Texans vs. Jaguars Matchup Preview

One Final Stain Remains For The Jaguars Franchise To Wipe Away

Even with all of the struggles the Jaguars faced, predominantly in October, the Jaguars were able to wipe away a slew of bad records. It started in Week 3 against the Los Angeles Chargers where they were able to get their first win on the west coasted against them. Before the season, I actually believed this was the one game of the season that the Jaguars couldn't win, yet it was everything else it could've been. Other streaks came to ends shortly after including the consecutive losses in Nashville and against NFC opponents, but one still remains.

The last time the Jacksonville Jaguars were able to defeat the Houston Texans was late in the 2017 season. Even with two slated matchups a season, it's been over half a decade since we've witnessed a victory against Houston. After being humiliated at home during Tony Boselli's ring ceremony in Week 5, the Jaguars have every casus belli needed to show up and take it to Houston this week.

Even though the Houston Texans currently hold the worst record in the NFL, it's not wise to view them as such. In recent weeks, the Texans have been able to take the Chiefs and Cowboys down the wire while also defeating the Tennessee Titans on the road. Regardless of who's been on the team, Houston has had the mentality to keep fighting regardless of the circumstances in recent seasons and Jacksonville will have to prepare for that.

Houston's Defense Finds Its Success Against The Pass While Being Underwhelming On The Ground

The Houston Texans have been two very different stories on defense. While being respectable against the pass and ranking near the middle of the league, the run defense has been completely abysmal and gives up over 10 more yards a game than anyone else in the league. Much of the reason why the Texans defeated the Jaguars in the last matchup was because they were able to force Trevor Lawrence into big mistakes against their Tampa 2 defense. Lawrence is an entirely different player than he was in Week 5, but with how Houston has dominated Jacksonville in recent years it's possible they could find success again.

With Derek Stingley out for this game, I do believe even more that Trevor Lawrence is going to have success against the Texans through the air. However, the Jaguars, if they're able to take control with the lead, need to rely heavily on Travis Etienne to bring down the clock. There is absolutely no reason that the Jaguars should find success on the ground and they'll have to take that to their advantage.

Dameon Pierce's Absence Should Inspire Confidence For The Jaguars Defense

If any player stood out the most in the last matchup between these two squads, it was Dameon Pierce. Pierce's ability to break tackles and extend plays pretty much accounted for all of the offensive success the Texans found. With Dameon Pierce being out against the Jaguars, the Texans offense will have to rely on their two quarterback system they've implemented to find success against Jacksonville.

While that could provide some issues to game plan against, I wouldn't expect Doug Pederson and his coordinators to be lost on Sunday. They've had plenty of time to prepare for this offense and if there were any games that got circled on the calendar over the past couple months, this was one of them. I'd expect Houston to find some early success, but once things settle down we should see the Jaguars defense start to take over.

Final Prediction

I believe that the Jaguars are gonna be able to take care of business against Houston to advance to 8-8. Week 5 was arguably the worst version of the Jaguars we've seen and right now we're witnessing the height of this team. With that said, Houston is playing with a lot of confidence in spite of their record and they'll probably keep this game close for a while. Even if Jacksonville gets stunned out of the gate, they've learned to stay in games and they should pull away as the game goes on. I've got the Jaguars winning 24-13 against the Texans.

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