JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Things got a little chippy a couple times between the Jacksonville Jaguars and Houston Texans on Sunday, and Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence was right in the middle of it.
Lawrence had words with Texans linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair and safety C.J. Johnson while Jaguars receiver Dyami Brown was down with an injury after being tackled by Al-Shaair. Lawrence was angry enough that guard Ezra Cleveland and center Robert Hainsey had to push him away.
"We're not going to get bullied," Lawrence said after the Jaguars' 17-10 victory at EverBank Stadium. "It's a team that that's what I feel like they want to do. And not saying that's wrong, but that's their mindset and it's not going to happen to this team.
"So it was fun to be able to punch back and stand up in those moments where it's like, 'Alright, you want to throw that punch? We're here.'"
Lawrence was speaking metaphorically, because there were no punches thrown then or during the scrum on the Jaguars sideline following a Logan Cooke second-quarter punt. But linebacker Dennis Gardeck did get penalized for unnecessary roughness for shoving a Texans player after Jaguars long snapper Ross Matiscik got thrown to the ground at the end of the play.
That was the second unnecessary roughness penalty on the Jaguars. Safety Eric Murray, who played in Houston the past five seasons, was penalized for hitting receiver Jaylin Noel out of bounds.
The reason for the chippiness dates back to a Dec. 1 game between the teams last season, when Al-Shaair hit Lawrence in the head while Lawrence was sliding after a scramble. Lawrence, who was already playing with an injury to his non-throwing shoulder, suffered a concussion and was placed on IR three days after the hit and missed the remainder of the season.
While Lawrence and teammates downplayed the rematch throughout the week, it was clear the incident wasn't forgotten.
"We're going to play the right way," Lawrence said. "We're not going to go past the whistle, we're not going to be dirty, but we got each other's back and no one's going to bully us and push us around.
"That's a mindset for our team and that's important."
The Jaguars' victory snapped a seven-game home losing streak to the Texans. The last time the Jaguars (2-1) won in the series in Jacksonville was 2017.