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JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Here are five points to remember from the Texas Texan victory at Jacksonville on Sunday at TIAA Bank Field.
Defense continues to dominate
The Texans entered the match in ninth place in defense, including the 10th against the race. These figures should improve after allowing 259 yards, including 70 on the ground, against the Jaguars. The defense has imposed three turnovers, which makes the Texans plus-2 for the season, as the offense has not suffered any interception or fumbling. Sunday was the third consecutive performance of the Texans in defense. They have allowed only one touchdown in each of the last three wins over Dallas, Buffalo and Jacksonville.
Mercilus intensifies
Linebacker Whitney Mercilus played his best game of the season against the Jaguars. He recorded his first bag. He had four tackles unassisted, a tackle for loss, a quarterback and two forced fumbles. He missed the last 11 games last season because of torn biceps that required surgery. At the end of training camp in West Virginia, he suffered a serious injury to the thigh. He missed the rest of the camp and the four pre-season games. He started slowly this season, but his game has improved in recent times. Mercilus is so valuable for what the defense wants to accomplish. His Sunday performance was decisive for the defense that put an end to the Jaguars' offensive.
Infraction sees the green in the red zone
The problems of the Red Zone of Texans have been well documented. They came in 31st place of the TIAA Bank in the touchdown of the red zone, scoring at a rate of 34.6%. Only the New York Jets were worse than the Texans. They were three times in the red zone on Sunday. They scored two touchdowns (67%) and scored one goal. The touchdowns were marked by Lamar Miller's 5-meter run and Deshaun Watson's 10-meter pass at DeAndre Hopkins.
No clowney trash speech
Linebacker Jadeveon Clowney played a remarkable game, scoring two sacks and making seven tackles unassisted, including two for defeat. He also had four hits in the quarter. Subsequently, Clowney said that he thought quarterback Blake Bortles must have been hurt when it came out. He was not. The Texans played so well against Bortles that coach Doug Marrone put it on the bench for Cody Kessler. After the Jaguars' 45-7 loss to Jacksonville last season, Bortles racked up 329 yards and three touchdowns, and Clowney called it "trashy" to spark controversy. Clowney's performance is one of the reasons why Bortles was replaced after completing 6 of 12 passes for a total of 61 yards.
Return of the current game
After the first two games of the season, the Texans were first in the NFL, averaging 157 yards. They were 15th in Sunday's game, averaging 109.2 yards. Due to quarterback Deshaun Watson's injuries and pressure from Jaguars' pass holders, coach Bill O-Brien insisted the race continue. The Texans ran 37 times for 141 yards. Lamar Miller had 22 runs for 100 yards, his first 100-yard game of the season. The linemen did a great job in blocking the tracks. At a time when the quarterbacks scored 300 yards with regularity in a wide open league that produced a record number of touchdowns, the Texans used the ball returned, and it worked well. Watson was 12-over-24 for 139 yards, but he was sacked once. They were 8 out of 16 in the third. The strategy worked so well that the Texans won by 13, their biggest margin of victory this season.
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