The Jaguars and Texans met in London on Sunday for another overseas NFL game, and as seems to often happen it was a sloppy game on both sides. There were 12 first half points, as the Texans took a 9-3 lead into halftime, as Jacksonville’s offense struggled to do much of anything.
In the second half, it was more of the same as Houston pulled away a bit, eventually winning 26-3 after a ridiculous sequence of turnovers from both teams in the fourth quarter. Gardner Minshew had a rough evening in London, but his worth two throws of the evening came in succession. The first came with Jacksonville in plus territory, as he overthrew a wide open man into the waiting arms of a Texans defensive back.
If today was a game that was supposed to help the #Jaguars decide if they should turn back to Nick Foles or keep Gardner Minshew as starter, Minshew told them to start Foles.
3 points against a bad #Texans pass defense that's missing a ton of starters. pic.twitter.com/15RXCReyZ1
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) November 3, 2019
Carlos Hyde then ripped off a long run that appeared headed for a touchdown, only to get caught from behind and have it stripped, in large part because for whatever reason he never moved the ball to the left side, and recovered in the end zone by Jacksonville.
Great hustle by Wilson. But uh …. Hyde? What? pic.twitter.com/PAhEJEOo6t
— Rivers McCown (@riversmccown) November 3, 2019
After that incredible defensive effort, the Jags had brief life but that was swiftly taken away on yet another horrible Minshew interception, which looked painfully similar to his first of the quarter.
https://twitter.com/TrainIsland/status/1191042481879691266
The Texans would score a touchdown two plays later on a Watson to Hopkins touchdown pass and Minshew would turn it over for a third time on the next drive, fumbling on a scramble where he got absolutely crushed from behind. The Jaguars have a bye next week and then Nick Foles will be back available to them and the expectation is he will re-enter the starting lineup.
Minshew played admirably in his time as starter, but if there were any question internally as to whether they should ride with Minshew even with Foles back, Sunday wasn’t an especially great final audition. There are far more issues with the offense than just Minshew, as their wide receiving corps is a MASH unit, but this seems to be the last we’ll see of Minshew (at least as the planned starter) this season.
