The Jacksonville Jaguars should win Sunday against the Houston Texans. While a 29-21 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles dropped the Jaguars to 2-2, the Texans still haven’t won a game and look to have a lot of rebuilding ahead.
Texans coach Lovie Smith is already hearing questions about benching Davis Mills and the team is 27th in total offense and 29th in total defense.
It’s the NFL, though. Any team can present a problem on any given Sunday and the Texans have been a pain in the Jaguars’ neck for a long time. In addition to an eight-game win streak against Jacksonville, the Texans have also won 19 of the last 23 meetings.
Here are three things the Jaguars need to accomplish to beat Houston in Week 5 and improve to 3-2:
Limit the explosive plays
The Texans are lacking in talent and haven’t been able to beat a team yet this season. But they have been able to put together big plays to make games interesting.
Houston quarterback Davis Mills has connected on 15 pass plays for at least 20 yards. Only nine teams have more and the Texans aren’t that far behind the Detroit Lions, who lead the league with 18.
Rookie running back Dameon Pierce showed he can be dangerous too when he busted free for a 75-yard rushing touchdown last week.
Jacksonville has mostly kept teams in check and it’ll need to do the same against Pierce, Brandin Cooks, and Nico Collins.
Win the turnover battle
The Jaguars have forced nine turnovers through four games, but fumbled away their chance at a win over the Philadelphia Eagles last week.
Houston is plus-one in the turnover margin this season and has recorded at least one takeaway in all four of its games. What the Jaguars can’t afford to do is get reckless with the ball like they (but mostly just Trevor Lawrence) were in Week 4.
Texans quarterback Davis Mills has thrown four interceptions and has four fumbles so far this year, so the opportunities to flip the field with a takeaway should be there for the Jacksonville defense.
Stop the run
The Texans rushing offense isn’t particularly scary, even if Pierce is off to a good start to his career. Houston is 25th in rushing yards and 20th in rushing touchdowns entering Sunday.
But the Jaguars’ run defense looked more than a little shaky with Folorunso Fatukasi sidelined for most of Week 4. With Fatukasi ruled out for Week 5, Corey Peters is expected to be promoted to the active roster to fill the void.
Jacksonville needs the reworked defensive front to look more like the one that bottled up Jonathan Taylor in Week 2 and not the one that let Miles Sanders run wild last week.
