Via Ben Arthur
FOX Sports AFC South Writer
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – To understand how Texans finally won a game, starting with the will of Dameon Pierce.
With Houston facing 2nd & 5th just outside the red zone at the end of the final quarterfinals, the fourth-round rookie running back gave the team a comeback. Literally. He broke six or seven tackles on his way to a 20-yard monster run that kept the Texans two yards from the end of the field.
Almost all Jacksonville Jaguars defender had a foul on Pierce and failed. It was a run where he seemed to be energized with every body stroke. A run that left the press box speechless, the crowd stunned at TIAA Bank Field.
Two innings later – two more serves by Pierce later – sent the Texans into the late-game zone, and their defense held the final three minutes for Houston out of Jacksonville with a 13-6 win. on Sunday.
With the win, the Texans (1-3-1) posted their ninth straight win over divisional rivals Jaguars (2-3), who dropped to second in the AFC South with the Titans win (3). -2) in Washington.
Houston hasn’t lost to Jacksonville since December 2017.
“The thing that I really felt, at first I was very tired,” said Pierce laughing about his run. “But after I caught my breath a little, man, it was like we just needed a surge. We were just looking for someone to put on a play… We were driving together, but we weren’t. I didn’t finish them well and punished them and played our kind of football. We’re back to playing our style.”
Pierce’s great run was made possible by a bone-chilling decision by the guard outside the Jaguars Travon Walker, the #1 overall pick in the draft. He knocked out the Texas midfielder Davis Mills in a dead-fight, draw an unnecessarily rough punishment. That helped Jacksonville go down in plus territory for the first time at the 38-yard line.
Pierce made four consecutive attempts to get past the scoring drive.
“The coach likes to let us run to the ball in case something happens. So I’m running. I see him breaking the ball,” said Texas’ right guard. AJ Cann about Pierce’s 20-yard run. “I was like, ‘Oh, st! He’s gone!” … That’s his kind of running back. We like that. We like that physicality. ”
Fans never got to witness Pierce’s full experience at the University of Florida, where he spent four seasons. He was part of the backyard rotation in former Gators coach Dan Mullen’s contagious offense. His one-season plunge altitude is 574 yards, reaching his senior season. His college tape doesn’t scream ‘runaway number 1 running back.’
Athletic’s The Beast draft guide, based on insight from NFL scouts and coaches, says Pierce “doesn’t have the background of a big-player or creator” – but also note that he has a better chance of becoming a professional than college player.
The latter, it turns out, is a foreshadowing.
Pierce had 26 runs in 99 yards and one touchdown against the Jaguars, his third straight game with at least 80 javelins and a touchdown. His performance on Sunday followed his 14-time, 131-yard effort against the Chargers last week. He made 86 runs for 412 yards and three points during the season. According to Pro Football Network, his 412 yard dash in the first five weeks of the season is a franchise record by a rookie.
According to Next Gen Stats, Pierce has faced at least seven defenders in the box as 22 of his 26 dashes, tied for the most such executions in a single game this season. He hit 95 yards more than expected this season, the most for a rookie in Week 5 since 2019.
“He’s doing what a (No. 1) back in the NFL should do, and on a day like today we need to rely on the track, and I think he’s brilliant,” the coach Lovie Smith of Texans said. “It’s fitting that when we need a play like that, he’ll be the one to show up.”
It wasn’t just about Pierce in the Texans’ first win of the season, though.
It’s also about the defense making one of the better blunders in the league, one that went into Sunday’s Friday at a scoring rate of 26.3 points per game.
Outstanding rookie wing-back Derek Stingley Jr., overall selection number 3 in draft, selected Trevor Lawrence in the late zone on the Jaguars’ opening line in the second half. Jacksonville And Houston took the lead in fourth, where it held Jacksonville 0 to 3. Two of the stops were four yards from the stick. Linebacker Christian Kirksey and tackle defense Maliek Collins stuffed jaguar runs back James Robinson failed to make a profit on day 4 & 1 at Houston 38 with 12:38 left. That block came from a Texans defense entering the game that was ranked second-worst defensively on the run, allowing 172 yards of charge per contest.
The jaguar is also selected 0 to 3 in the red area. Lawrence completed 25 of 47 286-yard passes with two interceptions.
“I think (Lawrence) ran pretty far, and a lot of the passes were not perfect,” Smith said of the defensive performance. “It’s about urgency and coverage, especially today. It was a tough task for our defense today because we didn’t commit a lot of fouls. So when it comes to offense that knowing well it’s a four-man squad, you can gather those four, but they fought hard.”
With the efforts of Pierce and the defense, the Texans have transformed into the NFL’s only winless team.
Smith, with his first win as Houston’s coach, now wants more.
“It’s big because I know how tough it is,” Smith said of the NFL win. “We fought for four weeks, and couldn’t finish it. That’s all we talked about. I know how the guys reacted backstage.
“But now we’ve taken care of that,” he added, “I’m just nervous to get that second win now.”
Ben Arthur is an AFC South correspondent for FOX Sports. He previously worked for The Tennessean/USA TODAY Network, where he was the writer who beat the Titans for a year and a half. He joined the Seattle Seahawks for SeattlePI.com for three seasons (2018-20) before moving to Tennessee. You can follow Ben on Twitter at @benyarthur.
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