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Sep 21, 2025; Jacksonville, Florida, USA; Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Liam Coen reads a play during the second quarter against the Houston Texans at EverBank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Travis Register-Imagn Images Travis Register-Imagn Images

Jaguars Score Unique Touchdown in Win Over Texans

Originally posted on Jacksonville Jaguars on SI
By Andy Quach | Last updated Sep 23, 2025 6:26 AM ET

The Jacksonville Jaguars were able to take the late lead over the Houston Texans on a 10-yard touchdown run from Travis Etienne Jr. The score came after Trevor Lawrence and Brian Thomas Jr. connected on a 46-yard slant to put them into scoring position with a chance to break the tie at 10-10.

Jacksonville scored on the very next play, with Etienne Jr. finding a lot of room to run on the left side, jogging into the house practically untouched. There was speculation that the Texans purposefully let the Jaguars score there to ensure that C.J. Stroud and the offense would have a chance to respond, rather than risking Jacksonville running the clock down before kicking a walk-off field goal.

The two-minute warning had already elapsed, and Houston had just two timeouts left. At worst, the Jaguars could have forced them to burn them and kicked with just over a minute left in the game after taking the full play clock after the third down. It worked out in Jacksonville's favor, as the defense came up with an interception that put the nail in the coffin, but it could have been a missed opportunity for Head Coach Liam Coen.

Doug Engle/Florida Times-Union / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Did the Jaguars mess up on Travis Etienne Jr.'s game-winning touchdown?

Ultimately, the Jacksonville Jaguars defense was able to get the stop and seal a 17-10 win at home. However, they left plenty of time for C.J. Stroud and the Houston Texans to force overtime or possibly even take the lead. They had driven 46 yards to Jacksonville's 28-yard line with 27 seconds left before Josh Hines-Allen tipped the next pass attempt and Antonio Johnson reeled it in for the game-winning interception.

Jacksonville media asked Head Coach Liam Coen if Travis Etienne Jr. should have gone down short of the goal line instead of taking it to the house. He replied candidly:

"Really, we should have... There are two minutes left. They’ve got two timeouts. We're at the minus-44 [before Brian Thomas Jr.'s play]. We have a run to pass check. You're not kind of expecting it to go big, if you will, with the play call. It does. If we could have stayed in there, which I don't expect BT to know that without any form of communication prior."

Corey Perrine/Florida Times-Union / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

On the other hand

However, Coen also weighed the possibilities for disaster with trying to run the clock down:

"The thing you look at is, we hadn't been down there very often throughout the game. So, you get down there, the worst thing that could occur is for us to not score a touchdown... Who knows? A penalty could occur, you could get offsides, a negative play could occur. Like, there are a lot of things that could happen."

Etienne gives the Jags the lead!

HOUvsJAX on CBS/Paramount+https://t.co/HkKw7uXVnt pic.twitter.com/oQj1BqCgpX
— NFL (@NFL) September 21, 2025

"Let's just say you don't score, and you’ve got a field goal with 55 seconds, you're up by three with no timeouts. I personally, with the way that that game was going and the way we were playing defensively, would much prefer to have a touchdown lead and say, "Alright, hey, go beat us.'"

In the end, the Jaguars got the score, the stop, and the win. Now, Jacksonville will be better equipped to choose how it wants to approach a similar situation in the future.

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This article first appeared on Jacksonville Jaguars on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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