Seven players. That is the headline, and in a game like this it matters. The Jacksonville Jaguars arrived at Wembley Stadium for Texans vs Jaguars 2026 with a final inactive list that stripped plenty of depth from the matchup 90 minutes before kickoff, even if there was one major piece of positive news: Eric Murray was active after clearing concussion protocol.
That return was significant because Murray had missed the Jaguars' 2026 Week 4 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals after sustaining a concussion the previous week, and then sat out again in Week 5 against the Philadelphia Eagles. Getting him back after missing that stretch gave Jacksonville at least one experienced body back on the field for a game that already carried the feel of a tight AFC South swing moment.
The absences still defined the day
Still, the bigger story was the inactive list itself. On Friday's third and final injury report of the week, Montaric Brown and Ross Matiscik were ruled out, and by Sunday the Jaguars had declared seven players inactive against the Houston Texans. Matiscik's absence mattered in a very specific way: it affected long snapping duties after his shoulder injury, which is the sort of detail teams only notice properly when the game is already under way and the margins start to matter.
Saturday's move to elevate Jacob Bobenmoyer from the practice squad hinted at the concern, but it did not change the basic reality. The Jaguars were managing a short-handed roster in London, and while Eric Murray's availability helped, it did not erase the fact that seven Jaguars were unavailable for a game that was always likely to be decided by the details.
Liam Coen said, "We definitely got tougher tonight…" and that is the sort of line coaches reach for when they want to frame a difficult situation in a positive light. Fair enough. But toughness is only part of the equation. At Wembley, the Jaguars still had to live with a long inactive list, a late week of injury management, and the kind of personnel juggling that can turn a routine international date into a far messier afternoon than planned.
So yes, Eric Murray was available. That was a boost. But the broader verdict on Texans vs Jaguars 2026 was still written by the absences, and seven inactive players is not a footnote. It is a warning sign.
