The Houston Texans headed into their bye week with momentum on their side after beating the Detroit Lions, 20-13, on October 30. It was a huge bounce-back win for the Texans, who suffered a humiliating 27-9 setback against the Denver Broncos in Week 7. With their victory against the Lions, the Texans improved their season record to 5-3.
The Texans will look to make it back-to-back wins when they lock horns with the reeling Jacksonville Jaguars this coming Sunday. For Houston to achieve this feat, it needs to address its patchy road form. They are 0-3 away from NRG Stadium this season. The Texans have been outscored 85-22 on the road this campaign. The pressure then is on Brock Osweiler to deliver a solid performance for the Texans this coming weekend. He has thrown nine touchdowns with nine picks this season to lead a passing game that is among the worst in the NFL, ranking 30th by averaging just 199.2 yards a game.
Regardless of that fact, the Texans will still fancy their chances against their division rivals as they have fared extremely well against them of late. The Texans have won each of their last four games against the Jaguars. The Texans have covered the spread in three of those four outings. Houston destroyed Jacksonville, 30-6, in their last meeting earlier this year.
Houston is 6-4 ATS in its last 10 road games against Jacksonville.
What in the world is happening to Jacksonville? The Jaguars crashed to their third straight defeat with a gut-wrenching 19-14 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday. They simply had no answer for Nick Foles who threw for 187 yards and a touchdown. With the loss, the Jaguars are now three games behind the division-leading Houston Texans in the AFC South standings.
It won’t get any easier for them this coming weekend as standing in their way are the aforementioned Texans. Houston is fifth in the league in total defense, allowing just 316.2 yards per game this season. The onus then is on quarterback Blake Bortles to step up his game this coming Sunday. He completed 22 of 41 passes for 252 yards and two touchdowns with one costly interception in the loss to the Chiefs. Turnovers doomed the Jaguars’ chances in that contest as they committed four miscues against Kansas City. They are minus-12 in turnover ratio this season.
Jacksonville is 4-6 SU and 6-4 ATS in its previous 10 home games.
