Texans news: LT Laremy Tunsil to miss London matchup with Jaguars

Houston Texans left tackle Laremy Tunsil will not play in their Week 9 London matchup against the Jacksonville Jaguars due to a shoulder injury.

The Houston Texans will be tasked with protecting Deshaun Watson against a talented Jacksonville Jaguars front seven without their starting left tackle. According to Ian Rapoport, Laremy Tunsil will miss the Texans' London matchup against the Jaguars.

For today’s game on @nflnetwork, the actives/inactives are out. The #Texans officially won’t have LT Laremy Tunsil (shoulder), while the #Jaguars won’t have WR Dede Westbrook.

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) November 3, 2019

Before the season began, Houston acquired Tunsil from the Miami Dolphins via trade. After a worrisome start to the season, Tunsil and the offensive line have begun to get acclimated to one another.

Over the first four weeks, the Texans' offensive line allowed 18 sacks on Watson. Then, after making some adjustments, they have only given up six sacks in the past four weeks.

Individually, Tunsil has only surrendered two sacks while playing in 540 offensive snaps with the Texans. However, his absence could prove to be detrimental due to the Jaguars' relentless pass rush.

The Jaguars have a productive trio of Calais Campbell, Yannick Ngakoue, and rookie Josh Allen. As a matter of fact, Jacksonville's defense ranks third in pressures and their trio has is the only one in the NFL that has forced 20 pressures each.

Expectation right now is for the #texans to be without their starting LT Laremy Tunsil (shoulder) but will have RT Tytus Howard (knee) back. Not ideal going against a Jags front that ranks third in the NFL in pressures and is the only team with 3 players with 20+ pressures

— James Palmer (@JamesPalmerTV) November 3, 2019

While Tunsil will miss his first game of the season, rookie Tytus Howard will make his return to the offense on Sunday. Howard has missed the past two weeks with a knee injury that he sustained in Week 6.

It remains to be seen if the Texans decide to move Howard to left tackle or keep him at right tackle. On the other hand, Roderick Johnson will likely get the start on the opposite side as Howard. Johnson has started at right tackle in Howard's absence.