Jaguars have to hit reset button after embarrassing loss to Texans

By Hays Carlyon

Go to London.

Figure it out.

Come home.

Reset.

Regroup.

There are 14 games left.

The good news is none of the 14 can possibly be as disappointing as Sunday’s pathetic 37-17 loss to Houston at EverBank Stadium. The Jaguars (1-2) were favored by 7.5 points and have now lost two consecutive home games.

All facets of the team were to be blamed for this debacle.

The offense was plagued by drops and turnovers. Receiver Calvin Ridley dropped a 30-yard touchdown on the first drive of the game. That led to a missed field goal. Receiver Jamal Agnew lost a fumble after making a catch.

The defense couldn’t apply pressure to rookie Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud and got shredded. Stroud wasn’t sacked, despite being dropped 11 times in the previous two games combined. The secondary busted a coverage that led to a 68-yard break-breaking touchdown to Tank Dell that cemented the win at 34-17 with 8:59 to play.

The special teams had a miserable performance. The missed field goal was a pleasant memory compared to one of the most bizarre plays in franchise history.

After cutting Houston’s lead to 17-10 in the third quarter, the Jaguars elected to have kicker Brandon McManus attempt a short kickoff with the hopes of pinning Houston inside its 20.

McManus’ kick worked beautifully. The upback Andrew Beck, a 255-pound fullback by trade, didn’t handle the ball cleanly at the 10. He was able to secure the ball after a couple of seconds, made two players miss him, broke to the right and ran.

And ran.

And ran.

And ran for an 85-yard touchdown. The 27-year-old Beck isn’t exactly Devin Hester. He has five career carries for 5 yards, but it appeared multiple Jaguars quit on the play allowing him to lumber for the touchdown.

“Missed tackles, those type of things are unacceptable,” Jaguars coach Doug Pederson said. “It was a great kick, where we wanted it to be. The ball was on the ground. Just poor execution. We couldn’t get them on the ground. Great play by them, just failed execution.”

The score pushed Houston’s lead back to double digits at 24-10 and took the life out of the crowd.

This is a game film you burn. Or bury it. Or drop it over the Atlantic Ocean on the way to London.

The problem with the Jaguars isn’t talent. They have a bunch of it on offense. The pass rush is certainly an issue, as we expected it to be, but there is enough talent on defense for that unit to be respectable.

The problem the Jaguars have is totally in their collective heads.

They bought their hype.

They got comfortable.

They lost their edge.

Pederson was asked in his postgame press conference if the team believed their press clippings too much this offseason.

“I think that’s real,” Pederson said. “I do. I think that’s real. I’ve been around this game too long to know that you can’t live in the past or you’re going to fail in the future.”

The good news is it is still September. There is time to snap out of it and the time is now.

The Jaguars will now embark on an 11-day international trip to play two games in London. They will host Atlanta at Wembley Stadium on Sunday before playing as the road team against Buffalo at Tottenham Stadium.

They need the trip. Any distraction right now is a good one.

“Whether we are reading our press clippings, we need to get out of our own way right now,” Pederson said. “We need to evaluate ourselves, beginning with me. And we got to figure out how to win a game.”

The Jaguars have the yips as a team. They need to leave them at customs when they head out of the country.

(You can email Hays at [email protected] and follow him on X @HaysCarlyon).