Three and Out: Texans-Jaguars Predictions

The last time the Texans beat Jacksonville “on the road” was last season in London, where DeAndre Hopkins... ugh, never mind. Let’s see how the BRB staff sees Sunday’s AFC South matchup playing out.

Tim: Texans 28, Jaguars 20.

The Texans are likely to start Brennan Scarlett and Shantee Orr at OLB, which seems less than desirable, but I reckon the defense won’t get blown off the field by Jake Luton. I’ll ride with Deshaun Watson to lead the offense to four scores and a cover.

bfMFd: Texans 34, Glitter Kitties 23.

Oh, good Durga, this game is really going to happen??? /barf emoji

I don’t know what a Jake Luton is, but he’s not a Deshaun Watson. While it’s true that Houston’s defense will look like something one from a 3A Texas high school, the difference between QBs is just too large to ignore.

Matt Weston: Texans 31, Jaguars 20.

The Jaguars have the worst pass defense in the league. The Texans have Deshaun Watson, who is playing like a top five quarterback now, even though the offense is still swamped by David Johnson carries.

The Jaguars should be able to run the ball some. But Jake Luton, who no one has ever watched play before, isn’t going to be able to keep up. The final score doesn’t matter. Playing rookies young players is the only thing that does. Hopefully that starts this week so Houston can find their own version of Nik Needham this season.

l4blitzer: Texans 27, Jaguars 23.

Assuming that both teams can overcome COVID-19’s attempt to thwart the Texans, this game finds both teams on the road to nowhere. For Jacksonville, this is familiar territory. For Houston, not so much. At least Jacksonville can look forward to parlaying their suck season into the hope of a high draft pick. For Houston, this lost season is doing wonders for the Miami Dolphins, who appear on the cusp of becoming the newest version of the 1990 Cowboys, who stole all those draft picks from Minnesota to build up their Super Bowl winning teams.

On the surface, this should favor the Texans, as they return all of their offensive weapons from the earlier 30-14 beatdown at NRG since no one was traded this past week (a little surprising, but perhaps that is not a bad thing, given that the team has usually lost such deals in the past). The Jags are without starting QB Gardner Minshew II and are throwing a first-time starter into the mix. They, like the Texans, have some talented defensive players, but generally allow teams to move the ball down the field and score at will. Josh Allen, who missed the last matchup, will be back for this one. Still, this may be a defense optional type of game.

However, the Texans have a bad habit of making new QBs look right at home. Houston’s defense is not equipped to effectively defend the pass, but they make up for it by not being able to stop the run. With a new quarterback, Jacksonville would be smart to stick with the run, something they did not do very well after initial success in the first game. Late-breaking disruptions by COVID that shut down the team’s training facility will do little to help the Texans. However, while it will be a close affair between two bad teams, I think Deshaun Watson does just enough to overcome the Jags, Watt gets his 100th sack, and the Texans make a small dent in the 2021 Dolphins’ draft position.

Carlos Flores: Texans 31, Jaguars 17.

While the defense will be short-handed due to the loss of Jacob Martin, Whitney Mercilus, and Dylan Cole, I don’t think it’ll dramatically shift the outcome of this game.

I’m thinking that the Texans’ offense will actually come out clicking from the get-go, while Jake Luton will perform admirably in place of Uncle Rico. This won’t be a shootout, but we should see some funny gaffs from both defenses.

I’m going to bet that Phillip Gaines is going to slip in coverage at least once this game, and that Jonathan Greenard gets a sack.

Kenneth L: Texans 17, Jaguars 9.

This won’t be fun to watch. The Texans will play down to the level of the competition and muck it up. This should be a dominating performance by the Texans, but the environment within the organization right now isn’t conducive to that type of winning.

I’ll be interested to see the Texans attempt different plays than the ones we’ve seen. The bye offered the young coordinators a chance to implement wrinkles to schemes that are now fully in their hands.

Mike: Texans 38, Jaguars 27.

Jacksonville is trotting out Jake Luton.

Houston is trotting out Vernon Hargreaves III.

Wow, that’s bad.

But as you examine the rest of the rosters, the Jaguars don’t have a J.J. Watt or a Deshaun Watson. With the sheer amount of fire coming out of those two over the last week or so, expect them to make some statement plays in this one. While the other 10 guys on the Houston defense might not make the SportsCenter highlight reel, Watt will do just enough to allow Watson to outscore the Jags’ offense.

Not to mention Romeo Crennel doesn’t lose to rookie quarterbacks. This is the way.

Joe Critz: Texans 30, Jaguars 17.

The Jaguars’ pass defense is absolutely terrible, Deshaun Watson will slice it up like he did last time. Gardner Minshew is not playing, meaning it will be even harder for he Jaguars to score. We still have a terrible defense, right next to Green Bay in terms of efficiency, so the Jags will put some points on the board to keep it from being a blowout. Either way, win number two, in all its slimy Jacksonville glory, is hot and on its way.

Let’s hope the Texans get a win against a horrible team. Almost just as important - let’s see some of the young guys play, please. Give me Greenard, Coutee, and Blacklock.

Enjoy the game, and use the comments section below to predict the outcome!