JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The Jacksonville Jaguars will take on the Texans in the team's first game of the 2021 season, according to a tweet from NFL Insider Field Yates.
The matchup will be played in Houston at 1 p.m. on September 12.
Additionally, the first NFL game of the year will be the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at home against the Dallas Cowboys on Thursday, Sept. 9 to open the season, tweeted Ian Rapoport.
Also confirmed by the NFL and its entities Wednesday morning: the Jaguars will play in one of two games in London this season. The Big Cats will be the "home" team against South Florida rival Miami on October 17 at 2:25 p.m. local time. The Jets and Falcons will play in London on October 10. Both games will be played at Tottenham Football Club's stadium. The Jaguars most frequently have played at Wembley Stadium when they have played in London.
The NFL will not be playing any games in Mexico City due to continued, rising coronavirus cases in the country. The U.K. has largely been regarded as a success story for COVID-19 vaccinations; there were 58,909 cases in the U.K. on May 8 compared to 260,574 in Mexico.
Khan and head coach Urban Meyer were asked about the potential for a London game over the course of the past two months.
“I think really there’s no update. I think as soon as we have it, we’ll share with you," Khan told reporters during quarterback Trevor Lawrence's introductory press conference on April 30. "I’m not even sure if there’ll be games [in London], but May 12 is the schedule [release day]. Hopefully we’ll know a little bit before that.”