Fernando Medina-US PRESSWIRE
Week 2 of the NFL season pits the Houston Texans against the Jacksonville Jaguars in an AFC South match up. The Texans are coming off a 30-10 victory against the Miami Dolphins. The defense came up huge in the second quarter forcing four turnovers. Qurterback Ryan Tannehill was intercepted three times and Daniel Thomas fumbled. These take aways set up the Houston offense to pull ahead and put the game out of reach for the Dolphins.
The Jaguars are coming off a heartbreaking overtime loss to the Minnesota Vikings. With less than two minutes left in the game the Jaguars scored on a deep pass from Blaine Gabbert to Cecil Shorts and converted the two point conversion to take a three point lead. With only twenty seconds in regulation the Vikings were able to get into position and kick a game tying 55 yard field goal. Then in overtime the Vikings went up with a 38 yard field goal.
Coming into the season many Texans fans may have circled this game as an easy victory. After the first week it looks as if this game will be a bit harder than expected. In 2011 Blaine Gabbert looked lost and even the most routine play call was an adventure with him under center. Against the Vikings Gabbert looked greatly improved from a season ago. The wide receiver group added Laurent Robinson from the Dallas Cowboys and rookie Justin Blackmon out of Oklahoma State. For their offensive to progress it will be imperative for Gabbert and the receivers to show improvement over last year. By improving the passing game the team will have a much more balanced attack and will have to rely on the runng game less often.
The Texans come into the game with question marks of their own. In week 1 the team was unable to get the rushing attack rolling. It will be imperative for the team to establish the running game early to control the clock and to protect quarterback Matt Schaub from taking to many hits. The second issue is the Texans run defense, which has been struggling this preseason and has carried over into their first game. If the Jaguars are able to run the ball consistently it will be huge obstacle for the Texans.
The Texans are firmly entrenched as the favorites in this game; however, since it is a division game strange things can happen. I believe that this game will be closer than many think as Maurice Jones-Drew has a strong game. Final score Texans 24 Jaguars 16.
This article is by Joe Serenka, Rant Sports Houston Texans Blogger. You can see more of his articles at http://www.rantsports.com/nfl/author/joeserenka/And you can follow him on twitter at @Texansblogster
