Click here to see all recaps on a single page
| Other Week 17 Game Recaps | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BUF at PHI | CAR at TB | CIN at MIA | DAL at WAS | DET at GB | JAX at HOU | KC at NYJ | MIN at DEN |
| NE at NYG | NO at CHI | PIT at BAL | SD at OAK | SEA at ATL | SF at CLE | STL at ARI | TEN at IND |
Week 17 Game Recap: Jacksonville Jaguars 28, Houston Texans 42
What you need to know
| Jacksonville Jaguars |
The Jaguars were done in by their special teams, giving up two kickoff returns for touchdowns and losing a fumble of a punt inside their five yard line that was converted into another touchdown. Despite those miscues and having several of their starters being inactive for the game, Jacksonville was still able to generate offense in the passing game. Their running game was not much of a factor as both Fred Taylor and Maurice Jones-Drew were held out of the game. LaBrandon Toefield got the start but was ineffective, and yielded most of the rushing attempts later in the game to Greg Jones, who ran with excellent power. Jones shed several tackles on his way to 71 yards at just over 5 yards per carry.
Jacksonville quarterback David Garrard was the backup quarterback for this game and Quinn Gray started as a result. Gray played very well, looking very comfortable directing the offense. He showed an ability to move around in the pocket to give himself extra time and then throw to an open receiver. Gray showed good touch on shorter passes as well as a strong and accurate arm on intermediate and deep passes. He targeted Matt Jones and Ernest Wilford the most, directing 23 of his 39 passes to the two of them. Both receivers seemed to be in a good rhythm with Gray and turned in very good numbers. Gray threw mostly short and a few intermediate passes to Wilford and used Jones on a variety of routes, from slants across the middle to deep routes on the outside
Jacksonville attempted 11 plays in the red zone and showed more of an emphasis on passing the ball, attempting seven passing plays in the red zone. Three of those passes resulted in touchdowns, two to Wilford and one to Matt Jones. Those two received all of the red zone targets. Greg Jones had two of the four red zone rushing attempts with the other two split among Toefield and an end around by wide receiver Reggie Williams who was tackled two yards outside the end zone.
| Houston Texans |
The Texans took advantage of the points gained as a result of their stellar special teams play to rely more on the run in the second half to maintain their lead. Wide receiver Andre Davis returned a kickoff 97 yards for a touchdown with 29 seconds remaining in the first half then opened the second half with a 104 yard kickoff return for a touchdown that gave Houston a 28-14 lead. Quarterback Sage Rosenfels was accurate when asked to throw the ball, but was not asked to take many risks. He only attempted five passes in the second half. Of the 18 passes he attempted the entire game, eight of them were directed toward Andre Johnson, who ran mostly short routes with a couple of intermediate routes thrown in.
Houston's running game started slowly but became very effective later in the game. Ron Dayne ran with determination, and although he did not have any explosive gains, was able to grind for an extra yard or two on a lot of his carries. Dayne took advantage of his red zone opportunities and scored two rushing touchdowns. His backup, Darius Walker ran very well when given the opportunity. He showed good burst to get through the line of scrimmage on most of his rushes, and averaged 8.6 yards per carry as a result.
The Texans only ran nine plays in the red zone, and scored touchdowns on four of those plays. Seven of their red zone plays were runs, with Dayne scoring twice on five rushes and Walker scoring his first NFL touchdown in the fourth quarter on a play immediately following a run by him that was originally ruled a touchdown but was then overturned. The passing touchdown was to tight end Owen Daniels on a fourth and goal play.
What you ought to know
| QB Quinn Gray, Pass: 25 - 39 - 302 - 4 TD / 0 INT, Rush: 1 - 2 - 0 |
Gray seemed very comfortable directing the Jaguars' offense and posted stellar numbers as a result. He remained calm in the face of an aggressive pass rush and was in sync with his receivers. Gray looked for his wide receivers throughout the game and did not target his tight ends very much. He displayed a very strong arm both on deep passes and on shorter ones where he rifled the ball to his receivers in tight spaces, and enough touch when needed.
| RB Greg Jones, Rush: 14 - 71 - 0, Rec: 3 - 27 - 0 (5 targets) |
Jones took advantage of his increased role in the offense by running hard each time he had the ball, and breaking tackles to gain extra yards. He also displayed good hands and ability to gain additional yards after securing the ball.
| RB LaBrandon Toefield, Rush: 7 - 15 - 0, Rec: 1 - 4 - 0 (1 targets) |
Toefield started the game but was unable to generate much in the way of positive yards, and gave way to Jones for most of the rushing duties.
| WR Matt Jones, Rec: 8 - 138 - 1 (15 targets) |
Jones had his best game of the season by taking advantage of being targeted a lot by Gray. He showcased his speed at times as well as good ability to run across the middle, use his height to shield defenders and gain yards after the catch. Although he caught just eight of the 15 passes thrown to him, three passes intended for him were deflected by defenders and two were overthrown.
| WR Ernest Wilford, Rec: 6 - 58 - 2 (8 targets) |
Wilford was very productive and ran his routes very well, getting open at the time the ball arrived from Gray several times. He ran mostly short routes with a couple of intermediate routes thrown in, and was the recipient of two touchdown passes as a result.
| WR Reggie Williams, Rush: 1 - 8 - 0, Rec: 3 - 37 - 1 (4 targets) |
Williams made the most of his targets in the first half, including a touchdown catch after running a very nice route to get open in the end zone. His only touch in the second half came on an end around where he was stopped two yards outside of the end zone. He was not targeted in the second half.
| TE Richard Angulo, Rec: 3 - 33 - 0 (4 targets) |
Angulo dropped the first pass thrown to him then caught the next three, including one where he displayed excellent concentration to catch the ball despite being double-teamed. He was utilized on shorter pass routes.
| TE Isaac Smolko, Rec: 1 - 5 - 0 (1 targets) |
Smolko was not involved much in the passing game.
| PK Josh Scobee 0 - 0 FG, 4 - 4 XP, 4 points |
Scobee did not have any field goal attempts. He did connect on all four of his point after attempts.
| JAX Rush Defense |
The Jaguars rush defense was not effective. They gave up three rushing touchdowns to the Texans' running backs. Although they were not dominated by Houston's offensive line, they did allow some big gains on the ground at times. Jacksonville's run defense could not make enough plays to stop the Texans in the second half even though Houston had obviously decided to run the ball almost exclusively.
| JAX Pass Defense |
Jacksonville's pass defense was not much of a factor, in large part to the Texans' reliance on the running game. Houston only attempted five passes in the second half, which greatly reduced the opportunities the Jaguars had to make plays in the passing game. They managed to sack Rosenfels once and intercept him once, but mostly did not have much of an impact on the game. It should be noted that Jacksonville rested some of their defensive starters as well.
| QB Sage Rosenfels, Pass: 11 - 18 - 128 - 1 TD / 1 INT, Rush: 3 - -4 - 0 |
Rosenfels was asked to manage the game and not attempt any risky passes. He did a good job of that, as he was accurate on the short and intermediate passes he was asked to attempt. Thanks to their effective running game, Rosenfels only threw the ball five times in the second half, with four of those passes going to Andre Johnson. The coaches showed confidence in him by asking him to execute a passing play on a fourth and goal play in the first half that he converted for a touchdown.
| RB Ron Dayne, Rush: 21 - 88 - 2 (1 targets) |
Dayne ran with determination, taking on defenders routinely instead and usually managing to gain an extra yard or two after initial contact. While he did not break any long runs, he was effective enough to help keep the chains moving. Dayne took advantage of his red zone opportunities by converting two such rushes into touchdowns.
| RB Darius Walker, Rush: 10 - 86 - 1 |
Walker took advantage of his opportunities and showed excellent acceleration to have several significant gains. He also showed a nose for the end zone by making a great effort by switching the ball in his hands as he stretched for the goal line as he was being knocked out of bounds. The initial call was a touchdown, but it was reversed after review. Undeterred, Walker scored on the very next play, in large part due to his ability to accelerate through the line of scrimmage.
| RB Vonta Leach, Rec: 2 - 18 - 0 (3 targets) |
Leach's contributions were mostly as a fullback although he showed a nice ability to gain yards after the catch on one pass play.
| WR Andre Johnson, Rec: 6 - 74 - 0 (8 targets) |
Johnson ran mostly shorter routes, but showed not only good route running and hands, but excellent running after the catch skills as well. On one play he was stopped inches from the goal line after evading defenders after securing a short pass. Due to Houston's reliance on the running game in the second half, Johnson did not have many opportunities to make plays, although he was the recipient of four of the five passes thrown in the second half.
| WR Andre Davis, Rec: 1 - 20 - 0 (2 targets) |
Davis only had one reception but had a tremendous impact on the game by returning two kickoffs for touchdowns, one 97 yards and the other 104 yards, showcasing very good speed and moves in the open field.
| WR Jacoby Jones, Rec: 1 - 14 - 0 (1 targets) |
Jones was not involved much in the offense.
| WR Kevin Walter (1 targets) |
Walter's lone target was overthrown.
| TE Owen Daniels, Rec: 1 - 2 - 1 (3 targets) |
Daniels, like most of the receivers did not have many opportunities due to the Texans' reliance on the running game. He did however catch one of his targets for a touchdown.
| PK Kris Brown 0 - 0 FG, 6 - 6 XP, 6 points |
Brown did not attempt any field goals and made all six of his point after attempts.
| HOU Rush Defense |
Houston's run defense was solid but not dominant. While they held Toefield in check, they yielded several yards after initial contact to Greg Jones. While their linemen did not dominate the line of scrimmage, they were not dominated themselves and as such their linebackers were able to help out in the running game.
| HOU Pass Defense |
The Texans' pass defense was torched by Gray, giving up over 300 yards passing and four touchdowns. While they pursued Gray aggressively with a combination of their front four and blitzes, they only sacked Gray twice and did not record any interceptions. Their secondary was unable to make many plays, as Jacksonville's receivers were able to get open many times.
