Texans Beat Jaguars 34-31 on Fairbairn’s Walk-Off Field Goal at Wembley

LONDON: Ka’imi Fairbairn kicked a 49-yard field goal as time expired Sunday, lifting the Houston Texans to a 34-31 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars at Wembley Stadium, according to USA Today.

The win was Houston’s second in a row after an 0-4 start, and the Texans improved to 2-4. Jacksonville, which entered the day leading the AFC South, fell to 4-2, ending its three-game winning streak.

Cam Little appeared to send the game toward overtime when he nailed a 60-yard field goal to tie it at 31-31 with less than two minutes to play, according to the Florida Times-Union. A week earlier, Little had won the Jaguars’ London game against the Philadelphia Eagles with a last-second kick at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Sky Sports noted.

But Jacksonville’s defense could not get a stop on the final drive. C.J. Stroud, who completed 24 of 34 passes for 312 yards, three touchdowns and one interception, according to the Florida Times-Union, moved Houston into field goal range (including a 19-yard connection to Woody Marks on third down, per Sky Sports) and Fairbairn ended it with no time left.

Travis Hunter’s two-way night

Travis Hunter had a night few players have matched. The Jaguars’ two-way star caught a seven-yard touchdown pass and later intercepted Stroud in the end zone with four minutes left, keeping Jacksonville in the game, according to the Florida Times-Union. Sky Sports reported that Hunter became the first player to score a touchdown and record an interception in the same game since Brian Dawkins did it for the Philadelphia Eagles against the Texans on September 29, 2002.

Trevor Lawrence finished 24 of 41 for 306 yards, four touchdowns and one interception, according to the Florida Times-Union. Jaylin Noel led the Texans with four catches for 107 yards and a touchdown, and Foster Moreau caught two touchdown passes, per Sky Sports.

How it unfolded

Houston opened the scoring when Stroud floated a six-yard touchdown pass to tight end Foster Moreau, a drive set up by Nico Collins’ diving 42-yard catch, according to Sky Sports. Jacksonville answered through running back Bhayshul Tuten, who slalomed through two tackle attempts for a 27-yard touchdown catch-and-run and later took a two-yard strike from Lawrence for a 14-10 lead with a minute left in the half. Moreau hauled in a one-yard touchdown pass with eight seconds left to give Houston a 17-14 halftime lead, Sky Sports reported.

The Texans stretched the lead to 24-14 on the opening drive of the second half through Noel’s 13-yard touchdown catch, according to Sky Sports. Jacksonville answered when rookie tight end Nate Boerkircher made an incredible one-handed grab for his first career touchdown, according to the Florida Times-Union. Jawhar Jordan’s 25-yard touchdown run restored Houston’s 10-point cushion, and Hunter’s seven-yard touchdown cut the deficit to 31-28 with 11:26 to play in the fourth quarter, Sky Sports reported.

The game began oddly when referee Larry Smith was carted off with a non-contact injury in the opening seconds, according to Sky Sports.

Marvin Harrison Jr. made his Texans debut days after Houston acquired him from the Arizona Cardinals, catching three passes for 34 yards; all three catches came on Texans scoring drives, according to USA Today. “He had three first-down catches today,” NFL Network analyst Gerald McCoy said on “GameDay Final.” “He’s a big-bodied receiver, and they needed him to go in, catch the ball, help us move the chains, and they did that today.” The Texans surrendered a second- and a sixth-round pick in next year’s draft, plus a 2027 seventh-rounder, for Harrison, the fourth overall pick of the 2024 draft, USA Today reported.

Reporting based on coverage by Sky Sports, the Florida Times-Union, and USA Today.