THE ASSOCIATED PRRESS
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - Josh Scobee drilled the ball down the middle, gave his holder a high-five and then jumped into the arms of left tackle Khalif Barnes.
It would have been more appropriate for Barnes to climb on Scobee's back. After all, the placekicker has carried the Jacksonville Jaguars to consecutive wins - with plenty of help from quarterback David Garrard.
Scobee, who kicked a 51-yard field goal with 4 seconds remaining to beat Indianapolis last week, hit a 37-yarder in overtime to give the Jaguars a 30-27 victory against the winless Houston Texans on Sunday.
"Every kicker lives for this moment," said Scobee, who made two others from 46 and 40 yards. "Either you make a living doing it or you don't. This year, I've gotten two opportunities and made both of them. I've been very fortunate."
Garrard set up both of them.
He put Jacksonville in position for the winner against the Colts and did the same against the Texans. He completed a 24-yard pass to Matt Jones on third down to get to the Houston 41, then found Greg Jones in the flat for 22 more yards.
Scobee lined up two plays later and put it through the uprights.
Houston (0-3), getting its best game of the season from quarterback Matt Schaub, looked like it might get its first win after scoring on its final five possessions. Schaub threw for 307 yards and three touchdowns, two of them to Kevin Walter. His last one was an 8-yard strike that put the Texans ahead 24-20 with 7:06 remaining.
But Garrard brought the Jaguars (2-2) right back, mostly with his legs. He scrambled for two first downs, then broke a tackle and scored from 5 yards out with 1:48 to play. He gained 13 yards on third-and-10, then picked up 9 more a few plays later on fourth-and-8.
"Thank God we have a quarterback like David who can do it with his arms and legs," running back Fred Taylor said.
The Texans could have said the same thing about Schaub, who avoided several sacks by running five times for 24 yards.
Schaub drove the Texans 53 yards in the final minute and set up Kris Brown's 47-yard field goal with a second to play that sent the game into overtime.
The Jaguars won the toss, then Garrard and Scobee did the rest.
Garrard was 23-of-32 for 236 yards. He also ran seven times for 41 yards, 31 of them
coming on Jacksonville's TD drive in the fourth.
"The big thing is when he did run, he broke some tackles," Texans coach Gary Kubiak said. "He's a presence."
Taylor (25 yards) and Maurice Jones-Drew (32 yards) were pretty much shut down for the third time in four games. But the Jaguars got a boost from fullback Montell Owens, who had a 41-yard TD run on the first carry of his career. It came on a trick play.
Coach Jack Del Rio looked like he was sending his punt team onto the field on fourth-and-4. But the Jaguars surprised the Texans by lining up and going for it. Owens got the direct snap, cut right, broke two tackles and rambled to the end zone.
"It was a gutsy call on his part, and it worked out," Kubiak said.
It was Jacksonville's longest run of the season and the team's longest TD run by anyone not named Taylor or Jones-Drew since October 2002.
The Texans, who had won three of the previous four meetings between the AFC South rivals, had more yards, more first downs and were better on third down. The difference may have been Jacksonville's two fourth-down conversions - the runs by Garrard and Owens - and the coin toss in overtime.
Had the Texans won the toss, they probably would have scored because Jacksonville's defense showed no signs of stopping them.
Schaub directed touchdown drives of 91, 80 and 85 yards, and maybe more importantly, had his first turnover-free game of the season. Schaub threw five interceptions and was sacked eight times in lopsided losses at Pittsburgh and Tennessee.
Many fans were calling for Kubiak to switch to backup Sage Rosenfels, but he stuck with his starter. Schaub nearly made the move pay off.
Still, he left with another loss.
"It stings a lot," Schaub said. "It hurts a lot every time you lose in this business. Knowing we were that close to winning and falling one play short, that hurts. That's the nature of this game."
