Can the Jacksonville Jaguars Defense Keep It Close?

The Jacksonville Jaguars will take on the Houston Texans and Ryan Fitzpatrick, Arian Foster, and Andre Johnson on Sunday.

On paper, the 2-10 Jaguars may not stand up well against the 6-6 Houston Texans as they struggle to find a playoff spot as the season draws to a close. Division rivalries, however, are tough games that often feature interesting outcomes. For some, the Jaguars are hot coming off a dominant defensive second half against the New York Giants. For others, this looks like a blowout after a stellar offensive performance from the Texans.

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The truth is, the vaunted Texans offense is trying to outrun a decent Jaguars defense in order to put this game out of reach for a Jags team that hasn’t scored more than 25 points all season. That’s a mark the Texans have equaled four times this season.

The Jags, who have only topped 20 points three times this season will have to fight to keep the Texans below 20, something that has happened just four times over their 12 games. The good thing is that the Texans have faltered against the Cincinnati Bengals, Dallas Cowboys, New York Giants, and Washington Redskins. Of those four, the Jags have posted 20+ points twice (Bengals and Giants). However, I’m not banking on a 50% shot of the offense doing better than the Texans’ offense purely because they have played the same teams this year and come out slightly better.

The defense for the Jaguars will have to be dominant if they hope to keep the Texans within the offense’s striking distance. Even the 25 point game against the Giants (season high) required 14 points from the defense.

If the defense can score off turnovers (which doesn’t happen for the 13th ranked Texans in that category) then the team will be much better off. But it will really be about limiting the opposing offense. Ryan Fitzpatrick likely won’t have another game like he did last week and the Jaguars are charged with some great defensive play from Sen’Derrick Marks and renaissance defensive lineman Ryan Davis, but they will have to clamp down in the secondary and avoid missed tackles by the linebackers.

Limiting mistakes will be the key, especially outside of the front four. The Texans boast a potent offensive attack behind Fitzpatrick and Foster and will be eager to exploit weaknesses in the Jaguar defense. Expect cornerback Dwayne Gratz to be tested early and often. Expect safeties Josh Evans and Johnathan Cyprien to be tested as well. If the Jags can hold up under that pressure, they have a hope. If not, then this game could get ugly.