The Jacksonville Jaguars (+800 to win the AFC South) have a new starting quarterback they didn’t expect to give the keys to their offense this early, as Nick Foles is out with an injury. Will Gardner Minshew put up a solid performance to lead the Jags to a win in Houston? Or will the Texans (+120) take advantage of Minshew’s lack of experience and beat the Jags for their first win of the season?
The Jaguars were hoping that Nick Foles would stabilize their offense in a way that Blake Bortles could not, but they weren’t given much of a chance to see whether the Super Bowl-winning quarterback will be able to do that right away. Foles injured his shoulder in Week 1 and went under the knife on Monday, meaning he’ll be out for the foreseeable future. This development has left the Jags relying on sixth-rounder quarterback Gardner Minshew, who managed to avoid messing it all up in his surprise duty under center in last week’s 40-26 home loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. Minshew threw for 275 yards and two touchdowns with an interception on 22 of 25 completions. Minshew will be a marked man by the Texans’ defense that may have lost Jadeveon Clowney, but still has JJ Watt, so the Jags will have to find ways for the backfield to get involved more to keep Houston’s stop unit on its toes.
The Jags are 5-2 against the spread (ATS) in their last seven games in Houston.
Betting on the Houston Texans (0-1)
The Texans had a bummer of a loss last Monday to the New Orleans Saints on the road, 30-28, falling prey to Will Lutz’s field goal in overtime. Quarterback Deshaun Watson had 238 passing yards and three touchdowns against an interception on 20 of 30 completions. Meanwhile, the backfield produced some intriguing results, as Carlos Hyde may have won the starting running back gig, as he came away with better numbers than Duke Johnson. Hyde had 83 rushing yards on 10 carries, while Johnson had 57 rushing yards on nine attempts. That said, Johnson played in more snaps, 42-25, and had a bigger role in the passing game with five targets to just one for Hyde. In any case, the Texans’ offense has an opportunity to light it up on offense against the Jaguars, who allowed 113 rushing yards to Kansas City. The Texans’ offensive line needs to fix their turnstile pass protection that let Watson get sacked six times for a loss of 34 yards in the Saints game.
The under is 4-1 in the Texans’ last five home games.
