Jaguars hold off Texans, Steelers beat Bengals / Photo: Carmen Mandato - GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP
Jaguars hold off Texans, Steelers beat Bengals
Jacksonville quarterback Trevor Lawrence threw for 364 yards and a touchdown Sunday as the Jaguars stretched their AFC South lead with a nail-biting 24-21 NFL victory over division rivals Houston.
The Jags improved to 8-3, avenging a 37-17 home loss to the Texans, who fell to 6-5.
Houston's sensational rookie quarterback C.J. Stroud threw for 306 yards and two touchdowns -- his 3,268 passing yards this season moving him past Justin Herbert (3,224) for most in league history by a rookie in his first 11 games.
But the Texans' final drive ended with Matt Ammendola's potential game-tying 58-yard field goal attempt coming up agonizingly short with 34 seconds remaining.
"They held strong," Lawrence said of the Jaguars defense. "We needed some big sacks on that last drive to put them out of field goal range. When we had to punt ... you're putting the game in the defense's hands. We had all the confidence in the world and they came up big."
Stroud's one-yard touchdown run put the Texans up for the first time, 14-13, midway through the third quarter.
Lawrence answered with a one-yard TD pass to Calvin Ridley, then connected with Ridley on the two-point conversion to make it 21-14.
Brandon McManus pushed Jacksonville's lead to 24-14 with a field goal early in the fourth. Stroud guided a 55-yard drive capped by a 17-yard touchdown pass to Nico Collins, but the Texans could get no closer.
Lawrence called the victory, which halted the Texans' three-game winning streak "huge".
"They're a hot team right now," Lawrence said. "They're playing great and we knew it wasn't going to be an easy game. We knew it was going to be a four-quarter fight to the end. And it was."
Elsewhere, Pittsburgh quarterback Kenny Pickett threw for a season-high 278 yards and a re-energized Steelers offense totaled 421 yards in a 16-10 victory the short-handed Cincinnati Bengals.
The Atlanta Falcons beat New Orleans 24-15 to grab a share of first place alongside the Saints in the lacklustre NFC South.
The Steelers, who sacked offensive coordinator Matt Canada this week, gained 400-plus yards on offense for the first time since 2020 as they came out on top against their AFC North rivals.
The Steelers improved to 7-4, still third in the division behind the 8-3 Baltimore Ravens and 7-3 Cleveland Browns, who were both on the road later Sunday, the Ravens against the Chargers in Los Angeles and the Browns against the Broncos in Denver.
Chris Boswell kicked two of his three field goals in the fourth quarter and Najee Harris ran for a touchdown in the third for the Steelers.
Bengals quarterback Jake Browning, making his first start after Joe Burrow was ruled out for the rest of the season with a right wrist injury, connected on 19 of 26 passes with one touchdown and an interception in the red zone.
D.W.Robertson--EWJ
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