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Houston Texans

As ESPN.com's Sarah Barshop noted, head coach Bill O'Brien usually talks about how important it is for the Texans' offense to get off to a fast start. But in Sunday's 24-21 victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars, it was the defense that got them out to an early lead.

Six plays into the game, cornerback Kareem Jackson jumped in front of Jaguars receiver Allen Hurns to intercept a Blake Bortles pass and ran it back 42 yards for a touchdown. It was the Texans' first defensive touchdown of the season, and the start of a good defensive day for Houston.

The Texans entered the game tied for 29th in turnover differential, having forced just six turnovers in eight games. In Sunday's first half alone, Houston had the interception by Jackson and a fumble recovered by outside linebacker Whitney Mercilus.

Houston was without cornerback A.J. Bouye, who injured his ankle in practice on Friday, and nose tackle Vince Wilfork, who left the Texans' Week 8 game against the Lions with a groin injury. The Texans' pass defense entered the game ranked second in the league, allowing an average of 191 yards per game. And though they gave up 265 yards to Bortles and allowed him to drive down the field in the fourth quarter to make it a three-point game, the Texans were able to hold the Jaguars when they needed to.

"[The defense] hung in there," O'Brien said. "They battled. I thought they came up with some big stops when they had to."

The victory over the last-place Jaguars was Houston's first on the road this season in four tries. The 6-3 Texans are now three games over .500 for the first time in O'Brien's three seasons.

The performance was typical of how the Texans have won this year: by relying on their defense. Though they lost three-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year J.J. Watt for the season in Week 3, the defense has been playing well.

On Sunday, the unit did enough to overcome an inconsistent game by quarterback Brock Osweiler and the offense. Osweiler finished 14-of-27 for 99 yards and two touchdowns, and during one stretch in the second and third quarters, he threw nine straight incomplete passes. Lamar Miller, who has been dealing with a shoulder injury, ran for 83 yards on 15 carries.

Miller said he still feels the injury, especially when he gets hit, but that it was feeling better than it did against Detroit in Week 7. He has been limited in the past two games with the injury.

Miller was spelled by Akeem Hunt (eight carries for 52 yards) and Alfred Blue (seven carries for 23 yards).

With a decisive style and a burst of acceleration, Hunt provided a boost Sunday to the Texans' running game.

Promoted from the practice squad Saturday when backup running back Jonathan Grimes didn't make the trip due to an illness, Hunt had a long run of 17 yards. The speedy undrafted free agent from Purdue had a 33-yard run called back due to a holding penalty on offensive tackle Chris Clark.

Hunt is one of the fastest players on the Texans' roster, running the 40-yard dash in 4.37 seconds.

"Akeem did a great job," Miller said. "He was being decisive, making plays. I think he took advantage of his opportunity."

Hunt rushed for 39 yards on five carries during the Texans' final scoring drive. That included a 17-yard run on third-and-16 in the fourth quarter to set up a field goal.

"I wasn't surprised with what Akeem did," Osweiler said. "He seems to have so much bottled-up energy. If you get him the ball, he might be able to spring the big one every single time.

"He's so athletic, he's so fast, he's quick and he's a smart football player as well. He had great vision and really hit the holes hard. ..."

While Osweiler had one of his worst statistical performances of the season against the Jaguars, he finally accomplished a goal he has had going into every game this season: not turning the ball over.

Though this was not an overly impressive win, it does give the Texans a firm hold on their lead in the AFC South; they are now 3-0 in division games.

"We have to play the game the way we see it playing out," O'Brien said. "We don't worry about stats. I think everyone needs to understand that in the National Football League it's all about winning. It's about winning. Whatever it takes to win that is what we try to do.

"We're trying to win these games the way we think they need to be won."

A few final notes. ... Kicker Nick Novak shrugged off a pair of missed, long-range field goals, making his final kick of the game Sunday for the deciding margin of victory.

It was a rough day overall, though, for the veteran kicker as he was wide left from 49 yards and wide right from 50 yards in the second quarter before connecting on a 51-yard field goal during the fourth quarter.

As the Sports Xchange recounted it, rookie tight end Stephen Anderson was standing all by himself in the Jaguars' end zone, waiting for the football to arrive. The waggle pass from Osweiler, off a crisp play-action fake, connected with Anderson for a seven-yard touchdown pass in the third quarter.

It marked the first touchdown of his career for the undrafted rookie from Cal.

It was a disappointing outing for fellow tight end C.J. Fiedorowicz, who came into this game with a ton of momentum prior to the Texans bye week. But NFL.com's Matt Harmon advised his readers not to panic just yet. Despite losing two touchdowns to his backup tight ends, Fiedorowicz played on 89 percent of the team snaps.

Meanwhile, DeAndre Hopkins drew 48.1 percent of the team targets. It all comes down to the issues behind center for Houston. This team has a real problem at quarterback and it's limiting Hopkins and the rest of the team's wideouts.

A few final items here. ... Will Fuller (knee) was inactive against the Jaguars; he could return this week.

"Yeah, I'm going to get back in that training room and try to get it back to feeling right," Fuller said. "It's getting a lot better."

Fuller was on the practice field Wednesday.

Blue returned to play after briefly going to the locker room with a calf injury.