since Jordan Akins in 2023 to snag two scores in a single game. Talk about seizing an opportunity!
This win was huge, especially since they’d coughed up fourth-quarter leads in three of their four losses earlier this year. Ryans summed it up, saying, “It’s always great for us to close games out. We stumbled along there early in the season when we didn’t finish games, but we found a way (Sunday) to continue to play complementary football, all three phases, really having an impact on this game.” This team found a way to finish. Now, let’s see if they can keep that momentum rolling and continue this climb. It’s going to be a battle, but this team showed some real fight.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Yahoo Sports.
Leave a Reply