Offenses Still Figuring Things Out In Texans Vs Jaguars

Texans vs. Jaguars, 1:00 ET

Somewhere around five years ago the Texans had a great quarterback and things were looking up for them. The Jaguars were somewhat of a laughing stock even though they were able to win a playoff game. They didn't have a franchise guy under center and everyone made fun of Blake Bortles for being the quarterback. Now, the Texans hope to have found their guy that can make the offense hum, and the Jaguars have found their quarterback and pretty much everything else. Today, they face each other in a divisional matchup.

The Texans haven't won either of the first two games of the season. They started the year against the Ravens and it wasn't much of a shock that Baltimore was able to win by 16. Last week was one that I thought could go either way, but they stumbled against a mediocre Colts team. It will take some time for the Texans to gel on offense, but they did look better from Week 1 to Week 2. Defense is something the Texans need to shore up a bit as they are not allowing a ridiculous amount of yards offensively, but they are not really able to keep opponents off of the board during drives. If they can get more punts they might stand a chance in the game. Against Jacksonville, they will need to be creative against a defense that is actually better than they've shown through two games. I'd personally like to see C.J. Stroud run a bit more in this game and see if he can extend some plays that way. He's been a fairly accurate passer and hasn't thrown an interception. However, the run game of the Texans hasn't gotten anything going at all, so if Stroud can incorporate that a bit, I think they will be able to hang with Jacksonville.

Apr 28, 2023; Houston, TX, USA; From left to right, Houston Texans quarterback CJ Stroud (left), second overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, and Texans linebacker Will Anderson Jr., third overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, pose for a photo at a press conference at NRG Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Thomas Shea-USA TODAY Sports

The Jaguars are just 1-1 on the season, and haven't come out quite as sharp as you would hope to open the year. They took the first game of the season against the Colts, a team that the Texans just lost to, and they did it through the air in the first half and then ran the Colts out of the game in the second half. Unfortunately for them, they had to face an annoyed Kansas City team last week at home and were only able to get 9 points off of them as the Chiefs had the return of Chris Jones on defense and Travis Kelce on offense. The defense did their job though as they only allowed 17 points to the explosive Chiefs offense, but it wasn't enough. This game shouldn't be much of a contest as the Texans are not effective in the running game, so the Jaguars can stop that with ease. Then that forces the Texans to throw the ball and allows Jacksonville to execute a defense that prepares for the pass only. This could be one of the games where Trevor Lawrence gets right. So far, through two games, he only has 457 yards and two touchdowns. He was frustrated last week and only completed 53% of throws - he is certainly going to improve on that against a soft Houston secondary.

I like the game to go under in this one. I don't think Jacksonville is quite explosive enough to put up a ton of points. I do think their defense is going to try and get a shutout against a Texans team that is still trying to figure things out. The Jaguars have all the tools needed to score often, but they also need to make adjustments to their gameplan in order to execute properly and get their assets into the best spaces. I'm taking the under 44.5 for this game.

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