Texans vs. Jaguars: Three must-know storylines for NFL Week 6 London game

For the second time in the quarter-century-long rivalry between the Texans and Jaguars, the AFC South foes will face off at Wembley Stadium.

Though the two division heavies are inverse images in the standings right now (4-1, meet 1-4), objects in Jacksonville's rearview mirror might be closer than they appear.

Widely viewed as a Super Bowl contender before its rough start, Houston is looking to become the first team to lose its first four games and reach the postseason since the 1992 Chargers. It can greatly increase its playoff chances with a win over the South-leading Jags on Sunday. Attempting to achieve such a comeback, the Texans became buyers a month out from the trade deadline, acquiring 2024 No. 4 overall pick Marvin Harrison Jr. to open up their offense and reunite the wide receiver with his college quarterback, C.J. Stroud.

The Jaguars carry momentum into Sunday's international game, having pulled off a dramatic victory over Philadelphia last week at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, roughly 21 kilometers to the east of Wembley. They're quite familiar in these strange surroundings. Jacksonville has logged 11 games at England's national stadium, going 5-6, and this is the third time in four years the Jaguars are playing two straight contests in London. The Jags won both of their previous games after staying the extra week in the U.K.

Houston and Jacksonville met on this exact stage before in 2019. The result was a 26-3 blowout win by Deshaun Watson's Texans over Gardner Minshew's Jags. Little connective tissue remains from that game -- save for Josh Hines-Allen, Logan Cooke and Ka'imi Fairbairn -- but these AFC South rivals are quite familiar with each other, and there's no love lost between them.

Three must-know storylines

1) How will Harrison fit into Houston's offense in Texans debut?

Given Marvin Harrison Jr.'s history with C.J. Stroud, and Nick Caserio and Monti Ossenfort's history of deal-making (see: the 2023 NFL Draft), Houston's acquisition of the former Ohio State wide receiver wasn't necessarily surprising. At least, not as surprising as the wideout's lack of production through four games in Arizona this season.

Before his Week 5 inactive designation, Harrison was averaging career lows across the board (1.3 receptions per game, 21.3 receiving yards per game), but over his three-year career, he also has yet to live up to his first-round billing. Since entering the league, Harrison has caught just 53.5% of his targets, good for second-to-last among WRs with at least 200 targets over that span (only above Rome Odunze at 52.3%).

With Stroud enjoying a bounce-back campaign thus far, could we see a better Harrison? That's the hope for the Texans, whose receiving corps already featured a true WR1 (Nico Collins) and some intriguing playmakers (Jaylin Noel, Xavier Hutchinson, Kayshon Boutte).

How much Harrison plays on Sunday remains to be seen. Texans coach DeMeco Ryans declared this week that the former first-round pick will definitely see action against Jacksonville, and Jags head man Liam Coen said he's preparing his side for the "unknown" of what Harrison will bring to Houston's offense.

It's not quite an Agatha Christie thriller, but the mystery of what this 1-4 Texans team can be with more star power on the outside provides more than enough intrigue for an early-morning October watch.

2) Can Texans muster ground game against Jaguars' NFL-best run D?

There might be no more lopsided matchup in the NFL this week than Jacksonville's run defense against Houston's ground "attack" (if you can call it that).

The Jaguars have allowed 63.8 rushing yards per game through five weeks this season and 80.6 since 2025 (both best in NFL), while Houston's offense has averaged just 79.0 rushing YPG in 2026 (31st in the league). The Texans have averaged an NFL-low 3.2 yards per designed run this season and have posted a 30.4% success rate on designed rushes (31st), while Jacksonville has allowed a league-low 2.9 yards per designed run, the best mark by any team through Week 5 since the 2023 Seahawks (2.7), per Next Gen Stats.

It's a real hydrogen bomb versus coughing baby situation, as the internet would put it.

Adding injury to insult, the Texans will be down David Montgomery for this one, as the offseason acquisition is week to week with groin issues. In steps Woody Marks against a Jaggernaut front. Marks can't perform much worse than Montgomery as RB1. The former Lions stud is averaging 2.7 yards per carry -- dead last among qualified backs -- though Marks isn't faring much better at 3.5 YPC.

How will Houston negate this obvious strength of Duval's? The addition of Marvin Harrison Jr. helps open up the offense, in theory, but will it be enough to balance the attack against one of the NFL's strongest defenses? Jacksonville's giving up just 14 points per game (second-best behind Minnesota).

3) How will Lawrence, O-line hold up against Houston's pass rush?

After taking a pummeling from Jalen Carter and the Eagles in Week 5, Trevor Lawrence is in for another physical day against the rival Texans.

Though Lawrence threw for a season-high 331 passing yards against Philly, the cracks began to show. Lawrence was strip-sacked twice by Carter, the Jaguars committed 13 penalties for the second week in a row, and Jacksonville lost starting left tackle Anton Harrison to a knee injury.

Harrison will be out again this weekend, leaving Walker Little to man Lawrence's blind side against arguably the NFL's scariest pass-rush duo in Will Anderson Jr. and Danielle Hunter. Anderson is playing at a Defensive Player of the Year level and leads the NFL through five weeks with 7.5 sacks, while Hunter is coming off a game in Tennessee where he generated a season-high seven pressures and averaged a 0.67-second pass-rush get-off time, his quickest in a game since at least 2018, per Next Gen Stats.

Given its stars' play, Houston hasn't needed to blitz much this year. The Texans have sent four or fewer pass rushers on 78.5% of opponent dropbacks this season (the NFL's third-highest rate) and have recorded 14 sacks with four or fewer rushers (the most). But Lawrence has been markedly worse against the blitz in 2026 (70.7 passer rating versus 123.9).

With the Jaguars' offensive line banged up and penalty prone (nine delay of game, false start or holding fouls against Philly), can the Texans take advantage with added pressure, and possibly force Lawrence into more mistakes against his AFC South rivals? He has thrown 11 interceptions in 10 career games against Houston, his most against any opponent.