Texans vs Jaguars London delivered the finish the NFL's International Series dreams about: Ka'imi Fairbairn kicked a 49-yard field goal as time expired to give Houston a 34-31 win over Jacksonville at Wembley Stadium on Sunday, October 18, in a Week 6 AFC South game that had already seen Travis Hunter score a touchdown and intercept a pass in the same game — the first NFL player to do both since Brian Dawkins in 2002, according to Reuters — and Cam Little tie it with a 60-yard field goal with 1:55 left. C.J. Stroud threw for 312 yards and three touchdowns; Trevor Lawrence threw for 306 yards and four.
Texans 34-31 Jaguars / Hunter did something not seen since 2002, Little tied it from 60 yards — and Houston still stole it at the death
LONDON — The Houston Texans beat the Jacksonville Jaguars 34-31 at Wembley Stadium on Sunday, October 18, in a game that began, in Sky Sports' telling, with referee Larry Smith being carted off with a non-contact injury in the opening seconds, paused at half-time for on-field corgi races, and ended with two of the best kickers in football trading blows from distance on what the Associated Press described as slick grass. Sportradar listed the conditions as rain and 58°F. None of the oddity distracted from the stakes: this was first against chasing in the AFC South, and Houston — the chasing team — landed the last punch.
Stroud finished 24 of 34 for 312 yards, three touchdowns and one interception — his first interception of the season, per AP and Sky Sports. Lawrence finished 24 of 41 for 306 yards, four touchdowns and one interception. Between them, the two quarterbacks produced 618 passing yards and seven touchdown passes, and still the game was decided by kickers: Fairbairn from 49 yards at the death, after Little had tied it from 60. That is not a footnote to the quarterback duel. In a game this tight, it was the duel.
How the game turned
Houston struck first. Foster Moreau caught a 6-yard touchdown pass from Stroud in the first quarter, the start of a quietly decisive afternoon for the tight end. Jacksonville answered through Bhayshul Tuten, who caught two touchdown passes from Lawrence — from 27 yards and from 2 yards, according to Reuters — and the teams traded scores to a frantic end of the half. The defining exchange came in its final seconds: Stroud hit Jaylin Noel for 50 yards, per Reuters, and Moreau finished the drive with a 1-yard touchdown catch with eight seconds left in the half. Houston led 17-14 at the break.
Noel was only getting started. His 13-yard touchdown catch in the third quarter stretched the lead to 24-14 — a drive Jacksonville helped along, flagged for too many men on the field on a Houston punt, extending a possession that ended in Noel's score, according to AP. Noel finished with four catches for 107 yards. Jacksonville replied through rookie tight end Nate Boerkircher, whose 1-yard touchdown cut it to 24-21, only for Jawhar Jordan's 25-yard touchdown run late in the third quarter to restore Houston's ten-point cushion at 31-21.
Then came Hunter's quarter. His 7-yard touchdown catch with 11:26 remaining, per the Jaguars' official game report, made it 31-28. On Houston's next push toward a clinching score, Hunter intercepted Stroud in the end zone — the quarterback's first pick of the season, thrown at the worst possible moment. Jacksonville drove, Little was sent out from 60 yards, and with 1:55 left the game was tied, 31-31. A week after Little's last-second kick beat Philadelphia at Tottenham, per Sky Sports, Jacksonville had seemingly done it again.
Stroud, though, got the ball last, and used it calmly. His completions to Marks — including, per Reuters, a 19-yard gain that crossed midfield — moved Houston into Fairbairn's range and drained the clock, and Fairbairn's 49-yarder split the uprights as time expired. A game Jacksonville thought it had rescued was gone in under two minutes.
Why this matters
Start with the standings, because London theatre can obscure a hard divisional fact. Houston opened the season 0-4. A loss here would have left the Texans 1-5, four games behind a 5-1 Jacksonville side with a head-to-head win banked — a season, in practical terms, close to over in mid-October. Instead the Texans are 2-4, on a two-game winning streak, two games behind the 4-2 Jaguars, with the rematch still to come in Houston in Week 15 (schedule reported by NBC's takeaways coverage). That is not a comeback completed; it is a comeback made plausible. One kick swung the AFC South from a procession into a race.
Then there is Hunter. Reuters records him as the first NFL player since Brian Dawkins in 2002 to catch a touchdown pass and intercept a pass in the same game; AP, via TSN, places him as just the fifth player in the Super Bowl era, including playoffs, to score a touchdown and intercept a pass in the same game. Two-way football at the professional level has been treated for decades as a college curiosity — something the NFL's specialisation would coach out of any athlete. Hunter did it in a division game, in London, in the fourth quarter, with both plays directly changing the scoreboard: one cut the lead to three, the other took a Houston score off the board and set up the tying kick. Jacksonville lost the game. It may still have won the argument about what Hunter is.
What the numbers actually say
The quarterback line flatters both men and indicts both defences. Stroud's 312 yards came at 9.2 yards per attempt on 24 completions; Lawrence's 306 came on 41 attempts, with four touchdowns spread across Tuten (two), Boerkircher and Hunter — Jacksonville's scoring was a committee effort, Houston's a concentrated one, with Moreau's two short touchdowns and Noel's 107 yards accounting for the bulk of the damage. The debut line matters too: Marvin Harrison Jr., traded from Arizona this week, caught three passes for 34 yards in his first Texans game, per AP — modest numbers, but a new receiver trusted with real targets days after arriving is a statement about how Houston intends to build around Stroud. And the kicking numbers deserve their own frame: a 60-yard tying field goal and a 49-yard winner, back to back, on slick grass in the rain. Little lost and still produced the longer kick. That is how fine the margin was.
Who benefits, who loses — both sides of a three-point game
Houston benefits most obviously: a season rescued from the brink, a quarterback who responded to his first interception of the year by driving for the winning score, and a kicker whose nerve held after his opposite number had just hit from 60. The Texans also benefit in a quieter way — Noel's emergence (four catches, 107 yards, a touchdown, plus the 50-yard reception that set up Moreau's second score) gives this offence a second gear it badly needed during the 0-4 start.
Jacksonville's loss is real but needs honest framing. The Jaguars remain top of the AFC South at 4-2, Lawrence threw four touchdown passes, Hunter produced a historic two-way performance, and Little was flawless when asked from 60 yards. Their problem, per AP, is a familiar one: penalties dogged them for a third straight week, and the too-many-men flag on a punt — a free extension of a drive that ended in a Houston touchdown — is exactly the kind of self-inflicted wound that decides three-point games. They also end their London fortnight 1-1 rather than 2-0, having given up a ten-point fourth-quarter position the other way: they were the team chasing late, tied it, and could not get one final stop. A defence that allowed 312 passing yards and a game-winning drive inside two minutes will carry the questions home.
What happens next
Houston host the New York Giants next Sunday before a Week 8 bye, according to NBC's takeaways coverage — a chance, remarkable given where this team stood a month ago, to reach the bye at 3-4 with momentum and a rematch against Jacksonville waiting in Week 15 in Houston. Jacksonville, still division leaders, fly home 4-2 with a three-game winning streak snapped and a penalty problem to fix; their fortnight in London produced one last-second win and one last-second loss, a fair summary of how thin their margin has been even while winning. As for Wembley, it keeps its reputation: the International Series is often accused of exporting mid-season filler. On Sunday, in the rain, it hosted the game of the week — decided, fittingly, by the last kick of the day.
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Sources
- Reuters (October 18, 2026): "Ka'imi Fairbairn kicks Texans past Jaguars in London" — final score and scoring sequence, Stroud 24/34 for 312 yards and 3 TDs, Lawrence 24/41 for 306 yards and 4 TDs, Noel's 107 yards and 50-yard reception setting up Moreau's second touchdown, Tuten's two touchdown catches (27 and 2 yards), Hunter the first player since Brian Dawkins in 2002 with a TD catch and an interception in the same game, Marks' 19-yard gain crossing midfield, Little's tying 60-yard field goal with 1:55 left and Fairbairn's winning 49-yarder. https://www.reuters.com/sports/nfl/kaimi-fairbairn-kicks-texans-past-jaguars-london--flm-2026-10-18/
- Associated Press via TSN (October 18, 2026): "Ka'imi Fairbairn's last-second 49-yard FG gives Texans win over Jaguars at Wembley Stadium" — slick grass at Wembley, Hunter fifth player in the Super Bowl era (including playoffs) to score a TD and intercept a pass in the same game, Stroud's interception his first of the season, Marvin Harrison Jr.'s Texans debut (3 catches, 34 yards after a trade from Arizona), the too-many-men penalty extending the drive that ended in Noel's touchdown, and penalties dogging Jacksonville for a third straight week. https://www.tsn.ca/nfl/article/fairbairns-last-second-49-yard-fg-gives-texans-win-over-jaguars-at-wembley-stadium/
- Sky Sports (October 18, 2026): "NFL London games 2026: Houston Texans beat Jacksonville Jaguars after Ka'imi Fairbairn's walk-off field goal" — referee Larry Smith carted off with a non-contact injury in the opening seconds, half-time corgi races, Jacksonville ending a two-week stay in London after beating Philadelphia at Tottenham the previous week on a Cam Little last-second winner, and Stroud's first interception of the season. https://www.skysports.com/nfl/news/13600610/nfl-london-games-2026-houston-texans-beat-jacksonville-jaguars-after-kaimi-fairbairns-walk-off-field-goal
- Jacksonville Jaguars official game report (Jaguars.com, October 18, 2026): "Game Report: Houston Texans 34, Jacksonville Jaguars 31" — Hunter's 7-yard touchdown with 11:26 remaining, Jordan's 25-yard run capping the drive for 31-21, Houston's second straight win and Jacksonville's three-game winning streak snapped. https://www.jaguars.com/news/game-report-2026-week-6-texans-34-jaguars-31
- Jacksonville.com / Florida Times-Union (October 18, 2026): "Jaguars lose to Texans in London on Ka'imi Fairbairn FG: Game wrap" — final-drive account and takeaways. https://www.jacksonville.com/story/sports/nfl/jaguars/2026/10/18/jaguars-texans-score-updates-week-6--live/92211920007/
- Sportradar match listing (October 18, 2026): conditions — rain, 58°F — and quarter-by-quarter scoring (Houston 7-10-14-3, Jacksonville 0-14-7-10).