Houston Texans vs Jacksonville Jaguars: 3 keys to the game

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3. Pressure the Quarterback

Dec 18, 2014; Jacksonville, FL, USA; Jacksonville Jaguars defensive tackle Sen

The Jacksonville Jaguars have struggled heavily to develop a consistent pass rush so far this season, they only have 11 sacks so far this season which is good for 12th best in the NFL but there is still a lot of room for improvement. It appears that defensive tackle Sen’Derrick Marks could be making his season debut against the same team he faced in his last NFL game. Marks had a very impressive season last year but it ended roughly when he tore his ACL in the last game of the year versus Houston.

Lets go back to last year’s victory against the Browns again, the Jaguars were able to sack the quarterback three times and they had seven tackles for a loss. Granted the Jaguars are facing a different offensive line in Houston but its clear that Hoyer didn’t deal with the pressure well when he faced the Jaguars last year.

The status of Sen’Derrick Marks is very important for the Jaguars because with him in the lineup than the Jaguars will have their best pass rusher back on the field and it will take some of the pressure off of players like Chris Clemons and Ryan Davis.

I’ll be honest, with the way the Jaguars have been playing lately, I don’t have a lot of confidence going into this game. However, this is definitely a matchup that the Jaguars can win and if they are able to protect Blake Bortles, slow down DeAndre Hopkins and pressure Brian Hoyer then they could earn their second victory of the season.

Next: How good is Blake Bortles?

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