NFL Tickets
The Houston Texans are staring deep into the eyes of a pretty popular and awful record of 1-4. They will face the equally underachieving but much more competitive Jacksonville Jaguars in a toilet bowl version of an AFC South showdown.
In years past with a little more stability on both sides of the ball, this game was a prematurely marked victory on the Texans’ schedule twice a year. But with the 2015 version of the Texans playing against two teams every week (themselves and the opponent), this game is in no way shape or form a guaranteed victory. Houston has unloaded a countless amount of ammo shooting themselves in the foot with costly penalties and mental lulls during long stretches in games. The Jags now have just as good a chance to win this game as the Texans do. Houston is starting to now look like the “get right” practice opponent after their horrible start to the season.
For the fifth consecutive week, the opposition’s injuries cause a shift in the odds that favor Houston on paper. Young rising talent and former first-round pick Blake Bortles is questionable to start Sunday, which should be an advantage, right? The Texans have faced pedestrian offensive lines every week thus far with only 4.5 sacks and hardly any pressure to show for it. 40-year-old backup quarterback Matt Hasselbeck and that same shaky offensive line that got Andrew Luck sacked more times than groceries threw up 27 points and a victory at NRG stadium last week. This team does not have a good history when facing either reserve QBs or makeshift offensive lines. It sounds crazy to say this regarding facing Jacksonville, but in order for the Texans to win, Houston will have to play near perfect in every phase of the game.
Besides all of that negativity and possible reasons why the Texans could lose Sunday, if Brian Hoyer has the flow that he had in the majority of the third and fourth quarter, there is a great chance of tasting victory for just the second time this season. Houston should win a low scoring but better overall played game.
Prediction: Texans 17, Jaguars 13
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