The Texans and Jaguars will meet at Wembley Stadium on Sunday, bringing a quarter-century-long rivalry back to London for the second time at that venue. It is also the latest test for Houston, which enters Week 6 at 1-4 while trying to keep a postseason push alive.
Marvin Harrison Jr. is part of the reason this game drew so much attention. Houston acquired him a month before the trade deadline, and DeMeco Ryans said this week he will definitely see action against Jacksonville after sitting out Week 5. Before that inactive designation, Harrison was averaging 1.3 receptions and 21.3 receiving yards per game, a modest output that still gives the Texans a new layer to evaluate in a divisional game overseas.
The setting matters because these teams have already built a London history. Houston and Jacksonville last met at Wembley Stadium in 2019, when the Texans won 26-3 with Deshaun Watson at quarterback and Gardner Minshew leading the Jaguars. Jacksonville has now played 11 games at Wembley and owns a 5-6 record there, and this will be the third time in four years that the Jaguars are playing two straight contests in London.
That backdrop makes Sunday feel bigger than a routine regular-season trip. Jacksonville arrives after beating Philadelphia last week at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, while Houston is trying to do something almost nobody does: start 1-4 and still reach the postseason. The last team to pull that off was the 1992 Chargers, which is why the Texans’ record carries so much weight even in mid-October.
The wrinkle is that both teams have something to measure beyond the final score. Liam Coen said he is preparing for the unknown of what Harrison will bring to Houston’s offense, and the Texans now have to prove that a new piece can matter in a game that counts the same as any other but travels farther than most. The kickoff at Wembley Stadium is the next hard date, and it will say plenty about whether Houston’s season can still bend in the right direction.
