Travis Hunter Catches a Touchdown and Picks Off a Pass in the Same Game, a First Since 2002

Travis Hunter arrived at Wembley on Sunday with two catches to his name this season. He left with a place on a three-man list that had not gained a member in 24 years. Hunter caught a 7-yard touchdown early in the fourth quarter and intercepted C.J. Stroud in the end zone on Houston’s next drive, the first receiving touchdown and interception in the same game by an NFL player since Brian Dawkins in 2002, USA Today reports. Jacksonville still lost 34-31 to the Houston Texans, on a field goal as time expired.

How did the touchdown happen?

On a must-score drive, early in a fourth quarter Jacksonville entered trailing 31-21. Hunter’s touchdown was a 7-yard catch from Trevor Lawrence with 11:30 left that capped a nine-play, 61-yard drive and cut the lead to 31-28, the Jaguars’ official game report records. It was his first offensive touchdown of the season, theScore reports, at the end of his busiest receiving day as a professional: four catches on four targets for 59 yards, including a 29-yard catch on which he broke two tackles, USA Today reports.

How did the interception happen?

At the other end, on the very next Houston drive, with the Texans in position to close the game out. Hunter intercepted Stroud in the end zone with under four minutes remaining, ending the drive himself and giving Lawrence the ball back. The drive that followed ended with Cam Little’s 60-yard field goal and a tied game. Stroud moved Houston into range once more, and Ka’imi Fairbairn settled it from 49 yards as time expired.

What exactly is the record?

The narrow version of a two-way day, which is why it lasted this long. Players have scored a touchdown and intercepted a pass in the same game in other ways, on returns and trick plays. A receiving touchdown, scored playing receiver, plus an interception is the combination that had stood untouched since 2002. Per Jaguars PR, the Florida Times-Union reports, Hunter is the third player in league history to do it. The sources read for this article name Dawkins as the previous one and do not name the first, so this article does not either.

Dawkins did it differently, and the difference is the point. He was a safety for Philadelphia against Houston on 29 September 2002, and his touchdown catch came on a fake punt, a designed trick for a defensive back. Hunter played both ways as a starter, caught his touchdown as a receiver at the end of a nine-play drive, and took his interception as a cornerback in his own end zone, in the fourth quarter of a one-score game. The role he plays is explained in this site’s guide to what a cornerback does in football; Sunday was what happens when that player is also sent out to catch passes with the game on the line. His college version of the same double life is on the Heisman Trophy winners page, and the career interception leaders list shows how far any modern player sits from the top of that chart, which is part of why a record built on doing both jobs at once has survived since 2002.

Why did Jacksonville lean on him in London?

Because the two-week London stay changed his workload, after a month of the team declining to. Liam Coen had been guarded earlier this month when asked about Hunter’s offensive role, and the early season backed that up: defence first, two catches in five weeks. At Wembley he was on the field for more offensive snaps than usual, and the targets followed. Four targets is a quiet day for a starting receiver. For a player who had seen two catches all season, in a game his team trailed by ten in the fourth quarter, it was a clear decision to use him, made at the moment Jacksonville most needed points.

The same Wembley trip produced a very different Jacksonville story a week earlier, when two players were ejected on the opening kickoff against Philadelphia. This time the Jaguars leave London with a loss, a snapped three-game winning streak, and an answer to the selection question they had been avoiding since they drafted a two-way player second overall in 2025 and then used him on one side of the ball.

What does one game actually settle?

The record, and nothing beyond it yet, which is the honest reading. The plays were not gifts: a contested end-zone interception and a touchdown on a must-score drive are high-value plays in any game, against any defence. The caution sits in the workload. Hunter’s receiving line came against a Houston defence that gave up 306 passing yards, and his season before Sunday argues against projecting this role forward on one afternoon. Jacksonville has a bye next week and Indianapolis at home on November 1. Whether his offensive snaps survive a normal week, against a division opponent, with the rest of the receiving group healthy, is the test that turns a record afternoon into a role.