Jacksonville Jaguars vs. Houston Texans: Keep Your Enemies Close – 5 Questions with Toro Times

The Jacksonville Jaguars don’t really have anything to play for as they close the season under a lame duck head coach. This week they take on a playoff contender in the Houston Texans.

Only 3 more games. Then this iteration of the Jacksonville Jaguars can be wiped off the face of the earth.

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What that entails isn’t completely known yet, but for now we get a few more weeks to evaluate the roster. One of those opportunities comes on Sunday as the Jaguars host the Houston Texans in a critical game for the AFC South title.

We wanted to get some intel on our opponent so we reached out to Josh McSwain over at Toro Times Here’s what he had to say:

1. The Texans are in the driver’s seat for the AFC South, but they’ve probably been the least impressive playoff contender in the entire NFL. How is this team winning, and will the formula they currently have be enough to win a playoff game?

"Their style this season is best described as ugly but effective. They have run the ball well with Lamar Miller (really well in fact) and the defense has made enough plays to win games. While the Texans don’t get a lot of pressure on the quarterback the secondary is solid, and I think underrated as one of the top 10 or even five in the NFL. The run defense was my biggest question mark coming into the year but that has actually been better than I expected even without J.J. Watt. This we are seeing Jadeveon Clowney really make a difference. It’s even more impressive that he is doing this as a 3-4 DE when he was a hybrid 4-3 end/3-4 OLB. The run defense has been arguably better than last year and the secondary has weathered the storm despite all the injuries."

My take:

The Texans have somehow been winning games in spite of bottom of the barrel quarterback play and that’s a testament to some good coaching by Bill O’Brien. Losing the best defensive player is also a huge blow that would cripple most teams, but the Texans have managed to stay afloat in a terrible division. Bravo to them..