Woeful Jacksonville Jaguars lose 7-27 to Houston Texans as Blaine Gabbert fails again – NFL Recap
The Jacksonville Jaguars were all over the place on the field in the game against the first-time Super Bowl contenders Houston Texans, giving them an easy 7-27 victory in a totally one-sided game on Sunday.
Jaguars second-year quarterback Blaine Gabbert’s performance was woeful like last year, in fact even worse in total measured yards on the day. He could complete only seven out of 19 passes for just 53 yards before hitting the sidelines with a hamstring injury.
The team’s performance in all other departments was insignificant, while the Texans were a display of an impressive teamwork to strengthen their position in the American Football Conference (AFC) South division 2-0.
Andrew Luck-led Indianapolis Colts are only other team in the AFC South to have recorded a win – the Jaguars and Tennessee Titans are yet to register their first wins of the season, respectively.
Blaine did not have much to say in his postgame remarks except for excusing himself with some consolation and between-the-lines admission how bad they had done in the game. He said:
"We killed ourselves. We were 0 for 9 on third down, just a lack of execution. Had a bunch of mental mistakes. We just shot ourselves in the foot. And you can't win football games in the NFL by doing that."
The wisely uttered phrases may not be enough consolation for the team and particularly for coach Mike Mularkey, who is yet to record his first win as a coach at the Jaguars under the ownership of new owner Shahid Khan.
The coach is not sure if Gabbert is going to return from the hamstring injury timely for the next game against the Indianapolis Colts.
Jaguars linebacker Paul Posluszny presented analysis of his own on the loss. He said:
"This was a tough loss for us. You're playing at home, against a division opponent, a playoff team, and we go out and perform like this? We did not play well at all. It showed us where we're at. We have a lot of work ahead of us."
From quotes of Jaguars’ players it appears they are reluctant to accept their fault and accept the defeat in open terms. It will be even harder for them to digest if they closely watch video evidence of the pathetic show from their respective ends.
The Houston Texans on the other hand looked like a team potentially to defend their AFC South title and get through the league’s phases beyond regular season. They again displayed an impressively coordinated teamwork on the defensive and offensive ends.
Running back Arian Foster recorded a touchdown and ran for 110 yards and 74 yards more from RB Ben Tate helped the Texans dominate the game from beginning to end. This should address a complaint from their coach Gary Kubiak, who had said after the opening
game that the team did not put up as many rushing yards as they could have.
Quarterback Matt Schaub was also impressive on his part. His strategy was a bit changed and focused on short throws but he was able to run through Jaguars’ defence.
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