Walker Little draws the toughest assignment of the week for the Jacksonville Jaguars. With Anton Harrison headed for arthroscopic surgery on his knee, Little starts at left tackle Sunday at Wembley Stadium against Will Anderson Jr., who leads the NFL with 7.5 sacks and had three of them last week against Tennessee.
Can Little slow him down? He can, as long as nobody expects him to do it alone. Little has 31 career starts at left tackle, and the Jaguars have plenty of faith in him. The realistic goal is keeping Anderson from taking over the game, and that will take chips, quick throws and help from everybody. Fans in Duval setting alarms for the 9:30 a.m. ET kickoff on NFL Network will see right away whether the plan works.
Can Walker Little handle Will Anderson Jr.?
Anderson is playing at a different level right now. He carries a 92.1 overall grade this season, according to PFF, which ranks first among 106 edge defenders. He also has 14 quarterback hits and 10 tackles for loss in five games.
Little hasn’t allowed a pressure on 24 pass-blocking snaps this season, according to PFF, and he owns an 87.7 pass-blocking grade. That sample is tiny, though Little brings plenty of experience. The 2021 second-round pick has started 39 games over six seasons, per The Associated Press, and he knows exactly what’s coming.
“This week particularly is a hard challenge with the edge rushers the Texans have,” Little said Wednesday. “They have a great defense. It’s always going to be hard.”
Trevor Lawrence sounded comfortable. “I have played a lot of football with him. I trust him. I don’t have any hesitations about him,” Lawrence told reporters.
How long will Anton Harrison be out?
Nobody knows yet, and that’s the uncomfortable part. Harrison twisted his right knee early in the third quarter of the 19-17 win over Philadelphia when he planted on a turnback block, and he was carted to the locker room. The Jaguars placed him on injured reserve Tuesday, and he’ll have the scope once the team gets back to Jacksonville, according to The Associated Press.
“We’ll figure it out when we get back,” Liam Coen told the AP. “We’ll see what it looks like in there. We won’t have any new news on what it could look like until we get in there.”
Estimates range from a few weeks to the rest of the regular season, depending on what surgeons find. If it’s the long end, the Jaguars could face a real tackle problem before the trade deadline.
Will the Jaguars fix their red zone problems against the Texans?
The Jaguars left points on the field twice inside Philadelphia’s 5-yard line. Bhayshul Tuten was stopped on fourth-and-goal from the 1 at the end of the half, and a fourth-quarter drive that started with first-and-goal from the 1 fell apart after a false start and two delay-of-game penalties.
Coen took the blame for the huddle breaking late. “That’s not giving you guys the best chance to go succeed. And that’s directly on me,” Coen said, per The Associated Press. He said he’ll consider simplifying the calls near the goal line.
The kicking operation should be steadier, too. Long snapper Ross Matiscik hurt his shoulder in London, and the Jaguars signed veteran Jacob Bobenmoyer to replace him. With a reliable snapper back, Coen should feel better about kicking short field goals instead of rolling the dice on fourth down.
Can the Jaguars’ secondary handle C.J. Stroud and Marvin Harrison Jr.?
This might be the scarier matchup. Houston just acquired Marvin Harrison Jr. from Arizona, reuniting him with C.J. Stroud, his old Ohio State teammate, and DeMeco Ryans said Harrison will play Sunday. Coen expects him to be part of the plan, even if it’s a trimmed-down version.
“It’s probably going to be hard to get him into a full game plan,” Coen said, per The Associated Press. “So, I would imagine that he’s going to be a part of their game plan.”
The issue is who’s healthy across from him. Montaric Brown (hamstring) didn’t practice, while Jourdan Lewis, Jaylon Jones, Jarrian Jones and safety Eric Murray were all limited on the latest injury report. That puts more on Travis Hunter, whose every-snap day at cornerback gave this group a lift last week.
What does a win over the Texans mean for the Jaguars?
A lot. The Jaguars are 4-1 and two games clear of the Colts in the AFC South, while Houston sits at 1-4. A win would drop the Texans four games back and hand Jacksonville the head-to-head tiebreaker in the first meeting of the season.
The oddsmakers lean Jacksonville, with the Jaguars favored by 2.5 points. Lawrence has thrown a touchdown pass in every one of his London starts, a streak that reached seven games before he hit Parker Washington twice against the Eagles.
Jacksonville already sits among the league’s elite in most power rankings. Leaving London at 5-1 with a division rival buried would make that hard to argue with.
More on the Jacksonville Jaguars
- Houston Texans Won’t Define Marvin Harrison Jr.’s Role for 3-4 Weeks
- Can Trevor Lawrence Finally Beat the Texans? His Accuracy This Season Says He Can
- Anthony Campanile Knows Nico Collins From Michigan, and Knows What He Can Do Deep
- What Could a Potential Parker Washington Extension Look Like?
