For the second week in a row, the only happy fans in the AFC South are Houston Texans fans.
The Texans are the only team in the division with a win, moving to 2-0 after their 19-13 win over the Chicago Bears Sunday night. The Tennessee Titans fell to the New York Jets, 24-17, and the Jacksonville Jaguars lost 18-13 to the Cleveland Browns.
Defense largely controlled the narratives of all AFC South teams in Week 2; the Texans' defense dominated and the Jaguars fell victim to a strong Browns' defense. As for the Titans, their defense played well overall but allowed a couple of crucial scoring drives, and the Jets took advantage of turnovers and other blunders throughout the game.
Texans do just about everything right in win over Bears
Two weeks into the 2024 season, the Texans are living up to the hype. Quarterback C.J. Stroud went 23-of-36 with 260 passing yards and one touchdown. Kicker Ka'imi Fairbairn made all four of his field goal attempts, three of which were from 53 yards or longer. Houston's defense sacked the Bears rookie quarterback Caleb Williams seven times and hit him a total of 11 times, putting constant pressure on the 2024 No. 1 overall pick. Houston also recorded two interceptions and held Williams to a 51.0 passer rating.
"It's always fun getting after any quarterback," defensive end Will Anderson said postgame. "This week we just wanted to keep putting pressure in his face. Watching the tape like last week, we're just gelling more trying to get better at rushing together. That was our first time last week. I think we did a hell of a job rushing together, having fun."
If there's one thing the Texans did Sunday night, it was have fun – and perhaps no one more than wide receiver Nico Collins. Collins racked up 135 receiving yards on eight catches for an average 16.9 yards per catch and scored Houston's only touchdown of the night.
The first half saw most of the game's offense, as the scoreboard read 16-10 in favor of Houston at halftime. It was the defense that really stepped up in the second half, as both of Houston's interceptions came in the second half. The Bears held possession for the final drive of the game, but their last four plays read like this: incomplete pass, sack, offensive penalty, incomplete pass.
"It starts up front with our defensive line," head coach DeMeco Ryans said. "Will, Danielle, Mario, all the guys, the way they were rushing together and the way we were covering the back end really set things apart for us."
Week 2 loss elicits feeling of 'deja vu' for Titans
Tennessee's Week 1 loss to the Bears was characterized by an offense and special teams that couldn't back up a relatively strong defensive performance. Week 2 was a similar story – even the final score of 24-17 was the same as last week.
Quarterback Will Levis completed 19-of-28 passes for 192 yards and a touchdown, but threw an interception and lost the ball on a fumble in a crucial spot when the Titans were inside the 10-yard line. The Titans in fact beat the Jets in passing yards (Aaron Rodgers was 18-of-30 for 176 yards) and rushing yards – the Titans rushed for 130 yards and the Jets had 101.
It was the Titans' own mistakes that cost them the game.
Tennessee got off to an early lead thanks to a Calvin Ridley touchdown, but when presented with an opportunity to extend their lead – sitting on the Jets' seven-yard line – Levis attempted to toss the ball back to one of his receivers as he was getting tackled, which resulted in a fumble and a New York recovery. On the Titans' next possession, Levis threw an interception.
"Same story as the last one," head coach Brian Callahan said postgame. "I thought we played better than last week, but the mistakes were critical. It's incredibly frustrating, but at the end of the day I think we have what it takes on our team to win football games. We've been in position to win them, and we've made just enough mistakes to not."
"Yeah, I was upset," Callahan said about Levis’ fumble. "It was dumb. It was the same exact thing he did last week, and he cost us points in the red zone. He's a grown up, and he knows better. I was really irritated that he cost us three points in a game when we needed it."
The Titans' defense also faltered at times, allowing three scoring drives of 70-plus yards, two of which came in the second half. Special teams had another punt blocked – just like Week 1 – and the Jets took advantage and turned their possession into a field goal.
With one minute to go, the Titans had a first-and-goal at the 10 but were unable to score.
There were a few bright spots for the Titans on Sunday; Ridley finished the game with four catches for 77 yards and edge rusher Harold Landry sacked Rodgers twice and was credited for two passes defensed.
Jaguars' sluggish offense sparks frustration, confusion
Trevor Lawrence was 14-for-30 with 220 yards, no touchdowns and four sacks – one of which resulted in a safety – in Jacksonville's home opener on Sunday. The Jaguars' offense only recorded 16 first-half passing yards (Lawrence completed five passes on 11 attempts) and simply couldn't get anything going in the second half to mount a comeback.
"We suck right now," Lawrence said after the 18-13 loss.
The Jaguars' lone touchdown came on a three-play, 72-yard drive in the third quarter – the most impressive drive of the game – but couldn't convert on three other chances inside the Cleveland 20.
"Everybody has to take accountability, look in the mirror and fix it," Lawrence said. "I've got to play better. I'm the leader of this offense. It's on me. The wideouts have to play better, the line has to play better, running backs have to play better, we have to coach better. It's everybody, honestly."
"We're standing around, we've got to take charge," the quarterback added. "We're standing around waiting on somebody to make a play. Defense is playing their ass off the last two weeks. If a team doesn't score more than 20 points, we should win every week."
Jacksonville's defense did have another solid outing, limiting Browns' quarterback Deshaun Watson in the second half by keeping him to 11-of-19 with no touchdowns – Cleveland's offense only put up a field goal in the second half. However, as much as the Jaguars' defense forced punts and gave the ball back to their offense as the second half continued, Jacksonville couldn't find any rhythm.
"We can't finish in the red zone today, too many mistakes, getting in and out of the huddle, communication wasn't good," Lawrence said. "It's a lot of things. What pisses you off after the game is a lot of it we control. We control it but we're not doing it right."
