Jacksonville Jaguars continued their late season revival with a 27-20 victory over fellow strugglers Houston Texans.
Jacksonville Jaguars continued their late season revival with a 27-20 victory over fellow strugglers Houston Texans.The Jaguars had lost their opening eight games of the season but a fourth win in five games showed there are clear signs of progress under first-year coach Gus Bradley.The Texans, on the other hand are enduring a worrying slump. Having won their first two games they have now lost a franchise-record 11 successive matches - with coach Gary Kubiak facing an uncertain future.Chad Henne and Ace Sanders threw three touchdowns between them and Maurice Jones-Drew rushed for 103 yards to steer the Jaguars to victory, although they had to hold off a Texans fightback.Henne, who completed 12-of-27 passes for 117 yards, connected with Marcedes Lewis from a yard as Jacksonville opened the scoring.RallyA six-yard pass from Henne to Cecil Shorts doubled the lead before Houston hit back through Keshawn Martin’s touchdown from Case Keenum’s eight-yard pass.Josh Scobee replied with a 40-yard field goal, though, to hand the Jaguars a 17-7 lead at half-time.Randy Bullock’s 34-yard field goal gave Houston hope, only for rookie wide receiver Sanders to extend Jacksonville’s lead when he tossed a 21-yard TD pass to Jordan Todman.Houston staged a late rally as Matt Schuab connected with Garrett Graham from five yards for a touchdown, while Bullock landed a second field goal from 31 yards to cut the deficit to four points.However Schuab was intercepted by Geno Hayes with 2:16 left to hand Scobee the position to land a 39-yard field goal.