Houston hex: The Texans have had the Jaguars number since entering the NFL as expansion team

It’s been the most inexplicable AFC rivalry for the Jacksonville Jaguars over the course of their time in the AFC South.

Since the Houston Texans entered the NFL as an expansion team in 2002, they have tormented the Jaguars like no other divisional opponent, especially in Jacksonville. The Texans are on a four-game winning streak at EverBank Stadium and have won seven of the last eight entering Sunday's game against the Jags at 1 p.m. (FOX-47).

Houston’s 13-8 record as the visiting team against the Jags (counting a 2019 game in London that was a Jaguars home game) is better than any AFC South opponent. In terms of winning percentage (.619) it’s exceeded only by the New England Patriots (3-1 in Jacksonville, .750) among AFC opponents.

Houston (0-2) has doubled up on the Jaguars in the overall series, 28-14 (.667). Only the Patriots (8-1 versus the Jaguars) and the Los Angeles Chargers (9-4) have a higher winning percentage.

Jaguars QB Trevor Lawrence: 'We're putting all our efforts and focus into Houston'

Here’s the frustrating part: Houston’s mastery of the Jaguars (1-1) hasn’t always depended on who’s the better team. When the Texans were in their first season, they beat the Jaguars at The Bank 21-19. In 2004 and 2006, when the Jags had a better record, the Texans swept the season series.

Outside linebacker Josh Allen said it’s not the identity of the opponent that he’s focused on: it’s the big picture.

“I’m ready to battle in a divisional game, against a good team,” he said on Wednesday after the Jaguars practiced at the Miller Electric Center. “We know what we’re capable of.”

Two similar losses

Last year’s 13-6 loss at home was perhaps the most frustrating of the season, with the Jaguars wasting one scoring opportunity after another. The Jags had first downs in Houston territory seven times (three times in the red zone) and came away with only two Riley Patterson field goals.

Quarterback Trevor Lawrence completed 25 of 47 passes for 286 yards and two interceptions, for a quarterback rating of 54.0.

In many respects, that game resembled last week’s 17-9 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. The Jaguars had their chances, but Lawrence did not complete a pass in the red zone and was 3 of 14 on third and fourth down. It was the first game in which the Jags did not score a touchdown since last year’s home game against the Texans.

“It kind of reminded me of the Houston game last year here, where we didn’t play very well and lost that football game,” Jaguars coach Doug Pederson said on Monday.

However, Pederson said the idea is to not dwell on last year or last week.

“We can't go backward, obviously,” he said. “We've got to focus on us and have a forward mindset. We’ve got to clean up some things. We know that.”

Jags won easily in Houston

If the Jaguars wanted to dwell on anything, they could simply turn back the clock to New Year’s Day, when they blasted the Texans 31-3 in Houston. The Jags were in the midst of their best stretch of the season, Houston was heading for a last-place finish in the AFC South and the Jags snapped a four-game losing streak at Reliant Stadium.

Lawrence, who hasn't thrown a TD pass against the Texans since he had three in his NFL debut in 2021 (a 37-21 loss), said the offense needs improvement from both 2022 games.

"I don’t think we played our best either game against these guys [Houston Texans] offensively anyways," he said. "Our defense played great both weeks against them. I know offensively we didn’t."

In the two games against Houston last year, the Jags defense gave up 248 and 277 total yards, had three sacks and limited the Texans to 11 of 34 on third- and fourth-down conversion attempts.

Houston converted only 6 of 17 on third down in the second game and the Jags had two sacks and a turnover. The three points the Texans scored were the fewest against the Jags since a 27-0 shutout in 2003.

“We were on a mission in that game,” Allen said.

Pederson the streak-buster

One of Pederson’s fortes as the Jaguars coach has been ending losing streaks of different varieties. Whether it was beating Dallas last season in overtime to break a 20-game losing streak against NFC opponents, routing the Chargers in Los Angeles to snap an 18-game road losing streak, or sweeping Tennessee to break a 10-game skid against the Titans, he’s been able to coach the Jags out of funks that dated back years before his arrival.

Beating the Texans at home on Sunday, which hasn’t happened since a 45-7 rout in 2017, would be another example.

However, defensive tackle Roy Robertson-Harris speculated that the Jaguars break streaks because they don’t concern themselves with the past.

“We’re not about what happened six years in the past, the last 10 games,” he said. “We let you guys [the media] worry about streaks. We don’t about anything except this game.”

Facing another rookie

The Jaguars are favored Sunday by nine points. Houston lost to Baltimore 25-9 and to the Colts 31-20 (with former Jaguar Gardner Minshew coming off the bench to win his first career game against the Texans).

The Texans have a rookie coach in DeMeco Ryans and a rookie quarterback in C.J. Stroud. Their offensive line is struggling as much as the Jaguars, allowing 11 sacks and clearing the way for only 2.5 yards per rush in the first two games.

But the Jaguars lost to Houston in 2021 when Davis Mills, a third-round draft pick, was a rookie starter, and in 2002, when David Carr was a rookie.

“There’s going to be growing pains with a young quarterback,” Pederson said. “By the time we see them in the second week, they’re going to be so much better. You can just go into a game saying, ‘Oh, he’s a rookie quarterback, he’s going to make mistakes.’ He’s got 10 other guys.”

Stroud had completed 64 percent of his passes for 626 yards and two touchdowns in two games, without an interception.

“They’re a physical football team with a new quarterback but he’s looking pretty accurate,” Robertson-Harris said. “We’ve got to be able to stop the run and make them one-dimensional. It starts in the trenches.”

Journeymen have also beaten Jags

The Jags played well against one Houston rookie quarterback of note. Deshaun Watson was sacked four times in 2017 and intercepted once in a 29-7 loss to the Jaguars to open the 2017 season. But Watson figured it out: he won his next six starts against the Jaguars from 2018-20.

Houston also swept the Jaguars in three consecutive seasons from 2014-2016 with Ryan Fitzpatrick, Brock Osweiler, Brian Hoyer and Case Keenum starting.

Some of the losses have been bizarre. Andre’ Davis returned two kickoffs for touchdowns in a 2007 victory. A failed two-point conversion with less than a minute to play resulted in a 13-12 loss in 2019 in Houston, Minshew’s first start.

That game also was the beginning of the end for Jalen Ramsey’s tumultuous time in Jacksonville, when he berated coach Doug Marrone on the sideline when Marrone didn’t throw the replay flag after one play. Ramsey was later chewed out by general manager Dave Caldwell, promoting his request for a trade.

The Jaguars botched a two-point conversion attempt at home in 2020 that could have sent the game into overtime in a 27-25 loss. But it worked out in the long run because if the Jags had won that game behind third-team quarterback Jake Luton, they likely wouldn’t have been in position to draft Lawrence the next year.

The all-time classic Jaguars vs. Texans game was a 43-37 overtime loss in Houston in 2012. Matt Schaub threw five TD passes, with the game-winner covering 48 yards to Andre Johnson. Schaub had 527 yards passing and Chad Henne threw for 354 yards and four TDs for the Jags, with Justin Blackmon catching seven passes for 236 yards and an 81-yard TD.

Ten of the Jaguars losses to the Texans have been by a touchdown or less, and five by a field goal or less. Six of the losses at home have been by seven points or less, and four by three or less.

K'Lavon Chaisson, a Houston native, said he'd take a victory by any outcome.

"That's the goal," he said. "Score more than they do."

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Jaguars have had historic issues at home against the Houston Texans