With four defensive starters out due to injuries, the Jaguars had no margin for error Sunday.
But they had plenty that led to a deflating 30-14 loss to the Houston Texans at NRG Stadium for the fourth consecutive loss since a Week 1 victory against Indianapolis.
The Texans came in 0-4, and they had upheaval this past week when Bill O'Brien was fired, but they performed just fine under interim coach Romeo Crennel.
The Jaguars (1-4), who lost for the third consecutive time to teams that came in winless, began the game without defensive end Josh Allen (knee), linebacker Myles Jack (ankle), cornerback CJ Henderson (shoulder), and nickel cornerback D.J. Hayden.
And they were stretched thin even further in the third quarter when cornerback Josh Jones was ejected for a helmet-to-helmet hit on Texans receiver Brandin Cooks in the third quarter.
Five weeks into the season, Coach Doug Marrone still hasn't been able to see his players put forth a complete game with the defense, offense, and special teams all clicking efficiently.
The Jaguars had three trips from inside the Houston 22-yard line and still came away empty. However, they closed the deficit to six when quarterback Gardner Minshew tossed a 4-yard touchdown pass to rookie Collin Johnson in the back of the end zone on a fourth-and-goal play with 10:18 left in the game.
Essentially on their next drive, the Texans put the game out of reach for the Jaguars when Houston Ka'imi Fairbairn made a 46-yard field goal that extended their lead by nine.
Early on, the defense held up well despite missing four starters. Unlike in most of their games so far, applied good pressure on Watson, and defensive end Dawuane Smoot got his first sack of the season late in the first quarter.
However, the Jaguars defense still experienced mishaps. The biggest came after the Jaguars took their only lead of the game, 7-3. Linebacker Joe Schobert was in zone coverage instead of going downfield with tight end Darren Fells, who was wide open in the middle of the field for a 44-yard touchdown that put the Texans ahead for good, 10-7, in the second quarter.
Minshew had to overcome a slow start but threw a beautiful 13-yard pass in the right corner to a wide-open Keelan Cole for their only touchdown in the first half.
Still, the Jaguars couldn't offset missed opportunities. Making his debut, kicker Stephen Hauschka missed a chip shot 24-yard field goal and a 49-yard attempt. Hauschka was the Jaguars' fourth kicker in four games. The Jaguars' special teams have been unstable since Josh Lambo (hip) was placed on the injured reserve list Sept. 23.
The Jaguars trailed 10-7 at halftime before they were overrun by the Texans' 20-7 scoring spurt in the second half.
