The Jacksonville Jaguars are one of three winless teams in the NFL and certainly the most disorganized.
The Jaguars (0-3) will try to stop their dysfunction and record that elusive first win when they visit the Houston Texans in an AFC South battle on Sunday.
Jacksonville’s terrible start includes a 47-10 annihilation by the Buffalo Bills in Monday night’s game. The Jaguars trailed 34-3 at halftime after Buffalo scored touchdowns on all five first-half possessions.
“The game the other night was a disaster on every level,” Jacksonville quarterback Trevor Lawrence said Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Jaguars coach Doug Pederson is telling his team they can still make things better.
“It’s not the end of anyone’s season, obviously it’s Week 4,” Pederson said. “We just have to find a way to play good football and right now the video shows that we are not doing that and we have to fix that.”
A win over the Texans (2-1) would be a step in the right direction, taking some pressure off Pederson and the slow-moving Lawrence.
Jacksonville has lost the last eight times Lawrence has been the starting quarterback. The first overall pick in the 2021 draft has completed just 52.8% of his passes this year and has been sacked 11 times.
Lawrence has thrown for 560 yards, two touchdowns and one interception for an offense that ranks 30th in scoring (13.3 points per game) and 27th in total yards (276.3).
During the offseason, Jacksonville rewarded Lawrence with a five-year, $275 million contract extension that gave him an elite quarterback’s salary. But after the Buffalo debacle, Pederson said moving Lawrence in favor of backup Mac Jones is an option if things don’t improve.
The Texans have no issues at quarterback as second-year pro CJ Stroud has been a standout since the start of his pro career.
Stroud led Houston to a 10–7 record as a rookie and led the team to a playoff win. This season he has completed 67.7% of his throws for 709 yards and four touchdowns with two interceptions.
However, Stroud and the Texans were defeated 34-7 by the Minnesota Vikings last weekend. Stroud threw for 215 yards and a touchdown, but was also intercepted twice and sacked four times. Houston was also penalized with 11 fouls.
“They beat us, congrats to those guys,” Stroud said Wednesday. “It’s Week 4 now. We’ll move on. We’ll meet the Jaguars, who are a good team, and we’ll focus on that.”
Texans coach DeMeco Ryans sees the Jaguars as a fierce rival. Although Houston has won 10 of the last 12 meetings between the two teams, Jacksonville drew last season.
“We will have a divisional opponent coming to our house,” Ryans said. “It’s going to be a tough fight. We both know each other very well and it’s going to be a fight, so we’re looking forward to the matchup.”
Running back Joe Mixon had 184 rushing yards in his first two games with the Texans, but did not play against Minnesota due to an ankle injury. He missed training on Wednesday and may not be available on Sunday.
Texans receiver Tank Dell (chest), running back Dameon Pierce (hamstring) and defensive back Foley Fatukasi (shoulder) were also out Wednesday.
In Jacksonville’s case, linebacker Foyesade Oluokun (foot) was injured against Buffalo and is unlikely to play, according to Pederson. Tight end Evan Engram (hamstring) did not participate in practice Wednesday and could miss his third straight game.
