Note: “Jaguars play of the week” articles will normally be posted every Tuesday morning, but due to Hurricane Irma, I had no wi-fi to write/publish the play of the week from the Jaguars victory over the Texans.
The Jaguars shocked the world on Sunday, swiftly defeating the Houston Texans by a score of 29-7. In a game where Leonard Fournette recorded 124 all purpose yards and the Jaguars defense recorded 10 sacks and four total turnovers, there were a lot of plays considered for the play of the week.
None were as awesome as Dante Fowler Jr.’s 53 yard fumble return touchdown.
Fowler Jr. has been relatively disappointing so far as a Jaguar. The former third overall pick recorded only four sacks in his rookie year and hasn’t flashed too much as a pure pass rusher, but he has always been known as a really athletic player. He put that athleticism on display Sunday:
On the opposite side of the defensive line, pass rusher Yannick Ngakoue blows by the Texans left tackle and hits quarterback Tom Savage. Fowler Jr. actually got stone-walled pretty badly by the right tackle, but was able to disengage as soon as Ngakoue hit Savage and knocked the ball lose. Here’s another view of the play:
Fowler Jr. was able to rip away from the right tackle and locate, scoop, and score. He had almost every Texans’ player in pursuit beat by at least five yards en route to the endzone.
During the game, Fowler Jr. recorded three tackles, two recovered fumbles — one of which came on his own sack where he literally kicked the ball out of Deshaun Watson’s hands — and the touchdown above.
Although Fowler Jr. has a ways to go in terms of developing into a true pass rusher, he provided several flashy plays that positively affected the outcome of the game. He earns the Jaguars’ Week 1 play of the week.