Deshaun Watson tossed three touchdowns, Ka'imi Fairbairn kicked three field goals and the Houston Texans beat the visiting Jacksonville Jaguars 30-14 on Sunday afternoon for their first victory of the season.
Watson finished 25 of 35 for 359 yards and finally established a connection with receiver Brandin Cooks, who posted his first 100-yard game with the Texans (1-4). Cooks had eight catches for 161 yards plus a 28-yard touchdown on fourth down with 4:39 left that sealed it.
Watson also had scoring strikes to Darren Fells and Will Fuller V, with the touchdown passes to Fuller and Cooks following Jacksonville turnovers. The Jaguars (1-4) were undone by their miscues, with two missed field goals by Stephen Hauschka included in their error-prone effort.
Texans interim head coach Romeo Crennel earned his first victory since replacing Bill O'Brien.
Fairbairn booted kicks of 33, 36 and 46 yards, extending his streak to 39 consecutive field goals converted under 40 yards. Hauschka, meanwhile, was the fourth kicker for Jacksonville in 2020.
The Jaguars matched the Texans' 17-play, 73-yard scoring drive that resulted in the first Fairbairn field goal with a 12-play, 75-yard march capped by Gardner Minshew's 13-yard touchdown pass to Keelan Cole Sr. Jacksonville grabbed a 7-3 lead with 6:33 left in the first half as Minshew went 8 for 8 on the drive.
Minshew passed for 301 yards and two touchdowns, including a 4-yard pass to Collin Johnson with 10:18 left that pulled the Jaguars to within 20-14. The touchdown reception was the first for Johnson, a rookie receiver out of Texas.
The mistakes proved critical for Jacksonville. James Robinson fumbled attempting to convert a fourth down in the red zone. Texans defensive end J.J. Watt recovered to give Houston its first takeaway on the season. Eight plays later, Watson hit Fuller for a 20-7 lead with 14:16 left.
Texans linebacker Jacob Martin forced a Minshew fumble that set up the Watson touchdown pass to Cooks. Houston amassed 486 yards of total offense.
--Field Level Media
Jacksonville | Houston | |
James Robinson | Player | David Johnson |
13 | Attempts | 17 |
48 | Yards | 96 |
3.7 | Avg Yards | 5.7 |
0 | Touchdowns | 0 |
14 | Long | 29 |
Jacksonville | Houston | |
Laviska Shenault Jr. | Player | Brandin Cooks |
7 | Receptions | 8 |
79 | Yards | 161 |
11.3 | Avg Yards | 20.1 |
0 | Touchdowns | 1 |
25 | Long | 36 |
Yards | Scoring | Defense | ||||||
Team | Tot | Rus | Pas | TD | FG | INT | Sck | FF |
Jacksonville | 364 | 75 | 289 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1.0 | 1 |
Houston | 486 | 129 | 357 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 3.0 | 1 |