JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Having lost three of four, the Houston Texans could use a break. They might get it before their actual bye week.
Houston (7-5) plays at Jacksonville (2-9) on Sunday, the last of 13 consecutive games for the AFC South leader.
Given how well the Texans have played against the Jaguars in recent years, this could be the ideal matchup to get coach DeMeco Ryans’ team pointed in the right direction to start December.
“It hasn’t been easy,” Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud said. “We haven’t had any time to kind of like breathe. But that’s the NFL; that’s our job. We’ve really got to come back with another week of just hard work, a lot of just grinding because we’re right around the corner from our bye and I think that’ll be a good thing for all of this team."
The Texans have won 11 of the past 13 meetings and 17 of 21 in the series — including five in a row in Jacksonville — since getting swept in 2013. It’s an eye-popping stretch of one-sidedness between longtime division rivals.
No one would be surprised to see the streak extended Sunday. The Jaguars have lost four in a row, with the last three being the worst three-game stretch of football in franchise history.
Quarterback Trevor Lawrence (sprained non-throwing shoulder), however, is expected back after missing the last two games, and coach Doug Pederson said other changes could be afoot following the team’s bye.
But he declined to say whether tweaks included personnel and/or assistant coaching duties.
“We’re going to implement some things and really kind of get back to some things that I think were successful, have been successful for us," Pederson said. "Whether it’s rhythm, tempo, whatever, to try to get things going."
Jacksonville likely needs to win out to keep alive its slim hopes of making the playoffs. The Jags have four division games remaining, plus the New York Jets (3-8) and Las Vegas (2-9).
“I feel the best I’ve felt in the past few weeks, so I’m excited about it,” Lawrence said.
Joe Mixon had a season-low 22 yards on 14 carries last week after running for 109 yards and three touchdowns the week before.
Ryans attributed the issues to poor blocking.
“We’ve just got to finish our blocks, especially when we’re on the second level,” Ryans said.
Mixon ranks third in the NFL, averaging 87.3 yards rushing and now faces a defense that ranks 26th in the league against the run.
Many expected Jaguars owner Shad Khan to fire Pederson — and maybe general manager Trent Baalke — following the team’s 52-6 loss at Detroit two weeks ago. Khan kept them in place, probably because Jacksonville has not been eliminated from playoff contention.
Nonetheless, the Jaguars have lost 14 of 17 and are guaranteed a losing record for the 11th time in Khan’s 13 seasons.
Every previous coach in Jaguars history — Tom Coughlin, Jack Del Rio, Mike Mularkey, Gus Bradley, Doug Marrone and Urban Meyer — have seen their tenures end following a loss to an AFC South opponent. Del Rio, Bradley and Meyer were fired late in the year; Coughlin, Mularkey and Marrone were let go after losing seasons.
The Texans tied a franchise record with eight sacks against Tennessee. Danielle Hunter had a season-high three and Will Anderson Jr. added two in his return after missing two games with an ankle injury.
"Our rushing duo really raises havoc," Ryans said. "I think it is really hard on opposing quarterbacks, and we see that in how teams try to protect against us with the chips and trying to slow our guys down."
Houston ranks second in the NFL with 42 sacks. Hunter is second in the league with 10½ sacks, and Anderson is fifth with 9½.
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Houston Texans place-kicker Ka'imi Fairbairn reacts after missing a field goal attempt during the second half an NFL football game against the Tennessee Titans, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024, in Houston. (AP Photo/Eric Christian Smith)
Tennessee Titans linebacker Harold Landry III (58) sacks Houston Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud (7) for a safety during the second half an NFL football game Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024, in Houston. (AP Photo/Eric Christian Smith)
Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence warms up before an NFL football game against the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Chris Szagola)
Houston Texans cornerback Kris Boyd (17) celebrates his fumble recovery with teammates Azeez Al-Shaair, left, and Kamari Lassiter, right, during the second half an NFL football game against the Tennessee Titans, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024, in Houston. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The outgoing head of Ohio's troubled teachers retirement system said that she is leaving the fund in strong fiscal condition, despite the turmoil at the top that her successor will inherit.
In a recent interview with The Associated Press, Acting Executive Director and CFO Lynn Hoover said that the $94 billion State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio's returns over the short term, middle term and long term remain within the top 10% of peer funds around the country.
“We’ve delivered,” said Hoover, whose senior investment staff has seen reduced performance bonuses as part of recent tensions. She retires Sunday after 31 years at STRS, one of the nation’s oldest and largest public pension funds. Its more than 500,000 members include active and inactive public school teachers and retirees.
That doesn't mean the next interim director, Aaron Hood, doesn't have a big job ahead of him, she said.
The U.S. Army veteran and seasoned asset management professional came on board this month and will help the board lead a nationwide search for a new permanent director to replace Bill Neville, who was let go in September after being placed on leave amid misconduct allegations. Hood also must fill Hoover's role as chief financial officer, hire for a vacancy coming in March for a chief investment officer and find a new head of internal audit.
The top priority "is to get those filled and to get highly capable people in here that can continue this great legacy,” Hoover said.
The staff departures come amid years of tension that boiled over this spring. Would-be reformers on the STRS board took aim at the fund’s internal operations and investment decisions after retirees were angered when the previous board cut their cost-of-living adjustment and then eliminated it for five years to help stabilize the fund. Many have remained dissatisfied with the 3% adjustment they got in 2023 and the 1% adjustment they got in 2024.
In May, Republican Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine announced that he had come into possession of an anonymous 14-page memo and other documents containing “disturbing allegations” about the STRS board and was handing them over to authorities.
Republican Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost launched an investigation the next day into what he called the fund’s “susceptibility to a hostile takeover by private interests.” The probe is still ongoing, and lawmakers have since begun considering a proposal to remove some elected members from the board.
Yost followed up the launch of his investigation with a lawsuit seeking to unseat two of the reform-minded board members. One of those members, Rudy Fichtenbaum, became board chair. The other, Wade Steen, has since left the board. Yost also filed a lawsuit against two other former board members in October, alleging they participated in a “civil conspiracy” that prevented him from uncovering the fund's defects.
When the same whistleblower attorney who examined STRS' performance metrics also turned up in Minnesota to do something similar, The Blade of Toledo reported that records there showed Hoover and others communicated with their counterparts “to undermine the impact of the investigation.”
Hoover said the communications were “par for the course and normal protocol.”
“They simply reached out to us and said would you be able to get on the phone call with us,” she said. Hoover called it “pretty typical” that peer organizations will exchange information on best practices and how they have handled similar issues.
Hoover said she is proud of the staff's professionalism amid all the controversy in recent years. “The staff have stayed really aligned with the mission and laser-focused on protecting and providing member security," she said.
STRS has paid out more than $4 billion in positive benefit changes to active teachers and retirees over the past three and a half years, she said, which she attributed to sound investment strategies and strong markets.
“Our fund is in a situation where we pay out more in benefits than what we receive in contributions, so the investment returns are critical over the long term,” she said.
At the same time, she acknowledged that members have had to bear the brunt of pension reform changes and high inflation, and “it's been hard.”
Hoover said members should be happy that the fund is now reviewing cost-of-living-adjustments annually. She added that STRS is also fighting to increase employers' contributions into the fund. The percentage they pay in Ohio has remained the same for 40 years, she said.
STRS also has hired the global commercial real estate firm CBRE to analyze usage needs for its buildings, which are capital not investment assets, into the future and continues to lobby for fair school funding, she said.
The retirement system is also keeping a close eye on the rollout of Ohio's new universal voucher system, which is open to both public and private school students.
“To the extent that it starts taking kids out of public education, thereby reducing teachers, thereby reducing payroll, that does affect our system,” she said. “We want to support public education, and the public pension model is so valuable for the teacher. They've served and worked and taught our kids and, when they retire, they should have a dependable, reliable, secure monthly pension until they die.”
Acting Executive Director and Chief Financial Officer Lynn Hoover poses in her office at the headquarters of the State Teachers Retirement System in Columbus, Ohio, on Friday, Nov. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Julie Carr Smyth)
Acting Executive Director and Chief Financial Officer Lynn Hoover poses in her office at the headquarters of the State Teachers Retirement System in Columbus, Ohio, on Friday, Nov. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Julie Carr Smyth)
Acting Executive Director and Chief Financial Officer Lynn Hoover poses in her office at the headquarters of the State Teachers Retirement System in Columbus, Ohio, on Friday, Nov. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Julie Carr Smyth)
