The Texans needed a lift, and they have finally got one. Marvin Harrison Jr. is set to see action against Jacksonville in Sunday’s Wembley Stadium matchup, a timely jolt for a Houston team that was supposed to be part of the Super Bowl conversation and instead arrives in London carrying a 1-4 record.
That is the brutal reality of Houston’s start: the shine has worn off fast. A team widely viewed as a contender has spent the opening stretch trying to stop the slide rather than set the pace in the AFC South. Now, with a quarter-century-long rivalry wrinkle and a rare international stage in front of them, the Texans are asking a high-profile debut to help change the mood.
A debut that matters for Houston
DeMeco Ryans has said Harrison will definitely see action against Jacksonville, and that alone gives this game a different kind of edge. The 2024 No. 4 overall pick has not been brought in for decoration. Houston needs production, urgency and a clean answer to the obvious question: can this offense look more dangerous with another major weapon available?
There is no point pretending the Texans can talk their way out of this. They are trying to recover from a rough start, and the margin for self-inflicted damage is shrinking. A player of Harrison’s profile does not fix everything on his own, but he does change the ceiling. At a minimum, he forces Jacksonville to account for more than just the familiar names around C.J. Stroud.
Jacksonville knows the London routine
The Jaguars, of course, have been here before. They have already won both of their previous games in London after staying an extra week in the U.K., which is exactly the sort of detail that matters when people start pretending the setting is neutral. It is not. Some teams treat Wembley like a novelty; Jacksonville has turned it into a workplace.
That history makes this a more awkward assignment for Houston than it first appears. The Texans beat the Jaguars 26-3 when the two sides met at Wembley Stadium in 2019, but that was a different team, a different moment and a different version of this rivalry. Only Josh Hines-Allen, Logan Cooke and Ka'imi Fairbairn remain from that game, which tells you just how much has changed since then.
And Jacksonville arrives with a fresh boost of its own after last week’s dramatic victory over Philadelphia at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. So this is not just about a debut. It is about whether Houston can steady itself against a division rival that is comfortable in England and newly confident after a statement win.
Sunday’s game at Wembley Stadium in London is a reminder that the NFL loves a spectacle. Fine. But for the Texans, this one is less about the pageantry and more about whether a season that began badly can still be dragged back toward respectability. Harrison’s debut will not answer every question. It does, however, make the questions harder for Jacksonville.
