Lovie Smith had repeatedly preached patience, and staying the course. The Texans’ first-year coach had even recited his glass half full philosophy, emphasizing positives that were often hard to see during a losing streak.
His approach finally paid off Sunday during a 13-6 road win over the Jacksonville Jaguars as the Texans ceased to be the only winless team in the NFL. The Texans, now 1-3-1, snapped a three-game losing streak by boosting their winning streak to nine games in a row over their AFC South division rival.
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Instead of the raw disappointment the Texans experienced in squandering leads in a tie to the Indianapolis Colts and losses to the Chicago Bears and Denver Broncos and a slow start last week against the Los Angeles Chargers, a 4-13 team from a year ago took control in the fourth quarter as rookie running back Dameon Pierce scored the game’s lone touchdown to win the game.
“I mean, it’s big, because I do know how hard it is,” Smith said. “We’ve been battling for four weeks, and haven’t been able to finish it. That’s all we’ve talked about. I know how the guys have been responding behind the scenes. They’ve been just, belief, faith, that eventually it’s going to get done. But now that we have taken care of that, I’m just anxious to get that second win now.”
The Texans’ defense was stout in close quarters, limiting the Jaguars to 0 for 3 in the red zone to earn their first win since last season when they beat the Chargers last December. They held the Jaguars, led by quarterback Trevor Lawrence, to six points as rookie cornerback Derek Stingley Jr. picked him off in the end zone in the third quarter and nickel back Desmond King intercepted his Hail Mary pass to end the game.
Smith had enough confidence in the defense that he called for a punt on 4th-and-9 at the Jaguars’ 49-yard line with 47 seconds to play.
The defense did its job, closing out the Jaguars. Now, the Texans get a week off before a road game in two weeks against the Las Vegas Raiders.
“It’s something that we needed,” Texans middle linebacker and defensive captain Christian Kirksey said. “We needed this as a team: to finally go out and finish. We had so many close games in the past.This is just the start of something headed into the bye week. We get a chance to regroup and get our bodies together and get some bodies back.”
Smith also called for a punt on 4th-and-1 in the third quarter at the Jaguars’ 49-yard line with the score tied at 6-6.
“I felt like we didn’t really need to make a move like that,” Smith said. “Played the odds, which we did, and it worked out. Right? I liked the call.”
Quarterback Davis Mills was effective with no turnovers after throwing two interceptions against the Chargers and two interceptions against the Bears.
He completed 16 of 24 passes for 140 yards and no scores for an 81.9 passer rating, mostly handing off to Pierce as he rushed for 99 yards and one score.
“I’d say he’s had a consistent impact on our team, from when he came into the building,” Smith said. “We know that he’s going to finish. He’s going to show toughness. He’s going to make plays. He’s going to make you miss in the open field. He’s doing what a one running back in the NFL should do, and on a day like today we needed to lean on the run, and I thought he was outstanding.”
Unlike the Jaguars who had a costly penalty committed by rookie defensive end Travon Walker when he committed an unnecessary roughness infraction as he slung Mills to the ground when the play had been blown dead, the Texans didn’t make many mistakes.
“It is tough when those things happen, but we have rules on how we play the game, and that was obvious that should have been called,” Smith said. “A timely penalty for us.”
Mills hit some key passes, including a key pass to tight end Jordan Akins to set up Pierce’s 20-yard run and 1-yard touchdown run.
He also connected with second-year wide receiver Nico Collins four times for 65 yards.
“Yeah, we’ve just got to continue to mix it up throughout the season,” Mills said. “If you show something one game, you’ve got to come back and potentially run it the next game and try to execute, and if you don’t want to run that, show something else to keep the defenses guessing.
“I think we kind of found our identity today, being a run-first football team downhill, and we did that efficiently. And then we had to make some plays in the passing game when we needed to, and our guys stepped up and made some plays on the edge. Defense did, as well. It was a good team win.”
Outscored by a combined margin of 30-0 in the fourth quarter in the first three games of the season, the Texans outscored the Jaguars 7-0 in the fourth quarter after playing to a 6-6 tie by halftime.
“Team effort, it’s good to see what you’re supposed to do after a win,” Smith said. “Hopefully, it’s the first of many.”
Texans offensive guard A.J. Cann, a former Jaguars starter, expressed hope that this is the start of something.
“We have to keep building off that momentum,” he said. “It’s not easy to win in this league. We’ve got to keep building on that.”
Aaron Wilson is a Pro Football Network reporter and a contributor to KPRC 2 and click2houston.com.