JACKSONVILLE – Senior writer John Oehser and senior correspondent Brian Sexton offer quick thoughts on the Jaguars' 17-10 victory over the Houston Texans in a 2025 Week 3 game at EverBank Stadium in Jacksonville Sunday

John Oehser, Jaguars Senior Writer…

1. No flinch. This one mattered, and what mattered as much as winning was who the Jaguars beat and how they won. They won with guts and clutch plays, and took a game from a team used to being the bully of the AFC South. Perhaps unsurprisingly – but very notably – quarterback Trevor Lawrence leaned heavily into this theme in his post-game media availability. "We're not going to get bullied," said Lawrence, whose 46-yard pass to wide receiver Brian Thomas Jr. set up running back Travis Etienne Jr.'s 10-yard game-winning touchdown run with 1:48 remaining. "That's what I feel like they (the Texans) want to do and I'm not saying that's wrong, but that's their mindset and it's not going to happen to this team. It was fun to be able to punch back and stand up in those moments where it's like, 'All right, you want to throw that punch? We're here.''' Lawrence added, "We're going to play the right way. We're not going to go past the whistle. We're not going to be dirty, but we have each other's back and no one is going to bully us and push us around. That's a mindset for our team and that's important." Everything else about the Jaguars Sunday – the sporadic offense, the drops, the late lost lead, etc., etc. – is a secondary story compared to that. On this Sunday, unlike last week in Cincinnati, the Jaguars made the key plays late. On this day, they won the close game. Mostly on this day, they beat the Texans the way the Texans often beat teams – and that made Sunday an important day.
2. Huge day for Hines-Allen. The Jaguars' defense turned in one of its best, most-resilient performances in recent memory Sunday – and it's fitting that defensive end Josh Hines-Allen keyed the day with one of his best career performances. Hines-Allen didn't carry the defense Sunday. That's because cornerback Jourdan Lewis, linebacker Devin Lloyd, defensive end Travon Walker and others all continued to play at a strikingly high level. But Hines-Allen, a seven-year veteran, was dominant from the start. While he "only" had a half sack to bring his career total to 53.5 – 1.5 shy of Tony Brackens' franchise record – he registered three hurries and continued generating the pressure and disruption that he has consistently produced in the season's first three games. Hines-Allen's pressure and pass defense on Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud forced an errant throw that safety Antonio Johnson intercepted at the Jaguars 4 with :20 remaining, a play that ended Houston's potential game-tying or game-winning final drive. That was fitting. This was big-time stuff all day, one of the best days of Hines-Allen's career in a really important game for the organization.

Brian Sexton, Senior Correspondent…

1. Call it redemption. The Jaguars needed to beat the Texans. Thomas desperately needed a big catch and cornerback Tyson Campbell needed to make a play after giving up a play. Campbell stripped the ball from Texans wide receiver Nico Collins to set up the go-ahead touchdown from Etienne, which Thomas set up with his late 46-yard catch-and-run reception to the Texans 10. The defense needed to atone for last week's last-drive meltdown, which cost the Jaguars a chance to win in Cincinnati. This week, the unit got the job when Hines-Allen tipped Stroud's pass, which was intercepted by Antonio Johnson to seal the win. The defense grabbed 3 takeaways for the third consecutive game and have 9 for the season, which matches their entire total from 2024. Amazing turnaround.
2. The offense was a hot mess Sunday. If the offensive line wasn't struggling to create holes for the running backs, the wide receivers were dropping too many passes – and Lawrence's interception was a bad decision and worse throw. Their inability to convert on third down until the game-winning drive kept Head Coach Liam Coen from being able to go too deep into the playbook. As a result, the offense looked out of sync until the final drive, when Lawrence converted with his feet and Etienne found some hard-won running room to keep the offense on the field in a clutch situation. I can't explain the dropped passes. They have become an epidemic. The good news is the offense came up BIG with a game-winning drive inside two minutes.