HOUSTON – Just when it looked as if things couldn't get any worse for the Houston Texans in this dreadful season, it has.
The Texans sunk to a new low on Sunday with a 13-6 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars to extend their franchise-record skid to nine games.
A playoff team the past two years, Houston (2-9) was expected to contend for a Super Bowl in the preseason and won its first two games.
Soon poor play by quarterback Matt Schaub and a slew of injuries started the losing streak.
A change at quarterback to Case Keenum gave the Texans some life, but the losses continued to pile up and they were soon dealing with an illness to coach Gary Kubiak.
But as bad as things had gotten, most people assumed that facing the lowly Jaguars (2-9), who picked up their first win just two weeks ago, would be just what Houston needed to break out of its funk.
Instead Maurice Jones-Drew's touchdown on Jacksonville's first drive put the Jaguars on top, and they never trailed against an inept and ineffective Texans offense.
"I respect the Jaguars, but I just never thought ... that this is something that would happen. Especially in the way it happened," running back Ben Tate said. "I feel very embarrassed and bad for the city."
Josh Scobee kicked field goals of 30 and 53 yards to help the Jaguars win for the second time in three games.
Keenum had the worst performance in his five starts, throwing for just 169 yards with an interception. Kubiak wouldn't commit to sticking with Keenum, saying he never makes decisions right after games.
"Obviously we didn't execute worth a darn offensively," Kubiak said. "Defensively we were on the field pretty much the whole football game."
Houston (2-9) was driving late when rookie Ryan Davis grabbed a one-handed interception off a deflection by Keshawn Martin to seal the win.
The Jaguars pushed their lead to 13-6 with Scobee's 53-yard field goal with about seven minutes remaining.
Houston got lucky on its next drive when Keenum threw a ball right into the hands of Jacksonville rookie Johnathan Cyprien, but he couldn't hold on to it. It didn't matter much though as the Texans ended up punting a few plays later anyway.
Keenum shouldered the blame for the loss.
"I'm very frustrated right now," Keenum said. "We had guys open, we had the right play calls and I didn't see them I didn't hit them."
Jacksonville entered the game averaging an NFL-worst 61.7 yards rushing a game, but finished with 118.
Chad Henne was 23 of 32 for 239 yards and Cecil Shorts led the team with eight catches for 71 yards.
Kubiak coached from the booth for the second straight week on the advice of his doctors after returning to work last week after recovering from a mini-stroke.
After the game he was left to answer questions about his job security and why his team can't get things together.
Henne was sacked and fumbled on third down late in the third quarter. The Jaguars recovered and attempted a 49-yard field goal, but J.J. Watt swatted it down and the Texans returned it 25 yards. It was the second time this season that Watt has blocked a field goal.
Houston didn't take advantage of the opportunity, and Jacksonville got the ball at its 40 after Dennis Johnson was stuffed for no gain on fourth-and-1 early in the fourth quarter.
Rookie Denard Robinson came in for one play on Jacksonville's next drive, and launched a long and accurate pass on third-and-5 downfield to Shorts. But Johnathan Joseph was there to break it up and the Jaguars had to punt again.
Jones-Drew gave the Jaguars an early lead when he scored on fourth-and-1 from the 1 on the first drive. Jones-Drew had a 41-yard catch and run and Ace Sanders grabbed a 51-yard pass to set up the score.
Jones-Drew had a 44-yard run in the second quarter on a drive that ended with a 30-yard field goal by Scobee to make it 10-0.
Houston hadn't made a first down on four straight possessions and had just 20 total yards before a 29-yard run by Johnson 4½ minutes before halftime. But the offense soon stalled again after Keenum was sacked and the Texans settled for a 49-yard field goal to cut the lead to 10-3 at halftime.
Keenum was terrible in the first half, going 5 for 12 with 32 yards. His tough day started early when he was sacked by Andre Branch for a loss of 19 yards on third down on Houston's first series.
NOTES: Olympic gold medalist Mary Lou Retton attended the game and served as an honorary team captain. ... Houston's Andre Johnson, who had a career-high 273 yards receiving in his previous game against Jacksonville, managed just 36 yards receiving on Sunday.
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AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org
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