Retour
The Houston Texans have wrapped up their first half action over in London against the Jacksonville Jaguars, where they currently lead the way, 17-14 heading into the third quarter.
Let's do a swift breakdown of the Texans' first half of action by sorting through a batch of four studs and three duds that have taken them to a three-point edge heading into the third quarter.
It's been a strong start to the day for Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud as he's continued a pretty impressive beginning to his season.
He's completed 66.6% of his passes, has remained decisive with the football, and continued to limit turnovers, and got two nice touchdown scores to Foster Moreau in the first half. Hard to be anything short of impressed here.
What a fiery start it was to the first quarter for Henry To'oTo'o, who made his first appearance back on the Texans' defense since being activated from injured reserve.
So far, he's logged four total tackles, one tackle for loss, and a pass break-up. Considering Azeez Al-Shaair went to the locker room in the first half to be evaluated for a concussion, his responsibilities will be further heightened in the second.
It took the Texans' ball-hawking safety six weeks before he was able to finally land his first forced turnover of the season, but he finally managed to make it happen here thanks to an interception on Trevor Lawrence in the red zone.
And that pick was quite the momentum shifter. Without it, the Texans could easily be down two scores entering the half. But they've now got a bit more optimism to bank on.
You can't talk about the Texans' first half without mentioning veteran tight end Foster Moreau.
He's hauled in not one, but two touchdowns in the red zone––with the second of those happening in the final moments of the second half to take Houston into the second half with some really positive mojo.
The last time these two teams faced off against one another in Week 10 of the 2025 season, it was a game dictated by the Texans' power off the edge.
However, this game has been quite the opposite thus far. The Jaguars have allowed zero sacks on Lawrence through the first half, and it's a large part of why their offense has been able to consistently move the chains from the jump.
Harrison Jr. did make a nice play in the second half on his first target of the game, where Stroud found him for a 14-yard in-route that eventually led to putting three points on the board. Since that play, though, he's remained a bit of a non-factor.
Harrison Jr. got zero snaps throughout the entire first quarter, and has two targets as a whole. A little head-scratching, to say the least.
This hasn't been the best showing for the Texans' offseason addition Reed Blankenship. He had a blown coverage on the first defensive play of the game, and added on top of that error with a missed tackle on Bhayshul Tuten's second touchdown of the half.
Something to monitor on Blankenship, though: he did leave the game in the second quarter via cart with an apparent injury. If he doesn't return, expect M.J. Stewart to be the one filling his role at strong safety.