Though they’re listed as the home team, the Jaguars will line up far from Jacksonville for a second straight week. The Jags (4-1) are gearing up for their first divisional game of the season, facing the Houston Texans (1-4) at Wembley Stadium on Sunday at 9:30 a.m. ET.
Both teams are fresh off Week 5 wins, with Houston dominating the Titans 26-3, and Jacksonville taking down the Eagles 19-17 at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
For the Jags, Week 6 presents an opportunity to improve to 5-1, while the Texans will be hunting for a second straight win following an 0-4 start.
Houston boasts a high-powered passing offense, with quarterback C.J. Stroud averaging more than 280 passing yards per game. He’s completed 119 of 185 passes and has thrown six touchdowns. Most notably, Stroud has yet to throw an interception this season.
“C.J. has done a nice job of taking care of the football,” head coach Liam Coen said. “That’s just something that you’ve just got to be aware of going into it … we have to be more disciplined with our eyes in general.”
However, he has been sacked 14 times through five games, signaling the struggles Stroud’s offensive line has faced thus far.
Houston’s defensive front has tallied 18 sacks of its own, though, and Jacksonville quarterback Trevor Lawrence could face constant pressure if his offensive line is unable to keep edge rushers Will Anderson Jr. and Danielle Hunter at bay. Anderson and Hunter have combined for 10.5 of Houston’s 18 sacks, and Anderson leads the NFL with 7.5 sacks.
“How complete their game is as rushers and as run defenders really stands out on tape,” offensive coordinator Grant Udinski said. “They’re so well-rounded that it makes it such a unique challenge to be able to attack both of those guys in protection or in the run game because you can only allocate so many bodies to one guy.”
Jacksonville and Houston boast two of the top three run defenses in the NFL. The Jags have allowed a league-best 63.8 rushing yards per game, while the Texans have seen opponents tally just 78.4 per game through five weeks. The only other team that’s held opponents below 80 rushing yards per game is the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (72.8).
The Jaguars have three running backs averaging at least four yards per carry, while Houston has none. Bhayshul Tuten, Chris Rodriguez Jr. and Ameer Abdullah have all been efficient for Jacksonville. Of the three, Tuten has spearheaded the workload, taking 82 of the Jags’ 140 total carries. He’s tallied 349 yards and two touchdowns through five games, and he’s rushed for 20 first downs as well.
The Texans’ split backfield of David Montgomery and Woody Marks has tallied 287 yards and four touchdowns on 95 carries. The pair has averaged 2.7 and 3.5 yards per carry, respectively, thus far.
Houston limited Tennessee to 57 rushing yards in Week 5, and if Lawrence and Co. are unable to stay on schedule and move the chains, it could make life difficult for Tuten and Rodriguez.
“The fact that they have the personnel that allows them to scheme up matchups and attack puts the stress on the offense to try to limit what we can do or control what we can do in a very strategic manner,” Udinski said. “They play incredibly hard. They play with great fundamentals, great technique and they play well-coordinated.”
Despite holding the Titans to 187 total yards and just one score, Houston’s defense will need to step up, especially its secondary, against a Jaguars team that passed for 306 yards in a Week 5 win over Philadelphia.
But Jacksonville’s secondary hasn’t looked elite either. It allowed Joe Burrow to pass for 428 yards in Week 4, and Jalen Hurts compiled 220 yards against the Jags last week. With Stroud averaging over 280 passing yards per game, the secondary is something the Texans’ pass-heavy offense will look to exploit in London.
“We can’t let C.J. stand back there and hang out and be able to pick us apart and get those guys on the perimeter the ball too quickly,” Coen said. “It’s a great challenge for us this week, and those guys know what they’re up for.”
For Houston, getting the passing game rolling starts with Nico Collins. The sixth-year receiver has played in just three games this season, but he still leads the team in yards (249) and touchdowns (three). The Texans will also look to get tight end Dalton Schultz, who has caught a team-high 24 passes for 244 yards, involved early.
“He is a really big-body guy as a receiver, but some of those guys kind of come in the package — we’re like ‘hey, they’re a possession guy.’ That’s not him,” defensive coordinator Anthony Campanile said of Collins. “He’s, to me, in every facet, a well-rounded receiver.”
Conversely, receiver Parker Washington paces the Jags in yards (352), receptions (22) and touchdowns (four). He’s been a catalyst for success thus far, emerging as Lawrence’s go-to receiver in late-game situations. He caught six passes for 124 yards and two touchdowns last week and will look to put together another standout performance against Houston in Week 6.
The game will be aired nationally on NFL Network, and fans in the Jacksonville market can find the game on FOX30.
Contact Curan Ahern at cahern@alligator.org. Follow him on X at @CuranAhern.
Curan is a senior sports journalism student in his sixth semester at The Alligator. He is currently a sports editor and football beat reporter for the Gators and the Jaguars. He previously served as a men's tennis and sports enterprise reporter, and he is pursuing a public relations minor.
